Later in the afternoon, Mom had her interview to attend. Instead of dropping me off anywhere, Tara and I stayed at the house and talked for a while. She was very quiet for a moment, and she was staring out the window.
"So, what is your favorite animal?"
Tara immediately perked up and turned her head toward me.
"My favorite animal is a panda. What is yours?"
"A unicorn," she blurted the second I finished talking. Without even thinking, I decided to ask her a completely random question. Although, speaking of random, if you take into account her shaking body, Tara is just short of foaming at the mouth.
"How many coffees did you have today?"
Tara laughed and pulled her iPhone out of her Louis Vuitton bag.
"Sorry, I got a text. It's from Steffi, and she said that I-"
She quit talking, and she smiled really big instead.
"I butt-dialed her on the way inside."
Tara face-palmed and her thumbs began tapping the small key buttons at lightning speed.
"You didn't answer my question."
I grinned and poked her leg.
"I've had three since nine o'clock."
My eyes grew wide. That can't be healthy, I thought out loud. Oops!
"It's not, but I work late hours. I don't sleep hardly at all," Tara said, placing her hand on my knee.
"Why do you look so perfect then?"
She began to chuckle, and she shook her head. Her dark brown curls danced on her shoulders.
"Babe, I'm a makeup artist. Luckily, I don't have to worry about dark circles because," she fished through her bag, "I've got this."
Tara handed me some foreign product that had an anime character on it. We had a long discussion about makeup, and then Gaga called. She wanted to talk to me.
"Hey, honey! They're playing a song right now. I just wanted to call and ask if you've been doing alright," she spoke, and I could imagine her smiling over the phone.
"Oh! I'm doing fine, thanks. How has everything been so far?"
We had a generic conversation, and then Mom said she had to go.
"One last thing, though. Taylor said you took a very long shower in California."
I told her that I did, and that's when I remembered. Section I, Lesson III. Online schooling.
"Crap! I'm sorry, I remembered afterwards that I shouldn't have." I laughed.
"They didn't use water for almost a day after that. That's why T ordered pizza that night."
We both laughed, and I realized that I could be the reason that every source of water in California runs dry. It really wasn't funny, but we laughed anyways.
"Well, I love you, baby! I'll see you in an hour. Also, you're babysitting Tara. Surprise! She's had way too much caffeine. Give her a piece of paper and tell her to draw a puppy or something. If you make it a contest, please let her win. Also, watch her hands. It's really quite incredible."
We hung up, and I decided that I actually want to see how this turns out. I never thought I would be babysitting a woman that's a few years older than my own mother, but it's cool.
"Hey, wanna' have a drawing contest?"
Tara put her phone back in her bag.
"Sounds fun," she shrugged.
"Let's draw puppies or something," I said awkwardly. How does my mom just make things sound perfectly normal? Anyways, Tara was the equivalent of a toddler on a sugar rush at that moment, but she had enough control to keep from bouncing off of the walls. Barely.
Eventually, I got some paper out, and we began drawing. I looked over at Tara's hands, just like Mom said to, and the one she was drawing with was shaking like a leaf during an earthquake.
"Oh my gosh Tara that's so good," I chuckled, trying to keep my own hands steady enough to draw.
"Thanks bae," she said without any enthusiasm at all. She was so focused on that drawing. I finished drawing my little brown blob of a dog way before she finished hers.
"It would've been way better if you had paint on hand. I want to see yours!"
Tara slid her drawing over to me and snatched mine in one motion. Somehow, even though Gaga told me to let her win, Tara's drawing was better than mine.
"You w—"
"I always win," she started laughing.
"I feel like Gaga always rigs it though."
Tara shrugged and began putting the crayons from our strange contest back in the box.
It got really quiet after that.
"Do you want to watch a movie or something?"
I turned my head toward Tara to try and break the silence.
"Yes, but we're watching that movie with Gaga and The Muppets. It should be on Netflix," she said, looking for the remote. We watched the movie with a bowl of popcorn in between us, singing the songs (luckily I knew all of them), and yelling 'slay' every few minutes. We were three-fourths finished with the movie, Tara yelling and myself laughing with popcorn all over the floor, when Gaga walked in. The look on her face was priceless. Tara slowly bent down to grab the remote, paused the movie, and we all bursted into a fit of collective laughter. Gaga put her purse and keys down on the counter, making that annoying jingling noise I hate. After we quit laughing, Gaga smiled and said, "Why were you watching that? That was so weird walking in to you two screaming over me."
Gaga pulled three bags out of her purse and handed two of them to Tara and I.
"Starbucks cookies!"
We ate them and finished the movie against Gaga's will.
--------------------------------------------
Omg. I'm so sorry for leaving for this long. I've been in and out of Wattpad reading everything by hausofa because honestly her stories are my life rn. Please read Missed and Behind Closed Doors because AVA is a cutie and just ahdkahdkwhdkskf. Read them. Also the fact AVA autocorrects to AVA (capitalized) slays me. The chapter is dedicated to you queen! ❤️
YOU ARE READING
Let Love Down
FanfictionI remember the scene like it was yesterday. My mother, Stefani, held my hand the whole morning. We laughed, sang, and did each other's hair while Dad was at work. The very same day, she kissed my forehead and said she was sorry for everything she's...
