When we get back to the gallery, I'm surprised to see that a number of people have already shown up.
"Wow," I comment. "They aren't usually this busy."
"I bet Cameron posted about it on Instagram or something," Avery scoffs. "I bet half these people don't even go to school here. Good for him though. It's good for his career."
This is probably what Cameron means when he talks about how important networking is. He's good at it too. Better than I realized. It's actually kind of shocking.
"Mine isn't going to look anything like this," she laughs.
"You should have Cameron put something up about your senior exhibition too," I suggest.
"I could, but it doesn't really work like that."
"When's your show again?" I ask.
"End of the year," Avery tells me as we push past a few people through the door. "Like mid-April."
"I'll be sure to come."
"Thanks," she chuckles.
Putting together a show like this sounds stressful. I don't want to think about how I would manage a thing like this. I bet I'd lose my mind. I lose my mind over the smallest things.
We wander around and take everything in. I stick by Avery's side because I don't really know anyone else. I hope she doesn't ditch me to talk to other people.
"Everything looks perfect," I say.
"Cameron will be glad to hear that."
"Or not. He might just insist it sucks."
She laughs. "True…"
Cameron crosses his arms when he spots us, which makes me feel anxious.
"Well, hey," he greets us.
"Hey, sorry about earlier," Avery replies.
Why is she apologizing? What did she do?
"All right," Cameron says. "It's fine."
"You good?" she asks.
"Yeah, I'm fine. What were you two doing?"
"We just got coffee," Avery answers. "Are things going the way you want?"
Cameron shrugs, his arms still crossed. "I suppose."
"Are your parents here yet?"
"No."
"Are you stressing out about it?"
Cameron shakes his head. "As I said, I'm fine."
Avery seems unconvinced. "Stop stressing out about it," she tells him.
"I'm not," he insists.
"We'll get food afterward," she suggests, completely ignoring what Cameron's saying. "Or drinks. We can go out."
Cameron doesn't seem thrilled by that though, he just seems annoyed. Or maybe he's acting uptight because he's nervous. I can't really tell. Either way, he's on edge and that much is obvious.
"Come on," she urges.
"Whatever, fine," he snaps at her.
She doesn't look bothered by his tone. Instead, she says, "Great."
Then she glances at me, "Wanna tag along?"
"Um… I don't know," I mutter.
I don't know if Cameron wants me to. I don't know if Avery wants me to, either, or if she's just asking me because I'm standing right here.
"Oh, come on!" she says again.
Cameron lets out a sharp breath. "We'll all go," he states, not giving me much of a choice. "Just shut up already."
Again, Avery doesn't seem bothered. She lets the comment roll right off her back.
"It looks really good in here," I mention, hoping that the complement will move the conversation in at least a slightly more positive direction.
"Thanks," he replies. "I worked hard on it."
"Did you take the photos yourself or did you have someone else do them?"
"I did them. Photo used to be my thing before I started college. It was a lot easier to get the supplies I needed in high school for than for the stuff I do now."
"Wow," I mouth. "Cool."
He gives a careless shrug, not saying much else. He's probably going to be tense until the event is over. I wonder what he'll act like when his parents show up. I'm kind of curious to see them. If they meet me, will they like me? Or will they think I'm stupid? They probably won't think anything of me. Most people don't.
Cameron sighs and rubs a hand over his forehead. Yeah, he looks stressed out.
"You okay?" I ask him.
"Fine," he states tersely. "People really need to stop asking me that right now."
"Sorry," I mumble.
Avery scowls. "Chill, Cam."
Cameron looks like he's about to say something snappy, but he doesn't get the chance because a middle-aged and very sharply dressed couple appears from the crowd.
"Hi, sweetie!" the woman exclaims shrilly, practically shoving Avery and I out of the way to get a hand on Cameron's shoulder. "Sorry we're late! Traffic was awful."
Cameron rolls his eyes and I see him mouth 'oh my God' to himself before quickly smoothing out his sweater.
"Hey, Mom," he says flatly. "Glad you guys found me."
"Of course!" his mom responds sweetly.
Avery gives me a dull look before cutting in.
"Hi, Lisa. Hi, David."
Those must be his parents' names.
"Hi, Avery," Lisa greets her. The tone of her voice is friendly enough. David just nods his head at her. Maybe he's not one for words.
"This is Rudolf," Avery gestures to me before Cameron gets the chance.
"Hi," I say, trying not to sound uncomfortable. This must be the first time I've been introduced to someone above the age of forty I wasn't about to screw around with.
"Nice to meet you, dear," Lisa says, but her husband seems totally apathetic. He's busy looking around the room. Cameron's watching him. He's probably worried about what his dad's going to say.
"So…" Cameron interjects after a moment of awkward silence. "Here it is?"
"Here it is!" His mother chatters excitedly, but Cameron doesn't even bother looking at her. His eyes stay glued to his dad, alternating with a couple nervous glances around the room, probably double checking that everything's in order.
"Getting close to the end of the school year, huh?" David says, completely bypassing the topic of the exhibition. "When's graduation?"
"End of April," Cameron answers, looking even more stressed out if that's possible.
It's weird because what his dad said isn't exactly bad… but it's not exactly good either. It's just kind of… nothing. I see what Avery was saying now. They're here. They're supportive. But also, they're not.
I want his dad to say something. Something nice or encouraging. That's what Cameron wants too, even though he'd never say it. I'm not good at reading people, but it's obvious to me what's going on here.
I understand this. I understand it in a different context. It's a bad feeling.
"How are your grades?" David further asks.
"I have all A's," Cameron tells him.
"Of course you do," Lisa cuts in, rubbing Cameron's cheek.
This is so weird. Cameron probably hates it.
His dad nods in an approving way and I guess that's as good as it's going to get. Makes sense they'd be concerned with that aspect of school since they're paying for everything. I still can hardly believe anyone can afford this sort of place out of pocket.
"Hey," Avery says, giving me a light nudge. "I'm gonna step outside. Wanna come with?"
She probably wants to smoke, but I'll take any chance I can to get away from this situation. I also don't want to be separated from her. It's busy here and she might not be able to find me again.
"Okay," I agree, then glance at Cameron. He looks like he's never needed a cigarette more in his life, but something tells me his parents don't know about that either.
I follow Avery until we're outside. "It was getting stuffy in there," she says, smiling.
"Is it always like that when his parents are around?" I ask.
"Pretty much."
"That's unfortunate," is all I can muster up.
She laughs at that. "Well, yeah, that's one way to put it."
"Sorry. That sounds bad, doesn't it?"
She shrugs. "It doesn't matter. We've all got our shit and it's hard to sympathize with every little thing."
"I try to," I murmur. "But I don't feel like I usually do a good job."
I'm finding myself less and less sympathetic towards people lately. I'm cynical. People have never been good to me in the past, but maybe it won't always be that way. I should try to be nicer.
Avery pulls out her pack of cigarettes. "If it makes you feel better, I don't really know where I stand on this whole thing either," she confesses. "At least Cameron's got both parents here, you know? I mean, my dad's pretty awesome and we're really close, but my mom's a totally different story."
"Really?" I tilt my head. "That sucks."
"It doesn't really matter," she shrugs. "They got divorced when I was a little kid and I haven't seen her since. I guess she was on a lot of shit and my dad gave her an ultimatum: us or the drugs. You can guess which one she picked."
"Oof," I huff.
"I don't know, sometimes it pisses me off but other times I just feel really guilty," Avery ashes her cigarette. "I mean, I don't think anyone really wants to be an addict. I wish we could have gotten her more help. Or like, I wish I could have been enough to make her want to stick around? Eh. Maybe that's dumb. I was literally like, four."
She shrugs.
"Maybe you could get the patch or something."
She laughs. "Maybe."
I can tell she won't take the suggestion to heart. "Is there anything I can do to help?" I ask hesitantly.
"No, but thanks," she says with a smile. "It'll probably be something I need to be ready for. The fact that you don't smoke is a help on its own."
"Well, good," I conclude. "That's an easy thing for me to keep doing."
Avery smirks and then puts her cigarette out, shoving the butt back in the pack and then stashing it in her pocket. "We should probably head back in," she tells me. "Cameron's probably ready to blow a fuse."
I give her a half smile and follow her back inside, doing my best not to bump into the people standing in the doorway.