Only Time Will Tell

3

Finally I escaped the evil clutches of the "helpful" thing called school.

I texted my dad.

To: Daddy

Can I go to a friends house later?

The response was immediate.

From: Daddy

No.

To: Daddy

But dad! Please? She's really nice!

From: Daddy

Fine, give me her number and address before you go. I also want to see you before you leave, so come home.

To: Daddy

(810) 395- 5004 and 3156 Wilson road. I'm on my way. Thank you sooo much dad!

I skipped to my Jeep with glee. My drive home seemed to take a second.

I opened the door to my house, accidentally slamming it against the back wall as I did.

"Oops," I muttered.

"That you, Paige?" my dad called from the kitchen.

"Yep," I answered.

I set my bag on the kitchen table, right next to two slices of Nutella toast. My favorite.

"Thought you might be hungry," he said. He was sitting at the counter, doodling. The usual.

I kissed his cheek and grabbed a Cherry Sprite soda from the refrigerator, "Thanks daddy."

"What time you going to your friends?"

"Around three."

He looked at the clock, "Better get going then."

I looked at the clock as well; 2:49.

"Yeah, I should. Bye dad, thanks for the toast."

"No problem honey, take extra clothes in case you want to stay the night or something."

"Thanks for giving me the idea," I stopped, "You feeling okay?"

He looked at me, "Yeah, fine. Why?"

"You would never tell me to bring extra clothes to spend the night unless..."

"Unless what sweetie?"

"Either you're secretly a drug dealer and tonight is your big shipment or you are doing something else you don't want me to know about."

He sighed and rubbed his face, "You're right."

"I am?"

"Yes. I'm actually going on a date tonight.

"A... date?"

"I know your mother meant a lot to you, but-."

I cut him off, "A date dad?! For God's sake! What about mom? Hell! What about me?"

"It's been fourteen years, Paige! You don't understand how long I've been alone!"

I felt my eyes tear up, "No, you just don't understand how alone I've been since then."

With that, I slammed the front door. I started my Jeep with a hesitant hand. I pulled down our long driveway and onto the main road.
I was crying now. Wilson road was only a two minute drive from my house, so I had to take a while to calm down before I walked up the steep cement steps to Sophie's small brick house.

It was kind of stereotypical, the way it looked. A door in the middle then two windows on each side. Two windows above those and a circle window for the attic. There were hedges in front of each ground floor window. It literally looked like a picture a kindergartner would draw.

Kenny opened the door before I could even knock.

"Heyyyy," he laughed then stopped short. He looked at my face and shut the door behind him, "woah, are you okay, Paige?"

I sniffled, "No."

I expected him to ask why. I expected him to badger me with questions. But he didn't do any of that. He simply pulled me close and hugged me.

He smelled good. Like that one cologne in your school that makes every girl say, "Who is that?!"

I laid my head on his chest and sobbed. We sat there for at least ten minutes, while he pet my hair and whispered, "It's okay, it's okay."

When I composed myself we untangled ourselves from each other. Kenny stood back with his hands on my shoulders and gave me a long hard look.

"Do you feel better?" he asked with deep concern in his eyes.

I nodded. I was speechless.

He nodded in approvement and turned to open the door.

"Thanks," I finally piped up.

He turned back to me and smiled, "Anytime, Paige."

*

The inside of Sophie's house was the complete opposite of the outside. There were metal trashcan and wash bin tables, shopping cart chairs, a ladder bookshelf, and several other pieces of DIY decor. Everything seemed to be handmade, even the "TV." It was just a wall painted white with a homemade projector where you can slide your phone into it.

I immediately forgot about my dad and began chatting with the group.

"There she is!" Trevor gave me one of his big famous hugs.

I was probably tapping his arm for a whole minute before he let go. I sucked in a big breath of oxygen. Wow, it felt nice to breathe.

Everyone laughed as I coughed to catch my breath.

Danny spoke first, "Hey, Soph, got any of those dino nuggets?"

Sophie rolled her eyes, "Yeah, they're in the freezer. Help yourself."

I heard Dan quietly say, "Yessss." as he walked into the dark kitchen.

I gave a quizzical look to Kenny, who started cracking up.

"Daniel here loves his nuggets," this erupted us both in a fit of giggles.

When we finished rolling on the ground, Ken and I sat down feeling quite uncomfortable from the stares of our colleagues.

"Who wants to watch the dinosaurs go extinct again?" Danny shouted from the kitchen. He always seemed to be yelling out the weirdest things.

"Yeah, no one wants to see that dude." Kenny shouted back.

I loved the way Kenny's hair stayed in place no matter how much he moved. He didn't use any product in it, it was naturally spiked. It looked hot. Like really really hot.

What was I talking about?

Kenny was just my friend. That's all we would be.

I hope.