Just What I Needed

Just What I Needed (75)

Although Keely didn’t have any reason to be up early, she found herself sitting at the breakfast table with her father.

As he chatted about the blueprints he’d just received for a new job, she found her mind wandering far from his words while she pushed the bloated cereal around the milk, the soggy pebbles crumbling with the motion. Sighing she cupped her chin with her hand, leaning against the arm that was propped against the table.

There was no doubt in her mind that she didn’t look exactly great this morning, sometimes the mirror really should break. From the sleepless night of tossing and turning around her bed, her hair was knotted and twisted more than usual. Her eyes were sunken and had dark bags, even her skin looked on the sickly side of pale this morning.

What was it with it worth people and the L word?

Love was such an enormous word, and she didn’t like it thrown around. But at the same time, she couldn’t say that Joe had thrown it around like it was nothing. The painfully honest glint in his eyes flashed in her mind, and Keely felt an agonizing jab in her stomach at the thought.

That was her best friend; sure he could hide things from her and not approve of what she did. However, there was one thing they didn’t do lightly to one another.

And that was lie.

He hadn’t been lying.

Oh god, he hadn’t been lying.

Giving a groan that sounded in the back of her throat, Keely dropped her spoon into the bowl with a splash, burying her face in her hands.

“You’re not listening to a word I say, are you?”

Hearing her father, she didn’t even lift her head. Instead, she mumbled muffled words into her hands, “Not really.”

There was a long pause where she was tempted to look up, but didn’t dare in case he would be able to see right through her. In the time since she’d come home, Keely was beginning to realize her dad noticed a lot more than she gave him credit for. Yet he was one to keep his mouth shut about it.

“If it’s about performing at the school later,” he started, an awkward strain on his voice, “I can stay home from work and go with you if you need me to.”

Instantly she gave an incredulous look, but the words made her heart melt in her chest, giving her that warm gooey feeling she was associating with father daughter moments or Tony and Sadie. She’d never really felt it before.

Finally lifting her eyes, she knitted her fingers together and leaned her chin upon them as she stared across the table to her father. “Don’t worry, dad, it’s not some eighth grade musical. You don’t need to come.”

He stared at her shrewdly, narrowing her eyes and she felt a sinking sensation in her belly. “It’s not about the school, is it?”

Unable to lie straight out to him – in part because she’d feel guilty, but mostly because she suspected he’d know – she avoided his eyes, turning instead to the questionable spot on the wall over his shoulder. “It’s partly about school.”

“Keely,” he said slowly, his voice holding that parental tone that was enough to have her shrinking back into the chair.

“Fine,” she muttered, rubbing a hand wearily over her forehead. “Joseph and I had a fight, alright?”

He frowned slightly, “Another?”

Mirroring his expression, she stared back at him, asking, “How did you know about that?”

“You don’t exactly keep your voice down when you’re angry,” he returned rationally. Swallowing a spoonful of his cereal, he sent her a wise look, continuing on. “Well, that fight didn’t last long.”