Under the Surface

Chapter 1: Stella

"I know, Sherry, tell me about it! It's honestly the last thing that we need right now!" pause "Thank you, I appreciate that! Okay hun, talk to you soon, bye." Stella Lawrence pressed end call on her iPhone just as she finished packing up two turkey wraps and placing them in two separate plastic containers. "Kids! Hurry up! I've breakfast on the table." she shouted, whilst taking a sip of her now luke-warm black coffee.

"Hey mom" said JJ, her thirteen year old son, walking in and plonking his huge, mud stained soccer bag on the granite counter top whilst jumping up on the counter stool in front of the french toast she prepared him. "Hun, please. What have I said about putting that on the counter" she said nodding to the gear. Sometimes she had immense urges to pull her own hair out due to her children not listening to her, or when they do listen, forget the next day and do it all again. Parents of a sixteen-year old daughter and a thirteen-year old son should receive some sort of award. "Sorry" he shrugged as he pushed it off, resulting in it loudly falling on the wooden floor. She sighed, "God, well if your sister is not awake then that sure aught to do it." She said, as she wiped clean the already gleaming and shiny granite counter tops. "Has anyone seen my navy tie? Hey." entered Martin Lawrence, with his tie-less suit on as he walked into the kitchen went over and gave his wife a quick peck on the cheek. "I put it in the closet, it should be there." replied Stella, pouring more coffee into her mug and into a second one for her husband. They were coffee addicts and connoisseurs, which was fitting because they both met for the very first time by chance in a coffee shop on a gloomy Sunday afternoon. A then, twenty-eight year old dapper young Martin Lawrence approached a beautiful, twenty-six year old Stella Adams, who at the time had herself immersed into a novel. The pair started talking and a year and half later they were married and a year after that Stella was pregnant with her first child, a daughter. "Alright, I'll go check." he replied, walking out the room to go back upstairs. "Can you get Danielle to hurry up and tell her that her breakfast is on the table!" shouted Stella to her husband, who was halfway up the stairs at this point. "So, you're going to soccer practice today and will be finished at 5, I've to go and get a new order in for the Hewitt's anniversary party coming up, your dad is in work til 6 and Danielle, god who knows," she said to her son whilst her eyes ran up and down this day's page on her agenda journal. "Mom, what would happen if you lost that thing? Would you totally freak out? I once saw this documentary about this woman who got so stressed she turned balled. Do you think that could happen to you? Or maybe it was something like all her nails fell off, and I'm not just talking nail clipping type sizes, I'm talking about the whole freaking nail. Imagine that happened to you. Actually, you know I think it was the balled thing that happened to her, not the nails. But that would be funny." chuckled JJ, still chomping down on his french toast like a champion. "Wouldn't that be hilarious!" she sarcastically replied, not even fully taking in what he had just said because she was too busy jotting notes down in her agenda for the day. Mornings were always the busiest time of day in the Lawrence household, everyone was going here and there, breakfast and lunches had to be made, Stella had to sometimes physical pull her sixteen-year old daughter Danielle out of bed. It was just a hectic time.

"Danielle!" she shouted one more time before her daughter walked in in a red crop top, high waisted, light washed ripped jeans with fishnet tights visible through the rips, Adidas superstar shoes, makeup as if she was about to get up on stage and start stripping, long, luminous yellow fake nails on and fake eyelashes, the whole shibbang! "Jesus, mom relax I said I was fucking coming." she scoffed as she sat down next to her brother and picked up her knife and fork. "No you didn't? At what point did you say anything to me this morning? And watch it with the language, how many times do I have to tell you! And may I add, what are you wearing? Danielle, you go to a private school, not 'Hooker's High,' said Stella, passing over the maple syrup to her daughter, in which all she got was an eye roll in return to what she had just said. "You and dad swear all the time! God forbid, me a SIXTEEN-year old throwing around a few swear words every now and then." argued Danielle, with special emphasis on the sixteen part. "Please, swearing every second word is not 'every now and then', and besides we are adults, you are a TEENAGER." replied Stella, also putting special emphasis on the teenager part. "Anyway, what are your plans today? Haven't you got a history report coming up?" asked Stella. "IDK. Who told you that?" she replied, shrugging. "IDK?" said Stella confused. "It stands for I don't know, mom." chimed in JJ, who at this stage had finished his breakfast. "What's so difficult to just say I don't kn....ugh, it doesn't matter. Alice, Lauren's mother told me about it, apparently it's worth 40% of your history grade, so you should probably come home or stay at the library after school and start working on that." replied Stella, finished off the last gulp of coffee before placing her mug in the dishwasher. "Ughhhhhh" Danielle let out a loud moan before she continued talking, "I hate history! Why is it even fucking relevant? It happened like years ago, who gives a crap?" she complained, scraping around the remaining pieces of her french toast in the pools of maple syrup left on her plate. Martin re-entered the room again and said, "you obviously didn't hate it when you used to get straight A's in it... and in math...and in chemistry...and in biology...and in engli...." he said before getting shut off by his daughter who shouted "shut up" in return to his input. "Yikes, sorry! Wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of her with those nails, look at the length of them!" laughed Martin, raising one eyebrow and gently shoving his son. "Why does it matter to you dad how I do my nails? This." she said whilst holding up her hands, "is in style, something I think I would know more about more than you." she finished. "Okay, okay, come on I need to get you guys to school, grab your things. Here are both your lunches" said Stella, handing Danielle and JJ the plastic containers and an apple each. "I'll see you when you get home then." said added, looking at her watch as she said to her husband. "Sure. Bye guys." he said, picking up his briefcase and walked outside the modern, wooden front entryway to get into his crisp, white and shiny Mercedes Benz to go on his way to work whilst Stella ushered the kids into their black '2017' Range Rover to drop them off to school and go on to her catering company offices for the day.

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Once Danielle and JJ got out of the car at the drop off point in their school, Stella felt finally relaxed. She felt guilty feeling this way, as if it only ever happened when she wasn't in the presence of her kids, but it nearly only ever did. She loved her job and she really invested all her time there when maybe she should focus on her kids..and husband, who's relationship with her was completely dead. They didn't even sleep in the same bed anymore. Sure, they still loved each other but it wasn't love, love and they barely saw each with both being so busy at their own individual jobs in which they were both very successful in, her owning her own catering company and him being the creative director at Pryatt Advertising Agency. Maybe if she spent more time with her kids, Danielle wouldn't have became so messed up. Yes, she said it! She used to be so proud of her daughter, who used to go to ballet on Friday nights and now is doing who knows what on Friday nights, she always seems to be staying at Ava or Bethany's house. I don't like them, they seem like bad news? Don't you think? And the way they both dress! God, I would never let my daughter leave the house like that. She recalled saying to Alice, Lauren's mother, who Danielle used to be good friends with, back when she was normal. I liked Lauren, she was a good influence, had very good manners too. She thought to herself as she turned up the AC. But now her daughter IS Ava and Bethany and is dressing exactly how they dressed back when she complained about it to Alice, back when she said she'd never let her daughter leave the house like that. She felt ashamed, embarrassed and out of control but she had no control over Danielle, that was the issue. All of a sudden, she went from a well-behaved horse on reigns to one of a wild, untamed horse with no reigns. I don't know why I'm using a horse as a metaphor for my daughter, it would be much more relevant if Danielle had a horse face, but she doesn't, she very, very pretty. She's got my nose, her father's eyes and an odd but incredibly beautiful mix of both our lips. She's gorgeous. Pity all that is hidden underneath a sheet of makeup. She thought to herself, while indicating to take a left turn down Mosley Lane to stop off at the Dunkin' Donuts. This was her ritual. Every morning before arriving at the offices, she would collect a dozen glazed donuts and another black coffee (this is for herself) for her colleagues because she loved them and appreciated them for all their work. Of course she never had any of the donuts, what's the point in wasting the $450 a year classes on pilates she takes? She also liked going into the Dunkin' Donuts because of the hot college student who always hit on her. Don't worry, she would never act upon it but still, it was a nice boost to her moral. Stella deep down knew she was a good-looking woman, she knew when she felt the husbands stare and gawk at her at school events, she knew when her son's friends were extra nice to her as apposed to other mothers and she knew whenever she walked by a construction site when the greasy men would yell out crude words and whistle. Although, I think those men would catcall a plastic bag if it floated by, to be honest. And then there was Dunkin' boy. She worked hard to look this good, she worked out, stuck to a strict healthy and lean diet, got her roots touched up monthly, got up thirty minutes earlier in the mornings to ensure she has sufficient time to apply her makeup and her wardrobe was couture. She looked good.

"Good morning!" smiled Stella as she came into the office and carefully placed down the box of donuts for her employees to enjoy. Suddenly everyone was hoovering around the table and Stella took this opportunity to escape into her glass, pristine office to start working on that to-do list she made earlier. She would not get to sleep that night if there was even one tiny, minuscule item on that list that had not been done. It was a personality flaw, she couldn't help it. She tapped away on her MacBook Air and starting ordering in the things she needed for the Hewitt's anniversary party happening this Saturday. Wow, 20 years...20 genuinely happy years, she thought. Herself and Warren have been married for 17 years, still impressive, yes, but they weren't really a married couple, more like two people who live together and share the same pets...pets being their kids. Stella shifted her focus and got up into the main office space. "Okay everyone, settle down." she said, standing at the top of the room waiting for her employees to stop talking and digging through the Dunkin' box and avert their attention to her. "Thank you. Okay, so this is a big one! 20 years! And not only is it big in relation to the years of the anniversary but I know the Hewitt family very well so I need everything to be perfect for them, alright? Here, on the power point is the menu I worked out with Don and Julie Hewitt, as you can see there is poached lobster tail with cauliflower and butter sauce, no allergies to shell fish were given to me by the Hewitt's but as a backup we will also be serving watercress and celeriac soup with goat's cheese croutons for starter options. Got it?" she questioned, before continuing. "Onto the main course which will be sous vide fillet of beef, pommes anna and mushroom purée and the dessert option is a chocolate mousse cake with raspberries. Everyone has written that down? Good, that's it for now, thanks!" she smiled, feeling accomplished and walked back into her office to continue to tackle her to do list.