Keeping Secrets (Completed)

Seventeen

Two weeks later...
Charlotte Evans
"I'm singing in the rain, yes I'm singing in the rain. What a glorious feeling..." I danced around in my little yellow dress as my father clapped the beat for me to sing to. The floors of our basement apartment creaked under my feet as I tapped my little heels against the tiles.

I acted out one of the scenes from Singing in the Rain and my mother played as my co-star. It was frustrating; having her stumble over all the words but I had to give her an A for effort, she was trying her best.

As we took a bow closing off our final scene my father stood to his feet and clapped for me; lifting me into his arms and spinning me around. "May I have your autograph from now?" he said, placing me on the back onto the floor. My dad pulled out a picture of my from his wallet and grabbed a pen from the table so I could scribble my name across the back of the photo. I watched as he pressed his lips against it, then looked me in the eyes and said. "No matter what you choose to do in life baby girl, just remember this. I have your first autograph ever and I want this to be a symbol to let you know that I will always be your number one fan."

I sat in the chair across from my dad's hospital bed; watching as the monitor beeped, the same way it had been for weeks. I had spent every single day at the hospital with him after his surgery, due to the extent of his injuries he didn't respond much but he was alive and doing a lot better.

One thing I could really say is that throughout this process; my mother was the strongest. I watched as she stayed by his side and handled business while he was away, I could tell by the amount of work she had to do that it wasn't easy but for him she was willing to make the sacrifice.

I tried my best to keep more of a positive mind, I didn't read the news much or even check my social media for the most part. I wanted to focus on the family time I had; and day by day I tried to get rid of the guilt as best as I could. What mattered to me was that I was never going to see Alonzo or any of those hood rats again, this was a mistake and I had learnt from it.

"Knock, knock..." I turned my attention towards the door where Anthony walked in with a cup holder filled with Venti sized cups from Starbucks, exactly what I needed right now! "How are you doing?" he asked, handing me what I hoped was a black coffee with a shot of espresso. I brought it up and sniffed it and smiled to myself, it was nice to know that Anthony was really attentive to my needs. Concerning him, my parents plan to use him was completely through the roof; after seeing how he cared for me and supported me through this time of need I would be heartless to go with it and my mother knew it too. However, with everything going on I didn't see him as anything more than a friend right now and that is all I needed.

"I'm alright I guess," I took a sip of my coffee, without even thinking. By the time, it hit my lip it was too late. "Ow!" I yelled, fanning my mouth. "That's hot."

"Well what did you think?" Anthony took the cup from me and placed it on one of the side tables by my father's bed. "Are you okay?"

"What does it look like?" I stuck my tongue out; trying to see if the air would help it; but of course, it didn't. "You know that I could probably kiss it better, right?" I heard him mumble under his breath, my eyes grew big as I looked over at him. I know my dad was sleeping but this was so not the time, nor place.

"Now that's nasty!" my mother walked into the room at the worse time possible; her face scrunched up to what I'm guessing was Anthony's comment. His face grew red at the sight of her and I couldn't help but laugh, which my mother joined in one. "How's your dad been while I was gone?" she asked, after our little moment of fun.

"He's been sleeping for the most part. Nothing special... how was your meeting with the detectives?"

"No leads, no suspects, nothing. They've been at this for weeks and still not one sign." I was relieved to hear her answer, weeks had gone by and I just wanted to be done with this whole situation. Ever since the attack on my dad, my mom had been on a rampage. If I didn't know her I would've sworn she was some kind of CSI agent, she wanted to know every single move the police made, she wanted to be a witness to every interrogation, nothing moved without her knowing at this point.