French Rose

Chapter 15

After drying my hair and pulling it up in a ponytail, I stepped out of my closet to meet my dad sprawled across my bed while munching on M&Ms and scrolling through his phone.

It was over an hour since we left Leo's house. I had to come up with an excuse that something went up and I had to attend to my dad cause he had to leave the next morning. As apology, I ensured him we'd have lunch together or whatever he wanted to do on the weekend. It sure wasn't my intention to leave him all alone after all that happened but I couldn't do anything with my dad constantly bugging me. I just hoped he was doing fine alone and my absence wouldn't be much of a problem.

However, we exchanged numbers and chatted throughout my ride home. I turned off all notifications from social media apps, sank further into my seat and fixed my gaze on my phone screen. Just like I ignored social media, I ignored my dad, not saying a single word to him. Even when he frequently asked questions, I'd either stare out the window or tap away on my phone and noisily if I might add. I added extra effort while hitting my thumb on the screen just to make enough noise to annoy him.

It never annoyed him, he assumed it was a beat and started singing along.

"Are you still mad?"

"I'm starving so you have five minutes to say whatever you want to."

He sat up and placed the bag of candy on my side table "You know why I'm here sweetie"

"And you know I have it all under control now, she got what she deserved and if I could do more, trust me I would."

"You do know paying evil with evil_"

"Oh please dad, you painted aunt Kayla's car pink cause she ate your sunday"

"That's different, don't change the topic young lady. I see what you're trying to do"

"Whatever dad, I'm old enough to make my decisions and I've done what I feel is right."

"Christina" He paused "I just came here to check up on you, your mom and I are worried about you"

I sighed and rested my head on my palm, making strands of my hair fall to my elbows in the process. I felt my eyes go droopy with that, knowing fully well I did nothing stressful that day besides eating and dealing with dad. Maybe I came out a little too harsh, maybe I didn't appreciate the fact he took a flight to France despite mom's condition just to check up on me. "I'm sorry"

"It's okay, I understand how you feel"

"You do?"

"No baby, I'm just saying that to make you feel better"

"Of course you are" I sighed and plopped down on the bed next to him. My stomach grumbled almost immediately, reminding me of how much I craved pizza at that point and also a reminder I was going to meet Lucas again.

Not to sound like a six year old meeting her crush at the park, don't get me wrong, I didn't feel giddy about meeting him again. I mean, I met him a few days ago and we had just one conversation besides him making food. He just happened to be one of the few guys I considered different, nothing more.

Or maybe it was just me finally being matured enough to find delight in something different from food and movies.

Well, I never got to meet him that night cause dad insisted we had dinner in my room while we watched Netflix.

Something about father-daughter time.

Growing up, I never really paid attention to my love life. Dad would come into my room at least once every single day in every month to tell me I was too young to have a boyfriend and he didn't want me to get hurt. Even though I never objected to any of it or showed any romantic interest to any guy he knew of, he never stopped. On the other hand, mom would tease me about my crush and imaginary boyfriend and would frequently ask me if I had a thing for any guy at school. I usually tried to avoid those conversations with both of them but I never succeeded, not even once.

So I guess the decision to stay single was my choice and none of the two influenced me. However, there was this time things got just a little different.

Well, duh, you don't expect me to have gone through high school without getting attracted to at least, one boy.

So there was this guy, he was exchange student from I don't know where, I really didn't care then. Well, he happened to be the perfect definition of high school hot guy, like they portrayed in movies.  He had the darkest hair with curls that I heard was natural, don't know if it's true or not but it was different from the normal hairstyles the other guys did. He also happened to be really muscular at least six feet tall so he got into the soccer team immediately and that was the last check in his high school playboy list.

I know, I know, crushing on a guy like that is so cliche. You've done it before so get over it.

Anyways, fast forward to the end. After he got along with as many girls as he could, he texted me and we talked for a while but at the end, I didn't agree to date him cause it was obvious he was only trying to get the opportunity to say he hooked up with the most famous girl in school or something like that.

I didn't judge him, I just figured out because he literally had something with almost every girl in school, mostly the popular ones. It was like he had a new girlfriend every week and still, no one saw the obvious trick. Or maybe they did and just ignored it.

Well, he later left the school due to some reasons I didn't know or cared about and here I am, still alive.

"I'm going to miss you" He said and placed a kiss on my forehead. "Try to not get piercings or tattoos in my absence, please"

"I won't"

"And remember, you just met Leo. Slow things down a bit, not everything is what you think it is. You have to understand I'm just watching out for you, okay? You're way too young for dates"

"This is probably the thousandth time I'm reminding you I'm eighteen dad, I'm not too young for dates and we're not talking about this again."

"Whatever, just call me if you need anything, okay?"

"Yes dad"

"Goodbye sweetheart" He whispered and placed one last kiss on my forehead before entering the car. His eyes didn't leave mine till the door was slammed shut. Even though I couldn't see him through the tinted glass, I plastered a smile on my face because I knew he could still see me.

The car drove off and one other followed as an escort, leaving me a few feet from the entrance.

I was still in pajamas and my hair in a messy ponytail from the night before with ducky slippers adorning my feet. I was still sleepy from the night before. Sleeping next to dad was the most uncomfortable thing in the universe. He literally snored throughout the night and I had my eyes opened while it happened. I couldn't close my eyes for a second and when I tried to leave, he emotionally blackmailed me. I wonder how mom copes with it, it would be the last time something like this would happen.

I dragged myself all the way inside, trying my best to keep my eyes open throughout the whole walk and headed to my room for at least, a four hour sleep to get prepared for the day. I know, I had literally no plans that day but whatever, I had to rest from dealing with people all day.

However, my plans to get more sleep was ruined the moment I was closer to the stairs. It was like magic, all the urge to close my eyes suddenly erased once the aroma of delicious hot toast flooded my nostrils. I could picture it in my mind and my mouth went all watery from the imaginary sight of it. Every second I wasted while standing there only made me feel even more hungry. My head snapped to the right, in direction of the kitchen and before I knew it, my legs were leading me there.

I didn't know how I happened to get to the kitchen so fast but I did and once I was at the wide doors, I slowed down and hid behind one. Standing right inside behind the counter was Lucas making breakfast.

"Good morning Christina"