Just a Game

Daddy Lessons

Alice // chapter twenty-nine

"Dad, you can't cook. What are you doing?" I snickered at my dad, who was up at nine in the morning getting out kitchen essentials.

He turned to look at me, freezing like a deer caught in the headlights. Moments later, his shoulders fell. "Okay, you got me. I'm trying to make your mom breakfast before she wakes up."

I smiled. "Aww, daddy."

His eyes narrowed at me before he turned his attention back to his work. "Piss off."

I chuckled at his choice of words, walking to the island and watching him struggle with the pancake batter mix. Mom would glare him to apologize for his profanity; she always did it to me, and him whenever he's home. "So, are you also gonna surprise her by burning the house down?"

He waved me away. "That's not funny."

I laughed loudly just to spite him. "Yeah it is."

"Instead of being mean to your lovely father who's trying to do something nice, why don't you help him out?" He turned his head to give me a fake sweet smile.

Sighing, I trotted to where he stood and washed my hands. "Okay, you totally owe me for helping you out with this."

He softly chuckled as I took the bowl from him and started to properly mix the pancake batter. "Fine, then why don't you tell me about this new boyfriend I keep hearing about?"

I froze, unable to discern how to react to his words. My hands slowly returned to their mixing of the batter. "Mom told you?"

"Yeah, she said she's hasn't met him yet," he said, taking out the pan and placing it on the heated stove, "maybe now that I'm home for a bit, we can both meet him together?"

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach in that moment. I mean, what was I supposed to say to that? I didn't want to tell him that I'd already screwed it up with Jace before I could even introduce him to the family. He seemed happy about us, that endearing smile of his was always my favorite. He wore it whenever he was proud of me and seeing it brought such an uplifting feeling to my heart that I could never have the words to describe.

"Yeah, sure," I stuttered, turning around to the stove to make the pancakes.

Dad walked around the island, which was stretched from the stove and sat on one of the seats. A cup of coffee sat in his hands, his eyes closely studying me as I tried not to give anything away by thoroughly focusing on not burning the pancakes.

"You're hiding something," he pondered on, "what is it, munchkin?"

I placed the cooked pancakes on the large plate Dad had gotten out and turned off the stove. "I did something stupid, dad. I don't even know why I did it."

"You can tell me anything, honey," he said, giving me a look that I can never back down from.

Sputtering my lips in frustration, I got myself a cup coffee as well and took the seat next to him. "So, I accidently told him that I loved him and when he caught it, I became defensive and completely just tore him down. In the end, I accused him of pushing me, when he really didn't, and broke up with him."

His lips parted in surprise as he listened to me go on about what had happened. He finally blinked and exhaled deeply. "How do you even accidently tell someone you love them?"

"I don't know, dad. It just happened and I didn't mean for the words to come out. It just made sense in the concept of our conversation; I didn't actually mean to say it out loud," I shrugged; I could feel myself getting defensive again and I hated it. That part of me was what ruined my relationship in the first place; why was I allowing it to take control of the wheel now?

He chuckled as I spoke, earning himself a questioning look from me. "Look, honey, you don't tell someone that you love them accidently."

My eyebrows furrowed. "But I-"

He shook his head, cutting my sentence short. "You nothing. Sure the words slipped out without you noticing, but that's the beauty of it. You do love him, Alice. You're just too scared to admit it. You 'accidentally' saying it to him was your subconscious doing its job."

I groaned loudly, burying my face in my hands. "What am I even supposed to do now? I think I really screwed up, dad."

He scoffed. "We all screw up in relationships. If your mother and I permanently broke up every time one of us did something stupid, we would've broken up long before you were born. Just go and apologize to him."

"He probably hates me," I mumbled, fidgeting with my hair, "how am I supposed to face him?"

"I don't know. How do you face me when you know you've royally screwed up?"

I sighed. "That's easy. I know you love me. The worst you'd do is ground me for a day before giving in and ungrounding me."

He stared at me in shock before shaking his head with a laugh. "Okay, I'll let that one slide. But he loves you, he's not gonna let you go because of a stupid fight."

"How did you-"

"Know?" He stepped in and I nodded. "Your mom told me," he chuckled, "actually she more like squealed it."

I snickered. "So, this isn't awkward at all?"

He shook his head. "What's awkward is that I was excited to meet this guy and you basically ruined my dreams of doing so by breaking up with him."

"You're so dramatic," I rolled my eyes, pushing him away.

"Dramatic?" He feigned bafflement, "I was gonna teach, Jace, is it?" I nodded, arching my eyebrow in question. He continued, looking at pancakes. "Yeah, I was gonna teach him how to properly clean and fire a gun, but you ruined the fun."

My eyes nearly bulged out of my eyes. "Dad, what the hell?"

"What? I thought he'd like to know how to do these things as he becomes a man," he shrugged, acting completely innocent as he tried to dodge my glares.

"Right," I narrowed my eyes at him, "you're not trying to scare him off or anything, are you?"

He scoffed me off. "What, no. Absolutely not."

I leaned in, forcing him to look at me. "Really dad? You're not trying to make some sort of a statement here?"

He tried to laugh it off again, but when he realized that he'd been caught, he quickly stood and prepared another cup of coffee. "I'm gonna go wake your mom up, you coming?"

I shook my head at him, a smile coming on. "You're so cheesy, but no. I have plans with friends. I'll be back soon, though."

He shrugged. "Okay, take as long as you need!"

I gasped, the true intention of his words dawning on me. I quickly grabbed a towel and threw it in his direction, hitting him on his back. "Ew, dad! Why!"

He laughed loudly, ignoring my cries, as he stepped into his and mom's room before locking the door. I rolled my eyes and quickly walked to my room.

There was something I needed to do.

Cause if I don't, I don't know if I'll be able to properly sleep at night anytime soon.