Risky Business.

001 . copy that, blondie

chapter 001 ,
copy that, blondie
[ three hundred and twenty-eight days later ]

THERE WERE MANY THINGS THAT LUCY ANDREWS HATED—hot weather, failing classes, shaving her legs—but there was little she disliked more than staying with her mother.

After their divorce, Paul and Heather Andrews had won shared custody over their children, even though both Lucy and Leo had stated they would have rather lived year-round with their father and only occasionally visit their mother... when they had to. But the judge decided in Heather's favor and set a schedule so that Leo and Lucy would be able to switch off between their parents' houses every two weeks. Insanely inconvenient for the kids and completely against what they wanted, but the court almost never decides on what the children want.

As a result of this schedule, Heather had implemented a weekly 'family dinner' with her kids. Neither Andrews child was a big fan of this arrangement—Leo had taken to spending all of his free time at the arcade with his party and thought having to sit at a table for two hours was a big waste of time; and Lucy just plain didn't like having to talk with her mother. Dinner with Heather meant two hours of choking down averagely cooked food and unpleasant conversations with her mom.

To put it simply, Heather had gone off the deep end after the divorce. Paul had picked himself up and dusted off his shoulders, but for Heather, the divorce was the beginning of the end. Lucy and Leo both knew it.

     "Ugh." Leo's nose scrunched up and he sat up on Lucy's bed to give her a disgusted look. "Do you smell that?"

     Lucy replied without taking her focus off the homework assignment on the desk in front of her. "She's making her signature meatloaf for dinner."

     "Oh, God," Leo said, dropping his head into a pillow. "She sucks at making meatloaf. Didn't she learn the last time? Or the time before that?"

"Nope," Lucy said, shaking her head slowly. "Yeah, she never learns. Do you want me to take you out for burgers later tonight, after she goes to bed?"

     His face lit up. "Holy shit, yes, please—"

     "Hey," Lucy said sharply, turning her head over her shoulder to glare at him. "I told you not to curse anymore. I don't care if Dustin does it, or whatever."

"Whatever," he said, throwing the pillow at the back of her head. "So what are we going to talk about tonight?"

"Well, I don't want her asking about Steve anymore," Lucy said, scratching a mark on her paper much harder than she needed to. She cleared her throat and set that paper off to the side. "She just won't take the fact that we broke up almost a year ago. And besides, he has a whole new girlfriend now—y'know, Mike's sister."

     Leo's face scrunched up. "He's dating Nancy?"

     Lucy nodded, her lips pursed cynically. "Yep. But what I mean to say is—I need you to help me keep her off the subject. And, while I'm thinking about it, it might be best to avoid the idea of exes overall. I think talking about Dad's new girlfriend would send Mom into another spiral."

     "And that means meatloaf for dinner every night," Leo deducted, groaning. He stuck out his tongue and gagged. "How does she actually eat that stuff? I mean, it's basically dog food and expired mashed potatoes pounded together into the shape of a big cylinder of.. disgustingness."