🎶Line Without A Hook🎶 [Lukloe]

Chapter Eight - Unwanted Visit

Chloe's day was wonderful. She get an A on a pop quiz, she was invited to sit with the other girls at lunch, and there wasn't much to do at the animal shelter, so she just played with the animals. Then she got home. And saw her mom yelling at people.

Chloe paled. What would her mom think about her new friends, her actions, just her. Chloe tried to hide behind Jean, but Audrey noticed her beforehand. 

"Chlorine- er, Chloe! How can you let you father hire such utterly ridiculous people? You're fired!" Audrey screams at the shaking waiter.

Yep, this was her Mom. No hi or hello, just constantly degrading others. 

"M-mom, Hi. I didn't know you were coming back today." Chloe mummers, looking at the floor.

"Well, at first this was just a pit stop for my flight to Shanghai, but the other plane is late. Isn't that just ridiculous?"

"Utterly ridiculous." Chloe whispers, playing with her hands.

"What's with your posture? Straighten your back, lift your chin. My daughter cannot be looking like this." Audrey walks over to Chloe, trying to fix her. "What's with your smell? You smell like wet dog." She eventually looks down at Chloe's nails and lets out a horrified scream. 

Chloe's eyes widen and she puts her bitten nails behind her back. "Mom! That's nothing! I, uh, was just... uhh..." Chloe tries to think of a good lie, but comes up blank. 

"Have you been biting you nails? Absolutely not. Come with me, you need to get cleaned up." Audrey goes to put her hand on Chloe's shoulder, but recoils. "Go take a shower first. That wet dog is making me woozy."

Chloe takes a deep breath and shoves down the growing sadness as she goes off to her bathroom.

===

"Well, since I'm here in Paris, I might as well try to enjoy it." Audrey scoffs as she walks out to her limo, Chloe dragging her feet after her. The two enter the limo. "Take us to my nail salon." She orders the driver.

Chloe's knee begins to bounce in the car. Audrey, who actually spared a glance at her child, notices this. 

"What are you doing with you knee? Stop that."

Chloe swallows the lump in the throat and makes her leg be still. She starts playing with her hands, instead.

"What's wrong with you? Why won't you just stay still?" 

"Sorry, Mother." Chloe murmurs. The rest of the drive was in uncomfortable silence. Chloe hated this. She hated her mom. She hated how her mom treated her like some random... thing that was hers to mold into whatever she wanted. Chloe wanted her mom to treat her like her like and actual human being. Simple as that. 

Audrey couldn't give two shits about what Chloe wanted or hated. Audrey only cared for herself and her title. 

"So how is your servant treating you?" Audrey didn't actually care. She was just bored.

"His name is Jean-"

"His name doesn't matter. As long as he's doing a good job, he doesn't need to get fired."

Chloe glares at the floor, taking a deep breath before speaking again. "Jean is a wonderful butler. He cares for me a lot." Chloe mutters under her breath. "More than you do." (damn Chloe shots fired)

"Good, Good." 

Silence again. 

"I've been getting good grades. Especially since I've made friends with the other gi- uh, made friends with Marinette. She helps me study."

"Isn't she the one who I offered to bring to New York with me over her Hat design." Audrey looks at her daughter through the corner of her eye.

"That's the one."

"Good to hear you associate yourself with higher people. What about Adrien Agreste?"

"We're still best friends." Chloe says curtly. She didn't want to talk about Adrien. Honestly, she was embarrassed over her obsession with him. Her mom probably still though She was obsessed with him. 

Even more silence. This felt like when your with your friend's friend and have nothing in common but that one friend your both friends with.

Chloe zones out the rest of the ride, trying to think of anything but her mom. The car stops in front of the nail salon Audrey goes to. Audrey struts in like she owns the place, just like she does everywhere.

"Where is Louis?" Audrey announces.

Louis is Audrey's professional manicurist. He looks up from his current patient and frowns.

"Over here, Mme. Bourgeois. I'm currently working with someone else, so you will have to wait. Or you can have another manicurist do your nails." Louis says calmly.

"Moi? Wait? I am Audrey Bourgeois. I do not wait in line. Nor do I trust anyone but you to do my nails. Your fired."

"You can't fire me, Mme. Bourgeois." Louis mentions, trying his hardest to not roll his eyes. "I don't work for you."

Chloe's already wide eyes widen even more. The only other person who ever said something like that was Gabriel Agreste's secretary and after that, Chloe's mom ended up akumatized the same day. This couldn't end well. 

"Uh, well obviously. That was a joke." Audrey laughs awkwardly. Chloe gaps. What the hell just happened? Her mom was really listening to a non-high class person?

Audrey sits in a chair and looks over her nails. Chloe, still in shock, sits down next to her. Most people moved away from them, a bit intimidated. Chloe tries to think of a reason why her mom listened to the man named Louis. Maybe they had a history? Close friend? Distant family member?

About half an hour later, Louis calls Audrey and Chloe over. Audrey tells him what she want with her nails and he starts on her right away.

"Who's this young lady with you?" Louis smiles at Chloe, who sat on her hands to sit still. She did need her mom yelling at her in front of others.

"This is my daughter, Claudia. I mean, Chloe."

"Ah, Lovely to meet you, Chloe. I wasn't aware you had a daughter, Mme. Bourgeois."

"Yes, whatever. I brought her here because she has been biting her nails! Can you believe that?"

Chloe looks at the table with an obvious frown.

Louis glances at Chloe. "Well, we all have our reasons for our actions. Maybe we just haven't realized why we've done them yet, Mme. Bourgeois."

"Please, Louis, we know each other well enough. Call me Audrey."

"No thanks, Mme. Bourgeois."

Word Count - 1073