IT HAD BEEN a few days since the chaotic dinner, and I still had not heard from James. Niko and Vanessa returned back to Penbrooke, but before he left Niko assured me James would call when he was ready and he just needed to blow some steam, but as the days passed I was becoming more doubtful. I didn't have work today so Niko offered to have a sibling lunch date. I was certain he was just trying to help me keep my mind off of James, but I appreciated it nonetheless. I lied to Brenton that Vanessa was dropping Niko off here and we were taking the jeep, but I just wanted some alone time to drive. I picked up burgers from the Stone Creek Café, and I drove to Penbrooke to meet my brother.
I arrived after a few hours and parked in the faculty parking lot; the parking permit I stole from Niko's bookbag finally came in handy. I hopped out of my car with the paper bag of takeout in hand, and I walked around the campus in search of Niko's office. I arrived at the worst time because it seemed like summer lectures had just finished, and students and professors were filing out of the classrooms and into the hallways. I walked up to random doors, glancing at the acrylic door signs in search of my brother's office. I was walking past a crowd of students, and I stopped when I heard a voice belonging to none other than James.
"I'm so glad I found you. I've been so caught up with other stuff lately, but let's have lunch together. I've missed you."
Any lingering anger I had begun to dissolve, and I turned around with a smile on my face. My moment of glee was short-lived when I spotted James a few feet ahead, standing next to Leila. There was a line of students next to me who appeared to be waiting in front of a classroom, so I stepped into the line and tried to conceal myself before bolting in the other direction. After a few more minutes of aggressively stomping around campus, I found a door with Niko's name on it. Not even bothering to knock, I opened the door and stormed inside. A student was seated in front of Niko's desk, talking to him about an assignment but I didn't care.
"Excuse me?" she scoffed when she saw me.
"You're excused. Get out."
She gaped at me and turned to Niko, hoping he would say something, but he simply held his head low in defeat. "You know what, Amara? You're right, you do deserve a ninety on your assignment. See you next week."
She eyed him strangely as she slowly packed up her things and stood. "Um, thanks," she said, looking between us as if she was unsure who was responsible for her grade change.
Once she was out the door, I slammed it shut, throwing the bag of food on her chair. "Don't," I told Niko before he could scold me. I chomped on my inner cheek and inhaled through my nostrils, trying to keep my tears at bay and hold it together. Niko sensed it, and without a word, he stood up and wrapped his arms around me.
"What happened?" he asked softly, stroking my hair.
"He won't answer my calls or reply to my texts, but why would he? He's replaced me with Leila." I swallowed hard as my voice got heavy.
"I'm sure that's not true," he said reassuringly.
"I saw them together, Niko. It's like he's completely forgotten about me." I sat on the edge of his desk while Niko sat back in his desk chair.
He ran a hand through his gelled hair, not caring that he messed it up. "Look, Vanessa asked me not to say anything but Leila's kind of troubled. Her mom died when she was young and she never really got along with Vanessa or Victor. She was in a pretty dark place when she met James and from what I've heard, he helped her a lot."
"And that justifies him icing me out?" I demanded. "If James loves her then he should be dating her."
"Exactly," Niko said. "If he didn't want to be with you then he'd have ended it by now. I know you hate being patient, but you're going to have to. He'll come around eventually, but you need to give him time."
~*~
After my talk with Niko, I decided to head back home. He had offered to drive me but I lied and said Brenton was picking me up. I was mid-drive and had just reached the outskirts of Penbrooke when my car slowed down. It wasn't until I turned my music down did I hear the engine sputtering, but it was too late. The jeep lurched forward and stopped in the middle of the road. Luckily, there were no other cars in sight. Unluckily, there were no other cars in sight. I thought about what to do and who to call. I contemplated calling Brenton or Amber but they were too far, and I couldn't call Niko, or else I'd get an earful for driving without my licence.
Out of people to call, I found myself dialling James' number. As soon as I dialled the number I hung up. As if reading my mind, my phone started ringing and James' name flashed on my screen. "Hey," he said. "I guess we should talk, is now a good time?"
I was about to give him hell for finally deciding I was worth a measly phone call, but I stopped myself from sassing him. "Can we meet? And bring gas."
I gave James my location and waited in my car for about twenty minutes before I saw headlights flashing through the rearview mirror. I got out of the car and so did James, both of us meeting at the gas cap of my car. James was holding a plastic gas can in one hand and had what appeared to be a funnel in the other. He handed me the funnel to hold over the gas cap as he poured the can in through the funnel.
"Did you come here to see me?" he asked, not making eye contact as he poured the gas in. "Hold still."
"I came to have lunch with my brother." I paused. "You know, Leila's sister's fiancé."
He set down the can and looked at me. The sun was slowly setting and I couldn't help but admire the flecks of gold in his blonde hair in this lighting. "I'm sorry about the dinner, I honestly didn't know."
"I don't care about that anymore."
He blinked in surprise. "You don't?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I can't compete with Leila. You guys obviously have too much history, and she's always going to come first."
James sighed. "It's not like that."
"I know you were there when she needed someone, and you're amazing for that, but what about me? What about when I needed someone?"
"I'm here for you, too." He reached out to touch me but I recoiled.
"No, you're not."
He dropped his arm limply by his side. "What do you want me to do then? I care about both of you and I'm not going to pick one over the other just to appease this need you have to be my sole priority."
I felt my eyes burning from his harsh words. "Screw you."
"Why do you keep running away from our problems?" he asked.
It took all of my willpower to not scream at him. "Don't you get it? You're not even trying to see things my way, and if we keep up this back and forth fighting I'm scared of what I'll do."
His eyes hardened and his expression turned stoic. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Stop it, James."
He shook his head. "Say what you're thinking."
I stared hard at the cement road as my eyes got watery. "I'm afraid I'll leave you."
I looked up at him as a single tear trickled down my cheek, but his expression remained unreadable. "I let you go once before and I'd rather die trying than lose you again. But it's great to see you're so willing to throw away everything we have."
"Stop it, please," I begged.
"You keep picking fights with me because you're jealous of Leila but admit it, Dani. You don't trust me." He paused. "When you spend all of your time with a guy who admitted to being in love with you that's somehow understandable, but when I'm with my friend who doesn't have a single damn person in the world who cares about her that's not okay. You're selfish and a hypocrite."
"If I'm so awful why the hell are you still here?" I spat.
"You're right." His voice was eerily calm. Without putting up a fight, James turned around and got in his car, not sparing me a glance as he made a U-turn and left.
It wasn't until his car was out of sight did I let out what I had been holding in. Once I started crying I couldn't stop, the buildup of stress, anger, sadness, and guilt finally erupting. I didn't know how long I had spent outside crying but by the time I took notice of my surroundings, it was dark. I knew I couldn't go home looking like this, nor did I want to. I contemplated calling Amber or Holden but if they saw me like this surely they would tell my brothers. I couldn't call James because he hated me at the moment and I really didn't want to go back to Penbrooke with Niko, so I scrolled through my call log and clicked on the unsaved number. It rang twice before the call was answered.
"Dani? Did we have plans today?"
I dumbly shook my head even though he couldn't see me. "Can I come over?"
~*~
"Do you want more soup?" he asked for the third time.
"I hate soup," I muttered.
"Right, sorry I forgot."
We were seated on the couches in his apartment living room. It was a decently sized apartment, just slightly larger than James'. "Can I stay the night?" I asked him.
I could see the lines on his forehead creasing as he considered my question. "I don't know if that's such a good idea."
"Please, I can't go home like this."
"Fine," he caved in. "You can take my bed."
"What about you?" I asked.
He shot me a half-smile. "I'll survive a night on the couch."
I glanced down at the beige carpet beneath my feet. "I'm sorry."
He cupped my cheek, forcing me to look at him. "You have nothing to apologize for."
I took in a deep breath, trying to keep my tears at bay. "I just feel like a burden."
He chuckled at that. "Dani, you could never be a burden to me. I'm your father."
It felt weird hearing him refer to himself as my father. For as long as I could remember, uttering that word was forbidden under my mom's roof, and it felt surreal that I was here with my dad.
"Now that I've fed you...somewhat, tell me what's wrong?" he continued. "Is it about that boyfriend of yours?"
"I don't know how much longer he's willing to keep that title," I admitted.
"Trust me, not every guy is as stupid as me to mess up something amazing. I'm sure he'll come around, you just have to give him some time."
I had to suppress the smile threatening to appear on my face. Niko had said the same to me a few hours ago. Even after all this time, I could still find resemblances between them. "I'm tired of sneaking around," I said, changing the topic. "I wish you could come back home."
He let out a sigh. "You're emotionally vulnerable right now, you don't mean that."
I put down my cup of untouched soup on the table. "No, I do. I want us to be one big happy family again." Everything felt a whole lot simpler when he was around.
He smiled although it didn't reach his eyes. "Dani, I'm beyond grateful you decided to give me a second chance, but not everyone is that forgiving and I don't blame them. I really hurt your mom and brothers, and I don't think they're ready to forgive me."
"You won't know until you know," I said.
This time his smile reached his eyes. "I used to say that to you kids whenever you were scared to try something new."
"So?" I pressed.
"We'll both know when the timing is right."
~*~
I parked my jeep on the driveway and took in a few breaths before being ready to go inside the house. As I was walking up the porch, I unlocked my phone and clicked on the saved number. After a slight hesitation, I saved the number and changed the contact name to Dad, something I hadn't called him in a long time.
When I came inside the house, dinner was in full swing. I entered the dining room where Mom and Alex were sitting. They waved me over so I sat with them as we waited for everyone else.
"Brent and Adam made dinner together," Alex told me. "Five bucks says someone is going to lose a finger."
The two cooks came into the dining room with a tray of food, placing it on the dinner. "I am absolutely famished," Mom said as she removed the lid, her jaw slacking in shock. "It's burnt."
"Oh, trust me, we know," Brenton said. He looked over at Adam and the two of them burst into laughter. Adam started retelling their kitchen fiasco while Brenton and Alex laughed in between. Mom watched them in amusement, thrilled to see everyone slowly getting along.
Well, everyone except for me.
After seeing my father today, I decided I no longer wanted to keep our reunion a secret. I wanted my family to know and I wanted them to reconnect with him too. He wasn't the same man I met three years ago, I knew he had changed a lot since then. Besides, he and Elizabeth were history, so there was a chance he and Mom could get back together, only if Adam disappeared from the picture. After fighting with James, I was growing sick of secrets and I wanted to be honest with those I loved. I wanted my family to reunite, and I was set on making it happen.
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The big reveal !!! Not really a big reveal since a lot of you already predicted Dani's secret companion was her dad... Worry not, there are still more twists and turns to be braced for!