Reality {Aerosmith}

TWO

 

“Fake it until you make it”

―

 Steven Tyler

 

TWO

 

Delaney was making her Gran some tea, driven by auto pilot as her thoughts once again moved to the conversation two days ago about her father. She still wasn’t sure what to make of the circumstances. Her mum was always a person who said to make the best of every situation, good or bad. Delaney was trying to see the brighter side of the truth, the fact that it wasn’t just her Gran and herself anymore, she had someone else out there. On the other side of the coin, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to meet him.

It was the other day she had gotten the courage to hop onto the family computer and type in ‘Steven Tyler’ in the search engine, the results were never ending with the information about the man. She didn’t get far into her reading, her head swirling about his family –daughters, son and wife.

Delaney slowly walked the stairs, a slice salad sandwich and a steaming tea held in her hands as she made her way to her Gran’s room. She put the tray on the table, helping her Gran get into a sitting position before placing the food in front of the older woman. Delaney sat back in the chair beside the bed, simply watching her Gran, trying to not think about what was going to happen in the next hour.

The doorbell made her steady heart rate turn frantic. She stayed seated in the chair, her eyes not leaving the carpet of her Gran’s floor. “Answer the door sweetheart.” The older woman’s voice was soft but unlike usual, Delaney didn’t respond until it was repeated again with a firm tone. “Delaney.”

She gradually made her way to the door and opened it, revealing Amy on the other side dressed her usual suit and case. “You ready for today Delaney?”

“No, can’t we do this another time.” The young girl could feel the nerves rattling through her at meeting someone who was meant to be such a large part of her life.

“Nonsense girl,” Her Gran slowly made her way down the stairs. “You are going to meet this man.”

“Gran, you really shouldn’t be up and about.” Delaney warned, only to earn herself a wicked scowl from the older woman.

“I’ve been looking after myself for many years,” She made her way past the women at the doors to the kitchen. “I can handle a few hours.”  Gran put the kettle on, turning to their visitor. “Would you like a cupper Amy?”

“Yes.” Delaney answered eagerly.

The older women shot the girl an unimpressed expression at the eagerness to stall. “No thank you Racheal,” Amy shot a glance at Delaney. “We really should be going.”

“Oh right, you don’t want to be late.” Gran threw Delaney an encouraging smile, the girl merely rolled her eyes.

“We’ll be away for a couple of days.” Amy replied to the older woman.

“Days?” Delaney asked in question, the twists in her stomach going into overdrive at the new information.

“It’s a long drive to Marshfield, we’re not doing a drive back and forth in one day.”

“Marshfield?” Delaney’s voice rising somewhat.

“Yeah, Massachusetts.” Amy answered in a calm tone, not wanting to give the kid any more worries about the upcoming events. “It’s only for a couple of days.”

“Think of it as an adventure sweetheart.” Her Gran said, taking a step closer to pull Delaney into a good bye hug.

An adventure that I don’t want – Delaney didn’t voice out her thoughts, merely nodded her head at the adults. She had wanted to travel to get away from the small country town as soon as possible, but after the death of her parents, she merely wanted to stay here.  “I’ll go pack my bag.” She muttered under her breath before quickly making her way upstairs to her bedroom.

She stood in her door way for a moment, her thoughts trying to catch up with her actions. Almost reluctantly, she unpacked her school books and started packing enough clothes along with her hairbrush for the next couple of days.

……………..

Delaney leaned her elbow on the car window, the scenery blurring past as they drove on the highway, the old radio playing throughout the vehicle. “We’re meeting up with Steven later this afternoon.” Amy took a quick glanced to her right, seeing the glum expression on the girl’s face. “He isn’t a bad man.”

“He does drugs.” Delaney stated, her gaze still out the window.

“He use too.” The social worker corrected. Yes, Steven didn’t have the cleanest slate but he was the best choice for Delaney, he wasn’t new to the father role and the department had never had any troubles with the Tyler family. “He would be your best choice.”

“And what about what I want?” The girl argued.

“How about we make a deal?” Amy tried to find a balance to make the teenager relax. The questioned worked, grabbing Delaney’s attention from the window. “Give us a month, a month to get a feel of everything than you can decided whether you want to stay.”

“Just a month?” Delaney questioned.

“No more, no less.” Amy promised knowing that if she went back on it, her fragile trust with the girl could be broken so easily.

“And I won’t have to stay... overnight?” Delaney stared at Amy, looking for any reason to not believe the woman.

“Not if you don’t want too.” The older woman didn’t want to back the girl into too much of a corner, Delaney seemed to want some control in the situation.

“Fine.” Delaney hunched into the passenger seat, pulling the hoodie over her head and staring out the front window of the vehicle. A month to her sounded like a really long time, if it meant she could make her own decision afterwards and not have to live with the rock star, she was all in. Delaney just hoped that the saying - time fly’s when you’re having fun - wasn’t true because that meant the days would drag on, much like this car trip was.