Paparazzi Boy

4. Normalcy

"You can do so much better than I did, honey," Max heard his mother say from the other room. He sighed and continued to chomp on the rest of his popcorn while lying on the couch, just browsing his phone.

"He's old enough to decide what he wants now, Stella," he heard his father answer back for him. At least someone was on his side. Now being sixteen years old, he was realizing that maybe he wasn't sure what was best for him, but he was taking steps towards what he wanted. His mom was having a hard time accepting that.

His parents had worked his entire life to keep his identity hidden, seeing as their lives were so hectic already, and they had both gotten a taste of both sides of reality. His mother had been the one to insist that Max stay in the shadows since his father had become one of the biggest celebrity in Hollywood and she didn't want him to suffer the consequences of his lifestyle. She always told him how much she struggled with being his wife, and she didn't want him to struggle with the repercussions of being his son. Xavier Harrington. Just bringing up the name Xavier Harrington at school was enough to spend most of the girls in a frenzy. How would they react if they knew who Max Harrington really was?

It wasn't easy, living as Xavier Harrington's son. If anything, it made everything that should've came easy ten times harder. Friends were sacred and carefully evaluated before they were brought over, only two of them even ever met his parents. He would usually have to cough up the excuse that his parents were out of town, which is why they weren't around, which wasn't frequently a lie.

Max didn't lead a normal life, being only sixteen years old and having everything he did criticized, but he was finally able to come to terms with it. He understood it, he was even learning to appreciate it. He understood the appeal of being in the Hollywood industry, but he had to witness what his parents went through everyday - it wasn't easy. He appreciated his mother for taking the initiative of giving him something his father would never have - normalcy.

He got off the couch and walked towards the kitchen, catching his parents sitting at the dining table with their wine glasses, laughing. They were always laughing.

"I don't want to live the way you do, dad," he said honestly. "What my mom used to do interests me. I could make a living out of it. I love a challenge. Also, I have an eye for this sort of thing."

His mom shook her head, "It's not a bad career Max, but it's hard. You have to keep at it everyday. If you don't, there's no money coming in, especially if you're not with an agency."

"I want to be with your agency though."

"PapCo?"

He nodded, "I've done my research and I always listen to you when you talk about your experience. I can do it, I want to do it. You're always telling me how much money you made off single photographs of dad-"

"Yeah, because he was huge and people wanted content. You can't be so sure you'll get so lucky as to get as big of a hit as your father."

"Mom, please? Can you please believe in me for this? You know I can do this."

She sighed and came up to him, pulling his hair back behind his ear, "I know you can, Max. If that's what you really want to do once you turn eighteen, I'll always support you."

He looked down at her face, barely realizing the small wrinkles forming under her eyes and how her laugh lines have deepened compared to years ago when he was younger. He barely looked like her, he always more closely resembled his father and grandpa. He had finally outgrown her in eighth grade, reaching now a little over six foot.