Sophie Walsh sighed as the SUV pulled up to her mother's estate in Malibu. The moment the 19 year old had been dreading for weeks was finally here. Most of her friends envied her for having a famous mother; Sophie envied her friends and their normal families.
The problem was her relationship with her mother, or should she say, lack of a relationship. Sophie was a product of a college romance and short-term marriage of her mother Jessica and father Robert. Jessica was a drama major in school and had big dreams, which didn't include being married and pregnant at age 23. As a result, she quickly grew restless and before Sophie's 2nd birthday, she left her young family to chase her dreams of stardom in Hollywood.
Robert did his best to cope with a young daughter who constantly asked where mommy was, and by all accounts he had done a great job. Sophie grew up into a smart, well-adjusted teenager, and had just completed her freshman year at Columbia. Robert remarried when Sophie was 10, and she loved her stepmother and two younger brothers. For Sophie, her stepmom was more of a mother to her than this woman she was about to spend the summer with; a woman she barely knew.
As Jessica's career in Hollywood took off, she always made sure to send money back to her ex-husband in Pennsylvania to take care of Sophie. The problem was that was largely the extent of her relationship with her daughter. There were visits in passing during the holidays and summer, but other than that, not much in the way of contact. Jessica's agents, and to be honest Jessica herself, wanted to focus on her career as Hollywood's newest sex symbol, and they felt the presence of a young daughter would just get in the way.
In recent years, her mother had expressed a desire for Sophie to come out and spend the summer with her in California. Sophie resisted at all costs; she suspected there were ulterior motives for the invitation. Whereas having a daughter was once considered a detriment to a career, Sophie knew her mother was at an age where having a family to show off could help her get the more serious roles she now craved.
But her father and stepmother both suggested she give Jessica the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she finally wants to make things right, they reasoned. They loved Sophie, and didn't want her to have such hard feelings toward her mother. No matter what they felt about Jessica, they knew Sophie's life would be better if she at least made peace with her.
All this was on Sophie's mind as the door was opened by the chauffeur. She stepped out and looked around at a view that never ceased to take her breath away. Her mother's house was truly beautiful, situated on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It looked way too big for just her mother and the boy toy she was dating at the moment. But as Sophie knew, her mother was all about status, and had to have the nicest, biggest things in town.
As the chauffeur pulled her bags out of the back of the SUV, Sophie's mother came out of the house, three assistants following behind her. Life had certainly worked out for Jessica Norton (having gone back to her maiden name to put further distant from her past); she was living her wildest dreams as a hot and successful star of both movies and TV. People were drawn to her model-like looks, and emulated her style. By all accounts, she was a gorgeous woman, with long blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. Even now, in her early 40's, she was considered a star (though an aging one by Hollywood logic).
"Sophie, darling, so good to see you," her mother said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "I have to go to the spa, but feel free to get comfortable. You look like you could really use some sun. OK, see you."
With that, her mother was gone before Sophie could even get a word in. And as always, her mother couldn't help but get a little dig in at her appearance.
By all accounts, Sophie was a beautiful girl, but the opposite of her mother in nearly every way. Where Jessica was blond and skinny, Sophie was curvy and had chestnut-brown hair and brown eyes like her father. She fluctuated between a size 8 and 10, hardly overweight for a 5'7" girl, but not like those models she constantly saw in the fashion magazines. And certainly not like her mother.
And for Sophie, it felt like Jessica never let her forget this fact, always making comments about how she could improve her appearance. Jessica was probably trying to be helpful, Sophie reasoned when she felt some kindness toward her mother; she just seemed to have no idea what a teenage girl really wanted to hear from their mother.
While she envied her mother's body, she grew to become comfortable with who she was, thanks to the help of her family. They always taught her that being confident in yourself was what mattered. And she had learned to appreciate her best asset, her 36D breasts. As she grew up, she quickly noticed the boys liked that about her as well.
Sophie had a few boyfriends over the years, but never anything serious. She tended to attract the shy, quiet boys, who often were afraid to make the first move. While she found that endearing and attractive, Sophie also wished she could find a guy who for once took control, who knew what he wanted and went for it.
After placing her bags in her room, Sophie decided to take her mother's advice for once, and lay out by the pool. She chose one of the new swimsuits she had bought, a pretty blue green two-piece suit. She had just become comfortable wearing these kinds of suits to show off her curves. Plus, she figured everyone was out, so it wasn't like she would be seen.
She put on a robe and headed to the pool, but quickly saw that Javier the groundskeeper was finishing up his work. Sophie waved and went over to talk with him; he had a younger boy with him, about her age. On her few visits here, Sophie always treated the help as equals. From their reaction, she figured her mother didn't do the same.
"Javier, como esta?" Sophie asked in her limited Spanish, knowing Javier spoke very little English.
"Hi, Miss Sophie," Javier replied in broken English. "This my son Diego."
"Hello," Diego stammered, clearly flustered by the pretty girl in front of him. Sophie laughed a little inside, and made small talk.
"Hi, I'm Sophie, so you're helping out your father, that's nice of you."
"Yeah, I'm leaving for college in the fall, so I wanted to help while I could," Diego replied, becoming more at ease.
