Chapter 10: Sleepover

The ringing doorbell acted like a cattle prod for the dark-haired girl with a trim, athletic figure. She sprang up from the couch like a panther and dashed quickly out of the living room toward the front of the house.

A woman sitting on the couch looking at her Kindle glanced up briefly and then looked over to the man intently watching the television where a golf match played out. “You might want to cover your ears,” she said with a raised eyebrow. She had dark eyes and wore a pair of jeans and a green sweater.

“Ahhhhh!!” came two high-pitched shrieks from beyond their view and the man watching golf immediately looked at his wife and shook his head slowly.

After a few more shrieks, two teenagers appeared at the archway leading to the living room, the dark-haired girl and a tall, blonde girl wearing torn jeans and a tight tank-top revealing firm round breasts that swayed erotically as she walked. The dark-haired girl held the other by the hand and bounced around like Tigger on his tail, “Sarah’s home, Sarah’s home,” she chanted as she bounced. “Look who’s home!”

“Hello, Sarah,” said the woman with a nod of her head. “How was New York?”

“Unbelievable, Mrs. Bloom!” said the girl with wide eyes as she made a beeline to the couch and sat down next to the woman. “It’s so much more amazing in real life than on tv.”

“I know,” said Shelly with a grin as she put down her device and turned to face Sarah. “I went for the first time when I wasn’t much older than you two. Did you get to do any sight-seeing or were you busy with photo shoots?”

“Oh ... my ... God,” said Sarah shaking her head. “You would not believe the schedule. We have to get up way before sunrise to have hair and makeup done first thing. The photographers are so bossy, everything has to be perfect or they start screaming at the set director and the art director is always mad at the costume people because of some loose thread and the light is going away and on and on and on. I never knew it was anything like that.”

“Did they like your work?” asked the man in the chair taking an interest in the conversation.

“I’m not sure,” said Sarah with a shrug. “They sent my parents a contract and they want me to go to Milan in a couple of weeks, so I think they liked it.”

“What?” shrieked the other girl. “Milan? You’re going to miss the end of summer. You’ll be gone for your birthday. What about school?”

Sarah shrugged, “I’ll be back before school starts and before my birthday but I’m not sure what they have planned.”

“Did you sign anything?” asked Steven with a look of concern.

“I think my parents did,” said Sarah. “I’m not sure. I can’t sign my own contract for some reason.”

“You have to be seventeen,” said Shelly. “Until then your parents are your legal guardians.”

“Oh,” said Sarah. “You should have seen my mother in the city. I love her but she’s not like you and Mr. Bloom. She’s never been anywhere. She wanted to eat at the New York McDonalds to see if it was different than here. And we ate at stupid Pantera’s Pizza. We have those here.”

“Did you get to do anything exciting?”

“Oh yes,” said Sarah nodding her head. “When it was just us models, Katie really showed me around, taught me about how to behave and things. Speaking of which, is Tommy around? Katie says I’m young now but when I get older, I’ll need to stay in shape or I’ll never last in this business. She says I need to do weight training. Do you think he’d help me?”

“Katie?” said Shelly with a raised eyebrow and a glance at her husband.

“Kate Beckinsale,” said Sarah. “She’s really nice. They pair up the younger girls with an older model as a ... a whatchamacallit, Nan?” this last she said to the other teen girl.

“Mentor,” said Nan. “You met Kate Beckinsale?”

“Now, there’s a woman,” said Steven as he rubbed his chin with his thumb and finger. “Yum.”

“Should I be jealous?” asked Shelly with a fake pout.

“She’s really nice,” repeated Sarah.

“Can you introduce me?” asked Steven.

“I will throw this Kindle at you,” said Shelly with a grin.

Nan smiled and hugged Sarah, “I think Tommy will be more than happy to help you with anything.”

“Stop that,” said Sarah her cheeks turning red.

Nan held up her hands in the shape of a heart, “He’s so in love with you! Sarah and Tommy, then we can be sisters!”

“If you want to be sisters, you should marry Brad,” said Sarah giving Nan a little shove. “He’s sooooo in love with you.”

“Shut up,” said Nan pushing back and the two began to tickle one another.

Steven looked at Shelly and shrugged, “I guess this means I don’t get to meet Katie?”

“Shut up, you,” said Shelly shaking her head. She then turned to the two girls still attacking each other. “I’m guessing you’ll be staying for dinner tonight?”

Sarah nodded.

Nan looked at her dad, “Sarah is staying all night. You’ll make pancakes tomorrow, Daddy-o?”

“We’ve got an early tee-time at the club in case you forgot,” he said with a shake of his head.

“Oh yeah,” said Nan with a frown and a look at Sarah. “It’s okay, mom will make you a nice omelet when you get up and I’ll be back before lunch.”

“Yum, omelet,” said Sarah with a grin.

“Come on,” said Nan, grabbing Sarah by the arm. “You can’t believe this TikTok I saw.” With that the two girls dashed up the stairs and out of sight.

“It’s going to be a long night,” said Steven to his wife.

“C’mon, mom,” said Nan as she sat on the couch facing the television. “Just start the movie. Tommy’s going to be forever.”

“He just texted,” said Shelly shaking her head. “They’re dropping him off right now. You can wait five more minutes.”

“I’ve got a tee-time at seven tomorrow with dad,” said the girl. “I can’t stay up all night watching a movie.”

“You’re going to stay up all night gabbing with Sarah,” said Shelly looking at the two girls sitting arm and arm on the couch with her sister, already three wines into the evening in the comfortable chair by the fireplace.

“I’m home,” came a young man’s voice from somewhere in back, followed immediately by running steps. “I’m going to shower in a minute, if you want to start the movie.”

“See,” said Nan. “Start the movie.”

“We can wait,” said Steven sitting next to his wife. “He’s a working man now.”

“Working boy,” said Nan with a giggle. “Can Sarah and I have another White Claw?”

“How many is that?” asked Shelly with a shake of her head.

“It’s only my second,” said Nan. “I had one with dinner.”

“You had a glass of your aunt’s wine as well,” said Shelly.

“I’m not drunk, mom, jeez.”

Shelly looked at Steven who shrugged, “Go on then. Get one for me as well. Lots of ice.”

“I know how you like them,” said Nan, springing to her feet and heading off to the kitchen. She came back shortly with three ice filled glasses and then made a second trip to bring in the cans of White Claw. “There you go, mommy dearest. Sarah, my darling. And one for me!”

A few seconds later a young man with wet hair and wearing flannel pajamas appeared at the archway leading to the living room, “Let’s...”. Then his mouth opened along with his eyes as he spotted Sarah sitting on the couch.

“Nice jammies, little bro,” said Nan with a grin. “Oh yeah, Sarah’s spending the night. Didn’t anyone tell you?”

“Shut up,” said Tommy shooting her a glare.

“I think they’re cute,” said Sarah with a smile.

“Come sit with me,” said the older woman in the comfy chair. “There’s room for two.”

Tommy looked at his aunt and then his sister and Sarah sitting together on the couch. He thought for a moment and then smiled, “Thanks, Aunt Lucy. I’ll just sit on the couch and he plopped down between Nan and Sarah with a thump, forcing them apart.

“Hey!” said Nan and shoved him.