Close Your Eyes to See

“Posture Edith.” Edie's mom scolded towards her in a whisper, making her feel like a child. Her underwear was riding up in the tights she was wearing, her beige pencil skirt making it hard to sit properly and still manage to breath and the huge white blouse she was wearing made her feel like Mary Poppins.

She hated having to go to family events with her and mom and dad. With Gabe being gone most of the time, Edie was always the one that had to go to them – her parents feeling like a disgrace towards the community if neither of their children were present for family functions.

“Anything for you mother.” She said between her teeth, sipping down her champagne faster than she probably should. Every dinner was a snore fest, Edie having to endure small talk from stuck up adults for hours on end. There was more empty plate space than actual food in front of her, she was dying for a hamburger and greasy fries – anything to help with the growling of her stomach.

Edie adjusted her posture again, the skirt cutting into her ribcage and making it hard to breath. Fuck, she just wanted out of here. Tonight was another dinner celebration in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Penny Finders, a group of middle aged women who held fundraisers, events and auctions in the area to help raise money for certain causes. Sure, Edie was all for the cause, just not the rich bitches that made up the group – her mom included.

Her mom had been apart of the group for almost ten years and all Edie ever heard about was the gossip that happened in the group. The ladies spent more time manipulating people in the community and gossiping about them than actually putting together events.

“Did you see Sharon Simms? She definitely had work done on her nose.” Edie's mom's friend, Elaine, whispered towards Jean who immediately began searching the room for Sharon.

“Well don't be too surprised, she is dating a plastic surgeon after all.” Edie sat and chipped the polish off of her nails, wanting to stick the knife into her throat to get herself out of here. At the huge round table sat five of the women who were apart of the Penny Finders with her mom along with their families.

Edie never talked unless spoken to, trying to keep her wit and sarcastic mouth closed from offending anyone at the event. She preferred to sit quietly and judge everyone in her head than bare talking to any of them.

She never got along with any of the children of her mom's friends, they were all as superficial as their parents. Most of the women in the group were party planners, stay at home moms and the occasional attorneys who eventually married rich doctors, lawyers and multi-millionaires.

Edie reached up and itched her nose unattractively, not caring who judged her at this point. Normally, she would care what people said about her, but the people she was surrounded by weren't real. Most of them had plastic surgery done god knows where and nothing was ever satisfactory for them.

“Who picked out this table cloths? They are unsightly.” Betty, a stay at home mom who was married to a heart surgeon, remarked as she held up the end of the champagne colored cloth that covered the table.

“Oh my Edie, that is a beautiful ring you have on.” Karen gleamed towards her as all eyes at the table focused on her finger.

“Oh Nathan bought that for her one Christmas, isn't that right honey?” Jean reached over and laid her hand on top of Edie's dad's hand, completely cutting Edie off from saying anything. Her mom did everything to keep her family looking picture perfect, including speaking over Edie to keep from embarrassing her.

Edie's father looked at the ring on her finger and she already knew where this was heading. She almost nodded off when Nathan began telling the fifteen minute long story about how he picked out the ring and gave it to her as a gift, he insisted on telling the story at almost every event because it was one of the only moments he ever had with her.

Edie hated the ring with a passion, the diamonds being too flashy for her. She thought of pawning it for some cash, but she never did. She only wore the ring to events, when she normally saw her father, so he thought that she wore it every day. She preferred to just wear the damn thing than have to explain to him as to why she wasn't wearing it.

As everyone at the table sat and listened to her dad speak, Edie dug into her purse for her phone that was buzzing. Someone kept on calling her all through dinner, but her mom would flip if she answered it. She looked down at the screen and noticed that it was Eric's fourth time calling her.

“Edith, put your phone away. It's not polite.” Her mom whispered at her, staring at the table to make sure no one was listening to her scold her daughter for the multiple time that night. Edie set her purse back down on the group, wishing she could sit on her phone to pass the time. But no, it was unlady like.

She knew Eric was calling to either complain or ask to do something, Beth being too busy lately to keep Eric from dying of boredom. Eric never remembered anything Edie told him, notifying him this morning that she was being forced to go to a dinner with her parents tonight. He probably thought she was ignoring him.

“So Edie, how is work going? You work at well, its a coffee shop isn't it?” Another woman, Betty, asked. She could feel her mom cringe next to her. When it came to the Penny Finders, Edie was the most unsuccessful child in the group – most of the kids either studying at an ivy league school or training to become the next Florence fucking Nightingale. The women loved to rub it in Jean's face that their kids were more successful.

“Its going just fine, Betty I-”

“It's just a temporary thing for her now. She has a degree in english writing and is just taking the summer off.” Her mom chimed in, trying to clean up the embarrassment. Edie wasn't embarrassed, she loved her life. At least she was happy, the rest of the kids were going to have to live in the shadow of their parents for the rest of their life.

“Well,” Betty began to speak to the whole group, “Dean just started Lacrosse season at Yale. Richard and I are so proud...” Edie tuned out anything that lady was saying, staring at her nearly empty glass of champagne and mentally counted all of the bubbles that formed.

“Oh William, come over and join us!” Jean said excitedly, elegantly waving him over to the table to the empty spot next to her Edie. She rolled her eyes and gagged when she smelled his overpowering cologne as he sat down, everyone at the table greeting him. William was like a fucking god to these types of people, the aspiring lawyer who just graduated from an ivy league college.

“Good evening everyone. How is the new dog, Karen?” Just the sound of his voice made Edie want to hurl all over the apparently tacky table cloth. He was a schmoozer, using his smooth talking to get the older ladies to sworn over him and the dads to love him like a son. It was all an act.

William was a scumbag, a boy who believed he was the greatest person to have ever lived. He soaked up events like this to help get him to the top of the social ladder and make his way to riches and mansions.

He also had a thing for Edie. She knew it was all a game for him, he wanted to get with her so he would get hired at her dad's firm which was notably one of the best ones on the west coast. He was an asshole, who tried to charm his way into Edie's heart, but she always turned him down. Sure, he was cute, but not worth a second of Edie's time.

Edie smacked his hand away when he slyly rested it on her lower thigh underneath the table so no one would see. She didn't care who saw, how dare he touch her. He could charm and schmooze whatever girl he wanted, but not here.

“William, Edith and I were just talking about how we would love to have you over for lunch one day.” Edie turned and glared at her mom, hating that she was forcing William down her throat. Jean was oblivious to the game he was playing, only seeing the nice boy persona he was putting on. Her mother wanted her daughter to hang out with guys more like William and less like Eric Halvorsen. William rested his hand again on Edie's thigh and she physically picked up his arm and moved it off of her for the second time roughly.

“Oh really now?” He said smoothly, a cocky smirk appearing on his face.

“Yes, isn't that right Edie?” Jean asked almost forcefully towards her, warning her not to say anything embarrassing. Edie put on a fake smile, lying straight through her teeth,

“I can hardly stand the anticipation.”

“Excellent, we will have to set something up soon.” Jean said quickly to keep Edie from saying that she wanted to say to William which was to fuck off. She grabbed her glass of champagne and polished off the glass quickly, moving William's hand once more from her thigh as he began to talk to one of the ladies about his recent golf game with one of their husbands. Edie needed out of there.

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Edie marched up the stairs to her apartment, feeling completely exhausted from the show she had to put on for her mother. She felt fake in her pearls and diamonds, wanting to scrub the makeup off her face and put on some sweats and curl up with Harley while How I Met Your Mother played in the background.

She, however, didn't get what she wished for when she opened up her apartment door. At around ten o'clock, Edie opened up the door to her apartment to find loud shouting and talking coming from her living room, the TV blaring in the background. Eric.

She dropped her purse on the floor and walked farther into the apartment, heading for her living room. Pat, John, Garrett, Kennedy, Jared and Eric were all sitting around her living room – on the floor, couch and chairs – drinking beer and eating chips while playing video games on her TV. Edie didn't need this tonight.

“Woah, Edith. Nice ensemble you got going there.” Eric commented from the couch, stuffing a fistful of chips into his mouth and chasing it down with beer. Beer cans and crumbs littered her living room floor.

Edie opened her mouth to begin yelling at Eric for having a guys night at her apartment, but instead she walked over to him and grabbed the freshly opened beer bottle from his hand, taking a long sip of it before walking into the kitchen, knowing he would follow.

She set the beer bottle down on the counter, already polishing it off as she sat in a nearby chair and began to unstrap the heels from her feet.

“Rough night?” Eric asked as he walked in, grabbing two more beer bottles from the fridge and opening them, handing one to Edie who took it graciously.

“I was with Jean and Nathan, so yeah it was rough.”

“I figured it would be so I grabbed you a burger when me and the guys grabbed dinner earlier. Its in the microwave.” The tension left her shoulders as she stared at Eric with big eyes,

'I love you so much right now I could kiss you.” She got up from her chair and kissed Eric on the cheek before walking over to her microwave and began reheating her burger, not caring what it tasted like at this point – she was starving.

“So why are you crashing my apartment? You do have one of your own after all.” She crossed her arms at Eric, wanting to know why he was in her apartment again.

“Beth wouldn't let me have the guys over and it was my turn to host guys night.”

“And you couldn't go to one of the guy's houses?” Eric took a sip of his beer and leaned against the entry frame.

“You have a bigger TV. We couldn't marathon COD on a small ass TV, you can't see shit.” Edie chuckled and opened up the microwave door, taking her burger out and setting it on the counter. She took a big bite of the juicy burger, feeling like she hadn't eaten anything in weeks, chasing down the food with her ice cold beer.

“Are you living a double life, Edie?” She looked over and saw that Eric was now gone and John was standing there, staring at her outfit and making her self conscious again. She chewed down her food quickly, not wanting to eat in front of John.

“Something like that, my parents are part of this charity league thing and since my brother is always out of town, I am forever doomed to go to the events.” She pushed her plate away and leaned against the counter as the guys began yelling at Pat for doing something in the living room.

“Well by the looks of that ring on your finger, they must make a lot of money.” Edie glanced down at the diamond ring sparkling back at her and yanked it off, setting it down on the counter.

“I only ever wear that when I am with my dad which isn't often.” She began to take out her pearl studs from her ears, removing the pearl bracelet off of her wrist as well and set all of the jewelry into a heap on the counter.

“Sounds like you don't get along with them too much.”

“Have you ever seen Stepford Wives?” Edie joked, taking a sip of her beer to try and feed off the hunger she was feeling.

“Gotcha.”

“What about your parents? What are they like?” John moved farther into the kitchen and stood next to Edie, scratching the back of his neck with his free hand.

“Honestly? They are pretty fucking cool. My mom is a third grade teacher and my dad is a carpenter. They work their asses off, but they are the happiest people in the world I swear. My mom is always cooking something in the kitchen, she's basically Betty Crocker. Either that or she is running my younger brothers around all of the place.”

“It sounds like you love them.” Edie took another sip of her beer and set it down on the counter behind her, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I have to – my mom pays the hospital bills when I end up breaking something.” He smiled and looked down at the ground, chuckling slightly like he was thinking of old memories.

“I am sure you and your brothers have given her a few grey hairs.”

“Its what the O'Callaghan boys do. So are you mad we crashed your apartment?” Edie sighed and laughed, she actually found it quite humorous. Although she was tired, she didn't mind having a full apartment. She shrugged her shoulders and tugged a piece of hair behind her ear,

“Eric does it all the time, I hate to love that boy sometimes. But hey, you didn't have anything better to do tonight that you decided to crash some girl's apartment with your crazy friends and play COD all night...and drink all of my beer?” Edie teased, knowing that John probably had something else he could be doing tonight.

“Well,” he took another sip of his beer, “I did have plans with my girlfriend tonight, but she bailed on me. Like usual.” Edie gulped back anything she was feeling and tried to keep her face casual and somber.

“Like usual?”

“We like to fight a lot. About stupid shit that never matters. She's hard to please.” She couldn't believe that John was talking about his girlfriend to her, a girl he barely knew.

“She seemed to like her birthday party a lot.” Edie remembered the surprised look on her face from the party when John opened the door.

“I guess so, I don't know. I was gone for two months and honestly, forgot about her birthday. So I kind of just threw the party together last minute to make it seem like I had had it planned for a while.”

“That's horrible John!” Edie laughed out, feeling like John deserved the Worst Boyfriend award or something. John threw his hands out in defense,

“Hey, things get hectic on tour, I forget a lot of things.” The two of them both laughed in sync and took sips of their beers, Edie shaking her head at John.

“But what about you Edie? Got a boyfriend?” Edie's faced turned pink at the question, out of both humiliation and embarrassment.

“No, I-”

“EDIE! YOUR CAT JUST BIT ME!” Pat shouted from the living room, cutting Edie off from stuttering out what she was about to say. The two of them looked at each other and rolled their eyes at Pat before exiting the kitchen to see what all of the fuss was about, the subject of Edie's relationship status never being brought up again that night.