Page 36 of Untouchable

God, Parker, shut up,he thinks. He doesn’t want to hear about how you’re the family disappointment.

“But, uh—I dunno. I… I haven’t thought about it too far in the future,” Parker lies, glancing down. “I like it a lot and I guess I’m just going to do it until I can’t anymore.”

And after that, you’re completely fucked, because you’re shit at everything else.Parker offers up a smile—his words had come out heavy and awkward, and he wanted to lighten the mood. The last thing he needed was to give Harp another reason to pity him.

"Being a physical therapist isn't a real job?" Harp snorts and raises an eyebrow.

“Massage therapist,” Parker corrects. “It’s—it’s different.” Physical therapist, in his parents’ eyes, was a far more respectable title.

"Yeah, and it's still a real job," Harp says, shrugging. "It's more than I was doing at 26. Your family sounds like a bunch of assholes, anyway."

“They’re not—I mean—I—they’re not that bad,” Parker says, blushing furiously. “I’m… making it sound worse than it is. They just want what’s best for all of us, you know? They have high expectations.”

That I’ve never once been able to meet,Parker thinks.

* * *

Harp knowsfrom experience that someone saying their parents just want what's best for them usually means their parents are utterly out of their minds, and although he doesn't know what to make of it, Harp sees something he understands for a moment in Parker. It makes him feel fierce and angry that the people who care for Parker don't make him feel like they're proud of him.

"Yeah? Well they sound like assholes," Harp insists. "My parents would've killed to have a kid like you instead of me. Still would, I'm sure."

Shit. Bringing up his own parents is... not ideal. Where did that come from?

Dial it back, Harp.

Parker laughs weakly.

“Well, I’m sure my parents would be okay with them adopting me even now,” he says, and then winces.

Parker pushes the last bit of quinoa around his plate before taking a sip of his milkshake.

“It’s just that my sisters set the bar really high,” he says around the straw. “One’s a doctor, and one’s a lawyer. My parents really wanted me to go to medical school too.”

“A medical know-it-all and a legal know-it-all. I bet you must really be looking forward to the talk over Thanksgiving dinner this year," Harp says in between massive bites of salad. "People like that'll never be impressed if they aren't already. Fuck 'em."

A vision of Parker's family is starting to take shape.

Parker either must have some hell of a hidden flaw or some hell of a fucking family for them to be dissatisfied with him. Even if Parker thinks he's a disappointment, he lives on his own, has a steady job, and seems to keep his nose clean—all things that couldn't have been said for Harp at the same age. And more than Harp can say of his younger brother, who is still searching for his place in life by way of part-time jobs and internships and has had plenty of disasters and near-disasters that Harp has been responsible for cleaning up.

That thing in Harp flares again—bright and indignant that someone could look at Parker and see anything but a pleasant overachiever. Harp wishes he could give Parker’s parents a piece of his mind—to tell them about what kind of 26 year old he had been, what kind of 26 year old his brother is, to let them know how easy they got it and how goddamn much they should appreciate what they have.

Instead, he sucks on his milkshake again and tries not to clench his jaw.

* * *

Parker frowns for a second,mulling this over in his head. His first reaction is to disagree—his parents do know what’s best. His sisters are better, more successful, more intelligent, than he is. He is a disappointment.

Fuck ’em.

Harp says it so easily, so confidently, that it makes Parker realize, for the first time in his life, not caring about their opinion is an option. He could theoretically simply… stop. Turn away from them. Ignore them. And, hell, one of the reasons Parker likes living in Mink Creek is simply because it is further away from them.

The thought flares, but fizzles out almost immediately. Parker isn’t like Harp. He’s not self-sufficient. He’s not confident. He’s not the kind of person who can just… not care.

Parker feels Harp’s eyes on him, and he pretends to be very interested in his fork. Parker’s fucked either way. He’s either caring about disappointing his parents or he’s disappointing Harp by caring.

And, for some reason, the thought of disappointing Harp is a little worse right now.

* * *

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