By Chance (Accidentally In Luck #1)

45. Peacefulness(ish) - E

*E*

Weeks passed and I swear to God I've never been that happy in my whole life.

Pip was my girl, officially, which meant that I got to hold her hand in public and kiss her cheek and hug her just because I wanted to.

I was finally back in the studio after calling Lacey back and I was extremely happy with the music that we were working on. For the first time in a long time, I felt truly like this new music was really my music. The sound, the feel, everything about it was just perfect.

School was also going shockingly well. Thanks to Cora and Elle tutoring us, Jay and I were passing our classes with flying colors and we were helping them right back by paying for their school. They tried to refuse at first, but when they realized that LASC's tuition wasn't hardly anything for us to cover because I was a best-selling artist and Jay was a stupid talented drummer, they relented. Evidently, debt was less attractive than letting us pay for it.

I smiled to myself, truly happy with life, and pulled Pip into my lap. We were home for the weekend, and we'd decided to officially do nothing. School, despite going well was kicking our asses and we finally had a minute where nothing was happening.

I knew there were some fights going on down at the Dome, but I no longer cared. The only reason I knew was because Jay and I's contact couldn't get it through his head that we were really, seriously done fighting for real.

Instead of getting ready to go fight, I got to wrap my arms around the girl I love and put my chin on her shoulder as we watched Lethal Weapon which is, and forever will be, the best movie made.

I laughed as Pip squeaked when the final fight came around and she buried her head against my shoulder, fearing for Riggs' character.

As the credits rolled, I felt Pip shift against me, and I turned from the TV remote to her.

She looked at me for a minute, studying my face. "Theo, what's your all-time favorite memory?"

I cocked my head at her, the way I knew she liked. "What brought that up?" I chuckled.

She shrugged. "Nothing really," she said, "I'm just curious. I love you and I'd like to get to know you as much as I can."

I smiled at her. "Fair, fair, but this only works if I get to ask you questions back because I love you back."

"Deal," she said and smiled back. "But I asked first." She turned herself in my lap so we were face to face and lightly wrapped her arms around my neck.

I thought back. It shouldn't be as hard as I was making it, but even with the rough upbringing I had, there were some golden moments and that's not even counting the last few months.

Then I had it.

I grinned. "I was 15 a few months before my first single came out and fame hit. My mom had found out the hard way that if you let laundry detergent sit on your clothes in the washer, they leave a residue not noticed by the naked eye. Under a black light though... well, that's just a totally different story." I caught Pip's odd look and I continued quickly before she could ask. "The short story on why we were under a black light is that we went to play laser tag and mom wore white pants (why, I'll never know) and she had a bunch of random much brighter glowing spots on them. After a week of research, she realized it was the detergent."

"No matter what she tried, the light splotches on that pair of jeans would not come out. After days of fighting it she came up to me and asked if I would be willing to help her with something odd. I, of course, said yes even though I was extremely curious and a little worried. But how could I say no? She's my mom."