Taylor had accepted that now that Sam was nineteen, Sam didn’t really have to listen to him on the subject of who he dated. And exactly what he did with them. However, Sam promised his dad they he and Loretta hadn’t been having sex.
“We’re in the public eye, and well, she is sixteen. I can’t say I’m interested in anything… happening… and then people jumping down my throat for statutory rape,” he had said. “It might be something that happens every day all around the world, but being in the public eye kinda changes things in that respect. You know that if we ahh, ever got caught doing something like that they’d victimise us, well, me, just because of who we are – I am. It’s part of the reason why we decided to keep it quiet, actually – an attempt to avoid stupid rumours.”
Justin and Taylor had spoken about it, neither minding that their kids were dating, only that they didn’t tell them. Loretta admitted to Sam that Britney had given her the sex talk yet again.
Xavier hated that he was in Tulsa and Electra was in Napa Valley. He hated that he couldn’t spend as much time with her as possible.
So Xavier and Sam had decided to write a song together about long distances relationships and missing their girlfriends. What started as one song turned into three, and they were having a lot of fun.
They had come out of the studio at Taylor’s house and went into the kitchen at about midday on this particular day to eat lunch. They were discussing what they had been writing when the door opened and Charlotte came in with a rather big square of cardboard or whatever it was. She was treating it very carefully.
“What’s that sweetie?” asked Rita.
Charlotte looked a little nervous, then turned it around. It was a painting of her dream guy.
“Tobias helped me,” Charlotte said.
“It’s excellent. I wish I could draw like that,” Rita praised.
“Thank you.”
Sam and Xavier looked at each other. They both thought the whole dream guy thing was just plain weird. Especially with all the pictures and such Charlotte would make of Him.
“How can someone get that much detail from an imaginary person?” asked Xavier.
“I don’t know,” Sam replied. “But Mum and Dad think He’s real.”
“Why?”
“Oh, they say that they used to dream of each other, but it faded after we were born.”
“Do you believe them?”
Sam shrugged.
“Hmm. Well, that was a good lunch. Back to the studio?”
Sam swallowed his last bite.
“Yep.”
“Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to eat with your mouth half full of food?” asked Xavier cheekily. “Fill it right up.”
“That’s so old.”
“But funny.”
“Umm, no.”
“Oh, come on, you have to admit it’s funny.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Hey have you ever tried to talk with your mouth full of food?”
“Have you? I think not.”
“That’s the problem.”
Sam groaned.
“I walked right into that one, didn’t I?”
“Yep.”