salute [h.s]

the one with piper's dad

We've Got to Start Somewhere (Pre-Salute canon drabbles)

you look like you need a dad hug

december 17 - new holiday traditions

1D Fanfic/Salute Extra

A little blast from the past

*

December 24th, 2005

There was a knock at her bedroom door but Piper was moping so she refused to acknowledge it. She stuck her nose back into her book, A Christmas Carol, and pretended she was reading. When the knock came again, she sighed. "Go away!"

"I'm sorry," her dad said as he pushed the door open slowly, "did you say come in?"

"No I did not say come in!"

Judging by the proud little smile on her dad's face, he had heard her perfectly fine. It was all just a plot to get into her room. She wished she was surprised but her dad always did sneaky things like that. It was part of his charm. "Why are you sitting up here all by yourself, Piper?" he asked as he crossed the room and sat on the edge of her bed, giving her a gentle smile as he crossed his arms lazily. "It's Christmas Eve."

"I am reading a Christmas book," she pointed out petulantly, waving around the hardcover in her hand.

"Ah, A Christmas Carol," her dad said with a warm smile. She knew for a fact that it was one of his favourites. "How do you like it so far?"

"I don't," she snapped, frowning hard. "I hate it. I hate Charles Dickens. He's such a wanker."

Instead of doing something dad-like, like reprimanding her or getting her in trouble for swearing, her dad threw his head back and laughed. Piper was a little surprised because she knew her dad loved Dickens. The author was on his syllabus every year, much to his students' discontent. Dickens could be pretty damn unapproachable literature. Piper had given A Tale of Two Cities a C- when they had read it the year before, and then she'd watched the movie which was so beautiful it had made her cry, and she'd been all conflicted. She wanted to hate Dickens but his stories were beautiful. His writing was just so boring.

"And yet, here you are, sitting alone and reading a book you hate. Your mum's baked pumpkin loaf." Pumpkin loaf was Piper's favourite and she'd been able to smell it for the last hour and she'd just barely managed to avoid going down to get some. It had been tempting at times but she was trying to make a point. She couldn't cave for pumpkin loaf.

"I don't care," Piper shrugged, opening the book back up and holding it in front of her face so she couldn't see her dad. The book was plucked out of her hand seconds later and her dad held it behind his back where she couldn't reach it. With a frustrated groan, she kicked her feet impatiently into the mattress and then flopped backward.

"I happen to know that you'd rather stop eating altogether than turn down your mum's pumpkin loaf, so what's the problem Piper? We were going to watch a movie —"

"I don't want to watch a movie!" Piper said impatiently. "I don't want to watch Home Alone again. I will literally throw up if I watch it again."

"Literally?" her dad challenged skeptically. He did things like that because he was a lit professor. Piper had to choose her words very carefully around him.

"Ugh, dad! Could you not?"

"Sorry," her dad said with a little smile as he leaned in closer, pretending to look intent and concentrate. "You were saying?"

"I don't want to watch Home Alone again. Can't we ever do anything else? Andrew's just going to talk through it the entire time like he always does and Miriam's going to stare at him like the sun shines out of his arse and they're going to make out —"