Where There's Light | ✔

13. Perfect Daughters

Bee opened the door, a wide grin on her face. "Welcome to casa Hatton-Sackler." She let us in, acting like a butler as she lead us to the living room.

Their house was huge. It needed to be with five kids and two dogs. I remembered how crazy it got when we were younger and the six of us played hide and seek or some board game we never finished because someone (usually Bee) would have a fit and quit because they were losing.

The wall above the couch was decorated with a collage of family photos. No matter how many times I came over I stared up at it like I'd never seen it before.

The Sackler kids all had the same light brown skin as their mom who was mixed with black and white. Kareem, their father, was full black and gave the boys their square faces. Bee was the only one of them to get their grandpa's green eyes, a fact she loved rubbing in her brother's faces.

"My mom set up a play pen for Taylor," Bee said, pointing to the pen in the corner. "I supplied the toys."

My mom chuckled as she set Taylor in the playpen. "Don't ever grow up, Bianca."

"Don't plan on it."

"Nia!" Mrs. Hatton gasped when she walked in from the kitchen. "And is that Taylor?"

While our mother's talked Bee and I snuck up to her room.

Bee's bedroom was just as bright and bubbly as she was. Baby blue walls covered in pictures of her life over the years and Disney posters. There were about twenty stuffed animals arranged on her queen sized bed and a bright yellow futon against one wall.

Once behind closed doors I wanted to tell her about what happened at Tiny Sprouts. The way Nolan grabbed my hand and made something short circuit in my brain. One look at my best friend, though, and I knew now was not the time.

She plopped down on the futon, hugging a Lotso bear to her chest. The smile from before was gone, replace with a worried frown as she chewed her bottom lip.

"What's wrong?" I sat next to her, watching her intently.

"I'm freaking out."

"About what?"

"They called."

I wracked my brain for clues to what she was talking about and came up short. "Who called?"

She sprung up from her seat, pacing the room. "My mom's going to lose her shit!"

"Bee, what are you talking about?"

"The audition!"

For as long as I could remember Bee had wanted to be an actress. She hadn't talked about it much in the last year or so. I thought maybe her mom had gotten to her, she never approved of Bee wanted a job in Hollywood.

"You never told me about any audition."

Bee stopped pacing to look at me. "Yeah, I did."

I shook my head. I would've remembered.

Her face morphed into a look of confusion. "Okay, maybe that was a dream." She slipped back on the futon, smiling a little. "It's just for this local pizza commercial, but it's a start."

"That's great, Bee!"

She frowned again. "That's if my mom doesn't find out and kill me."

Bee's mom didn't believe in pursuing  art as a career path. She herself was dentist. The boys were in school for "good stable jobs" as her mom called them. Bee didn't want a boring 9-to-5 job in an office somewhere. Honestly, I couldn't picture her in a situation like that.