A Star is Born - Elias Samson

Chapter 26: Killing Me Softly

"I don't know if I'm ready for this..." I said as we arrived in Pittsburgh at around noon in preparation for tonight's Raw. Before the split we'd made plans to meet his family but even then I wasn't sure about it. "I'm not even officially your girlfriend again so maybe we should wait until we're 100%."

"What percentage are we at now?"

"I don't know, around 75."

"That's close enough! This needs to happen now because with our schedule who knows when the next opportunity to come to Pittsburgh will present itself?" he argued.

"Elias, in order for this reconciliation to work we have to respect each other's wishes. We're doing fine right now but I'm not really in the mood to put on a perfect girlfriend act right now."

"You don't have to," he replied. "My family is cool."

"I'm sure your family is cool...to you. How they'll react to me remains to be seen and if I go and it turns out to be a complete disaster, it could mess up all the progress we've made in the last week, I shook my head. Elias let out a relenting sigh . That's when I noticed something weird going on with the car. "Hey, what's that light? It wasn't there a few minutes ago."

Squinting, Elias looked at the vehicle information display behind the wheel. "That means low tire pressure so I'm going to pull over at this gas station up ahead to get some air. After that, we can find somewhere to hang before heading to the arena."

When he got out to put air in the tire, I noticed various people approaching him. They weren't fans because a lot of them addressed him as Jeff, Jeffrey or Shulo. I jumped when he knocked on the window signaling for me to get out. Once I joined him, he introduced me to some of his old friends, classmates and guys he trained with on the Pittsburgh indie scene.

"I guess I'll go in and get some snacks for the road since I'm already out of the car," I said when he finally finished filling the tire after being distracted by his friends.

"I'm right behind you," he replied.

I walked in, went aisle by aisle throwing chips, cookies and candy in my basket and then headed to the back in search of drinks.

"Jeff?" an older woman's voice called out.

"Mom?!" his voice raised in shock and I froze. "Mom, what are you doing here?!"

"I've been out all morning which left my tank on E so here I am!" she exclaimed. "I didn't think I'd see you until later."

"Well, since you're here, there's someone I'd like you to meet..."

If I could climb into the drink refrigerator in front of me and hide, believe me, I would. There was nowhere to run and I was cornered. Elias and his mom were quickly approaching. It was creepy how much he looked like her, down to the dent between his eyebrows.

They stopped about a foot away from me. My legs felt rubbery and I was fidgeting. Mrs. Sciullo stared at me silently, her eyes sizing me up, cataloguing everything about me that she could gather in. Good thing I didn't go for the lace bralette and booty shorts that I originally laid out earlier this morning. Finally, she nodded her approval.

"Mom, this is Alaina," Elias introduced.

"Hi, it's very nice to meet you!" I greeted in a high pitched voice that sounded way too cheery, almost fake.

"Hi, sweetie, I'm so happy to finally meet you," she replied, smiling at me. "Actually, I'm just glad you two are getting along long enough for me to meet you."

"Wait..." I tilted my head in confusion.

"Oh, honey, I know everything. There are no secrets in the Sciullo family but we'll talk more about that later," she turned to Elias. "Are you two coming over to the house?"