Return III

Chapter 5

Prince's POV

"Why did you want to leave so early?" I ask as I drive down the road back to my grandparent's house. Blanket stays silent and stares out the window, acting as if he hadn't heard me.

"Blanket." my little brother turns his head to look at me. He raises his eye brows and takes in a deep breath, waiting for me to say something.

"Is everything alright with you?" Blanket nods, then turns back to the window. He rests his head against it and slowly exhales a deep breath. Over the years, I have noticed that he only does that when he has a lot on his mind. I want to know what it is, but I decide to not pester him. He gets angry easily, and I do not want to be the one he lashes out on.

I turn my focus back on the road and hum along to the song playing on the radio. Just then, Blanket leans forward and turns the nob on the dash to shut the volume off completely, then out of the corner of my eye, I see him stare at me. He sighs again, then begins to speak.

"Do you think Natalie throwing herself out to the public is a good idea?" he asks and I chuckle, furrowing my eye brows.

"Throwing herself into the public?" I repeats his words and he glares at me.

"You know what I mean. She's putting herself out there. She's advertising herself; as if all these years of her being hidden away from the public just for being in our family was all for nothing." Blanket slumps back into the passenger seat, but keeps his eyes on me. My eyes widen at his words. I'm quite impressed.

"It wasn't all for nothing, Blanket. If she wouldn't have found out about us, she would still be living a normal life right now." I say and Blanket shakes his head.

"We live a normal life, too, Prince. Maybe not normal people's definition of normal, but normal enough for us."

"Exactly." I say. Blanket sighs again.

"I just think that this is all gonna come back and bite her in the ass," Blanket says, shaking his head. "and even Dad, too."

"Why dad?" I ask, trying to split my attention between my brother and the road. Blanket leans forward again.

"Because nobody knew about her. They only thought Dad had three kids. They're gonna want to know why he kept her a secret, and they're gonna want to know all the details and everything."

"Or," I begin, pausing as I make a left turn. A small car suddenly pulls out in front of me, and I almost rear end it. I slam on my breaks and curse, then pound my horn. I begin driving again and sigh, trying to remember what I was going to say.

"Or they'll be really happy and excited about it. New information is always the best information, especially when it comes to huge pop stars like our Dad."

"Yeah, but then there's always someone out there who makes shit up; and this is a huge thing to do that with. People always find creative ways to turn good news into bad news."

I raise my eye brows and stick out my bottom lip, again, impressed with what my little brother had just said. I have never heard him talk like this before, and I wonder where he had gotten it from.

"Can't disagree there, little bro." Blanket rearranges his seat belt. I reach my right arm over and pat his shoulder, then return it to the steering wheel. A few moments of silence pass as I pull up to a stop light. I chew my lower lip for a second, then release it.

"To answer your question," I say, turning my head to look at Blanket. "no, I don't think it's a very good idea either, but we need to respect Natalie's wishes. If this is what she wants to do, we have to let her. If it was Paris, we would be doing the same thing."

Blanket says nothing, but I already know what he is thinking. By the look on his face, I can read his thoughts, and I already don't want him to say what's on his mind.

I finally pull up to our grandparents house and park my truck in the driveway. Blanket takes his time unbuckling his seat belt and opening the door, but when he does, he hopes out of the truck quickly and walks to the front door without me. He says nothing and doesn't even turn around as we walk up to the house and walk inside.

When we enter the house, Blanket goes straight upstairs. I hear his door close moments later. I remove my shoes slowly, then walk into the living room where my grandpa is sitting in his reclining chair watching TV.

"I don't even want to know what's his matter anymore." Grandpa says, not looking away from the TV. I sigh and take a seat on the couch.

"Is that Prince sweetheart?" Grandma calls from the kitchen. I turn around and yell, "Yeah."

"Prince, come here, sweetheart." Grandma calls. I lean forward, then push myself to my feet. I have done nothing but run around all day, and now all I want to do is relax. I walk into the kitchen and find Grandma fixing dinner. This is somewhat rare, because our chef usually prepares us whatever we eat.

"What are you doing?" I ask and she turns around and smiles up at me, then returns to her preparation of what looks like homemade pasta and cheese bread.

"Your father requested a home made meal," she says with her back to me. She grabs a plastic ladle and stirs the boiling noodles, then turns on the oven light and checks the bread. "I think, all he's been through, he deserves something nice; don't you think?"

"Yeah," I say quietly, taking a seat in the first stool behind the center island.

"Where's Blanket?" she asks, wiping her hands on a dish towel, then finally turning to me.

"Upstairs." I answer and she gives me a "figures" facial expression. I nod and take in a deep breath, thinking of a way to make the explanation as brief as possible.

"He's upset that Natalie's introducing herself to the public as one of us."

Grandma's face falls and I chew my lower lip. The scent of the cheese bread makes my mouth water and my stomach growl. "That's a good thing," Grandma says. I nod in agreement. I quickly toss in an "I know." before she finishes her sentence. "Why is he upset about that?"

"I don't know. It's kind of hard to get him to talk about his feelings." Grandma nods. "But he said that he's worried that this will all come back on her and Dad."

"What?" Grandma asks. I shrug.

"I guess if you really think about it, it makes sense." Grandma pauses for a few moments, then nods. "He said that her going out like this means that being hidden away from our family for so long was pointless." I add. Grandma shrugs and sighs.

"You gotta see where he's coming from, sweetheart." Grandma says in a calm tone and I nod.

Maybe Blanket's right. Maybe Natalie entering the public eye is not a good idea. What are people going to say? Will they be happy or mad?

I can't help but infer that the moment Natalie's fame skyrockets, she will regret it, and by that time, it'll be too late to go back to her normal life.

Thinking these thoughts gives me the chills as I remember what my little brother had said just a few short minutes ago.

"We live a normal life, too, Prince. Maybe not normal people's definition of normal, but normal enough for us."