Like Real People Do

Blue Teddy Bear

The one with the frosty glares.

//

"You can't be serious." Leona crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me as I tossed random articles of clothing into a suitcase.

"As a heart attack," I replied, not bothering to fold the shirts I was piling on top of the two pairs of jeans I owned, using the nickname my parents had given my sister as a child due to her obsessive crush on Leonardo DiCaprio after seeing Titanic. "I know what I'm doing, Leo."

"Do you? Because I don't think you have any idea what you're getting yourself into," she sighed, uncrossing her arms to scratch her head in frustration. "I get that you think this might be fun, and maybe it will be, but these are celebrity children you're talking about. I mean, normal kids would be hard enough, but this is a whole other beast. I'm talking having to deal with the media attention and the paparazzi and the like."

I rolled my eyes, sorting through the dresses in my closet to decide which ones I could live without. "They're three year olds, not heads of state."

"I'm aware," she hardened her stare, not appreciating my blasé attitude about the entire situation. If only she knew how absolutely terrified I really was or how much I had no idea what I was doing. "But they're the three year olds of a mega famous musician. I mean, hell, even old man Murray from down the street has heard of Jaxon Rigali, which means that he's photographed and talked about constantly and even more so when he's with his kids."

"Okay, then, I'll be sure to look my best as I'm playing with them in the sandbox," I smiled innocently, pulling a few dresses off hangers and turning to toss them in the suitcase.

Leona squeezed her eyes shut in frustration, and I could tell she had more to say, but I supposed she decided that I was an adult and could make my own decisions, so she exhaled softly and shook her head. "I'm assuming this world tour is going to make a stop in Seattle?"

I nodded, keeping silent, despite knowing where this line of questioning was headed. "Are you gonna see Dad?"

Now that was a complicated question, considering our father hadn't really been a father to us for the past decade. After our mother passed away from cancer when I was fifteen, he'd become a recluse. Leona had left to go to college a few months later, which meant I'd navigated my late teen years entirely on my own. Once I'd graduated high school, I'd followed in Leona's footsteps and attended NYU, but even when I'd go back to Seattle for school breaks, I'd hardly see my father. I think I reminded him too much of my mother, and seeing me just broke his heart all over again, so when I got no response after telling him I was spending spring break of my junior year at a friend's lake house, I took it as my cue that he didn't really care what I did and sort of never went back. 

Leona tried harder. She would call on his birthday and Christmas and New Year's. But I guess I figured that there was no use in fighting for someone who didn't actually want to be a part of my life.

"I don't know," I whispered. Maybe when I got there, I would get up the nerve to see him, but right now that time was too far away to worry about. "Are you gonna be okay?"

The corners of her lips lifted into a small smile and she stepped forward, holding out her arms to pull me into a hug and squeezing me close, whispering after pressing a kiss to my temple. "I'm gonna miss you, baby sis."

"Me too," I replied, glad that, as usual, Leona had the ability to wipe away my fears.

I had just finished triple checking that I had everything packed the next morning when I received a text from the driver Amy had sent saying he was waiting out front. Leona had left for work an hour before, after holding me in an embrace so tight that I still felt a little sore and making me promise to call her every day, twice a day if necessary. I didn't linger as I carried my bags towards the front door, knowing that looking back would only cause the tears in my eyes to well up.