STEPSISTER [Discontinued]

The Boyfriend and The Clown

In front of him there was a girl, or Philip supposed she was a girl. She had long, almost black, curly hair, and when he saw her face Phillip immediately disliked her. She had freckles! Freckles were his thing, and she even dared to have more freckles than him! He honestly felt personally attacked. Moving on from that horrible disrespect, on top of her blackish curls she wore a gray hat with a sewed heart on it (which was weird because no girl that Philip knew would ever wear a hat like that). Lower, on her neck, she had a dark purple choker that didn't combine even in the slightest with her pink funky looking dress. The fingerless gloves on her hands looked totally out of place, too. The boy thought it couldn't get worse, but then he saw the white and light purple stripped long socks on her legs and royal blue boot converses and Philip sincerely didn't know if he could even look at the girl. She looked like she couldn't decide in which style to wear so she made a weird mix of them all.

In Philip's humble opinion, she looked like a clown.

"Are you Phillip?" The girl asked him, a southern accent dripping in every word she said.

"Uh, yeah" He responded.

She nodded, looking at him up and down like he was the one looking like a madman. "Okay, I'm Frances"

Frances, even her name sounded weird.

Before Philip could awkwardly ask her to move out of his door (Because, what was she even doing there anyways?) so he could walk him, an enthusiastic yet familiar voice interrupted the weird encounter.

"Franny, who's at the door!?" The familiar voice said.

"It's Phillip!" She responded.

Philip had never known of a person moving faster than that because in less than a few seconds, a man was standing in front of the door besides Frances and oh, that's his dad.

But Philip didn't know that man.

The Alexander that he knew was always trying too much. Trying to be the best dad, the bed at his work, the best husband. He tried so much it wasn't even himself anymore. He always had those dark circles around his tired eyes and he was so exhausted, maybe from work, maybe from trying too much.

The man in front of him only had some slight, almost irreconocible eye bags. His eyes were bright and the smile on his face wasn't forced, it was real, and he looked happy and carefree. Philip almost didn't recognize him.

But stranger or no, his father was already hugging him strongly. Philip could swear he heard him sob even the slightest bit.

"God you've grown up so much" He said, and Philip forced himself to not think about how cliche this phrase was, because this was supposed to be an emotional moment.

"Hey dad" He mumbled on his shoulder.

Alexander pulled away and Phillip couldn't help but drown in his eyes. They looked so proud, and he suddenly felt like he didn't deserve that.

"Did your– did your mom leave already?" He asked and Philip could hear the slight disappointment on his voice, but said nothing about it.

"Yeah, she was kinda in a hurry"

"I understand"

A little awkward silence.

"I've seen you and Frances already met" Alexander said, suddenly looking nervous.

"Yeah.." He mumbled.

"I hope that you'll be good friends with her, I know you will" His dad told him, both nervous and hopeful. "With she and John"

Oh yeah, where was that John girl anyways?

"Yeah, I've heard she's a nice woman"

Silence.

Philip didn't understand why his dad suddenly looked so petrified, and he definitely didn't get why Frances was laughing like they just told her the best joke on the solar system. God why does everything has to be so confusing on this house!? He hadn't even stepped in and he's already lost!

The man in front of him swallowed anxiously while Frances laughter still boomed on the background.

"Philip" He said. "John is... John is not–"

"Hey babe! I'm home!" Came from the garage.

"Dad!" Frances chirped.

If his father looked anxious before, he definitely seemed like he was just about to faint right now.

"Philip.. John is not a girl, he's my boyfriend"

Wait...

...What?