Carmen - H.S

Chapter 18

The next day, Carmen sat impatiently in Ron's office, arms crossed and head pounding. She found herself in this precarious position far too often, and her limbs ached with the familiarity of it.

Ron was late. This was not particularly unusual. Except for the fact that she'd been papped right outside of a club, drunk off her fucking mind just the other night. And normally Ron would be waiting for her instead of the other way around, a sneer on his lips and a glare in his eyes.

What had even happened last night? She vaguely recalled leaving the gala, and twirling around some humid club, and kicking some creepy guy and... Harry. Or was it Harold? Those dark curls and deep dimples and nervous eyes floated around in her mind, in a pattern neither pleasing nor disturbing. And something else. Something heavy. Something she shouldn't have forgotten but desperately wanted to.

She could feel herself grow more and more frustrated with every second that ticked by. She just wanted to get this over with, so she could go see Daniel before he left for Austria with his father. He was leaving at four, and the clock was rapidly approaching three. It took half an hour to get to his place, so if-

"I don't have a lot of time," Ron said as he strolled in, forgoing a greeting. He slammed his briefcase down on his desk harder than he meant to and winced.

"I have an exec meeting at five, a press conference at-"

"I didn't ask for your schedule, Ronnie," she snapped. "I wanna be done by three so get on with it."

He sighed, a bit overdramatically in her opinion, and looked her in the eye for a tad longer than he would usually dare.

"I'm just gonna give it to you straight, Carmen. Your parents saw the pics from last night, and they want you to come back home."

The words penetrated her ears but not her mind. She studied her long crimson nails blankly before realizing Ron had paused and looked up.

Under normal circumstances, this news would not phase her. Her parents did this about twice a year, usually following the heels of a holiday she couldn't make it home for or some overblown scandal. They whined that they missed their baby girl, and Carmen would ignore the tiny twinge in her heart that urged her to go home. She'd tell them everything was fine, that the magazines were all lying, that she'd be on a plane home the second she caught her next break. Then everything would settle down.

However, these were not normal circumstances. This was evident by the thudding of her head and the nervousness of Ron's gaze. Something was different this time, and without even knowing what it was, panic began to accumulate in her narrow chest.

"Tell them," she snarled, rising to her feet, "that I'm not going anywhere."

"Carm-"

"I'm not fucking leaving. I'm staying in New York, and no one is going to tell me otherwise."

Ron sighed, deeply dreading his next sentence. "I didn't want to be the one to tell you this, but... Lucy got another job. And she's moving to Michigan."

An instant of silence ensued, in which you could've heard a pin drop or a single breath released. Something was coming unhinged deep within Carmen.

"I don't fucking care, Ron! I'm not going back. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not!" She was screeching now, and he was surprised that her pitch didn't rattle the windowpanes.

"You at least have to talk to them about this first."

"I don't have to do shit!" she hissed. "You can't make me do anything, you worthless bitch. I'm the boss here."