Cool Girl

8: Back Home

I've just stripped my bed bare and packed all my things when a knock sounds on my door. I open it to find Ben, Liam and Ash. They all have their suitcases and backpacks with them which they stow in one corner of the room and then clamber onto the bare mattress.

"What are you all doing?" I ask, standing by the still open door.

"We need moral support." Liam groans and falls sideways until his head hits the bed's headboard with a thud.

"What for?" I throw up my hands.

"It's result day, Hazel!" Ben copies me and throws up his hands too.

"And why couldn't we have done this in someone else's room?" I ask.

"Because we all had roommates. You're the only one of us with a private room." Ash points out.

I sigh, "Fine. When do the results upload?"

Ash looks at his phone and grimaces, "They uploaded two minutes ago."

"Who wants to go first then?" Ben offers, setting his laptop down on the bed, clearly not wanting to be the first one.

"I'll do it." Liam agrees and grabs Ben's laptop. "Wait, I don't remember my student portal password."

We all protest as he gets off the bed and begins rummaging through his bag for the paper with the password. In the meantime, Ash logs into his account and announces that he has a 3.5 grade point average. We all whoop and congratulate him.

By now Liam has returned to his spot on the bed and logs into his account.

"I passed!" He screams and jumps off the bed, dancing.

"You have a 2.1" Ash reads off the screen.

"We needed a 2.0 to pass!" Liam takes hold of Ash's collar and screams.

We all laugh as Liam finishes his celebration and finally pulls out the desk chair and settles down.

"Your turn." I say, holding out the laptop to Ben.

Ben always gets worked up about results and I know how much it means to him to do well on this course. For him it's a chance to do his mother proud and remind her that he's her son too and not just Charles.

I watch his face closely and it goes from fear to a relieved smile, "3.5"

"Oh my gosh! Yaay!" I scream and pull him into a hug, "So proud of you all!"

I scream as Liam envelopes us all in a big group hug but suddenly Ash shouts, "Wait! Hazel, you didn't check hers."

"I'll just do it later." I start but they all refuse to listen to my excuses.

I take the laptop from Ben and log into my student account.

"No freaking way." Liam says as they all look at the results and then I'm engulfed in another group hug amidst laughter. I have a perfect 4.0.

Soon the boys calm down and leave the room with their stuff so that I can make sure that I've packed everything. Half an hour later we're all in Ben's car, headed back to Pasadena. Since Ben and Claire called things off, Ben offered to drive us all back and we all agreed.

Ash rides up front and Liam and I sit in the back. I take a screenshot of my results and send it to The Aarons, WhatsApp group. I look up from my phone just as Ash and Liam break into an ear splitting karaoke of 'Don't Call Me Up' by Mabel. I can see Ben laughing as I shake with silent laughter too and sneakily make a video on my Snapchat that they can see later.

In an hour we arrive in Pasadena and I get dropped off first. While a butler takes out my bags, I turn back to Ben and thank him for driving me. As Ben pulls out of the driveway, I look around to spot an unfamiliar Mercedes in the driveway.

Without thinking much of it, I step into the house only to run into dad and his guest in the foyer.

"Hazel! You're home." Dad says when he sees me walk in.

"Hello." I say to him and his guest.

"Hazel, this is Bryant Davis, a new director for our Aaron Limited's American division. Bryant, this is my daughter Hazel." Dad introduces me.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Davis." I say politely.

"No need for formalities!" Bryant laughs and I almost raise an eyebrow at him when he says, "I'm Adam Davis's father."

I'm too shocked to speak and when I finally look at dad, he's stunned too. I've started dating my father's new director's son. And obviously Bryant was aware of this while we failed to make the connection.

I just give a small laugh and say, "Of course."

Then I hurry out of the foyer, towards the living room while dad sees Bryant off.

When dad comes back we both look each other and at the same time say, "I didn't know."

Mom finds dad at me sitting at the dining table, across from each other in silence.

"Bunny!" She exclaims walking over as I stand up and hug her. "Hey mom."

"What are you two up to?" She looks between me and dad.

"Just trying to clear our heads." I sigh and look down at my hands.

"Bunny, look at me please." Dad says softly and I finally meet his eyes, "He's his son. So what? That doesn't take away your feelings for him, does it?"

I shake my head, "No."

"Then you're going to stop overthinking this and be happy about your relationship." Dad smiles at me and I return a small smile.

After a moment's pause, mom asks, "Now will someone explain what's going on?"

"Bryant Davis is Adam Davis's father." Dad simply says and then we watch mom's brain make the connection between the surnames.

"Oh." Is she all says at the end.

"How did none of us figure it out?" I slip down in my chair and rest my head on its low back.

"But what's the big deal?" Mom asks, looking at me.

"It's just feels weird." I shrug, turning my head to look at her.

"Have your feelings for Adam changed since you found out that his father works for your father?" Mom asks, taking my hand in hers.

I shake my head, "Not at all."

"Then like Daniel said, be happy about your relationship. We can tell how much he means to you just by the way your face lights up whenever you talk about him." Mom smiles warmly.

I suddenly feel shy and lean sideways so that my head is in mom's lap as she strokes my hair.

"Isn't Hazel home yet?" I hear Sebastian ask since my view is blocked by the dining table.

"She's right here." I say, sitting up and then I realize that mom and dad are home on a Monday afternoon.

"Why are you all home?" I ask, looking around.

"It's been weeks since we saw you. We're all having a family lunch." Mom tells me and then gets up from the table to let the chefs know that they should lay out the table.

While they do so, dad leaves to talk to mom and Sebastian takes his seat as we sit together and catch each other up on that's happened while we were apart. Soon the chefs finish setting out the food and mom and dad return.

I help myself to roasted potatoes but out of the corner of my eye I watch dad pull out mom's chair for her and then kiss her cheek before he sits down in the seat next to hers. I hand Sebastian the gravy and in no time we're back to our usual family pattern.

I'm posting the next chapter too, it's one of my favorites so far so don't forget to read it! :)

-T