Living with the Player

Chapter 32

All three of us stand in silence, my dad standing at the door in shock while Nico still has me pressed up against the wall.

My eyes widen in horror and I push him off me so suddenly that he stumbles. My hair is messy and my cheeks are red; I can feel it.

This does not look good.

"What are you doing here?"I ask finally. Apparently, this was not the right question to ask because my dad's face turns cold.

"It's my house," he answers simply.

Ok, yeah, but you're never here, I think to myself. Out loud, all I say is, "Oh." What else can I say? Don't worry, dad. No, I wasn't getting dicked down. Yes, I still love Jesus.

"Um, you remember Nico, right?" I ask. Next to me, Nico is frozen, but he clears his throat, steps forwards, and sticks out his hand.

"Hi, Mr. Cho. Sir," he greets.

My dad stares down at his hand until Nico brings it back to his side with a grimace. "I want to talk to my daughter," my dad says. Nico blinks. "Alone."

"Of course. I'll leave you two alone. Uh, Jennie..." Our gazes match, finally realizing what we've done. "I'll... see ya." He steps out the door, leaving me and my dad alone.

"I can explain," I say the second he's out the door. My dad waits expectantly and I realize that I actually can't explain. In fact, I have no idea what's going on. "We weren't doing anything."

My dad closes his eyes with a sigh. "I'm not stupid, Jennie."

"No, really!" I say. "It was just... a kiss." My thoughts flicker back to the thought of his lips against mine and I nearly slap myself. My dad is right there.

"So you're dating him now?" my dad asks, not angry just suspicious.

"Well... no."

He takes another deep sigh.

"Dad," I say, collecting myself. "I'm 16. I'm allowed to kiss guys. I'm sorry that you had to walk in on it but that's really all it was."

He goes silent then nods. "Well, I guess it was my mistake for not knocking. I just didn't expect you to have... visitors."

I let out a light laugh. "Yeah, I think it'd be a good idea for you to knock from now on."

He chuckles a little too, shaking his head. "I haven't seen you in a while and now you're kissing boys, getting into all kinds of trouble..."

Yeah, well, that's what happens when you don't come home for months at a time.

"I'm taking care of myself, dad," is all I say.

He nods again. An awkward silence sits between us. Neither of us knows what to even say to each other. I notice that his hair is a lot longer than last time I saw him. It looks like he gained a little weight, too.

"Well, since I'm home, how about we have dinner for..." his voice trails off as his eyes catch Nico's bag in the corner. It's barely open but enough so that you can see his clothes. My dad starts to study the rest of the room from the make-shift bed to the male clothes in the laundry basket.

Well shit.

"Am I... Am I seeing things?" he asks before looking straight at me. "Jennie, has that boy been living here?"

Now, the best option here would probably be to lie but what's the point in lying when I haven't done anything wrong? I answer, "Yes."

My dad's eyebrows raise and he starts to laugh incredulously. "Yes?" he repeats. "A teenage boy and you have been living alone in my house?" The anger is starting to rise in him and his laughs become harsher.