Falling Down(76)

"Hi mama."
"Luciana, have you seen the news? Listened to the radio? There's new rumors."
"Well, I haven't had time for television or radio but the paparazzi outside the house were a pretty good clue that new 'rumors' as you put it is going on. What is it now?"
"We need to be on speaker. Your father wants to talk too."
"Mama, it's not only Sera, Frank, and Max with me."
Pause. "Who else is with you?"
"Jace Warner--"
"Oh! Jace! I've missed him," she interrupts.
"Let me finish mama."
"Oh."
"Jesse Kingston and his brother Ben are here as well."
Complete silence and I cringe.
"Oh boy, that's not good," Jace says.
I jump when she drops the phone and starts swearing in Italian. My dad tries to calm her down, but calming Regina Russo down when she gets like this is impossible.
"Button!"
"Hi daddy."
"Your mother needed to--catch her breath."
I snicker. "Okay. We can do speaker. I heard mama tell you Jace, Jesse, and Ben are here."
"She did. You okay, Lucy?"
"Yeah daddy. Just overwhelmed."
"Okay, speaker then."
"We're going on speaker everyone," I say as I push the button.
"Hi dad!" Sera says.
"Serafina, my baby doll. How are you?"
"I'm good, daddy, but the vultures are bothering our Lucy."
"Yes, I saw on the news. This is starting to piss me off."
"Get in line dad," I tell him.
"You should have seen it, Mr. R. It was insane. They were everywhere shouting questions at the limo, trying to take pictures through the tinted windows."
"Jace, my boy. Hollywood is crazy. This is why Luciana wants out."
"It won't be much better being a rockstar," my mother chimes in.
"Mama."
"What? You know it's true."
I just sigh.
"It's good to hear your voice, Jace. I can't wait to see you again. It's been too long."
"It has. A long time."
"Mama, daddy, let me introduce you to Jesse Kingston. Jesse, these are my parents, Regina and Anthony Russo."
"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Russo."
"Ah, don't call me Mr. Russo. Mr. Russo is my father and he's trouble."
"And then some," Sera adds.
"Serafina," Regina scolds.
"Yes, mama."
"Ben, meet my parents, Regina and Anthony Russo."
"Nice to meet you," Ben says.
"And you both as well," my dad says. "We need damage control, Lucy."
"There's no damage done, daddy. It's bullshit and you know it. I want to know who leaked the band stuff."
"I'm not sure. We're going to look into it. Where are you staying?"
"Well, that's the thing, dad. If we stay in the hotel, the media will be there within the hour and we can't stay in Santa Monica because we've got work in the city this week with the new band and a few reporters were already outside the house today."
"I see, I see. That's a problem. You could stay with Joey--"
"NO!" Sera and I both yell at the same time and my dad laughs.
"I had to say it just to get the reaction."
"Harsh, dad. But I think we have where we're staying worked out."
"Good, good. Tell me."
"We're going to be staying with Jesse and Ben and the band at their mansion."
Silence, then cursing from my mother in the background.
"That's not good," Jesse whispers in my ear.
"That's not even bad."
He raises his brows.