Cold Coffee and Stale Cigarettes *on hold*

Chapter 7

              For the past four years, my father always had a disappointed slope to his brow. Most people couldn’t see it. That’s all they knew. But I had known him before. I had known him when he was happy and smiled and joked and was constantly teasing everyone around him. He wasn’t like that anymore. Now he was quiet and brooding and always had a cold exterior. Maybe he was different with Tara and her son and all his new friends. Maybe he was only cold towards me. I was part of the before; before things went sour, before my parent’s marriage fell apart, before my family fell apart. I was just a bitter reminder of things he would rather leave behind.

                He pressed his cup of coffee to his lips and I waited for several moments after he placed the mug back onto the table before taking a draught of my own –not wanting to be like him, but needing the warmth to fill my stomach and spread throughout my limbs. It was so damn cold all the time –nothing ever made me warm anymore.

                “So, any plans for the rest of the weekend?” Tara asked sweetly, setting down a plate of pancakes in front of my place on the table, and another in front of Tyler. She always insisted on asking me what my plans were, even though she knew I usually didn’t have any.

                “Just going to hang out with some friends.” I muttered, cutting a small piece off the pancake and placing it in my mouth. Tyler wiggled his eyebrows in my direction and I mouthed shut up in his direction, knowing he was taunting me about Dalton in his head, even though nothing was going on between us. I’m pretty sure we had both made that clear enough.

                “Friends?” Her eyes lit up and for once, my dad even bothered to glance in my direction, one graying brow quirked.

                “Yea.” I responded quieter, busying myself with mashing my breakfast into small doughy pieces. Tara sat across from me, smiling, her light brown hair swept back messily away from her face. She was trying so hard to be my mom –a real mom- it was hard sometimes not to get caught up in how her eyes sparkled with excitement. She seemed more thrilled than my own father over the simple fact I had somehow managed to talk to someone and convinced them to let me tag along with them on some meaningless endeavor. It was pathetic.

                And I wanted to believe it more than anything in the entire world.

                “Do you go to school with them?” Tara continued, ignoring her breakfast so she could pry any possible wisp of information.

                “Yea.” Tyler grinned, interrupting me. “They have chemistry together.” My dad was very tense and Tara’s eyes widened, her smile glowing.

                “What’s his name? Is he cute? How long have you two been talking?” I stabbed my fork into my pancake letting it clatter against the plate.

                “Is the definition of friends different in your family?” I drawled, shaking my head.

                “Samantha,” My dad warned, narrowing his eyes.

                “I’m sorry. Our family. Better?”

                “Drop the tone.”

                “Tell the little monster to get off my back.” I pointed at Tyler, eliciting a sigh from my father, while he placed the paper he was reading onto the table carefully.

                “It… the friend in your chemistry class,” His eyes darted to Tyler, who grinned cheekily, “It’s a…?” Tyler’s grin faded. Tara tensed. The warm feeling the coffee had conjured inside my body was sucked away from my fingertips. I couldn’t even muster the energy to tell him that I didn’t even have a chemistry class.