Vanilla.
The scent is powerful, everywhere, and clogs my senses the second I blink my eyes open. My settings looks vaguely familiar and everything is fuzzy as I try to piece together where I am. The first thing I notice is the tan arm thrown over my waist and my head on a strong shoulder. Slowly everything comes back to me.
The storm closing us indoors.
Us watching cartoons.
I lift my head slowly from Drew's shoulder which he doesn't even notice.
Someone clears their throat and I look away from Drew's sleeping face and up at the entry where Evan, Drew's manager, stands arms crossed with a disapproving frown on his face. He motions for me to come over so I tip toe over where he stands until we're standing face to face.
"What were you two doing?" He demands in a quiet voice.
"We were just sleeping."
"What are you still doing here anyways? All staff was dismissed earlier."
"It was raining." I explain.
"Ever heard of an umbrella?" Evan glares at me.
"Excuse me?" I glare back, crossing my arms against my chest.
"Ms. Nancy is slipping." He mutters the same time we hear Drew groan in his sleep.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you're the exact thing I warn Drew about. He has a world tour to get back to in a few weeks. He doesn't need any distractions."
"It's not like that between us." I try to reassure him.
"Well if you want to keep this job, it better stay that way." Evan threatens in a low tone. I stand there unsure of what to say or do.
"Hey, what's going on?" I hear Drew asks in a groggy voice. I turn to him just in time to see him standing up from his seat and stretch.
"Hey man." Evan's face suddenly softens. "I finally got those sketches for the merchandise. We need to finalize the final look for the hoodies and T-shirts by tonight."
"Alright, just give me a minute." Drew replies.
"Don't keep me waiting too long." Evan says with a easy smile on his face but then he turns to me the smile is gone. He gives me one last hard stare before leaving the room.
"Hey, everything okay?" Drew walks up to me. "What was Evan talking to you about?"
"Just wondering why I was here so late." I shrug. I wasn't sure if I should tell him that Evan threatened me.
"It looks like we fell asleep huh?" Drew replies while shoving both hands inside the front pockets of his jeans.
"I'm sorry about falling asleep on you. I guess I was more tired than I thought."
"You don't see me complaining do you?" The easy smirk that I'm getting used to appears and I can feel myself blushing.
"I should probably go home now." I tell him, remembering the look Evan gave me before he walked away. "What?" I wonder out loud when I notice Drew was just watching me with a smile on his face.
"Nothing." He shakes his head. "It's just that... you're really beautiful when you're asleep."
"Thank you." I really needed to get out of here. I'm afraid the longer I stay the more likely I would become one of those girls who hung his posters on their wall.
I walk back to where I sat and picked up my dirty dishes. I don't need Drew to lead the way this time and I find the kitchen by myself. Drew wasn't too far behind, adding his own dirty dishes in the sink along with mine.
"Don't worry about it." He tries to stop me when I begin cleaning our dirty dishes the old fashion way.
"It's fine." I reassured him, adding more dish soap to the sponge. "It's the least I can do after you let me stay here until the rain stopped. Besides, my mom always taught me to clean up after myself."
"How is your mom? You haven't talked about her since that first night." Drew says as he casually leaned against the counter next to me.
"She's fine." I answer briefly, not wanting to add anything more than that.
"You said she was sick." He continued to press.
"She is," I admit. "Just not in the way you probably think."
"In what way then?"
"In the way that she'd rather get drunk then spend time with her daughters." I can't believe I said that out loud. But Drew bringing up Celine brought back our conversation earlier and just reminded how she couldn't even bring herself to care about me or how I was getting home in a storm. She was too busy getting her rocks off to care about what happened to me.
"Oh." Drew replies.
"I didn't mean to say it like that." I say after a minute of idly drying my hands with neither of us saying anything. "I just- I don't like talking about my mom." I admit.
"It's okay." Drew says in a soft, quiet voice. "I'm sorry I pushed you into talking."
"It's fine." I shrug.
For a moment Drew doesn't say anything. He just stares but then he slowly slides his hand over mine and locks my gaze with his. "You know if you need someone to talk to... I'm here."
I wouldn't be coming to him with my problems or life story. Tonight was just a slip up.
"Thank you." I say anyways. He gives me a tight lip smile in response.
"I'll take you home."
I shook my head. I'd forgotten I'd accepted a ride from him. "I'll be fine. Taking the bus isn't that bad. Cade was just being overprotective."
"We're not arguing about this. I'm not about to let you take the bus home. It's dark and late. Your friend was right, it's not safe."
"I can handle myself." I argue. It's not the first time I walked home at night and I'm sure it wasn't going to be the last.
"I'm taking you home." I open my mouth to argue but Drew shakes his head, stopping me. "I'm not asking Mia."
"Whatever you say sir." I grumble loud enough for him to hear. Drew chuckles and says something underneath his breath that sounds almost like a curse before walking off. I follow him to the garage where I see three different very expensive looking cars.
I don't bother commenting on how ridiculous having three cars is when you're only one person. Instead, I wait for him to unlock the doors and climb inside the black Mercedes. The scent of vanilla is strong against the leather seats and gets even stronger when Drew slides in next to me.
"You okay?" He glances at me.
"Yeah."
Drew backs out of the garage and takes off.
"You said you have a sister, what's her name?" Drew surprises me by asking.
"Layla."
"How old is she?"
"Fourteen. She's actually starting high school this fall and already she's talking about homecoming." I smile. "What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Do you have any siblings?"
He laughs once. "Sorry. I just forgot there's actually people out there who don't know everything about me."
"So is that a no?"
"I have a brother." He answers. "A younger brother name Luke."
"Is he following in his brother's footsteps?" I ask with a teasing grin.
"No. He's in college."
"Is that something you ever thought about doing? Going to college I mean." I wonder.
"You mean back when I was normal?" Drew replies. "If I'm being honest, than no. I always knew I wanted to be a performer."
"You never thought about anything else?" I push.
"No. There's this quote by Will Smith that's stuck with me since I heard it and Will Smith says: "there's no reason to have a plan B because it distracts from plan A." I knew this was what I wanted to do so why bother thinking of something else?"
"I really like that quote." I tell him with a smile.
"What about you? Has it always been your dream to wait on the rich?" Drew asks in a light tone.
I can't help but laugh. "Definitely! There's just something so rewarding tending to stuck up rich people."
"You think I'm stuck up?" Drew wonders.
"Too soon to tell." I reply.
"Well you let me know when you've made up your mind."
"You'll be the first to know." I tell him softly. There's a pause. "I want to be a teacher." I confess after a moment.
"Beauty and brains... I like it." Drew grins. "Why a teacher?"
"I've had some great teachers over the years who really inspired me and I want to do the same for someone."
"I think those kids will be really lucky to have you."
I return his smile before looking out the window. "I guess I should thank you." I say after a moment.
"Thank me for what?"
"Your music has helped my sister get through a lot." I confess. "So thank you... for not getting distracted from plan A."
"You're welcome." I return his smile then look out the window. I can see my door number from here and the lights on through the drapes. I wonder if Celine is still entertaining her guest.
I turn around and unbuckle my seatbelt before looking back at Drew.
"Thank you for taking me home and letting me stay at your house."
"It was my pleasure."
I climb out the car and a cool rush of wind washes over me. The air smells like rain and I can feel droplets of it on my bare arms.
"Goodnight Mr. Lyons." I smile as I get ready to shut the door.
"Goodnight Mia." I shut the door then jog up the flight of stairs and let myself inside the house.
I walk inside the apartment to see my mom passed out with her male friend smoking something rolled up in a white paper and God help me because he was naked too.
I was burning that couch and buying a new one with my first paycheck this week.
His dark eyes light up when I walk into the room, like I was a special treat my mom was surprising him with. I don't flinch when he stands up from the couch and I don't dare look anywhere below his eyes. I should be scared, and I was when I was younger, but now I know better. If they smelled fear they would pounce like a lion on its prey.
"Take one more step and I swear to God I'll call the police." I threaten.
He looks surprise and thankfully stays where he is.
"You must be Mia, Celine's little girl." He muses. I don't like that he knows my name.
"I'm not a little girl." I argue, crossing my arms over my chest.
"I can see that." A slow smirk forms on his lips as he drags his eyes over me from head to toe. Disgust washes over me and I want a shower more than anything but that would have to wait until he was gone.
"It's time for you to go." I tell him, hardening my gaze so that he knows I mean business.
"Okay," He says chuckling. I wonder what the heck was so funny. I watch as he bends down to pick up his jeans off the floor and thankfully slips them on. He then proceeds to kiss Celine's forehead. But she's too far gone to stir let alone wake up. "I'll be back." He tells me and I take multiple steps back as he passes me and out the front door. The moment he passes the threshold I slam the door shut and double lock it. I poke my head to stare out the drapes and when I see his retreating figure heading down the stairs I let out the breath I was holding in.
Unlike the last time, I don't bother helping Celine and I leave her passed out on the couch and head into my bedroom. I strip out of my clothes and take a quick shower then climb into bed.