Gravity (A Harry Styles Fanfiction)

Chapter 2

"I still fail to understand what it is about this woman..."

"REA-GAAAAAAAAN!"

"Really?" I mutter as I pause my phone that's plugged into my speakers. "YEAH, MOM?!" I shout out of my door that I've opened to a crack.

"COME DOWNSTAIRS!"

"Ugggh. COMING!"

"CAN YOU BOTH JUST SHUT UP!?" Sydney yells.

I laugh and yell at the top of my lungs as I race by her room: "NOOOOO! WE CAAAAN'T!!!"

I take the stairs, two at a time, and scramble to the kitchen, almost colliding into the wall. "Yeah, Mom?"

"Don't 'yeah' me," Mom bosses in her southern accent.

"You say 'yeah' all the time," I point out.

"Yeah, well, when you're from Kentucky that tends to happen." She starts boiling pasta for Spaghetti tonight as I go and set the table.

When I return, I begin, "So what did you call me down for?"

Mom nervously looks around the room. "Is Sydney up in her room?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well, because," she turns back to the boiling pasta. "You know her birthday's next week."

"And?" I'm not sure where this is going.

"And," she checks around again just to make sure Syd isn't snooping on us. "I got four tickets to see One Direction for her as a surprise a few months back," she whispers.

My face pales. "You're asking me to go?" My voice begs for mercy.

"No no no, lemme finish. So I asked Kelly's, Becca's, and now Tibby's moms if they can come, and they can."

"And this affects me... how?"

She sighs. "I was supposed to drive them, but now I can't because I just remembered that that night's the night of my book signing."

I roll my eyes. Mom's a well-known 'southern cooking goddess,' as she likes to put it. She has a wide variety of cook books out, including her latest, Kentucky's in the Kitchen. She's in the works of possibly getting a show on Food Network, but it looks like she may have to settle for The Cooking Channel.

"Okay. So Dad can drive them."

"He's gonna be on his business trip to  Switzerland, remember?"

"Crap," I grumble. "One of Syd's friends' moms?"

"Kelly lives with her grandparents because her parents died in a car accident, Tibby's parents are divorced and she'll be at her dad's house that week, and Becca... her mom works a lot."

"So let her granny or their dads drive them."

Mom was getting agitated at this point. "No, we invited them, they are our guests and we're taking them!"

"You mean.."

"Reagan, you know I don't ask you for much, but I need you to take them. That's all you have to do. Be their chauffeur. That's it. You can sit outside and wait for them, but you don't have to even go in. Please?" She begs.

"Where'd you get all the money for the tickets, anyway? Aren't they thousands of dollars?"

"My publishing company game 'em to me for half off. Something they were promoting. The rest I paid for with some money I got from my last book."

I sigh. "What day's the concert," I say in a monotone.

"Friday at 7:30."

"Oh, I can't, Mom. I have work and them I'm going to-"

"Going to what? You can't skip work for one day?"

"I was going to meet up with my friends and see Sea of Monsters."

"Aren't ya'll a little old for that?"

"No. We are not."

"Well, you're gonna miss that because this is for your sister whom you love very much," she says in a final tone.

"Imagine if it was a Maroon 5 concert for you. Wouldn't you beg Syd to drive you!?"

"She can't drive yet."

"You're missing the point!" She shouts. Her voice lowers, "Please. I will pay you. I will let you get a new car. Just please go!"

I think about that. Money for a Mustang. Yeah, I could live with that.

"Fine. But you owe me big-time," I say with a small smile.

She squeals. "Your sister's gonna flip!"

"I'm gonna flip over dead if I hear 'Best Song Ever' one more time," I mutter as I walk away.

Mom laughs. "Ditto."