timeless melody ↝ eddie vedder

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞

I could tell by the looks on his face, that Eddie had been somewhat intimidated by our family.

There's no doubt in my mind that Juno would have warned him about all of us, but no amount of warning can prepare you for the real thing.

It all sounds manageable when someone's telling you about us, but that's only because you don't expect it to be all of us, all at once.

Shortly after they arrived, we sat down to eat the food that Jenny and I had prepared, and immediately Eddie and Juno were bombarded with questions of all sorts. Some were for both of them, some were individual.

For example, Mason spent 15 minutes bugging Eddie about life in San Diego; What's it like? Is the surf good? Are there any good restaurants? Where are the good shows? Can you recommend any local bands?

With some of the questions she asked, it's like she forgot every single time I took the kids to San Diego to see my brother.

Brandon had been just as ridiculous, and acted as if he'd never meet a musician other than the ones in his band before. I wanted to remind him that he had been raised by one, but I didn't, because I knew that they were just excited to be meeting someone important to Juno. We all were.

While we ate, I had a chance to get a good look at Eddie. His hair was long, but not unruly, and he was shy, but not timid. He had a very clear, and perceptible presence. It was hard to ignore; it sort of filled up the room.

I watched him while we sat at the table. Not in a weird, or creepy way- it wasn't so much watching as it was observing. I picked up on some of his mannerisms, like the way he frowned and pursed his lips when he was listening to someone, or the way he tucked his hair behind his ears when he got embarrassed.

I tried to put all of these pieces of information together to make up the fullest picture of him that I could. I continued putting the pieces together while Juno took him for a drive around the city. I came to the conclusion that he was the kind of guy that I wanted for Juno.

Because I had only known him for two or three hours, the picture of him wasn't very clear, but it was visible.

"Hey, what do you think of Eddie?" I needed some kind of input from Jenny. It was tough to try and figure out how I felt on my own.

She continued folding laundry while she responded, "Well, I think that he's a very polite, well-adjusted, bright young man, and I can see the appeal that Juno sees in him." I was helping her with the laundry.

"Jenny..." I grimaced at her and trailed off.

"What?" Her voice was slightly defensive.

"The kid's, like, twenty-six." I pointed over my shoulder with my thumb for no apparent reason.

"Oh- Jackson! I'm not saying that I'm attracted to him, or that I have a crush on him! I'm just saying, that as someone who was once a young woman, I can understand why Juno would be attracted to him."

"So you think she's attracted to him, then?"

"I know she's attracted to him."

"How?" I stopped folding clothes and looked at Jenny, slightly shocked.

"Didn't you see her at the table? She was hangin' on to every word he was saying."

I wanted to pinch myself for not picking up on it. I always seemed to in the past. Often other people were aware of Juno's romantic feelings towards someone before she was. 'Other people' usually consisted of myself, Jenny, and Mason. Sarah, too.