Treat You Better

Chapter Forty-Three: The Saturday of Your Nightmares.

"Huh." I chuckled again, a bit shyly now as I took my phone back. "On that note... we're kind of dating now?"

Dad raised his eyebrows and I didn't know what to make of his expression till his shoulders lowered a bit.

"You think it's too soon, huh?" I asked.

"Well let's say you're not the only one worried about missing any more bad signs." He said and he seemed a bit sad before he frowned. "But unlike that Frances boy, I have an actual connection with Angelo and I like what I see when you're together. Which is why I'm not eating myself up as much for not shielding you from the rest of the world. Though I really want to..."

After a moment of his words sinking in, I smiled at Dad, touching his hand as I did. "Thanks for trusting him and for looking out for me, I'm lucky to have you."

When he smiled back, it seemed like one of surprise and relief. "Well what do ya know?" He murmured, looking down at his mug.

Not a moment later, the doorbell rang and we exchanged a look.

"Did you order something?" We asked at the same time, hence getting our answers.

"I'll get it." I sighed, dragging myself to the front door, through the glass I could make out more than one blurry form out there and one of them pressed the bell again.

"In a moment!" I said, unlocking the door and swinging it open without bothering to check the peephole.

I should have checked the peephole.

"Crap" I whispered and immediately shut the door except it slammed against something hard before it could close completely.

"Not so fast, Bestie." Cassandra Manuel said with the most smug looking smile I'd ever seen on a person. "Nice one Emily." She added.

Emily only replied with a pained whimper and teary eyes which was expected since I'd slammed the door on her leg.

"If you think you can stop us from coming in, you're wrong" Tina jumped in before giving me a once-over, "FYI, you look like a rat that just got out of the spin dryer."

"Why on earth are you here?" I asked before it suddenly hit me that Dad had invited them over to "play" with me on weekends. "Oh hell no."

"Hell yes." Cassandra said before calling into the house, "Is Jimmy home?"

"Violet, who is it?" Dad called back and they started to squeal and rush forward but I still managed to push the door back even though my socks were sliding against the flooring.

"No! That's just the TV! You can't barge into my house...!" The next thing I knew, I was on the floor and they were skipping over my body to get inside.

I turned over with a groan and saw Moo just sitting there and watching me all judgemental.
"I'm gonna sell you and use the money to buy a guard dog." I said pointedly.

She just meowed lowly and tried to bite me in the face which she would have succeed in doing if I didn't jump to my feet at the sound of: "Wow, Jimmy it's so big...!"

"STOP!" I screamed and charged into the living room with one eye closed.

"Is.... everything alright?" Dad asked and I opened my eyes to find them standing in the living room, with Dad holding his Ultimate Cooking Challenge 1st place trophy. The one he only bragged about when he knew the guests would be around for a while, because apparently it was a loooong story.

"Oh, Vi's always been so dramatic, just like when we were little, remember bestie?" Cassandra asked, her innocent smile morphing into a smirk.

I rolled my eyes and stepped forward. "Alright. You've come in, ruined my weekend and you've seen my Dad, now you can leave."