I rushed into the car and my dad quickly started to drive. I felt like such an idiot for forgetting about my other job. I had been so invested talking to Eli.
"How was work?" I ask to easy the tension.
"We'll talk about it later" he huffed.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He seemed frustrated, more than usual, this started to worry me.
"Dad?" I added.
"I got fired" he admitted.
"What?!"
"It wasn't my fault, the bitch was giving me a hard time. I just said to stop her bitchn' "
"Dad!"
"I never called her a bitch!"
I sunk into my seat, realizing things were gonna be tight from now on.
"Don't worry, I'll figure something out kid" he reassured me.
I spent majority of the car ride looking through my phone for job opportunities for my dad. Every time I proposed a new idea, he turned it down. My dad was very stubborn, I was starting to see the resemblance.
When we arrive at the pet store, I realized I was still in my dance attire. There was no way I could pass this off as a regular outfit. My dad took notice to my panicked expression. He reached into the back of the car to pull out an old Cobra Kai sweatshirt.
"Here put this on" he said as he tossed the sweatshirt to me.
"Dad I can't wear this, and it smells"
"It's either that, or you go in there dressed like a hooker"
"This is nothing compared to what hookers wear"
"Close enough" he laughed.
I rolled my eyes and threw on the sweatshirt. It smelled like a mixture of cologne and sweat.
"God dad, when was the last time you washed this?"
"I don't know, 1998?"
"Jesus Christ!" I said as I started to gag.
I pulled myself and did my best to make myself look presentable.
I entered the store and kept my head down as long as I could. With my luck, maybe I could sneak in without anyone noticing I was late. Sadly that wasn't the case. I was greeted by Luke, my manager, who had a very unhappy grin plastered on his face.
"I know what you're gonna say, but I have a really good explanation-"
"No! No more excuses. This is your 3rd time being late this month"
"I know, I'm sorry"
"Sorry won't cut it anymore. You're not even in uniform!"
I could feel my entire body starting to shake in fear for the next words that would soon come out of his mouth.
"I have to let you go, Blair"
"No please Luke, you know how much I need this job" I begged.
"I'm sorry, but do you have any idea how many people would kill for this job? And those people are actually devoted to showing up on time" he explained.
I could feel the tears starting to build up.
"Fuck you" I said as I ran out of the store, a crying mess. Even if I still had my job at the dance studio, that still wouldn't be enough to provide for my dad and I.
My dads car was still parked outside thankfully. I hopped into the car, grabbing my dads attention.
"I'm guessing it didn't go too well?" My dad asked. His lack of emotional support upset me even more.
"Of course it didn't go fucking well!"
"I'm sorry kiddo" I said as he placed his hand on my shoulder.
"Just drive"
He did as I asked and we drove home in silence.
I spent the rest of the day locked away in my room, crying. My dad stayed in the living room watching tv and drinking. It was almost 7:30pm and I was starving, but I didn't feel like getting up. I continued to mope until I heard a knock at my door.
"Hey Blair, we don't have much to eat, wanna go grab some food?" He offered.
I decided to take him up on his offer.
We drove to our usual spot. It was a small market attached to a mall strip. When we headed inside we both looked around at our options. My dad had decided on a slice of pizza while I chose a caesar salad. We head towards the checkout and our price came to $13.85, which was more than what we had brought.
"What the fuck?! Last time I was here, this piece of shit was $6.25, why did the price go up?" My dad said as he referred to his slice of pizza.
"Hey, it's not my fault business has been slow lately. What other choice did I have?" The guy behind the counter said.
"Dad it's fine, get your pizza, I'll put this back" I said as I headed back towards where I got the salad. To my surprise I ran into Miguel again.
"Oh hey" I said.
"Hey Blair"
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"Just picking up a few this for dinner tonight. What are you doing here?" He asked as I placed the salad down back to its original spot.
"We were here to pick up dinner, but we didn't bring enough money" I admitted.
"Damn I'm sorry, I can help pay if you want. My mom lended me more than enough money"
"Oh no, I couldn't ask you to do that"
"Please just let me help" he begged.
Before I could answer, my dad came up from behind me.
"Come on Blair, their food is shit anyway" he said as we started to walk out of the store.
"Thanks anyway"I said to Miguel.
-
We decided to sit on the curb for a bit to take in the fresh air. It had been a really shitty day. I couldn't believe how irresponsible I was for forgetting about my job. We both sat there in silence contemplating our next step.
"I'm really sorry, Blair" my dad said as he tried to hold back his emotions.
"Dad it's not your fault-"
"Yes it is. I promised you I would never let you down and I did. After what happen with Robby, I couldn't screw things up with you, and now I have."
I could tell he had been drinking a lot, otherwise why else would he be being so open about his feelings.
"You haven't screwed anything up-"
Before I could continue, my attention was force over towards a fight the was going on by one of the stores. It looked like Miguel was being beaten up by some of the guys from my school, he wasn't winning. I couldn't stand the sight of him getting hurt, I decided to help.
"Where do you think you're going?" My dad asked.
I didn't answer because I was too invested on helping Miguel.
"Well if it isn't Miss. Lawrence" Kyler said as he took a break from beating up Miguel.
"Let him go" I ordered
"Oh of course" he sarcastically said as he gave Miguel another punch to the gut as the other two goons held him. Without hesitating, I punched Kyler straight in the face.
"You're gonna regret that Lawrence!" He yelled as he tried to come at me. I quickly blocked him and struck him again. I wasn't prepared for the other two to take me on. I was too concerned on helping Miguel, I hadn't even though about the fact that it would end up being 3 to 1. Miguel didn't really count because he probably didn't know how to fight. I managed to keep the fight going until, Kyler managed to pin me to the ground.
"I am gonna make you life a living hell Lawrence" he threatened.
I didn't see a way out of this until my dad kicked Kyler to the ground.
"Get off of my daughter"
I quickly brushed myself off and got up.
"I was fine, I didn't need your help"
"Yeah, you being pinned to the floor really looked like you were handling things well" my dad laughed. "Your technique has gotten sloppy, you know that right?"
"In my defense, I haven't done karate in 7 years"
The fight continued and luckily, my dad and I were able to beat the living shit out of Kyler and his friends. They would be feeling those bruises for weeks. I was quick to help Miguel as my dad gathered his groceries.
"Are you ok?" I asked.
"I think so, thank you" he said as he smiled towards us.
"Didn't your parent ever teach you how to fight?" My dad asked.
"No, could you?"
"Sure-"
"Hell no" my dad interrupted.
"What why?" I asked.
"Blair, we don't have the time to teach this kid karate. We need to find new jobs"
He was right. We would be able to do much with the state we're in right now.
"What if you guys opened up your own dojo?"
It was a great idea, why didn't I think of it? Before I could agree to his proposition, my dad interrupted.
"No, not happening"
"What? Why?" I asked.
"I don't do karate anymore"
"Please sir, I know tones of kids from our school who would love and need to learn karate" Miguel added.
"Where the hell am I supposed to find a dojo?"
"There a vacancy just behind you" Miguel said as he pointed to the open installment.
The price for it wasn't half bad, we might just be able to afford it.
"I'll think about it, but I'm not making any promises" he told us.
Miguel and I shared a look of excitement. Things were starting to look up in our favor.
We continued to chat until we decided to head home. Before I could get in the car, Miguel ran up to me.
"Before you go, I wanted to give you this" he smiled as he handed me the salad I was going to get.
"Miguel I-"
"I know you told me not to, but I couldn't help it"
I wrapped my arms around him and his arms snaked around my waist, sending shivers down my back.
"Thank you"