House of Gold // Adopted by Tyler Joseph

Time

Time had passed. I was sixteen and living the dream, visiting uncle Josh's house in LA as frequently as possible. While dad recorded in the finest studio in Ohio.

They'd had a wedding too, it was beautiful, I was thirteen. But that story is for next time.

He didn't even have time for me and mom anymore. But I'll go into detail about that issue later.

And there's the issue of me being a train-wreck teen. Jack and I were still together. But it was for the paparazzi, the media. It made us look good, but we weren't exclusive anymore.

It was sad. How I'd went from the skinny girl with crooked teeth at some redneck school in Ohio, to what I was now. It didn't happen overnight. In fact, part of it happened recently, with me 'borrowing' around fifteen grand for new lips.

He didn't even know. And my adult supervision, my manager. He went with me to get them filled, and to get my first tattoo, that I'd hidden from Dad for a solid year.

And I'd grown. Now when I was fourteen and went through my spurt, Dad congratulated me, telling me I looked like him. Skinny and tall. But I had frizzy hair, and was awkward.

Well I wouldn't be an exact carbon copy of my adopted Dad. He was more known now, yes. But he hadn't changed a bit since he'd won platinum awards on albums, beating those rock bands we once toured with. Twenty One Pilots was everywhere.

But Dad didn't want to get personal with media. He stopped communicating altogether. Tyler Joseph was a private guy. People respected that, respected him.

I was the complete opposite. No I wouldn't be caught hiding under a hood and hat. I'd be dressed in name brand clothes, flashy, begging Dad to let me stay with my new friends I'd made in LA. A 'social media fluencer' was my title. Singer, part-time model.

I still had my old friends, Jakob Armstrong, Louis Healy. But they were so... different. I'd stopped being the awkward teen with only guy friends.

I had girlfriends, models, I was signed to a company, they agreed I'd get a feature if I got my lips done. And worked on my body. Yeah, yikes, I was all five seven and a hundred and two pounds. Dad hated it, but rarely spoke about it.

Jenna had called me, I went to Josh's kitchen. "Yes Mom?"

"Your Dad is flipping out over money stolen from his account! Jesus Lily what did you do? Fifteen thousand! You better have an explanation for this–"

"It wasn't me, I promise Mom." I lied picking at my new lips. Good thing dad was absent from Instagram. Maybe if he was active he'd see the countless selfies I'd posted, and comments I'd deleted of suspicious fans.

"Lily Joseph! We're going to send you straight home–"

"Take the money from my account. But I swear it wasn't me." I sighed, stressed from her yelling. Mom never yelled at me. Even though I deserved it.

"Okay. Fine, I believe you. But you need to call your Dad and explain that to him. And catch up with him, he misses you."

"Bullshit." I muttered. Dad didn't miss me. He had Mom to keep him company, and never bothered calling me. The phone worked both ways?

"Language! Just... your Dad still cares okay? I do too. We love you, bye." She hung up as I went from moody, to hopeful.

"Dad?" I noticed he picked up on the first ring.