- Don't hate me for this chapter LOL -
Okay, I think I'm going to post up the last six chapters this week. I'm going to rewrite the story again because I don't think it is good enough and I'll be making a lot of changes so if you hate something or even love something let me know so I can keep it in mind when I'm editing.
Dad was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee by the time I got home. Gran was off out somewhere. She had a much more exciting social life than I did. I wandered around the kitchen for a while, delaying the inevitable. Dad finally turned around in agitation and told me to spit it out or get out.
"Sorry," I said. "It's just, don't say no straight off, okay? Amelia is sick and Tammie and Joey are all...loved up and don't want to spend time with me. And so Nathan asked me to go to the cinema." I said the last bit without pausing so the words were all jumbled up together.
Dad blinked a couple of times. "Tammie and Joey are a couple?"
"Yeah, Dad. But that isn't the point!"
"Sorry . . . what's wrong with Amelia?"
"Dad!"
He took a sip of his coffee. "Alright."
"What?"
"You can go."
"What?"
He put his cup down and gave me a hard look. "Perdy, you may go with Nathan to the cinema. Understand that time?"
I nodded, still looking at him blankly. "Like . . . tonight?"
He sighed heavily. "Stop acting shocked, please? You can go tonight. There are no late shows on a Monday so I know you won't be too late coming home. I know that boy won't do anything silly. He's mature and responsible for his age. And I know where he lives. So he won't put a foot wrong."
"Um, okay," I said, turning to leave the room. I changed my mind and turned back to give him a tight hug. He was surprised but pleased. "Thanks Dad." I couldn't believe my luck.
I rushed upstairs to have a shower, dry my hair and get ready. I had an hour or two to spare but I wanted to get going. Once I had dried my hair I decided to leave it down. I put on a little bit of makeup and spent at least half an hour panicking about what to wear. The worst part about my Dad lightening up and letting me have some sort of a social life was picking out clothes. I ended up deciding on a pair of jeans, a green camisole and a white tracksuit top - that was for my Dad's benefit. I didn't want to look like I made too much effort but I also didn't want to look like I hadn't bothered to make any sort of an effort either. Hard balance to find.
Nathan rang my doorbell at six on the dot. He had used some sort of new hair product and I could smell him from the sitting room. He had definitely made an effort. He wore loose indigo jeans and a cream jumper. He looked and smelled really good. My Dad glared at him a little, he couldn't help himself even if he liked Nathan.
"Not too late, alright?" he warned Nathan.
"Don't worry, she'll be home early. And safe."
He insisted on making small talk with my Dad so I ended up dragging him outside just to shut him up.
"Anything in particular you want to see?" he asked.
"Nah, I don't mind. See what's on when we get there."
It turned out that nothing was on when we got there. We bought tickets to the next showing which was over an hour later. He insisted on paying because he had invited me. I thought that was sweet but I paid when we sat down in a fast food place for a quick meal. He kept looking over at me anxiously but not saying whatever was on his mind. I hoped it was nothing bad.
