Angelica paused at the front door and took a deep breath. “Ok Ange this is it. Remember what Lara told you. Just go in and do it. Get it over with”
She let out the breath she was holding and stared at the door handle for a few seconds before grabbing hold of it and pushing the door open.

Bette and Tina were sat watching the TV, holding each other cosily on the sofa.
They looked up as their daughter walked through the door.

“Hey Ange. I thought you’d be back later. How’s Lara?” Tina asked sitting up slightly to get a better view of Angelica.

“Hey. Lara’s fine. She says hey” Angelica paused sorting out in her mind what she was going to say.
 ”Can I tell you guys something?”

“Sure honey. You can tell us anything” Bette replied.

Angelica wanted to believe this but as a teenager she knew that she couldn’t actually tell her parents everything. If she did she might be in danger of being too happy and that, she knew, was totally against teenage law.
 Both Bette and Tina had sat up on the sofa and the TV had been turned off. Angelica moved around and sat in the armchair facing her parents.

“Ok, here’s the thing, and just let me explain before you say anything alright?”

“Er…sure” Tina said cautiously casting a worried look at Bette.

Angelica took another deep breath in before she started, just to calm her nerves, then began.

“So, we have this trip to Scotland soon and I can’t express how…amazed and happy I am that you guys organised this…this whole thing is a dream come true.” Angelica looked up to see both her parents with huge grins on their faces.
She looked down at her feet hoping they would still be smiling by the time she was finished as she continued.

“My whole birthday was more than what I could ever have imagined. I got exactly what I wanted present wise. But there’s one present that I didn’t tell you guys about and I don’t know why I didn’t. I guess I…well, wanted it to be just mine because it was so special to me.” Angelica paused giving Bette the opportunity to ask the obvious. “

Ok, so what was this present?”

“Hey, no interrupting remember…but let’s just say you weren’t the only ones that bought me tickets for something.”
Another pause.
“You know Jake from work? Well, he bought me tickets to a gig and it’s not just any gig before you say anything. It’s a Death Cab for Cutie gig”

Tina’s face was blank. She had no idea who this band were or why one of their gigs would be so important. Bette, however, understood straight away. Death Cab were Angie’s favourite band…ever.

“Anyway, he gave them to me at work and I was so happy because I really…er…because I couldn’t believe he’d do something like that for me.” Angelica stopped herself before she let slip to her parents she actually had a huge crush on this guy.
“So, he gave me them and I couldn’t believe it. Then we went out and everything was fine…until you gave me your tickets. This wouldn’t be a problem but both sets of tickets are for things that are happening on the same day and I…I really don’t know what to do. That’s why I’ve been so grumpy the past few days. I didn’t want to let anyone down but I know I have to.”
Angelica finished but didn’t look up at her moms. She just waited, nervously, for their response.

“Oh honey” Tina got up from the sofa and walked over to Angelica, kneeling in front of the chair and putting her hands on her daughters knees. “Why didn’t you sat anything sooner?”

“I don’t…” Angelica didn’t finish. She just shook her head.

Tina pulled her daughter into a loving embrace that Angelica didn’t want to end. She felt safe in her mom’s arms, like nothing could get her, nothing could go wrong. When they did part Angelica looked up to see Bette had stood up and was looking at her intently. Angelica hated it when she did that. She felt so vulnerable but couldn’t break the eye contact.
Tina saw Bette looking at their daughter with, what could only be describe as, disappointment.

“So…um, have you made your choice yet? Of which thing you’d rather do?” Tina asked trying to settle the tension running between Bette and Angelica.

Angelica broke the contact with Bette as she looked at her feet again.

“Well I’ve been thinking a lot about it and I told Lara the whole story and she helped me a lot in my decision. I decided that, well, blood is thicker than water right? And I guess that Death Cab will play again. I mean I’m disappointed and I hate to let Jake down but I’d hate letting you guys down more. Plus Scotland! As if I’d pass that up!”

Tina smiled and looked at Bette. To her surprise Bette wasn’t smiling. She no longer looked disappointed but there was still something bothering her, Tina could see that. Bette’s reaction, or lack of it, had not gone unnoticed by Angelica either.

“Mom, what’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy”

“I am happy Ange, I’m just wondering why this was such a hard decision for you?”