The Voice (Luke Hemmings)

52. Shopping Adventures

After a long day of recording Hayley and I were walking back to the entrance. "You know there were cameras in the studio?" Hayley said suddenly. My head snapped up. "What?" "Yea, the camera team set up some cameras there, so they could film without distracting you." She said. "What? Why didn't you tell me? I would've done... I wouldn't have done... I... Ugh." I said. "Exactly. You'd stress out about the fact that there are cameras pointed at you." She said and I was silent for a while. I guess she's right. "Finally! What took you so long?" Charlotte asked and I shrugged. "Perfection comes with a price." Hayley said and I chuckled. We were late because we recorded 2 extra songs... The ones I wrote on the plane and finished this morning. Not For The Love Of A Daughter. I didn't want to share that with anybody... yet. I don't know if I ever will. They were called Nobody's Home and Runaways. "Well... Shopping?" I asked and Marcus smiled brightly. "Well yea! We'll use you as our guide, since you're from here." He said and I shrugged. "Sure." I said. "Great." He said and dragged Charlotte and me with him. "The rest already went home." Charlotte said to me and I nodded. I saw Hayley getting into a car, so she must be heading to the beach house too. The same SUV as earlier stopped in front of us and we got in, excited for the shopping spree.

The driver stopped in the center of LA, where the most shops are. It was good to see all of this again. It brings a lot of memories back. Mostly happy memories, since the bad things didn't happen in the city. I sighed and adjusted the backpack on my back. "So... Where to first?"

We walked around LA for a while, going into shops I recognized and liked. After a while the camera crew found us and followed us around. The three of us were goofing around in front of the camera and for the rest we just ignored them. We got a lot of stares too. I mean, a camera crew was following us through LA... Back to the shopping. There were a lot of new shops. I bought a massive amount of clothes and Marcus helped me pick them out. My fashion sense is 'fabulous' according to him. I chuckled. He's the best. We just had lunch with the camera crew at the table next to us, but after that they went back. Luckily. After lunch we walked further through the busy streets with our bags in our hands. My eyes fell on a shop that looked very colourful. It was a hair-dresser. Like Marcus. I chuckled and walked inside. "Honey, if you want to cut your hair you can just ask me y'know?" He said and I nodded. "I know. I'm not here for a haircut." I said and left them standing at the entrance while I walked further. One of the hairdressers was singing along to the music while doing a woman's hair. When she saw me she turned around quickly. "Oh hello. What can I do for you?" She asked. "Hi, I'd like to buy hair dye." I said and she nodded. She said something to the woman in the chair and walked with me to a part in the back of the store. "Do you want a natural colour or something else?" I nodded. "Yea, I'd like dark blue." I said and she smiled brightly. "That will be so awesome on you! Do you want me to do it for you or are you going to do it yourself?" She asked. "No, I'll be doing it myself." I said and she nodded. "We have midnight blue right here. And with your hair... It's long and thick... I think you'll need two packets." I nodded and she handed me the packets. I walked after her to the counter and paid. "Thanks a lot." I said while she handed me the bag with the hair dye. "No problem." She said and smiled. I walked back to Charlotte and Marcus and smiled cheekily. "Badass." Marcus said at the same time Charlotte said "Rebel." I chuckled and shook my head. "If you need some help colouring it, I'm the man you seek." He said while pointing at his body. I chuckled and nodded. "Sure. I'll give you a ring." I said and he gave me a thumbs up.

After 3 hours of shopping we all dropped down in a little Italian restaurant and set all the bags down. There were a lot. After a couple minutes a waiter came and asked us what we wanted. Marcus wanted some sort of pasta and Charlotte lasagna. But I went straight to the pizza part of the menu. Why have pasta or lasagna when you can have pizza? I sipped from my coke while Marcus and Charlotte had an argument. I had no idea what it was about. They seemed done with it because Marcus turned to me. "Quite the rebel huh?" He said with a grin. I smiled and shrugged. "I've been wanting to dye my hair a different colour for a while now. And we're here now, so..." I said. "What's next? A tattoo? I'll come with you." Charlotte said and I chuckled. "You're still a tattoo virgin right?" She asked and I almost choked on my coke. I laughed. "Yea, I am. You?" I asked. "Nah, I have one on my ribs." She said and I nodded. "Ah, yea. I saw it when we were swimming yesterday. It's awesome." She smiled. "Thanks." I looked outside, at the people passing the restaurant and crossing the street. It was still quite busy. A man with long greasy grey hair passed the restaurant and looked inside. His dull brown eyes met mine and I couldn't believe it. Terror rose in my body. He held my gaze, almost being pressed against the window. I was frozen, on my seat. Charlotte and Marcus were talking to me, but I didn't hear them. The man walked to the entrance of the restaurant, which seemed to go in slow motion. "Hey, are you okay?" I heard Marcus say. "I... I... I have to go." I said before standing up. They were looking at me confused and the entrance of the store was wide open now, my father standing there with a crazed look on his face. "Skyler Quinn Munro." He said, loud enough for me to hear it. It was silent for a while until Charlotte whispered "Munro?" I need to get the fuck away from here. I looked around and saw the door to the kitchen. "Get the fuck here, you whore!" He slurred. He was drunk too... I ran towards the kitchen, through the doors. A few cooks looked up and I stood there, looking around frantically. "Exit... Exit? Where's an exit?" I asked quickly. One of them pointed at a door behind him and I nodded, running into that direction. "Don't you walk away from me you useless piece of shit!" I heard my father yell from behind the doors. Tears blurred my vision. I ran to the exit, bumping into some pans, but I didn't stop. Not even once I was outside. I ran, and ran, and ran.

I was tired, out of breath and I felt like breaking down. So I did. I stumbled to the nearest bench, crashing onto it. I put my knees up and my arms around it, breaking into sobs. Why was he here? Why was he drunk? Why did he look like... Why did he look like a homeless man? Why hasn't he changed at all? And what would Marcus and Charlotte think of me right now? I looked around me. There were a few people passing me, not noticing me. Or just ignoring me. No trace of my dad. Luckily.

After what felt like hours of thinking and crying, and many missed calls and unread texts later, I decided to call Hayley. To let her know I'm okay. I held my phone out of my pocket with trembling hands. Luckily I had my phone in my pocket, not in one of my bags. Because they were still at the restaurant. I dialed Hayleys number and waited for her to pick up. After a couple seconds she did. "Skyler? Thank gosh. Are you okay? Where are you? We'll pick you up." She sounded relieved. They were probably shocked, what is understandable. I am too. "I'm okay. I think." I said and sniffled. I looked around. "I'm near... Erm... A small park? Erm... On Portland Street." I said. "Okay, we'll be there soon. Don't worry." She said and I wiped the tears off my cheek. "Can I talk to her?" I heard Charlotte say. The phone was being handed to her. "Skyler?" She asked. "Hey." I said silently. "Are you okay? We were really worried." She said. "Um.. Yea. I'm okay." I said. I didn't sound okay and I really wasn't. "Marcus and I brought your bags back to the beach house, so don't worry about that." She tried to lighten the mood. I chuckled, which came out more of a sob. "Thank you." I said and it was silent for a while. I heard a few car doors slam closed. "Who are coming?" I asked. "Just me and Hayley." She said and I was silent again. I really wanted to talk to Luke right now. He must be worried sick, not knowing what happened. All of them. But I had to wait until we were alone again... I sighed and tears started flowing again. "We'll be there in 20 minutes tops." She said through the phone and I hummed. "Stay there yea?" She asked. "Okay." I said, not really having another place to go. I kept looking around if my father was here. He wasn't. Did he lose his company? Was it my fault? I shook my head. It was never my fault. But now he was a drunk too... Sobs escaped my mouth again. I was confused. I didn't know what to feel. My father was an utter asshole, but... He was loving once. When I was little. And now... I don't know if he can change. I don't even know if I want to help him change. It was necessary, but I'd have to face him again. And I'd rather never think of him again. I buried my head between my knees. This was really bad. I should let mom know... Or should I wait? Or call Anna...? An SUV pulled up in front of me. Guess I'll call her later then. Charlotte ran out and hugged me tightly. "Thank god you're okay. I was so fucking worried." She said and held me tightly. I began sobbing again and nodded, not saying anything. I walked back to the car. Hayley was driving and Charlotte sat next to me on the back seat. Hayley leant backwards out of the driver's seat, and hugged me. "We'll go back now." She said and I nodded. Hayley drove away and I stared out of the window, ignoring Hayley's stares through the rearview mirror.