A nice change

24

"Is Mom going eat with us?" Nat asked as they helped their Dad set the table for diner.

Dad put the lasagna in the middle of the table before answering, "She said she might be home soon but to go ahead without her."

"Okay," was all she said as she sat down.

"So how was your day Nat?" He asked, also starting.

"It was fine I guess."

"That's good, did anything interesting happen?"

"Yeah, actually my friend Brendon is moving to L.A."

"And this is one of the friends you met online?"

"Yeah he's pretty cool, it's going to be weird now that we so close."

"Didn't you say another one of your friends also moved to California?"

"Yeah, she lives up in the desert."

"So do you think you'll ever run into any of them."

"Yeah, I really want to meet up in person but I know you and Mom wouldn't let me."

"Well it's just a safety concern."

"I know,"

"Hey, but I'm glad you're making friends, I was only ever friends with the kids in my neighborhood when I was your age."

Good job Nat, even your dad thinks you can't make friends irl. They thought, not really hearing the point their dad was trying to make.

"Cool. How was your day?" They asked, not really interested.

"Good, just a normal day of spending five hours working on the same three second clip." He joked.

Nat smiled. "So I guess you'll be jamming out tonight." They said, knowing their dad usually aggressively played his guitar when he needed to unwind.

"Probably not, your mom probably had a hectic day at work."

"But I thought the final product was close enough to being finished that one of the investors was checking it out earlier this week."

"Yeah, but there's been some unexpected things, it's all science-y stuff I don't understand." He and Nat chuckled a little. That's usually what they said about her work. In fact they probably couldn't tell you anything about the drugs their mom had made for the rare genetic disorder both Nat and their Dad had, but they were okay with not understanding why yet another thing about who they are seemed wrong. Neither of them really understood how an incredibly smart scientist who makes groundbreaking strides in medication fell in love with a nerdy film editor with a passion for playing music but they both loved that it happened. Nat looked up to both of their parents, even though they could be annoying and feel like they ruined their world, they respected that their Dad did what ever he was passionate about, no matter what anyone else thought. And they wished they could grow up to be as strong and intelligent as their mom. But they doubted they could get there.