“This is no time to drop the ball and screw around. You need to start getting serious about your career because it will be here before you know it,” Grandpa scolded me.
“This isn’t the time to be discussing this and you two are hardly being fair,” Mom tried to defend me, but Grandpa was on a tear.
“Well, life isn’t fair. He needs to act like an adult rather than some careless teenager. Lincoln and I won’t always be there to hold his hand, and if he can’t get his crap together now, then how will he be expected to handle the demands of a professional athlete?”
“He’s not going to be a damn athlete!” Theo snapped. The room went silent and my eyes went wide in alarm.
“Theo, don’t?—”
“You two are so worried about signing him off to some agent or talking his ear off about the stupid draft, but you don’t even notice that he doesn’t want that life. Have you even stopped to ask Dawson whathewants?”
“Now son, this really isn’t your business?—”
“Dawsonismy business,” Theo interrupted Grandpa. “He’s mine to take care of. Have you never really noticed how miserable he is out on that field?”
“Dawson is a top-tier athlete in a division one football program, what does he have to be miserable about? Your dramatics aside, we understand you care about him, but we are his family and know what’s best for him.”
“I don’t just care about him, I love him. He’s everything to me and I won’t let you two steamroll him just because you can’t accept he wants something different than you want for him!”
“Theo honey, calm down. It’s okay,” Mom tried to reason with him, and even Dani tried her to best to diffuse the situation.
“Maybe we should all take a minute to chill out before this gets any worse…”
“What is he talking about, Dawson?” Dad’s gruff voice reached me through the blood rushing in my ears. I tried to explain and give him an answer, but no sound came out. Like usual, my words failed when I needed them most, but no fucking guitar song would get me out of this.
“I’m talking about all the pressure you’ve put on him since he was a kid. It’s done nothing but stress him out and made him feel like he has to be perfect to earn your approval,” Theo said angrily. “You both set this insane bar for him to reach before he was even born, deciding his future without thinking about what he wants and what makes him happiest.”
“Hey kid, take a breath…” Don’s attempts to get him to relax were useless as Theo seemed oblivious to anything else.
“Have you ever seen the way Dawson lights up when he plays his guitar? Or have you really listened to him when he sings and heard the fucking emotion he pours into it? Music is his life and what makes him who he is and you can’t force him to?—”
“Music is a hobby, not something you can build a life on. He is not throwing away all that natural talent and years of training to go play a piano for tips,” Dad grumbled.
“Daddy, you’re not getting Theo’s bigger point,” Dani argued. “You aren’t trying to understand what Dawson wants his own future to look like. When he told me he wanted to quit football, I honestly wasn’t surprised because, let’s face it, he’s never once said the NFL was his goal. You and Gramps always pushed it on him.”
“Young lady, we don’t need more fuel added to this fire,” Gramps bit out. “This is between your father, brother, and me.”
“Lincoln and Bill, please calm down,” Mom begged. “We are all talking about Dawson as if he isn’t sitting right here. And no matter what he decides, it’s up to him and no one else.”
“So you’re okay with him giving up a successful, prestigious career for some childhood hobby?”
“If you really think that music is just some childhood hobby for Dawson, then you don’t know him as well as you think you do!”
“I appreciate you standing up for my son, Theo, but I think it’s time he and I discussed this in private,” Dad said firmly, his eyes cutting into me with all the hurt and disappointment that I had dreaded from the very beginning. I hadn’t even realized I’d stopped breathing until my lungs burned as I pulled in a breath, and I nodded to him.
“But you don’t understand...”
“Stop, Theo. Just stop,” I barked. “You’ve done enough.”
The color drained from his face as he stared at me, shocked and gutted by my outburst. Dad carefully pushed his chair back and stood, a somber expression on his face as he stiffly walked out of the room.
“Dad, wait,” I called, shoving out of my seat to follow him.
I ignored Theo’s own voice calling out to me, but I only made it as far as the foyer when a hand clamped down on my elbow, tugging me to a stop.
“Baby, I’m sorry, but I was just trying to help,” he explained frantically.
“Why couldn’t you leave it alone?” I gritted out. “I told you that I would tell them after tomorrow’s game, but you ran off at the mouth and messed everything up.”
