Little Red

FIFTY FIVE

"You know you can't just ignore this, right? Like it legit just happened not even two hours ago."

Leaning against the wall, Dani bit into her sandwich as she watched her father throw angry punches at his punching bag. Instead of talking out his dreams like what she had been forced to do, the man had decided to take it out in the best way he could...which was apparently in his gym.

David grunted and punched the bag again. "Yes, I can, and I will..., and I thought I told you no food in here?" he said while cutting his eyes to the plate in Dani's hand before he punched the bag again with another grunt.

Dani shrugged. "I was hungry again," she said before squinting her eyes.

"And if you don't want to stop..." she walked over to the shelf and placed her plate down to grab the extra set of gloves, "I'll just have to start."

"Hey, hey, hey, woah, woah, woah there, Princess Tiana," David said as he stopped the bag from swinging once he spotted her walking over to him.

Dani narrowed her eyes at the reference.

"What do you think you're doing there, Missy?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

Dani shrugged again as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail and said, "I'm going to join you."

David scoffed and folded his arms. "Oh really?" he asked and raised an eyebrow as she nodded. "Dani, this bag weighs a hundred pounds."

Pursing her lips, Dani nodded again and said, "Okay."

Her eyebrows then raised in slight shock as David just rolled his eyes and stepped away to give her room. Covering up her initial reaction, she huffed out a breath as she prepped herself and threw a free punch at the bag.

"Holy shit," the father-daughter duo mumbled with widened eyes when the bag moved as if David had been the one to punch it.

"Holy shit," Dani mumbled again before smiling as she lightly hopped in place. "Holy shit!! Did you see that?! I'm practically as strong as you!!"

David nodded with narrowed eyes. "Yeah...Yeah, I saw it," he said while examining the bag, but his words barely registered in Dani's ears as she danced in her spot.

"I'm strong as Dad aye, I'm strong as Dad aye," she sang to herself with a smile.

David raised an eyebrow. "Dani.."

"You can't stop me, no! Just try and see, yeah-"

"Daniella!!" David said in an exasperated tone.

Dani stopped her movements and looked over to the man with an innocent expression on her face as she said, "Yes?"

David rolled his eyes with a shake of his head and gestured towards the heavy bag as he said, "Punch it again."

A playful smirk was immediate on her features as she asked, "Why? Scared someone's going to take your spot as Hulk-"

"Daniella Janine!"

The girl rolled her eyes with a sigh and said, "Okay, okay," before she prepped herself again for another punch.

A loud gasp filled the room as that time, the bag had almost swung off its hinges.

Dani's eyebrows furrowed as she looked down at her hands in slight fear. "Dad, I swear I wasn't even trying that time," she mumbled and shook her head. "I don't know how that happened, I-"

"Hey, hey, hey, shh," David quickly cut her off while gently grabbing her hands. "It's okay, Dani. We'll figure it out, okay?"

Not trusting her voice enough to speak, Dani nodded and mumbled, "I think I'm good with the punching bag now."