To be Frantastic

Chapter 7: The nightmare

-"Brandon, leave your sister's salad!"—mom said, trying to get my brother's attention.

-"But Nicola is not even eating it!"—Brandon replied back, with his mouth stuffed.

-"Who says I'm not eating it!? Leave my plate! I made this salad, you know!?"—Nicola protested, clearly annoyed at Brandon.

-"Kids, no fighting on the dinner table... on Christmas..."—dad said, clearly uninterested.

-"Brandon, did I hear you got into the mathletes at your college?"—Dustin asked, while fidgeting with his pasta. He was never too fond of Italian food.

-"Oh, yes! I got this awesome offer to get into the team, and next year we're entering regionals..."—Brandon said, still stuffed in his mouth with even more food.

-"Nicola, the pastries are delicious!"—my mom complimented my sister, who was sitting across the table from her—"But next year, I'm cooking."

-"Mom, I'm a chef, ok? I know what I'm doing! Besides, I don't mind..."—Nicola said, as she fidgeted with her food. She had a habit of judging her own cooking whilst on the table.

-"Connor, why aren't you eating?"

I gasped internally at the sudden question. Sasha, who had come to spend Christmas with us and who was sitting across from me in the dining room table, was the one who made the question. Mom and Nicola stopped talking. Dustin was paying attention, just like dad, and Brandon even looked at me as well instead of eating.

Shit.

Everyone's looking at me.

I saw my plate, it was practically full. I hadn't even tried Nicola's cooking...

-"Connor..."—Nicola asked—"Do you... do you not like the food...?"

Of, fuck me.

-"No, of course I like the food!"—I said, immediately regretting it, because well...

-"But Connor"—mom said—", you have not even touched it."

I couldn't find any counter arguments for that, so I did what I do best: I laughed awkwardly like a clueless dork and everyone kind of got a little less tense.

-"Silly me, I don't know why I even said that."—immediately afterwards I took a spoonful of the pasta and started my meal—"I was just distracted! The food's so good, Nicola!"

I saw my sister visibly relax. Even if she does not show it, she really does care when people do not like her food. I can relate, when people don't like my videos I... well, you guys know.

-"Well, if you're not gonna eat it"—Brandon said—"can I have it?"

-"Brandon! Let your brother have his food!"—mom scolded him.

I felt like the waters had calmed. But I couldn't help but notice that Sasha was still looking at me, searching for something out of normal. She can't be sure, though... there is no way that... that she could know...

-"So, Connor"—dad said—", tell us about your tour!"

-"Oh, yeah!"—Nicola said—"When and where? Are all of the guys going?"

Thankfully this is a topic I can talk about. I bet you guys know by now, but back in Playlist Live O2L revealed we are going on a US tour next year. It's a pretty big deal, and we are all very excited. I mean it's going to be a lot of work, especially for me, since I got this... issues... but it's something we've all been looking up to for so long now, not to mention it's more than what any of us could imagine.