Bates & Landon [Wattys2015]

LANDON

Landon

I visited Alice as much as I could, no matter if she was asleep or not. And we talked about all kinds of things, when she was awake. She started eating again. At first, it was hard for her, but she began to recover quite quickly.

Which was really good.

My phone rang on a Sunday morning while I was sprawled out on my bed, listening to music and thinking. If it was anywhere else in my room than it being on my stomach, I would've never felt it. I answered after turning the volume down on a All Time Low song.

"Hello?"

"Hey Landon," Margaret, Alice's mom, spoke. "I just wanted to tell you that, um, Alice is back at the house now after staying at the hospital for a while."

"Really?" I grinned. "That's great!" I could hear a smile in her own voice when she agreed with me. I was happy for Alice, for getting better and overcoming her problems.

"Do you know when I can come over?" Margaret and I had become closer over the past weeks of Alice being in the hospital. We were kind of close before, but not as much as we are now. Mandy and I never was or will be close. But Margaret was a sweet woman who had such a kind heart you could never be mad at her.

She was more of a mother figure in my life than anyone ever has.

"I don't know yet. I'll call you when I talk to my husband about it, okay? We can have dinner sometime. That sounds nice, yeah?"

"Sounds great." I agreed. Not long after that, we got off the phone and I went right back to listening to my music.

After two or three songs, my dad decided to come in -- not even bothering to knock. I opened my eyes once I felt the bed dip from his weight. I, once again, turned the music down.

I looked at him. "Yeah?" He turned to look at me, a calm look on his face that only meant that I was about to have a serious talk. I gulped and sat up straighter, my attention fully on him and no longer my thoughts and music.

"So I'm guessing that you and that boy are a...thing, correct?" He waited until I sent him a nod before continuing, "I just want you to know that if he tries anything with you that you aren't comfortable with, tell him-"

"Dad," I cut him off, face becoming a red color. "No. Just don't. I already had this talk with you years before, I don't need it now."

"But back then you didn't have a boyfriend at the time," he said, looking at me intensely.

"I know, but that doesn't mean I forgot all of what you said, dad. I'm okay. And plus, Bates isn't that kind of guy. He's a sweet, caring boy. He's a good guy, dad, give him a chance."

"It's not that I'm giving him a chance, I just want you to know in case you ever get in that kind of, uh, situation." I knew it was just as awkward to my dad as it was for me.

"Yeah, I know,"

"Also, if you ever wanna like, um, talk...you know you can always talk to me, Landon."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know." I said again, looking around my room. My dad and I weren't real close, so when we had these conversations it was a tad bit awkward.

"Okay, good." He ruffled my hair, making me smack his hand away. He started to leave,"Oh yeah," he said, turning to look back at me. "Mandy told me that Connor will be coming down to visit on Tuesday. And he'll stay for a few days." Then he left, closing the door behind him.

I was actually kind of thrilled for him to be coming over for a little bit, I kinda needed the company. Connor had a real brotherly love, but then again he's the kind of person who'd drag me to a party or do some crazy stuff. Like once he and I both tried this red wine in the cabinet in the kitchen while Mandy went shopping and it was just us home. And another time that he and I both ended up sneaking out in the middle of the night just to go and get some ice cream so we could eat that and watch a movie on Netflix.