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Ellie wasn’t really cruel enough to make me pay for dinner. Just as well because that evening, my parents had booked a table at my favorite Italian restaurant as a farewell thing before I left with the band in the morning.
All around us, happy families and groups of friends chattered, the sounds mingling with the gentle clatter of cutlery on plates and soft jazz music. The atmosphere was kind of weird as I sat at a table with my mother, father, Ellie, and Drew. Everyone was talking and laughing, but an underlying tension lurked as if I was about to embark on a trip I’d never return from.
Perhaps I should have been more nervous, but my stomach only fizzed with the excitement and anticipation of doing something so wildly unique with a band whose music I could sing and rock out to in my sleep.
“Okay, seriously,” I said after a long moment of awkward silence. “What the heck is wrong with everyone tonight?”
“Nothing,” my mother said quickly, forcing a smile. She tucked a stray strand of her shoulder-length blonde hair behind her ear, then took a swig from her glass of wine. “Everything’s fine.”
“I know that, but you and Dad keep looking at me as if I’m never coming home again.”
Her eyes swiveled toward Dad, then back to me. “Don’t be silly, Lucy. We know you’re coming home again. We’re just going to miss you, that’s all.”
I didn’t buy it. I mean, I knew they’d miss me, but that wasn’t all. My mother had been acting like I was going to the other side of the world, and my dad had been strangely quiet about the whole thing.
For the past few weeks, he had been throwing concerned glances at me as if checking if I was really sure about the traveling thing. I’d pointed out numerous times that our first stop was Paris for two nights, and if I hated it, I could hop on a boat, the Eurostar, or a plane and be home in no time.
We didn’t leave for America for another nine days, so there would be plenty of chances for me to get home easily if I needed to. Plus, Ellie would be joining us right before the American leg of the tour, so I wouldn’t even have to travel home alone if I decided not to go on the rest of the journey.
I lowered my eyes back to my plate, the meat lover’s pizza in front of me suddenly unappealing. I guess I’d reached that age—the one where you feel like an adult, but your parents still can’t let go. They hadn’t been quite this clingy when I left for college, although I’d had an unnatural amount of phone calls from them for the first three months. This was a little different, though. This was me being exposed to life on the road. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that college life was filled with the same kind of temptations. Sex, drugs, and partying all night were what the first year was all about for many students.
Drawing in a long, slow breath, knowing their eyes were still on me, I fixed a smile on my face that could have rivaled my mother’s for its fakeness.
“I’ll miss you too, but it’s not like we’ll really be apart. We can talk on the phone every day, or more if we want to. I can see you through the magic of FaceTime or Skype anytime.”
“Yeah.” Ellie straightened up. “Lucy’s right. You’ll hardly even know she’s gone.”
“And we’ll take care of her,” Drew added, giving me a subtle wink across the table to let me know he wasn’t trying to patronize me but to calm my parents. “She’ll be fine with us.”
“Nobody will dare mess with her when there’s a group of rockers protecting her.”
My mother nodded slowly, but Dad’s shoulders were still hunched. What I didn’t understand was, if they had such a problem with this, why didn’t they say so weeks ago? I’d gone to the effort of talking the trip through with them in the most grown-up way. I had planned and considered, and I’d done everything a responsible person would do before making such a big decision. Okay, initially, I’d run around screaming in overexcited ecstasy, butthenI did what I needed to do. We’d discussed what would happen if I needed to come home. We had been over every worst-case scenario we could imagine and agreed I could handle anything the trip might throw at me.
Maybe the reality for them was a bit different from the hypothetical.
“Mum, Dad, please. Don’t make this weird. Tonight is supposed to be fun, and I can’t handle you two giving me those looks. I don’t want my memory of leaving to be of you being sad and me feeling like I’m letting you down by going away for the summer.”
My mother’s blue eyes softened. “You’re not letting us down. We’re proud of you for doing this, but we’re your parents, so it’s only natural that we’re going to worry. We know you’ll be looked after and this will be a great experience for you, but no matter how old you get, you’ll always be our baby. We can’t help worrying. It’s our job.”
Ah, the curse of being the youngest. I hoped they weren’t about to launch into the ‘when you have children, you’ll understand’ speech. I was definitely too young for that.
“I know, but can you please relax a little so I don’t have to carry your worries around with me? I’m already over my baggage allowance.”
They visibly relaxed and cracked smiles, and my shoulders sagged in relief.
“Okay,” Dad said. “We’ll try. Now… who wants ice cream?”
A genuine smile spread across my face at their understanding and the promise of dessert. We all reached for menus to choose one of the yummy after-dinner treats, and while we were distracted, my stomach fluttered when Jason’s voice came from behind me.
“Am I too late for dinner?”
Suppressing a laugh, I didn’t turn around. Instead, I kept my gaze focused on the menu. I couldn’t wait to get a look at him, but I’d trained myself not to act like a typical fangirl, jumping every time I heard his voice. It didn’t stop my stomach from gurgling or my pulse racing, but I didn’t have to make my reaction to him obvious on the outside.
Opposite me, Ellie smiled too while Drew rolled his eyes.
“Yes,” Drew told him with a good-natured head shake. “You’re always late.”
“You are in time for dessert, though,” Mum said. “You’re welcome to join us.”
