"What's wrong, baby?" Isaac lowers the music down in his car. "You've been nothing but talkative all day today, and now I can barely hear you breathing."
"Nothing," I smile softly at him.
"Hailey, what's wrong? Something's obviously bothering you."
Something was bothering me. His gun. It's been on my mind since he pulled it out in the parking lot. Which by the way he still had tucked in the back of his jeans. Just when I had really started growing comfortable with him, he goes and messes it up with this. It didn't bother me because of the person he was, i just didn't like guns in general. I hated that my dad had guns in the house due to his job line, I just didn't feel safe with them around.
"I will pull over on the side of this freeway until you tell me what's wrong, baby."
There was that word again. Baby. The impact that it had on me amazed me every time. My knee's would buckled going weak every time he said it.
I glance over at him, "did you have it on you the whole time today?"
"What are you talking about?" He arches an eyebrow. Clearly not getting what I'm referring to. "Have what on me?"
"Your piece, Isaac! Your gun! Did you have it with you the whole time?! Was it on you when we were having dinner? When we were in that small book store?" He turns to look at me for no longer than an second and focuses back on the road. "Answer me!"
He inhales a sharp breath tightening his grip on the steering wheel. Oh no, I'm pushing too far again, he's gonna snap. "Yes," he answers surprisingly calm.
"Do you always carry it with you?"
"Yes," he continues to reply shortly.
"Is- is that what you carry in your backpack at school?" I ask him.
Isaac glances over at me, a stern look on his face but doesn't say anything. He doesn't need to, his silence is enough to give me my answer. He turns his attention back onto the road. I really don't want to start a fight with him on our first date, in his car. We're about fifteen minutes away from home, and I do not want to deal with the awkward silence that comes after wards, but I couldn't help it. I needed him to know how I felt about his little toy. I wasn't the type of person who normally expressed her feelings, nor who rarely got mad but here I was, furious that he carried that thing with him.
I scoff loudly and look away from him, keeping my eyes on the road in front of us. "That is not okay, Isaac. I am not okay with you carrying that thing around when you're with me! Why do you even carry it?!" I turn to look at him, "we were just going to dinner for crying out loud! What could possibly go wrong while we're eating!?"
Issac glances at me for a quick second, "are you serious right now?" He scoffs. "Do you know who my family is, Hailey? Do you know who's son I am? Does my last name not ring any bells to you? Anything can happen at any given point, Hail! A lot of people may be afraid of my father, but he does have his share amount of enemies as well. I'm sorry, It's a fücking habit taking it everywhere with me, it's the way I was raise, baby. I was taught to always be cautious, to always be ready, especially when I'm not in my territory."
His territory? As in where we live?
I glance back at him but I don't know what to say, so I say nothing. I really don't know where I was expecting to go with this. I felt so comfortable around Isaac tonight that I forgot who he actually was, where and who he came from. I didn't see him as the mob bosses son tonight, I saw him for who he wanted me to see, I saw him for him. I saw a totally different side to him today, one you wouldn't think existed, someone I attached myself too quickly too. I turned away from him, gazing out the window as Isaac drove off of the freeway. A minute later we pull into an empty parking lot and Isaac kills his engine.
I hear him undo his seatbelt, follow by a long sigh. "Hailey, look at me please." He says softly. I don't. I continue to stare out of the passenger window. "I like you so much, Hail, and I'm trying so hard to make this work. I'm trying to keep you away from all the bullshit. I'm trying to save you from it. I wanna pour my fucking heart out to you, give you the answers to your questions, but I can't, baby. I don't want to taint your innocence, it's the one thing that I love about you, it's what attracts me to you. You're the one pure thing in my life that I don't want to fuck up, but this is who I am.. I can't just not have it on me."
I turn to look at him, slow tears starting to leak out of my eyes. "Cazzo. Don't cry, tesoro. I swear I feel like I make you cry more than I make you smile."
I snort softly as more tears continue to fall, I slowly peer up at him. "What if I'm not ready for this? What if I can't look pass your life style and ways?"
"Then we keep trying," he utters softly. He reaches for my hand intwining our fingers together. "Relationships take time to build, they're a lot of work, they're not easy, especially with someone with my type of back ground. They're all about working together and compromising.. I don't want to lose you, Hailey."
"Isaac-"
"I'll leave it in the car whenever we're out," he blurts out.
"What?"
"I promise that I won't bring it around you if it makes you that uncomfortable, if that's what will make you stay then fine. I'll be strap clean anytime I'm with you, I'll even let you search me before we go out anywhere."
"Ar- are you serious right now?" I gape up at him
"Compromise, right?"
I lean over the middle compartment and immediately throw my arms around Isaac, "thank you." I cry into him.
He moves his arms adjusting them around me, "I don't want to lose you, Hail." I tighten my hold on him and we stay in this position for a couple of seconds. Isaac pry's me off of him and cups my face with his hands, "will you continue to date me, Hailey Katherine?" I giggle softly and nod my head. "Will you be my girlfriend?" He asks.
A few lone tears stream down my face, but they're happy tears this time. I continue to nod my head, "yes." I say softly and lean in to kiss him.
About ten minutes later is a little passed 9pm and we're parked outside of my house, standing near his car. "Beside's me fucking everything up in the end, did you have fun today?" He asks, his arms wrapped around my waist.
I place my arms on his shoulders, my hands playing with the back of his soft hair. "Yeah," I answer him. "Thank you," I place a quick peck on his lips. "Are you going to go to the party your friend mentioned?"
Isaac scrunches up his nose, "I don't plan on it, but knowing my idiota friends they're gonna hound me to stop by."
I smiled up at him. Gosh, I loved it every time Isaac spoke in Italian. Whether it was a single word, or a full blown conversation with his friends that I did not understand. However I knew what idiota meant, but they way he said it.. his accent made it sound so.. sensual.
"What?" His lips tug to the side.
My cheeks instantly start to heat up as I gaze up at him, "I like when you speak in Italian," I confess.
"O sí?" He says pulling me in closer to him. I nod. "Ti accende?"
"Huh?"
Isaac chuckles and shakes his, "niente, sei bello stasera," he continues to speak in his foreign language.
I shake my head as I continue to grin, "I have no idea what you're saying."
He chuckles once more placing a quick kiss on my lips, "I said that you looked beautiful tonight. You always look like a fucking angel."
I smile bashfully at the ground a hug him even tighter, "I wish you didn't have to leave."
Isaac soothes my back with his large hands, "I know baby, me too, but I'll be back tomorrow, if you want."
I look up at him to find him smiling down at me. I wish that he would smile more often, he truly had the most beautiful smile ever. "I wanna go with you..."
"Go where?" He tilts his head to the side a bit.
"The party."
"You want to go to the party?"
I nod and unhook my arms from around him, taking a step back. "I wanna be a normal teenager. I wanna do normal things girls my age are doing. I wanna date," I say grabbing ahold of his hand and he smiles. "I want to go to parties, i want to drink, I wanna rebel a little, get into trouble, I wanna have the whole experience."
Issac snorts placing his arms on the top of my shoulders, pulling me into him. "You're something else, Hailey Katherine, you know that? I don't know one kid that purposely wants to get in trouble.. Your dad is not gonna let you go to a party, especially with me."
I stand on my tippy toes and kiss him on the lips, "don't worry about my dad, I'll come up with something."
Isaac narrows his eyes a bit, a slow smile starting to form on his face. "Only for a bit," he says.
I squeal with excitement and hug the dear life out of him, "okay you stay here, I'll be right back!" I peck him on the lips real quick and turn to make my way into my house. I hear Isaac chuckle behind me as I begin to walk away.
The second I walk into the house I find my dad in the same place I left him this afternoon, sprawled out on the couch, watching tv.
"Have you done nothing tonight, dad?" I ask placing my bag on the kitchen table.
My dad lifts his head from the couch, "oh hey, kiddo. You're home earlier than I would've thought," he groans softly as he gets up from the couch. He grabs the plate and cup that we're sitting on the coffee table and makes his way towards me. "And here I was hoping that Isaac would bring you home late and give me a reason to hate him."
"Daaad."
He kisses me on the cheek as he walks passed me, "I know, I know, he's trying." He says placing his dishes into the sink. "So how'd it go?"
"Good," I smile. "We ate a this cute little Italian restaurant, and oh my god dad, the food was amazing!"
"Italian?" My dad snorts. "You don't say.."
"Oh! And I didn't even tell you the best part dad!! We went to this little book shop!"
My dad leans against the kitchen counter, arms folded along his chest, chuckling to himself. "I'm glad you had a good time, kiddo. I'm surprised he didn't walk you inside, seeing how he's so gentlemen like."
"Ohh, he's still outside.. waiting for me," I smile.
"What do you mean waiting?"
Okay, here goes nothing.
"Don't get mad, dad."
He arches an eyebrow at me, "why would I get mad?" He questions.
My hands start to shake a bit and my anxiety instantly starts to spike. I take a deep breath and just shoot my pitch line. "Madison's friends birthday is today, they're having a sleeping over at her house and invited me to go. Isaac can drop me off on his way home, its in the same direction anyways."
"Why would I get mad about that, Hail?"
"I don't know," I shrug. "This is all new to me, and to you too, dad! The only person I've ever stayed over with was Carmen, I didn't know how you would react. If you would be okay with it."
"Hailey, there's nothing more in this world than what I want for you to be happy, for you to have a normal teenage life like you said, kiddo. I'm happy that you're making friends, baby, I'm proud of you. Why would I keep you from that? Why would I keep you from growing? You were bound to come out of your comfort zone sooner or later, when you felt like it was right. Go with you friends, go have fun, I'm a phone call away if you need me, honey."
I can't help the tears that stream down my face and fly into my dads arms. My dad really was the best dad in the world and then here I was, lying to him. God, I'm such a horrible human being.
"Why are you crying, Hail?"
"Cause you're the best dad anyone could ever ask for, dad." I cry into his chest.
My dad lifts my head up by my chin,"stop crying, sweetheart, you're gonna ruin your make up." I nod my head, wiping some tears away from my face. "Go get your things, your boyfriend is waiting for you outside."
I grin from ear to ear, placing a hand over my heart. "You called him my boyfriend, not a friend.."
My dad chuckles at this, "don't make me regret it, hail. Go."
I go upstairs into my room and quickly grab my black and gray pink gym bag, and stuff some clothes into it. I grab my small black sleeping shorts, and a regular loose Tshirt from my dresser, shoving them into my bag. I wasn't necessarily staying over anywhere I just had to make it look real. I would sneak back into my house later tonight and tell my dad that I didn't feel comfortable so I came home and didn't want to wake him. Yup, more lying, I'm horrible.
I went into the bathroom and opened the side mirror window and grabbed my anxiety pills from the shelves. I stared at them for a second before tossing them into my bag. I'm praying to God that I don't need them tonight like I did the last time I went to a party, but it's better to be safe than sorry. I closed the mirror back up and quickly made my way back down stairs and kissed my father goodbye.
I walked back outside closing the door behind me and make my way over to Isaac, who was now sitting in his car, talking on his phone. He immediately ends his call the second I get into his car. "How'd it go?," he smirks but it quickly disappears. "You're crying, what happened?" I shake my head as I click my seatbelt on. "Hailey, talk to me."
"He literally just told me how proud he was of me because I told him I was staying the night at Madison's, because of how I'm making friends, and i can't help but feel like shit because here he is being the best dad in the world, and I'm over here lying to him."
Isaac laughs softly as he starts his engine, shaking his head. "Why are you laughing?"
"Because you're fucking adorable," he continues to chuckle. "You literally just did your first bad deed by lying to your dad about where you're going, baby, and you're already having some sort of mini break down about it." He continues to chuckle. He reaches for my hand, giving it a quick squeeze. "I fucking adore you right now."
I chuckle along with him, tears still leaking out of my eyes. "Stop laughing, it's not funny!"
Isaac continues on laughing and I can't help but laugh along with him. He starts shaking his head, keeping his eyes on the road. "God," he smiles. "What are we gonna do with you Hailey Katherine Summers.."