Hollywood Journey

Arguments

"Nol, it's bedtime." I grab him from the couch, where he is soaking up all the attention he can from Willow and Coco.

"Aw, good night, Nolan!" Coco quickly jumps up to hug him "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"You'll see him a few times tonight.  He likes to wake us for fun." Willow gives him a kiss as he buries his head in my chest "But it's okay because of how cute he is."

"I'm going to take him up, but I need you two to work on cleaning up your mess.  This living room is a disaster."

They don't say anything.  I take the silence as them letting me know they most likely will "forget" to clean up anything and leave me stuck with a huge mess.  That seems to be happening more and more with Willow.

"Momma sleep wif me?"  Nol gets upset as I get him changed into his pajamas "You sweepy?"

He clings onto me tightly, wrapping his tiny arms around my neck.  I pull him in closer as he starts crying, doing his usual bedtime stalling.

"Nolan I can't fit in your bed."

"I no sleep!"

He runs away from me, hiding in the corner of his room where he knows I can't fit.

"Nolan Bradley!" I get as close to him as I can, moving the toys he has laying out "You need to go to bed.  I'm not arguing with you tonight.  I'm too tired."

He turns to face the wall, crying even more.

"Do not make me move this bed.  You need to get out of there and sleep!"

"No mommy!"

I feel bad for him, sitting in the corner curled up in a ball, bawling his eyes out.  He misses Brad putting him to bed since he always had more patience towards this.  He misses his dad period, but we all do.

"Baby come here, give mommy a hug." I coax him out with some of his toys "I'll lay here with you for a little."

He slowly crawls out towards me, crying in my embrace for a while before I finally get him in his bed.

"You lay." He points to the open spot on the floor next to his bed.  I take my spot and reach up to hold his hand as he lays.  His breathing starts to slow as he finally falls asleep.

"Good night, baby." I whisper, kissing his forehead before walking out of the room.

I go back downstairs to see the girls half asleep on the couch, covered in an even bigger mess.  They have their snacks scattered around, and blankets and movies all over the floor in front of them.  Neither one shows any interest at all in getting off their phones to pick up even one tiny piece of garbage.

"Girls I don't care if you sleep down here but you really need to clean this up.  I already asked you once.  I shouldn't have to keep asking."

"Can't we just wait until this is over?"  Willow asks before mumbling something under her breath. 

"What was that?" 

I don't usually get mad at her, but between being exhausted and fighting with Nol to sleep, I don't have the patience for her to be making smart ass comments.  Especially not when we're doing all this to help her and it seems more and more every day like she's taking us for granted.

"The mess will still be here tomorrow."

She rolls her eyes, turning the sound up as a way to ignore me.

I walk over to the TV, turning everything off.

"Clean it up or Coco goes home and you can spend tomorrow cleaning your bedroom if ou refuse to touch instead of going to your audition.  I don't have to drive you there."

"I'm just gonna clean my stuff..." Coco quietly sneaks out "I'll be upstairs."

Willow waits for her to leave before getting back to yelling out smart ass remarks.

"The whole reason I'm here is to be acting, you can't hold me back from that.  Brad wouldn't let you.  You just think you have power since he's away.  I should have just tried to go with him."

"I'm the adult.  I can do and say what I want.  Whether you chose to listen or not is up to you, but if you're smart and WANT the option to stay at MY HOUSE, you'll listen."

"You won't make me leave.  Everyone in the family would be pissed at you!  Even grandma."

"If you're going to act this disrespectful over something that would take you two minutes to clean then I don't care!  Let them get mad at me, but I am NOT going to let myself be treated like this, and I sure as hell am not going to let you think you can talk and act like you have been without punishment.  I know you're going through huge adjustments, and I've tried my hardest to be accommodating, but you're making this much harder than it need to be.  I don't want you going through life thinking you won't ever face any consequences."

I walk towards the steps, honestly not caring at all at this point, hoping she at least cleans up the food so the dogs don't get sick. 

"I just don't understand why it's such a big deal.  You act like this house is a freaking palace.  Let us live."

I choose to ignore her and continue to walk until I get to my room, where I collapse on the bed out of exhaustion, wishing Brad was here right now to help.

A few minutes later, after some dishes cling around, I hear Willow stomp up the steps towards her room.  She reaches her room, but instead of opening her door I hear her turn around, walking towards our room.  I quickly sit up in the bed, telling her to come in as she knocks. 

"I cleaned up the living room. I'm not cleaning my room though.  Nobody has to see it anyway."

"I love you honey, I just don't want you thinking you can act like you have been.  You're really going to get yourself in trouble if you keep the attitude up."

"I love you too."