New Beginnings {ACM}

Chapter 43

Song of the chapter: Fight Song by Rachel Platten

Emily's POV

"Hey, Ems!"

"What?" I yelled down to Austin from our bedroom.

"Come down here for a minute; I want to show you something."

I dropped the pile of laundry on the bed that I still needed to fold and headed downstairs.

I found Austin in the living room watching TV. Lucy was at my mom's. She had been spending a lot of time with both mine and Austin's mom lately because we wanted her to get time in with them before we left for the tour for a few months. "What's up?"

He was practically bouncing with excitement. "Check it out!" He grabbed the TV remote and turned up the volume. Crazy Countdown was on, a show that broadcast the Top 40 music videos in the country for that week, commercial free.

"That was the wildly popular Austin Mahone coming in at number two with his new single, "Dirty Work." Here's your number one video for the week, Emily Smith with "Are You Happy Now?" I'm Bailey Summers and thank you for joining me for this week's Crazy Countdown."

My video started playing and I shrieked with excitement, jumping up and down. "That's me, that's my video! I'm number one!"

Austin grinned. "I know!"

"I'm calling my mom." I dialed her home number and my she picked up. "Hello?"

"Hi mom," I said.

"Hi, Emily! Lucy is fine."

"Yeah, I'm not calling about that," I said. "Well, it's good she's fine but that's not the point of this call." I put the phone on speaker. "Mom, you're on speaker now so don't say anything embarrassing."

"All the more reason to say something embarrassing," she said.

"Mom!"

"I'm just kidding, honey," she laughed. "Hi, Austin."

"Hey, Penny," he replied. "Emily's got exciting news to tell you."

"My video is number one in the country for the week!" I exclaimed into the phone. "Go to channel 207!"

My mom screamed. "Emily, that's amazing! Awe, there's my little girl. Look, Lucy, mommy's on TV!"

You could faintly hear Lucy yell "Mommy! Mommy!" in the background before shrieking happily.

"She likes it," my mom said. "Your dad says congratulations!"

"Tell him thanks for me."

"Lucy's not being a brat, is she?" Austin asked.

"Oh no, she's perfectly fine, no troubles at all. She's asked for both of you a couple of times."

"Awe, we miss her," I said. "Thanks again for watching her, we really appreciate it."

"Oh, you know we're always here to help in any way we can," my mom said kindly.

"We know," I said. "But we better go. Love you!"

"I love you both! Thanks for calling, Lucy says bye!"

"Bye, sweetie!" Austin and I said. "Bye, Penny," Austin added before I hung up.

"You know what, we should celebrate tonight," Austin told me. I put the phone back on the charger in the hallway.

"And do what?"

"Let's hit up Neon Buzz. We haven't been there since Lucy was born."

Neon Buzz was a club in Miami that wasn't too crazy. The four of us used to go there all the time before Lucy was born. Since then, we hadn't been back. Anyone over 17 could go, but minors weren't allowed to drink alcohol. Look who wasn't a minor anymore.

"We can even invite everyone else," Austin added. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"Hey, I'm not disagreeing," I told him. "I'm ready to get out for a change."

"Awesome! Okay, it's seven now, so you call Quinn and Taylor, and I'll call Jace, Jesse, and Alex."

We split off our separate ways to call our friends. Quinn and Taylor were all for it. Quinn said she would leave Sheridan with her grandparents since Leah was still in the hospital and her parents were there with her.

After hanging up with them, I went to check the plans with Austin.

"Alex and Jesse are coming," he said. "Jace is in Orlando visiting his girlfriend. You?"

"Both Taylor and Quinn."

"Nice," he said. "So everyone is meeting here at ten."

"Yep," I confirmed. "But first let's eat, I'm starving."

"Me too. What do you want? I'll make you something too," Austin said as he opened up the cupboards.

"I'm really in the mood for grilled cheese."

"You read my mind," he grinned as he got out the bread, butter, and cheese.

While he made our food, I thought about the fact that my video was number one in the country for the week. It didn't seem that long ago when I had stage fright. Now, I was really putting my music out there.

"What are you thinking about?" Austin asked.

"Just the fact that my video is number one," I replied.

He grinned. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks," I smiled.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about something that has to do with Lucy for a while," Austin said while he flipped the grilled cheese sandwiches.

"Okay," I said slowly. "What's up?"

"Well, since I've got this tour coming up and we're both really busy with not just my work, but with your job too, Alex thought it would be a good idea to get a babysitter for Lucy. We can't take her everywhere."

"That's what our parents are for," I told him.

"Ems, let's be honest, our parents love Lucy, but even they don't want to be watching her all the time," he said. "Why don't we just hire Leah? She loves kids, especially Lucy and Sheridan. She's really good with both of them, you've seen it."

"We would obviously have to wait until she's fully recovered. She's kind of in a knee brace with a concussion right now," I rested my elbow on the counter. "And I don't know how long that's going to take."

"It's not a for sure, and we still have to ask her, but I'm sure she would do it. Besides, it's not like it's full time anyways," Austin said. "It's a good idea."

"Yeah, it is," I admitted. "Who knew Alex could be smart with something?"

"I know, right?" He handed me my sandwich. "My lady."

"Why thank you," I smiled. "Mmmm, I love grilled cheese."

"Diddo."

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I hope everyone has a safe and great 4th of July!! Happy 4th!!