Notorious

Inevitable

Upon seeing the words, "The Mothership" light up my phone, my eyes nearly pop out of my head in shock. I bet most of the population in their early twenties are probably annoyed at having their mother call so much, but that's not the case for me.

 I am frankly lucky to hear from her on my birthday, let alone a random Thursday afternoon.

"To what do I this pleasure?" I ask as soon as I press accept and excuse myself from the rest of the band as I make my way down Niall's hallway.

"That is no way to answer the phone, Aspen."

"I knew it was you, mom," I roll my eyes and my leg shakes violently as I lean against the wall, "Did you just call to criticize my phone manners?"

I hear her sigh lightly through the phone and I try not to let my nerves escalate as I wait for her answer. My mother never calls me, so this has to be extremely important. Or maybe, just maybe, she genuinely wants to chat and ask about my life in-

"Your brother hasn't been answering his phone. I'm worried. Can I speak to him?"

Ah, so that's the real reason. Of course it is, how could I possibly think she would want to speak to me? She is simply worried about the prodigal son. I ignore the stinging in my eyes as I try to play off the situation.

"What about me? You haven't heard from me in almost two months." I joke lightly, but it is anything but.

"Of course I do, sweetie. How are you?" I know she is trying to placate me and doesn't truly care, but I talk anyway.

"I'm good. We had a really killer gig a few weeks ago that everyone freaked out about. We have a new bandmate that's sort of an asshole-"

"Language, Aspen. What about that boy you were dating? Lewis something or other?"

I freeze instantly at the mention of Louis. We've been broken up for almost eight months, how could she not know that? "We broke up a while ago, mom."

"That's wonderful, honey. Now, can I speak to Liam? It's urgent." She says in a rush and I know she wasn't listening. The only thing that probably registered to her was my cussing.

I scoff loudly and swallow down the lump in my throat as I force myself off the wall and stomp down the hallway. When I re-enter the living room everyone notices my enraged and hurt expression, shooting me worried looks that I ignore.

Liam looks up from his beer when I step in front of him and his face twists into concern. And even though this isn't his fault at all and I shouldn't be upset at something I should just suspect, I can't help but feel resentful.

"Mother dearest wishes to speak to you." I spit, tossing the phone into his lap, his face instantly falling at my words.

He gingerly picks it up and places a sympathetic hand on my shoulder as I plop down into the armchair, but I brush it off. I don't want or need his sympathy. I'm used to it by now. I hear him let out a small sigh as he walks into the kitchen and leaves me with the rest of the band staring at me cautiously.

"Well, where's my beer?"

Niall is quick to reach into the case next to him and pull out a bottle, hastily popping off the cap and passing it to me. I can feel their gazes on me as I bring the bottle to my lips and down about half of it's contents in one go.

The liquid fire slides down my throat smoothly and I only set it down when I hear Harry's familiar deep rumble, "I think that's enough, Munchkin. Don't want to pump your stomach tonight."

"Shut up, Curly. I can do what I want." I shoot him a glare, but this only causes a grin to light up his face.

Ever since our little outing, Harry has been following me 'round like a puppy. I already told him that I forgave him, but he took that as a sign that he should stick to me like a leech until I promise that we're BFFs and paint each other's toenails.