Two's Too Many // Eric Secharia Fanfiction

1. A Match Into Water- Eric's P.O.V.

Eric’s P.O.V.

“Can’t we just talk about it?” I asked my father carefully as he looked at the letter he was never supposed to see.

“Talk about what? You ruining your life to pursue music?” He said the last word with such bitterness I winced.

“You don’t understand…” I shook my head slowly.

“I shouldn’t have to understand why my son is sending college applications to random music schools behind my back!” My dad yelled, standing up from the kitchen table, almost spilling his coffee. (He takes it black, any real surprise there?)

“Because you don’t care to listen about what I want to do with my life!” I yelled back.

“You’re right, I don’t!” My dad boomed back. His eyes softened a bit, “You have a good head on your shoulders Eric, you have high grades and your teachers see your potential. Are you really going to throw all of that away to strum some guitar in the subway?”

“I’m not going to apologize for chasing my dreams,” I told him carefully.

“You are if you’re going to live under my roof.”

“Mom wouldn’t have wanted this,” I barely whispered.

“How would you have known what she wanted?” My father countered. I shook my head and stood up myself.

“I have to go to school,” I took my backpack off of the kitchen counter and left the room.

“We’ll talk about this later,” my dad told me before I slammed the door behind me. As if I was going to talk to him after this.

“Fucking asshole,” I muttered underneath my breath as I unlocked my Jeep.

There were many benefits to having a successful surgeon as a father, like the money. But there were always their drawbacks, like the constant need to meet his strict expectations of following his footsteps as a doctor. I mean, the marks were there, I had the highest biology mark in the grade… But I just, I didn’t have the passion for it. I wanted to create music, stuff that people could connect too. I wanted to change lives… but emotionally, not physically.

So I sent out applications to multiple music schools, I would send them once every couple of weeks so my father wouldn’t be as suspicious of my sneaking around. I was just thankful he wound up finding one of my back up school applications and not the one to my dream school… Juliard. Not that it even mattered, seeings that I got a letter a week ago saying that I wasn’t accepted into the pretegious school. My heart was broken, obviously, because it was my life’s goals to get into the world-renowned music school. But there were other schools, and I could always apply next year and go to a school closer to the area or take some community college classes to build up my application.

I know, it was a practically unattainable dream. My dad never supported it, I tried to take music lessons behind his back… But it was hard when all of your income was coming from your strict father. I wish I knew my mother, my father always said I got my musicality from her. I really think that’s why he belittles it honestly, she passed away giving birth to me. My mother’s parents said she would sing to me while I was in the womb and it got me kicking for days. I think my father relates music back to her somehow and it pains him for him to see any part of her in me, must make him miss her even more.

 I drove the couple of blocks it took to get to my school and tried to hum along with the top 40 music on the radio. I knew one day my music would be flowing through the ears of people like me, and that kept me holding onto my sanity. Why couldn’t my father just appreciate my ambitions? Why did he have to shove his expectations down my throat?