Leah’s Point of View

Eden was dancing around the room with her iPod in her ears when AJ and I walked back in the suite. She definitely had the moves. That was one thing she picked up from her dad. Eden wasn’t aware that we were standing there watching. She spun around and saw us standing by the door.

“O-M-G!!! Don’t scare me like that!” Eden shrieked and fell back onto a chair. AJ and I started laughing.

“Sweetheart, you certainly have the moves.” AJ smiled. “You definitely got that from me.”

“It’s the only thing I got.” Eden mumbled under her breath. I gave her a look. I know that she was angry with her dad for a lot of reason, but I wish she would ease up on him a little bit. My fear was that she was going to regret her actions in the future.

“We need to have a talk with you.”

“About…what?” She looked puzzled. I took a seat next to AJ on the couch.

“Last night when I took your phone, I checked your texts and emails.” AJ told Eden calmly. Knowing how upset he was with the situation, I was surprised how composed he was.

“How dare you? You have no right to go through my phone.” Eden screamed. Then she looked at me. “Mom, how could you let him do this?”

“I didn’t know until he told me this morning. In all honesty, I’m glad he did.”

“I thought you were on my side. This is effin’ stupid.” Her voice rose. “That’s an invasion of my privacy.”

“Eden, at your age you have no privacy. Your mom pays for that phone. As your parents we have every right to check your phone.”

“Like you give a rat’s ass about me. You don’t even try to be a father to me when I’m around. Why act like one now?” She huffed. I could see the hurt in AJ’s eyes. I was feeling bad for him. It had to cut like a knife knowing your daughter felt that way about you.

“Stop it. You don’t need to yell at him. He’s your father. Please give him some respect.” I pinched the bridge of my nose to stop the headache I was getting.

“Mom, what about all the things you say about him? It’s okay for you to cuss him out for not being in my life, but I’m not allowed to say anything. I think the two of you are ganging up on me.”

“Regardless of what your mom thinks of me is neither here nor there. We are talking about you. Can you explain these messages you’ve been sending to some guy?” AJ was handling the heated conversation better than I expected. Normally he flew off the handle, but maybe that was only with me. He was proving that he could be a great parent.

Eden was caught off guard. She sat there with her mouth open wide. She sat up when she saw Brian enter the room.

“Is everything okay?” He asked me.

“Not really. I’ll fill you in later. AJ and I have it under control.” I told Brian quietly. He squeezed my shoulder and quickly left the suite.

“We’re waiting.”

“Fine. His name is Xavier. He’s Sierra’s older brother.”

“Do you know what you’re doing is inappropriate?”

“I guess. It was harmless. We were just playing around.” She said innocently.

“It’s not just playing around. You know you could get in trouble for those texts you’ve sent.” I educated my daughter. Apparently she wasn’t as smart as I gave her credit for.

“Mom, I don’t see where I did anything wrong. We were just sending messages and pictures to each other.” She started looking at her polished nails.

“First off you are too young to be talking and taking sexy photos. Second, you could get into a lot of trouble. We don’t want that to happen to you.” AJ explained. She ignored him.

“You know you’re not allowed to date. You are fourteen years old. You were texting things you should know nothing about.” I was starting to get frustrated with my daughter. It seemed to me that she didn’t want to listen or thought her behavior was perfectly okay. I was starting to get pissed off.

“So, what. You got pregnant with me when you were fifteen. I’m not that stupid. It was okay for you and dad to do whatever the hell you wanted as teenagers, but I’m not allowed to do anything.” She yelled.

Within minutes Nick was in the living room watching what was going on. I was embarrassed for myself, AJ and Eden. I’m sure he could everything from his room anyways. I was too concerned with my daughter to even acknowledge him.

“Maybe you should learn from our mistakes.”

“Thanks, dad. I knew you didn’t care about me, but now I know I was a mistake in your eyes.” Tears started flowing from Eden’s eyes.

“You’re twisting my words. I never said you were a mistake. I love you more than you’ll ever know.”

“Whatever. I’m done with this stupid talk.” She started to walk away and bumped right into Nick. He took her hands.

“I think you need to hear your parents out. They both love and care about you. Stop the attitude. It’s not you.” Nick whispered in Eden’s ear. He let her hands go and she came back over to us. He quickly went back into his room.

“Fine. I guess I can talk.” she pouted.

“I just want to know why.” AJ was curious.

“I always had a crush on Xavier. A few months ago he started paying attention to me. I was more than just his little sister’s friend.” She paused to compose herself. “It started out as flirting, but it grew into more after he kissed me.”

“Is that all you’ve done with him?” I asked praying that my daughter was still as pure as the driven snow.

“Well…” The guilty look on her face said it all.

“Baby just tell us. You aren’t going to be punished as harshly if you’re honest with us.” AJ responded quickly. His face was pale from her response. I’m glad he was with me during this talk because I don’t think I would have remained as calm as he was.

“Umm…we…kinda made out in our underclothes once.” She started bawling to the point she couldn’t breathe normally.

“When did this happen?” I wanted to know, but at the same time I didn’t. Eden was giving a head full of gray hairs at this point.

“It was the night that you and Brian went on the dinner cruise. Xavier came over.” She continued to cry. AJ walked over to her and wrapped her in his arms.

“It’s okay. We’re going to work this out. We all make mistakes. I love you no matter what. You’re mom loves you no matter what.” He comforted his daughter. AJ really did love her. At times I wondered, but today he showed me a different side of him.

“I’m sorry I let you down.” She bawled. “What’s my punishment?”

“Well first I’m going to talk to Xavier’s parents. I think they need to know what’s going on.” I explained. My heart was breaking for my little girl, but she still needed to realize that her actions had consequences.

“You’ve lost your phone and computer privileges for the rest of the summer. You’re also going to have to do some odd jobs on tour.” AJ said firmly.

“I’ll do whatever you want me to, as long as you don’t hate me.” She sniffled.

“We could never hate you.” AJ rubbed her back.

At that point I think we were done talking. I knew I wanted to have a woman to woman chat with my daughter. It was time to share my journal with her. She didn’t need to make the same careless mistakes I did as a teenager.