My Summer of Firsts

Chapter 31 - Under Pressure

Not long after I arrived at work, Derek strolled in, hands stuffed in his pockets. A gaudy pair of Louis Vuitton sunglasses covered his eyes. They didn't look practical with the company's logo printed all over the lenses.

"Where the hell have you been?" I asked.

I'd been trying to reach him for three days. The most I got was a "Talk to you later," text after my ninth message.

"I couldn't deal, so I took off for a few days. Drove up to Vegas with Brittany. Blew a ton of money."

"What happened after we left the other day?" I asked.

Derek removed his sunglasses and tossed them on the counter without concern of damaging them. He looked tired, his eyes bloodshot. He rubbed his hands over his face. "A lot of yelling about how irresponsible I am. She couldn't believe a son of hers could be so thoughtless and inconsiderate."

"Damn."

Derek chuckled humorlessly. "Yeah, well, that was only the beginning."

"What do you mean?"

"My dad got there like ten minutes after you guys bailed. She told him what happened, and he yelled at me too."

I couldn't even imagine that. "I've never even seen your dad raise his voice."

Mr. Hill was reserved, to say the least. Practically catatonic might be a more apt description of the encounters I'd had with him.

"It wasn't fun." Derek said. "I guess he's been saving it up all this time."

I shook my head. "Sorry, man."

"Just wait." Derek held up his hand. "I decided since they were already so pissed off I might as well take the hell all at once, tell them everything."

"Everything?" I asked, raising my brows.

He twisted his lips, like he'd just sucked in a lemon. Then he sighed and said, "Not everything. Just the dropping-out-of-school-to-join-a-band thing. I'm not ready to tell them about the other thing."

"That's still a lot. How did they take it?"

"My dad just stood there like a statue while my mom berated me about wasting my time on a fruitless career that's just going to end up with me living on the streets. You know, basically throwing my life in the garbage. Shit like that."

"That's about what I expected, to be honest."

He nodded. "I'm kinda surprised she didn't toss me out on my ass right then and there."

"At least it's out in the open. They know, and maybe they'll get used to the idea."

Derek barked out a harsh, bitter laugh. "Yeah. That's definitely gonna happen."

I didn't know what to say to make him feel better. I'd never suffered under the same pressure that his parents placed on him. Mom seemed disappointed when I didn't want to go to college, but she said it was my life, my choice.

"Are you still going on tour?"

"Hell yes!" Derek looked at me like I was crazy for even asking.

"I'm glad. I kinda thought you might back down and go back to school."

"You know me better than that, dumbass." He turned and grabbed a bag of marshmallows off the display set up to sell items for making s'mores. He tossed it at me and I batted it away. "What? Did your boyfriend thrust a little too hard and knock your head against a wall while I was gone?"

"Shut up, asshole."

Derek laughed. A true sound of joy. His stress seemed to dissipate. "So, since I'm going to be an awesome, sexy rock god, how about you hook me up and give me some killer nails?"