C'Mon, Would It Really Be So Bad?

Family

"Um, yeah, I'm here. Working."

"Ohmygod! So can you, like, get us into the show?"

"Uhh, well, I don't know if...," I trailed off and looked over to where Ed was. He was watching me and eavesdropping like I knew he would be.

Caroline didn't let me finish. "Mom and Dad even want to come! They want to see you."

"Oh, do they? I want to see them too, it's just -"

I was cut off again but this time it was by Ed. He jogged over to me and when he was close enough to the phone, he said loudly, "Sam, is that your family on the phone?? Tell them to come to the show tonight!"

My eyes went big and I hit him on the arm, then tried my best to push him away. I couldn't budge him though and it was too late because Caroline had heard him.

"Ohmygod, was that him??"

"Yeah." I couldn't think of anything else to say at that point.

"Really?? So I can come? We can all come??"

I turned to give Ed my meanest death glare. "Yeah...I guess." 

I heard her hold the phone away and yell something at our parents. "When do we come?"

"Uh, let me just text you the information here in a minute, okay?" 

"Okay! Thanks, Sam!!"

I fake smiled to myself, knowing she obviously couldn't see and sense my sarcasm. "Thank Ed," I replied and then hung up. 

My smile immediately dropped. "What's your deal? You don't get along with your family or something?" Ed asked. 

"I do, I just - sometimes it makes me feel like shit to be around them for too long. And this is my job. I'm here to work, not to have a family reunion. Doing this job on the road is like my escape from them. Like my own little happy separate world and now they're coming into it."

"How do they make you feel like shit?"

"Well for starters, they always give me shit about Matt. They don't like him. Like, at all. So they just trash talk him the entire time we visit and I leave feeling like an idiot who has the worst boyfriend in the world. And also - this is gonna sound stupid - but, they're too...perfect."

A thin smile appeared on his face before he said, "It doesn't sound stupid. How are they too perfect?"

I took a breath and rolled my eyes. "They don't do it on purpose, but they make me feel like a loser. Like the black sheep of the family. My parents are high school sweethearts and still act like they're in their honeymoon phase. They got married really young and tried to get pregnant right away and they just don't understand why I'm not doing that too. They're nice and basically supportive, but they're always saying I should find a 'nice guy' to settle down with and that having my own family is most important. I'm still 'living in my teenage phase' traveling around with musicians. I'm just...not what they wanted in a daughter," I laughed to try to make light of the situation.

 "Oh, wow. I had no idea your parents were like that. They've been together since high school?? That's insane."

"Right. I mean, sure, it would be awesome to find a guy who I got along with as well as my mom gets along with my dad, but how likely is that? No one ever finds that. It's like because they have this perfect relationship, they expect everyone else to too. Like it's the most simple thing in the world."

"They don't realize that people are different. It's a different time, things aren't really like that anymore." 

I smiled. He got it. He always understood what I was trying to say. "Exactly." 

Later on when my family arrived, we all said our hello's and then I lead them to the dressing room to meet Ed. Caroline tried to play it cool but I could tell she wanted to scream with delight when Ed introduced himself and hugged her. He hugged my mom too and shook my dad's hand, impressing them by knowing their names already. 

"You mean Sam actually told you about us?" My mom tried to play it off as a joke but it was obvious that she was surprised.

"She did! When I heard Matt couldn't make it I asked her if her family would want to come see the show."

I shot Ed a look and he winced, knowing he had just fucked up.

"What a surprise," my dad sarcastically commented.

"Did Matthew stand you up again??" My mom crossed her arms and demanded an answer from me.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." I couldn't hide the annoyance in my voice.

She rolled her eyes and then turned to Ed. "You know, he's no good for her." She put a hand on his arm and leaned in, like she was telling him some secret. "We try to tell her all the time that she deserves much better."

"Okay, mom! Let's not talk about it anymore!"

It was silent for a second and then Ed tried to smooth things over. "Well I agree with your mum. You do deserve much better." He slung an arm around my shoulders and hugged me into his side. "I only want the best for my little Sam." Then he put a hand on my head and said, "I love her lots."

Even though he hadn't been addressing me directly and didn't exactly say "Sam, I love you," I felt something that almost kind of felt like butterflies very faintly deep down in my stomach. He'd never said that before, at least not that I knew of. 

"Well, good. I'm glad she's working with someone who's looking out for her. This is...an incredible opportunity for her photography." My mom looked around the very nice dressing room we were in as she said this, almost like she was in disbelief that I wasn't still taking pictures in run down little hole in the wall bars.

"She's talented, this one. Have you seen any of her work from this tour?"

Of course they hadn't, because I never sent them stuff. Ed insisted on me getting my laptop to show them and happily chatted away with them as I got the picture albums pulled up. I handed the laptop to my sister and my parents sat on either side of her to look at the screen as she scrolled through them. They complimented me, again acting like they were surprised that the pictures were actually good. 

As Caroline scrolled, the pictures of Ed and I watching the meteor shower from the roof of the bus came up. She stopped on the one where we were smiling at each other, faces close, instead of even looking up at the sky. Ed and I looked at each other like we had just been caught with something bad. We were standing behind everyone else, behind the couch. I quickly tried to lean over and reach the laptop, but Caroline moved it away from me.

"Just skip past those," I tried to brush it off casually but I could hear the snapping tone of my voice.

I discreetly elbowed Ed in the side. "What time is? Ed has to start getting ready for the show."

Ed looked at his watch. "Yeah, I do. Should we plan on grabbing a bite somewhere after?" 

We did, on Ed's tab. As the night ended and we were saying our goodbyes, I saw my mom pull Ed into a hug and say something into his ear. I knew it was about me because Ed kept looking over to me and smiled from ear to ear as he nodded in agreement.