***** “ Natalie, I need to talk you,” Evelynne said, without greeting her sister as she was led into the living room by Mary, the maid. Natalie looked up from the paused movie and felt her good mood die away as soon as she saw her face. “ Eve, how are you?” Nat greeted, her voice a forced chipper as she stood up and glanced at the closed dining room door. “ Cut the shit, you sold the house,” Eve snapped coldly, glaring at Natalie as she thrust a paper out to her. “ What’s this?” Natalie barely grasped it before Eve let it go disgustedly. “ Natalie, what in hell made you sell the house without consulting the rest of us?” Natalie ignored her as she scanned the paper, slightly uneasily. Of all times for a confrontation, her sister had to choose now. “ Listen, Evelynne-” “ That goddamn house has been in the family for decades, what gave you the right?” Eve stood, livid with anger as she stared at her younger sister. “ Jesus Christ, Eve, it was only a house, not your fucking husband I sold,” Natalie frustratedly walked towards the mini-bar in the room and poured herself a drink. “ And how was I supposed to contact you? You screen your phone calls, you’re never home-” “ Oh, please, have you even tried? Or did you expect me to run on your schedule too? You had no right to sell Mom’s property!” “ Oh! I had no right to sell it? I was the one paying the bills for everything-” “ It was your fault you even had to pay for anything! Yeah, that’s right, good little Natalie payed for the funeral, she payed for everyone’s expenses during the funeral and now she’s paying for the family property, that’s bullshit! You’re the reason why this whole family split up-” “ Eve, calm down, I already talked to Dad about it-” “ I don’t care” She said coldly, fixing her irate eyes on her younger sister. Nat sighed again, unwelcome anticipation building over the look in Evelynne’s eyes. She stole another harrowed glance at the dining room door. “ Look, what’s done is done, I can’t tell the buyers to forget it,” “ Yes, you can and you damn well know it,” “ Evelynne, that’s breach of contract,” “ Fine, is that how you want to end this, Natalie?” “ What are you talking about?” “ If you’d much rather settle this in court, I’ll be speaking to my lawyer,” “ You are so fucking ridiculous! Court? You’re suing me?” At that moment, the dining room door was opened slowly and AJ walked in, an apprehensive look on his face. Evelynne glanced at him unintrestedly before she retrieved the papers from Natalie’s hand. “ You’ll be hearing from me soon,” The silence in air resumed before being broken by the sound of the front door slamming. “...I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have heard all of that,” AJ started uncomfortable, eying Natalie’s drained face. She exhaled and looked at him before picking up the remote and turning off the television, taking a seat on the sofa. He followed suit and they sat in silence for several minutes. “ Nice first impression of my sister, huh?” She remarked bitterly, leaning her head back and focusing on him. “ Hey, it was honest,” He shrugged. “ Can I ask what exactly was wrong or would that be too personal?” “ She’s upset that I sold our mother’s property without telling her,” AJ nodded, studying her face. “ So she’s suing? I mean, would it be too late to just call the whole thing off?” “ I don’t even know...My real estate agent knows of all the details, but the house is just on the market, nobody’s made any offers,” She answered in a restless tone. “ I mean, what good would that do? Nobody lives there, my dad’s got his own place with my sister. The only reason why she even came here was to make a scene, she didn’t want the house, she just came to place the blame upon me, remind me that it was me who brought Mom here,” She trailed off, her voice slightly teary. AJ reached out and pulled her closer to him, embracing her in a hug. “ There goes our movie night,” She said, trying to keep control in her tone. “ Aah, who cares? We could always watch movies.” “ True...I’m sorry,” “ About?” “ About tonight,” “ Natalie, be quiet, you’re ruining the moment,” She let out a half-hearted laugh as they sat in stillness again...
*****
AJ entered his house late the next day, worried about being late for a meeting the guys had called there. “ J, there you are,” Brian called from the living room. “ Hey, guys, I’m sorry but could you wait another, say ten minutes so I could run upstairs and shower real quick?” “ Yeah, yeah, go ahead,” Kevin joked, glancing at him. AJ went upstairs, still not quite awake as he undressed and got under the hot water, soothing his stiff neck from sleeping in the same position all night. He had stayed over unintentionally when Natalie and himself fell asleep on the couch and only woke up when she got up to get ready for some thing or another she had to be at by noon. It was now 11:30 but it still felt like he hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep the previous night. He got out of the shower and changed into a some fresh clothes before going back downstairs. “ Ok, sorry,” He apologized as he took a seat on one of the Lazyboy’s. The doorbell rang, setting off a chorus of groans. Nick, being closest to the hall, got up to answer. “ Um. Hi, is AJ around?” Natalie asked when he opened the door. “ AJ? Yeah, why?” She gave him a look. “ I need to return something of his,” Her tone turned more clipped than before, less polite. “ Hang on,” Nick walked to the doorway of the living room. “ AJ, Natalie needs you,” AJ looked up and walked to the front door. “ Hey,” She greeted, holding out his cell phone. “ Aha, I forgot all about that,” He grinned and took it from her. “ So you’re off to..?” “ An appointment with my agent,” She made a face and he laughed before she turned serious again. “ Listen, AJ, Th-” He leaned forward and looked her in the eye. “ Don’t, it wasn’t a problem, Nat,” He said sincerely. “ You’re gonna be late,” He reminded her, glancing at his watch. “ Ok, I’ll catch ya later?” “ Definitly,” She gave a parting wave before going down to her awaiting limo. AJ shut the door and turned, surprised to see Nick standing, waiting for him. “ Gee, thanks for the privacy, Nicky-Boy,” “ Were you over there last night?” He asked nonchalantly, pasting a grin on his face. AJ looked at him and nodded before heading back to the living room. “ OK, let’s get started,” “ Hang on,” Brian said with a knowing grin. “ Who did ya spend the night with?” “ It’s not like that,” AJ answered. “ We’re just friends,” “ Special friends?” “ No, dumbass, friends, now can we please get started?” After his slightly reprimanding tone, they started the whole talk of the upcoming album...
