A Real Disaster

by Molly Ryan

  “You’re not sleeping?” he asked.

  He looked concerned which made me feel worse than I already did. I kept picturing the red headed girl talking to Nash at the bar; the ‘fan’ he claimed. I was becoming paranoid. I was creating stories in my head instead of talking to Nash.

  I needed to ask him, flat out, whom she was. Ask him if Turner’s sister is really here or if Turner was just trying to ruin what we had.

  “Not very good. I have a lot on my mind… Can I ask you something though?”

  I looked up at Nash and nearly melted at the concerned look in his eyes. His mouth was puckered in to a frown. He curled a piece of my hair around his finger slowly.

  “What’s up? You can ask me anything you want.”

  “The redheaded girl at the club the other night,” I said slowly. “Do you know her?”

  A look passed across Nash’s face but it quickly disappeared and he smiled.

  “She’s just a fan, Lily.”

  “But you seemed like you knew her. Like she was more than just a fan.”

  Nash shook his head, the amused grin still on his face.

  “She’s a fan, only a fan,” he repeated. “She has come to my shows before I ever met you. I think that she’s been coming to the shows since the band started.”

  I knew his words were supposed to comfort me but it made me feel worse.

  “Can I ask you something else?” I ventured. “Of course…”

  “I heard that Turner’s sister was back in town.”

  Another look passed across Nash’s face but it was only a second

  “Where did you hear that?”

  Now it was the moment of truth. Should I tell Nash about Turner or keep my mouth shut? I didn’t want to cause a bigger fight between the two but if I didn’t tell Nash and he found out he would be mad at me.

  “I saw Turner at the library the other day,” I admitted. “I didn’t plan to see him there, believe me. But I was about to leave and there he was. He told me that his sister was in town and she was looking for you. He made it seem like it was something you already knew about and weren’t telling me.”

  I lowered my head and waited for Nash to flip out.

  “He’s lying,” Nash said, surprisingly calm. “He’s trying to get to you. He despises the fact that you chose me and didn’t choose him. He would do anything, and I mean anything to break us up. If his sister was here I would tell you. I have nothing to hide from you.”

  “Really?” I asked doubtfully.

  I figured that if Turner’s sister was here and Nash knew about it he would do whatever it took to keep me from knowing about it. Especially, since I knew the background of the two of them.

  Why’d I even ask?

  “Of course. Why would I risk everything to keep a stupid secret? I’d rather be up front with you.”

  That calmed me down enough. I thought about the ‘I love you’ Nash murmured in his sleep and wondered, for a second, that he knew that he said the words but didn’t want to admit it. He could have been scared, nervous, or something else. I love you was a big step and Nash may not have been ready to take that step.

  “I’m sorry,” I told him.

  It felt like all I was doing lately was apologizing.

  “I’ve just been a little… Crazy. I really like you and… Well I feel like everywhere I turn there’s something or someone who is trying to get in the middle of everything. It’s… Exhausting. I didn’t think that it would be this hard.”

  “It won’t be this hard forever. Do you want me to talk to Turner?”

  Nash put his hands up.

  “I promise that it will be only a talk. I’ll see what’s really going on with him and try to figure out how we can make it better.”

  I shrugged.

  Confusion swept over me. Nash and Turner were enemies, that was something I knew. After Turner’s blow up in the cafeteria, the gap widened between them. Nash didn’t care what was going on with Turner. So why was he offering to help? Why was Nash so willing to talk to him, try to reason with him?

  “You don’t need to talk to him,” I told him. “There’s no point and I honestly don’t think it’s going to change anything.”

  I sighed.

  “Alright, now if you’re done with your line of questioning, I have a question for you.”

  A question? For me? My heart dropped to my stomach. What type of question could Nash have?”

  “Shoot,” I said, trying to stay calm.

  Why do I always go to some horrible place? It’s a simple question. It can be any question… So why panic?

  “I was wondering…” Nash said.

  “Wondering what?”

  “What do I have to do to convince you to come to dinner with my family tomorrow night?”

  There was a knot in my stomach. Dinner? With his family?

  “Why?” I blurted out and Nash laughed.

  “Because you’re my girlfriend. I talk so much about you that they want to meet you.”

  “Who’s going to be there?”

  “My father and probably my sister. They really want to meet you and get to know you. To be honest, I think they’re starting to wonder if you’re real or if I’m making you up. They are convinced that you’re a figment of my imagination.”

  “Your family,” I repeated. “You want me to sit down with your family?”

  “And eat,” he added. “Eating would be a big help. But it’s not going to be this whole big thing… It’s going to be a barbeque, in the backyard. What do you think about it?”

  “I think that it’s nerve wracking. I’ve never met any boy’s family. I wouldn’t know what to do or how to act. I… I don’t want to embarrass you.”

  “You’re not going to embarrass me. Please? This is really important to me. My family is so curious about you.”

  “Okay,” I said finally, knowing that was the only answer I really could give.

  I might not have met a boyfriend’s family yet but I’ve seen the movies. The dinner with the parents was almost as important as actually going out with the person. If the family didn’t like you well then you might as well kiss the relationship goodbye. But what else could I do? If I said no, Nash would be crushed. I didn’t want to do that to him; it wasn’t fair.

  “I promise you won’t regret this. And I promise that I’ll meet your family too.”

  “No!” I cried. “I mean, no. No, you don’t have to meet my family. At all.”

  Nash cocked his head to the side but didn’t say anything. I smiled weakly. I hadn’t told my family about Nash at all and I was trying to keep it a secret for as long as I could. It would be bad enough to admit that I had a boyfriend, there was no way I would be able to tell them that Nash was a musician. In my parent’s eyes, a musician did nothing but smoke weed and drink all day while fucking all night. Musicians didn’t have girlfriends, according to them. Instead musicians had groupies that they fucked whenever they wanted to with no conscious. They had personal whores who were around only to make the musician happy. No, telling my parents about Nash’s career path would be the spark that ignited the bomb.

  “Why not?”

  “My parents… Well they’re old school. And I kind of promised them that I wouldn’t have a boyfriend during school. They don’t think that I can juggle a boyfriend and schoolwork. To them, school was the most important thing; nothing else stands up to it. If they found out about you… Well they might take me out of this school and enroll me in an all-girl school.”

  “They wouldn’t.” Nash said, aghast.

  “They already did with my sister. She got caught going away for the weekend with a boy she was seeing. By the end of that month she was out of the school she enrolled in and in a catholic college. Trust me, when my parents want something one way, they get what they want. None of us want to cross my parents or make them angry.”

  “Wow, it sounds like your parents are tyrants.”

  “Not tyrants. They just want the best for their childr
en. Unfortunately they think that they’re the only ones who know what’s right for us. Trust me, it’s frustrating and sometimes ridiculous. But how can you get mad at them for caring?”

  “I guess.”

  “Doesn’t your dad worry about you?”

  “If by worry you mean criticize then, yes, he worries about me all the time. Every single time I see him he’s worrying about me.”

  I frowned at the bitterness in Nash’s voice. If his relationship was so bad with his dad, why were we going to see him for dinner? The answer was obvious. TO this day, Nash still wanted to make his dad proud. He wanted him to see how great he was doing making his own decisions. He, like everyone else, wanted his dad to be proud of him.

  “So,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. “Should I wear a dress or pants tomorrow?”

  “Pants,” he said with a smile. “They make your ass look better. And a sweater. It will make you look sweet and innocent.”

  I grinned.

  * * *

  I ran up the three flights of stairs and down the hall, skidding to a stop in front of my dorm room. My hands shook as I grabbed the key and inserted it into the door.

  “Sabrina you’re never going to believe what happened,” I said as I swung the door open.

  I looked up and my bags fell to the floor with a thud.

  “Mom? Dad?”

  In front of me stood my parents, side my side, identical grins on their faces. My mother wore a fitted dress, ending at the calf, with matching peep-toe pumps and her hair was blown out behind her. My father wore khakis with a button down shirt and a cigar tucked in his pocket. His salt and pepper hair was slicked back, ending right above his collar. My mother stepped forward, her arms outstretched, waiting to embrace me. I stepped forward and let her arms curl around me in a loose, dainty hug.

  “W-What are you doing here?”

  Blood rushed through my ears as I ran my hand through my disheveled hair. It was nine in the morning and I crossed my fingers praying that my parents wouldn’t ask where I was or why I looked the way I did.

  “We were waiting for you to come back,” my mother said. “Your lovely roommate told us that you went out for a run.”

  Behind them, Sabrina winked at me.

  “We wanted to see you, dear,” my father said. “We missed you and wanted to make sure that you were okay.”

  “I’m fine, see?” I said and did a little dance in a circle. “Nothing to worry about.”

  If my parents noticed how desperate I was to get them to leave, they didn’t show it. My father took a seat on my desk chair while my mother chose my bed. They both stared at me, waiting for me to say something. But what? What could I tell my parents? There was no way that I could tell them what was really going on at school. I couldn’t mention Nash, or the music, and I definitely couldn’t mention the drinking.

  “How long are you here for?”

  “Just tonight,” my mother said. “We were in the area and wanted to check up on our baby girl.”

  Just in the area? Yeah right. But I sighed with relief. At least I would only have to cover my tracks for a little while.

  “So tell us all about school.”

  Sabrina stood up and slipped around my parents.

  “Well, I’ll let you guys catch up,” she said. “I’m going to go get myself some food and then maybe see what Elizabeth is up to. Catch you later, Lily?”

  “Definitely,” I said. “Thanks,” I added softly as she passed.

  She winked and then let herself out of the dorm room, leaving me alone with my parents.

  “Do you guys want to go out to lunch?” I suggested. “There’s a nice little bistro right on the corner.”

  “That sounds like a wonderful plan,” my mother said and my father nodded. “Our treat. You work hard, after all, and you deserve a break.”

  * * *

  I nodded, gritting my teeth, as I picked up my bags and led my parents down and out into the street. This was not going to end well.

  Ten minutes later the three of us were sitting at a table, under an umbrella, waiting for the food to be served. My mother drank a Malibu Bay Breeze, my father had a beer, and I nursed a Shirley Temple.

  “So tell us about school, pumpkin,” my father said and put his elbow on the table. “I heard from your professors; they all said you are doing very well. I hear that you’re going to be on the Dean’s list.”

  “All in your first semester too!” my mother cooed.

  I stared at them dumbfounded.

  “How do you know?” I asked.

  “Your father’s friends with some of the professors and they did some looking into it for him.”

  I balled my hands into fists under the table. My parents were checking up on me? They called my school to find out my grades? I felt… Violated. I thought going away to school was to get out of the scrutiny of my parents.

  I should have known that they would do something like this. They never were going to think I was old enough to make my own decisions or let me do what I want without checking up on me.

  “I’m glad to find out,” I said, trying to keep myself calm. “But I don’t like that you guys are calling my professors to check up on me.”

  “We aren’t checking up on you, pumpkin,” my father said. “We just want to make sure that everything is going as planned. We want to make sure that you’re not drifting off the path.”

  “The path?” I hissed. “You mean the plan that you created for me? The one that you want to see me accomplish? You mean the plan that I had no say in?”

  “Don’t start, Lily,” my mother said as she sighed. “Your father and I are just looking out for you.”

  “Yeah,” my father agreed. “We want the best for you, you know that.”

  The problem was that I did know that. I knew that, deep down, my parents cared about me. They wanted to see me succeed and make something of myself. But they wanted me to make something of myself in a way that they agreed on. If it wasn’t something that they themselves didn’t think of then they didn’t tend to back the decision. It was vicious circle.

  “I know,” I said.

  There was no use fighting with them.

  “I’m sorry. I’ve been under a lot of stress lately and I guess I’m just a bit tired.”

  “It’s okay,” my father said as he patted my hand.

  The waitress returned with our food, handing it out, and then disappeared. My mother picked at her food, stabbing her fork into the chicken only to move it to the other side of the plate. My father, on the other hand, gobbled his food up as if he hadn’t eaten in days. He barely looked up from his plate as he shoveled bite after bite down his throat.

  “So tell us about the rest of college, dear,” my mother said. “There are no boys around, right? You aren’t running around at all hours of the night, are you?”

  I bit my tongue and discreetly looked at my watch.

  Only six hours and twenty-five minutes until they leave.

  I only had to survive a little longer and then they would be gone.

  * * *

  I had finally made it through the next six and a half hours with my parents and was happy to lie down on my bed and relax. Sabrina and Elizabeth had gone to the mall so I was all alone and felt great to have peace and quiet. Before I knew it I had fallen asleep.

  I probably could have slept all afternoon and night. A knock came from my door. I opened my eyes and rubbed them, trying to come back to reality. I laid there for a few seconds but someone continued to knock so I got out of bed and opened the door.

  Standing in front of me was Turner and the red haired girl from the bar that was talking to Nash. I stood there speechless, not able to say anything. I knew Nash had lied to me the instant that I saw Turner with this girl. I could not believe it

  “Hey Lily, this is my sister.”

  Nash lied to me.

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