Chapter 93) Fast Lane

“Maturity is achieved when a person postpones immediate pleasures for long-term values.”

Unknown

Del Sol Valley
Starlight Accolades Awards Event Hall

Finishing up the last part of his well prepared acceptance speech, purposely groomed to sound impromptu and slightly casual, Everett’s final words were already drowned out by loud standing ovations.

Once the audience had calmed down again, he finished with the usual thank you list.
He and Maeve had been honored for their lives’ work in a celebration following the Starlight Accolades Award show, in which they once more had raked in two more awards, even though the last half dozen or so received before them already hadn’t found any shelf space anymore.
Time for some display case shopping.
Eventually.

How times had changed for Everett and Maeve since they came to Del Sol Valley to find fortune and fame all those years ago. This sort of nonchalance towards such extreme honors hadn’t always been the case.

Quite the contrary.

Back in their humble beginnings here in this dog-eat-dog town it had taken many setbacks big and small until they both got the chance to even having been nominated for an award, let alone win one.

Nowadays, as world class celebrities with more awards and fortune than they knew what to do with, including a stack of awards collecting dust while waiting to find a permanent home on display somewhere the honor had become much more commonplace and barely worth getting worked up about. Had anyone told them this back when, they would have never believed it.

A lot of their family and friends were in the front rows, those who could leave their routines long enough, all of them staring on in awe at the stage and the major achievement of the two still considerably young people, Everett was now 39 and Maeve 36.

The event lead seamlessly into the afterparty at the exclusive on-site club only the creme de la creme of Del Sol Valley had access to. Most hit the bar or the dancefloor, three of the youngest attendees however found little enjoyment in either and decided to hang around on one of the large leather couches meant for tired dancers to rest their feet and lube up with the champagne that flowed so freely everywhere here.

“Man, this is sooooooooooo boring!” groaned Jamie.

“Told ya. But you both reeeeeally wanted to go.” Blaine replied, frowning.

“How were we supposed to know it’s like this?! Looks amazing on TV. Probably is, if you’re old enough to drink. Think anyone would notice if we snuck a glass of the sparkly?”

“Yes, they would notice right away. Been there done that, not feeling being grounded for another 4 weeks, so hard pass from me. But you two knock yourselves out, maybe your parents don’t care.”

While the teens busied themselves with lounging around on the seating arrangements and complaining about the unfairness of life, the adults were having fun on the dancefloor. Keegan and Fiona Braxton, who both were honored for outstanding performances in the lead roles of the recent blockbuster movie, their son Heath and daughter Haley got honored for some roles in a Sitcom as best supporting actors, their cousin Kai just had fun dancing with Haley.
Jordan and Jamie’s parents, Declan and Rory, who were not celebrities at all, but a scientist and a computer engineer, were dancing next to Blaine’s parents Everett and Maeve, who seemed to completely ignore the upbeat rhythm of the song currently playing as they swayed together, lost in each others eyes, kissing often, which evoked another frown from their son, watching on from the couch. Parents! Sigh.

Back in the lounging area more moaning and groaning commenced.

“My butt is asleep!” whined Jamie.

“Mine’s in a coma!” retorted Blaine unimpressed.

“Can’t we go outside and hang out there somewhere? Like at that park with the stage they dedicated to great-grandpa? That’s like right across the street, isn’t it? Maybe you could perform some and Jamie and I could .. I don’t know …. do background vocals or something.” Jordan suggested.

“We can’t get out without paparazzi tailing us. Even if you are a janitor in this place now, they will try to get something out of ya. Total negatory. First off, I am not feeling that crap, secondly, I would get my ass handed to me by my parents – again – don’t you guys remember the lecture before we left tonight? So again, you two can go and knock yourselves out, but I am staying right the eff here.”

“So this is what you want to do for a living one day, actor and musician?! This is NOTHING like what I thought it would be. Neither was watching aunt and uncle record. That looks so much better in movies. Lame! And I cannot get the chorus of their next release out of my head anymore, even dream about it. I had like ghouls chasing me, and I was that main figure from the latest Marvel movie, and of a sudden they corner me and go ‘na-na-na-na – woooohhooooo’ like in that Rett & Reed song. Seriously drove me nuts! Can’t even have a nightmare in peace after that. Wonder if my next nightmare has zombies standing around talking about charities, while sipping champagne. Or is this the nightmare already and I just didn’t realize I was asleep?!” said Jamie.

“Chill dude! When I am older, this stuff here will be hella fun, because I will actually get to participate and shine and all not just hang out at the sidelines. And chicks totally dig it. You don’t even have to do anything if you got the right name and career, THEY come to you, and good ones, not like failures of nature, you know. Like hot chicks, models and stuff, not those that make third place in a two person beauty contest! Right now I am always too young for everything and they just wanna hang with me because of my parents, I want them to wanna hang with me because of who I am one day.”

“Still sounds like shit to me. I mean, how would you know if a girl really likes you or just your fame and cash?” Jordan wondered.

“Who cares, dumbass?! As long as she looks good and does whatever I am gonna want, we both get something out of it. You think I want to settle down right out of college?! HA! Not even close. I won’t let any girl tie me down till I am like in my 40s or 50s or shit, and she’d better be like a 20 year old supermodel, so our one kid doesn’t look like a consolation prize! That way I get to have my fun until I am too old to want to have fun and have a decent looking heir to carry on whatever I build. I know they say all parents love their kids, but they are not constantly photographed with whatever Bozo-the-clown kinda looking brat they dropped on the world, like I will be. It matters and I got a plan. A PERFECT plan. All well thought out! Just gotta get old enough now to get started without being told ‘you’re too young for this… blah blah sputter spit…” Blaine ranted.

The twins exchanged a frown across Blaine, both shaking their heads simultaneously at Blaine’s outlandish ideas, evoking an eyeroll from him. He was used to the often sync’ed actions of his cousins as well as their tag team kinda interrogations, and he still very much considered them his best friends along with Kai, one of his neighbors and very distant relative around a bunch of corners.

“Really guys?!” he now said “Before you judge me, let me remind you of a certain chick named Christina … yeah … you thought I forgot about how you both fell over each other about her. Ha, pathetic. So what’s the deal there? You’ll share? Or both have your way with her without her even knowing she’s doing you both?” Blaine taunted, hinting around on what happened a few weeks ago when all of them got together at the Cunningham Estate in Brindleton Bay, where both twins seemed quite enamored with one of Cordelia’s triplets, around the same age as the boys, who seemed to not mind the double-dose of flirty attention one bit. Obviously nothing more than flirting came of it. At this point all of the teens were all talk and no action. At least not yet.

“Eeeewww! We’re not doing anybody! Bruh! Eeew … we’re 14 you fool! Nobody does THAT then. And she is totally pretty. As if you didn’t notice that.” Jamie protested, frowning.

“Course he did! He was looking too, just didn’t have the balls to talk to her.” Jordan assisted.

“She’s my cousin, you banjo-tuner! So no, I don’t notice if she is pretty or anything. Yuck! I know we Camerons have a rep, but I am not going THERE! Duh?! And I don’t care if you do her or not, gotta start somewhere, so you don’t end up going to college as virgins. That is the LAST thing I need, have two scared and socially inhibited virgins as my roomies. I don’t want to be a nerd, I want to be in a fraternity and do cool shit, so don’t you guys go embarrass me then!” Blaine snorted dismissively.

“Dude, college is like light years away. I am sure Jamie and I don’t have to go insane now about that. But you seriously have already done “IT” already?” Jordan couldn’t help but wonder wide-eyed.

“Of course I have – many times. It’s getting old already! Like totally! Thinking about upgrading to some MILFs or something.” Blaine said confidently, even though it was just part of his acting cool. He was in the same boat as his cousins, and had not even kissed a girl yet, but liked to embellish his truths a bit every now and then. Usually he was convincing enough to get away with it, but almost always failed with his parents.

When it finally came time to leave, the event center security had herded back the paparazzi and rubberneckers, so the award ceremony attendees could all get to their cars in peace, a seemingly endless stream of black limousines stopping, loading and leaving now.

“Oh, there is our car now! Come here my little big boy! So proud of you, you behaved like a little angel today!” Maeve cooed before smooching on Blaine, who looked worse than embarrassed.

“Mom, I think you had a few glasses champagne too many …” he complained while trying to pull away to see if his cousins noticed, and was relieved to see they were looking around equally as embarrassed and hadn’t even noticed his mom’s PDA because their own parents were making out so they looked everywhere BUT that direction.

“Maeve, leave the kid alone or he’ll have a heart attack for parent-shame! You can kiss him all you want at home till his little pudgy cheeks get raw.” Everett chuckled at his son’s tormented expression.

“Why?! They know I am his mom, and he doesn’t have to hide me! I look like I could be his older sister, so what’s the problem? Not like I French kissed him. He’s my little baby boy, I love him and like to show that, and he knows that. Right baby?!”

“Yeah, sure, whatever mom. Just please remember I am 14, not 4. And thanks dad. If that’s how you got my back, might as well install a bull’s eye on my a.. -ahem – butt.”

Del Sol Valley, Cameron Mansion
... a few days later ...

Annoyed, Blaine stared at his cell phone, which had just buzzed with a message. A reply, in fact, to a message he had sent one of his older cousins, Heath, who was supposed to pick him up in his car to go clubbing. Or ‘over to their house’, as far as Blaine’s parents were concerned. He had been waiting outside their mansion for almost 30 minutes now, it had gotten dark around him, yet, still no sign of Heath. The text confirmed what Blaine had already suspected about 15 minutes ago. He had been stood up.

Evidently 17 year old Heath’s priorities had changed when his crush called to go to the movies. That invite topped taking his 14 year old cousin clubbing, having to sneak him in and all, plus lying to all the parents.

Raincheck, sorry lil cuz! – H.B. it read, the words felt as if they were gleefully dancing before Blaine’s eyes.

Cursing colorfully for several minutes, Blaine finally finished his rant with

“… if I could at least drive already! Oh, to be 16! That dumbass could go chase tail all day long, as long as I can still get out of here!” he vented, then turned to re-enter through the gates shielding his celebrity mansion childhood home from curious views and overly ambitious paparazzi.

Walking into the front yard his gaze fell on the garage, and onto one of the family’s Ferraris parked out in front.
Bright and red it seemed to ridicule Blaine’s conundrum of being stood up and left to sit alone bored at home, rather than the party night he had imagined for himself.

Grumbling and grimacing he ran inside, hoping at least one of his parents would play a video game with him, but when he eventually found them in the home studio, the red light was on, which meant they were recording and not to be disturbed, so his hope to have them for entertainment dissolved into thin air. They could be here for several hours, even until the early morning. All he could do was watch them now, doing take after take, sometimes the same section of the same song, again and again. But – occurred to him – it also meant from inside that soundproof room they wouldn’t hear a bomb go off right outside their window.

Or even – say – the loud roar of the engine of an exotic ride …
Like a certain red Ferrari already conveniently aimed in the driveway towards the gate.

Since his early toddler days Blaine always had to fight his uncouth mouth, paired with the desire to be something bigger and better one day, to stand out from the crowd, as well as the dubious talent to effortlessly get himself into serious trouble without trying.
Tonight would prove he still had not outgrown any of that.
To him, however, this didn’t seem like such a big deal, barely even warranted a few days of grounding IF they were to catch him, after all, they had other cars if they needed to get somewhere and driving seemed so simple when his dad did it, one hand on the steering wheel, the other usually around Blaine’s mom’s shoulders or on her legs holding her hand.
So … how hard could driving really be?
This car was kickass, so it should be able to safely get him from the very low traffic hills to the club right by the freeway, with parking aplenty, right? Right?!
He was only 14, so he couldn’t drink anyway, just dance and meet new people, he’d be home before his parents would be done and they’d be none the wiser.
Right?

To be continued …