The Price of Perfection (editing)

Chapter 8

Another chapter! Haha, this book is pretty much writing itself. As soon as I start typing, I can't stop!

I was hoping for more reads than just 4 :(

So I'm only gonna upload the next chapter once I have at least 10 reads!  

Hope u enjoy the chapter, oh and it's a bit sad. Just to warn you! 

Okay, I'm worried about myself now. 

Seriously,  I was looking at Eric while he talked to the attendant and I was actually smiling. God, I'm such a weirdo. Don't worry, I don't usually stare at people while grinning like an idiot. I hope this is an isolated case. 

He had his back to me now and when he looked like he was about to turn around, I deliberatly whipped my head to the other side. You know, to make sure he didn't realise I'd turned into a staring weirdo. I felt him walk up beside me and I saw something in his hand. Glasses.

They were thickly black rimmed but the lenses themselves weren't that thick. My eyes went back and forth from the glasses to Eric and no matter what, I could NOT imagine him wearing those. So let's just say I was quite surprised when he put them on himself. 

Well he did look sorta cute. It kind of gave him this geeky look but he managed to pull it off and look cute. The glasses were just nerdy enough to look cool and with his blondish hair sticking up all over the place...he looked hot.

Not hot enough to keep me from laughing at him though. I mean, I'd been nice enough for one day. He took one look at me clutching my stomach from laughing to hard and started laughing too. A man with a toddler gripping onto his fingers looked at us strangely, while the child mimicked him.

We took one look at them and laughed even harder. If there was one more thing I liked about Eric was that he didn't take me laughing into his face seriously. He just joined in. I heard loud, throat-rattling coughs and turned to see Eric with a red face trying hard to breath. At first I thought he was just laughing too hard but then I remembered his bruised/broken ribs and I helped him up whilst trying to stop the coughing.

About an hour later we were sitting in my room with Eric bandaged up and me looking awkward. As usual.  This time the awkwardness was there because let's admit it, I wasn't exactly filthy rich - whereas Eric was. So sitting in my dump of a room, I felt worse than Harry Potter must have when he showed his 'room' to his friends. 

And just to make it even worse, because the size of the room, Eric and I were literally squashed up against each other - hence the awkwardness.

Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed something from my miniature table, the old mahogany wood was so old and withered that it actually looked cool. I looked at what he had and remembered the card Peter Payne had given me. SilverSun was written in fancy cursive writing and Eric looked shocked as he watched me. 

"You do know who this is, right?" he asked while pointing to the picture of Peter. 

"Well, yeah? ...Not really, no."

"This guy's old man is the owner and founder of ToPofTheChaRtS music. He's one of the richest people in Ireland, maybe even Europe!" My eyes widened and I stared at the card. Most of the CD's I owned came from this guy's father's record label. Wow.

I briefly explained to Eric what happened that night when I was walking home from the bar and I swear the dude's eyes were about to pop.

"Well, what are you waiting for...phone them up!"

"Umm, I'm not really sure I want to"

"Look, I've heard you sing, you sound amazing. Why not? It's the chance of a lifetime."

I thought about it for a minute or two while Eric sat their staring at me. "I-I'm still not sure" I expected him to sigh in exasperation or something but he simply nodded in a supporting way. We talked for another few minutes before he got up to leave. 

We were walking to the door when she showed up. Of course! With my crap luck she obviously couldn't have waited another few seconds until he was gone.

My mother had arrived.

As usual, as soon as she stepped into the room, all previous happy thoughts disappeared. The smile on my face vanished to be replaced by a plain, cold expression. My mouth looking like nothing more than a grim slash across a pale face. My eyes, previously shining bright with creases along the edge from laughing transformed into lifeless pools of blue. Like cold waveless water, unnaturally calm on the day before a storm.

She stumbled over to me and gripped my arm to stop herself from falling. I flinched at her touch, still remembering the days those same hands had clawed into me arm, the marks were still there. I stood there rigid, waiting for her to go and pass out on the couch. But she was having one of those days. Days that I had suffered through for long enough to remember no good came out of them.

"This is all your fault" she hissed. She must not be as drunk as I previously thought, her voice didn't slur much. "This is all your fault!" this time she shouted, her voice making me flinch. Her fingers still held a vicelike grip on arm and I knew there would be bruises there in the morning. 

Yup! This was definetely one of those days.

"Lillian. let me go" my voice came out calm and precise but inside I was shaking. Previous fears were suddenly ignited and I felt like a small child again. She had always made me feel small.

"Don't you call me Lillian. I  housed you and fed you and that is more than enough fo rme to gain your respect. Your own father left you, he knew from day one how much of a brat you were!" Lillian was still shouting and I didn't even bother trying to interupt her. Once she started, she would stop in her own time.

"It's all your fault I'm like this. A drunk! You know what people call me. What would you do if you heard those names everyday? It's your fault I'm stuck in this place! " Now she was really shouting, I was sure the neighbours would be knocking down the doors in a few minutes. I silently begged her to stop with my eyes, tears now stinging my eyes. 

"STOP CRYING! Even your eyes look like his. HE LEFT YOU, remember? And don't think I won't do the same some day. Haha, and you know where he is now, have you ever wondered?" I had a sick feeling in my stomach and for some reason I was dreading the words. 

I don't know what happened but somedays she came home in these moods. I never found out what started them, and I never knew when they were coming. I had still never found out what happened to my dad though. She had never gone that far. It was a sore subject for both of us. But it was coming now, and I didn't want to know. 

"HE'S DEAD! You idiot. HE'S DEAD!" with that, she collapsed on the couch and cried.