Onward Journey (Broken Descent Sequel)

Live and Learn

Stumbling down into the kitchen at four in the morning, Bruno shook up his messy hair. When he joined Charlotte at the table, he let out a big yawn. She gazed up after eating a bite of her Lucky Charms, immediately looking at his tired eyes and massive afro.

"Yikes," she said, widening her eyes before smiling.

Bruno smiled at her as he poured himself a bowl of cereal. He took a few bites before speaking.

"Are you excited?"

"Yeah," she replied, "but why couldn't it start on the West Coast? It's so early."

"That's just the way it is sometimes. Even I don't have a choice for where the tour starts. But hey...New York is a really fun city to start...and we have time to walk around. You haven't been there in a while. This is all gonna be good for you. I think you've been spending too much time in your room."

Charlotte just shrugged her shoulders, and soon after, the rest of the family joined them. Eventually, everyone loaded into the car, and headed to the airport. After waiting a bit in the terminal, they boarded the plane. They sat across a row of the plane. Kim sat in between Madison and Isaac on the right side of the aisle while Bruno sat in between Charlotte and Jackson on the left side. The boys, a bit restless throughout the whole flight, switched between watching movies and playing on phones and tablets. Bruno looked over and saw Kim and Madison sleeping. The stewardess eventually came by to take meal orders for lunch. They'd already been on the plane for a few hours and Charlotte had had her head buried in a book up to this point. Bruno ordered his lunch and turned his head to Charlotte when the stewardess nodded her head to Charlotte.

"Char..." Bruno said.

Still engrossed into the book, she stayed in her own world. Bruno sighed and ordered for her. She only noticed that it was time to eat when the food was place in front of her. Charlotte closed her book on the bookmark and started to eat.

"Welcome back to Earth," Bruno laughed.

Charlotte smiled, sighing dramatically. Bruno reached over her to open the plastic window shade.

"If you're not going to look out the window every once in a while, then I want the window seat."

"You wouldn't really make me switch..." Charlotte said with a dramatic voice.

Bruno thought for a moment. "No...you're right...I wouldn't...but we're thousands and thousands of feet up in the air. Take some time to enjoy the view every once in a while...that's all I'm sayin'."

Once they got to New York, the whole family was exhausted, so they decided to stay in their hotel room for the night, which was the night before the first concert date of the tour. Bruno and Kim shared a room with the twins while the girls had the room connected. Once the boys were sound asleep, Bruno went into the connected room to check in on the girls. Before he entered the room he heard snoring, but saw light coming in from under the door. Madison had already fallen asleep. He looked to Charlotte who had started another book.

"Hey Dad," she said, looking over to the clock.

"Hey...just came in to say 'Good night," Bruno replied, sitting on the edge of her bed as she sat under the covers.

"Okay," she smiled. "Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Bruno grinned. "I'm excited. Are you excited?"

When she nodded eagerly, Bruno noticed Charlotte's fingers fidgeting between the pages of the book. The opening of his arms encouraged her to open hers, moving closer into a hug. They embraced each other tightly and for a while.

"Fifteen more minutes," he said over her shoulder. "Then you need to go to bed."

"Okay," Charlotte replied, slowly opening the book again.

Bruno made his way to the door and reached for it.

"Love you Dad," Charlotte said.

Slowly, Bruno turned around with a big smile plastered on his face as usual.

"Love you too Peanut. Good night."

The following day, Bruno and the hooligans started rehearsing earlier than usual since it was the first date of the tour, and since it had been so long since the last tour. The kids played around backstage, beginning to get restless. When Bruno came back to the dressing room, Kim approached him.

"I'm going to take the kids out for some air...and maybe a bite to eat."

"Okay," Bruno replied. "That's a great idea...I'll go get Dre to go with you guys just to be safe...and he can show you guys around too."

Bruno made all the arrangements for his family before going back to the stage for more rehearsal. He and Phil worked on ironing out some details for playing the final song of the night, wanting it to be more powerful for the audience. When Phil gave Bruno a nudge, he wasn't sure why at first, until Phil pointed toward to the front row. Since it was only the afternoon, almost every seat at Madison Square Garden was empty, except for one, except for the one where Charlotte sat.

"She didn't go with Kim?" Phil asked furrowing his brows.

"I thought she did. I'll be right back."

Unsure about what was happening, Bruno decided to play it off like a joke at first when he sat beside her. She didn't move a muscle, very focused on schoolwork.

"You don't have to reserve a seat for yourself, Char. I gotcha covered."

"What?" She smiled, raising one side of her face.

"Why didn't you go sightseeing?" Bruno asked, wrapping his arm around her. "Why didn't you go explore the city with Kim, Madison, and the boys?"

"Eh..." Charlotte shrugged.

"Eh?"

"Yeah," she giggled. "Eh."

"We need to talk," Bruno said, keeping a serious tone.

"Aww man," Charlotte replied, looking down.

"Close the book for a second."

With a dramatic sigh, Charlotte closed her book, and looked over to her dad. Whenever Charlotte looked at him with that face, it always reminded him of when she was a little girl, the way she'd look at him with big eyes and wonder; he worried that he'd lose that.

"What do you...wanna talk about?"

"I wish you woulda gone out with Kim and saw some of New York."

"Oh..." Charlotte said. "Well it's not that big of a deal, Dad."

"No...you're right...it's not...I just want you to close the books on occasion...and live a little. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah..." Charlotte replied quietly. "I know."

"Don't get me wrong, sweetheart. I love that you love to read...I really love it...because I didn't appreciate learning at your age...and I wish I did. Whatever you wanna do when you're older...you're gonna be able to do. You just need to have a little more balance...read a lot...but experience a lot too."

"You're right...maybe...maybe since tomorrow we're still in New York...maybe we could see the city together...and...talk...about stuff?"

"Sounds like a plan," Bruno said, kissing Charlotte's head and getting up. "I gotta get back up there. Kam and I are playin' a prank on Phil. So sit back and enjoy the show..."

"Oh Dad," Charlotte sighed sarcastically and rolled her eyes dramatically. 

A/N: Obviously I can't wait for Bruno to release new music...that's a given...but hopefully it livens up Wattpad for the hooligans. It feels a bit empty lately like people aren't coming on here as much...maybe it's just me.