Life, Love, & Lemons

Peachy

My head was throbbing. It took every bit of strength that I had to pretend like it didn't bother me as I approached Dad's car. I somehow fashioned my hair into a really weird side bang to cover the big bump on my head and the piece of toilet paper I placed there to stop the bleeding.

"Hey Bent, how was school?" Dad was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Peachy." I smiled and tried not to sound too sarcastic. My head was pounding and I tried not to wince at the fact that every sound was just making it throb harder.

I looked over at Dad who was dressed in a suit that hadn't seen the light of day since he went up for his last promotion ten years ago and probably cost more than our rent.

"What are you all dressed up for?" I tried to ignore my head as I pushed my fingers up against my temple.

"Well..." He glanced at me from the corner of his eye with that big grin still on his face.

"Well what?" Okay now I was getting a little bit annoyed. My head was pounding and I had no idea why Dad was playing this stupid smiling and happy game. Didn't he care that my life was in the toilet? I got beat up by my boyfriend's ex-girlfriend and was going to have to go to Homecoming alone like an idiot in a dress from two years ago. If he told me that he was excited because Easy Mac was on sale I would have probably flipped my lid.

"I had a meeting with an agent today."

I stopped rubbing my head and just stared at him with my mouth wide open. Could this be? "And?"

"She said that she would like to offer me representation and already has a publisher that's very interested in a possible three book deal." He said it nonchalantly like it was no big deal, like he just told me that he really did get a bunch of Easy Mac on sale.

"Are you serious?" This time I was actually able to ignore the pounding as I squealed.

He nodded and I practically tackled him, causing the car to almost hit a guard rail. It was amazing how a little conversation with Dad could almost make me forget all my problems.

"We can go to the game tonight and then after we can go out for dinner somewhere nice. Somewhere I can actually wear this suit and not get looked at funny." Dad laughed as we walked up the sidewalk to our apartment.

"Um, is that, that boy Jake sitting on our patio?" Dad nodded his head as we walked.

"Jake?" I arched an eyebrow. There was no way that Jake would ever show up at our apartment.

"You know Jake with the popped collar, drives a Mercedes convertible, and has far too large of a trust fund." Dad said it like it was a fact, which it pretty much was.

As we approached the patio door I saw that it actually was Jake, hot pink polo shirt, stupid aviators and all.

"Hey Bee." He slowly walked toward me.

"I'll leave you two alone." Dad patted my back as he headed inside. "Don't be too long, Bent, we have a game to go to," he called before shutting the door.

"Don't worry this shouldn't take that long," I yelled back, folding my arms across my chest.

"What do you want, Jake?" I stared at him.

"Um, what happened to your head?" He pointed his perfectly trimmed nails at me.

"Just a light head bashing, but don't change the subject." I tried to sound as stern as possible, but my headache was just making me sound whiney. "What are you doing here, Jake? I thought I made it perfectly clear that I didn't want to see you."