I shoveled another piece of pancake into my mouth as I stared at the television and the familiar Disney movie; Zenon:Girl Of The 21st Century. Ah,a classic old Disney movie. I grabbed the glass of milk near my plate and glued my eyes to the screen as the the tune of the familiar theme began. I had just finished drinking the glass of milk when my mother called from the doorway of the living room. Her hair was held up by a georgette giving her a rather young appearance.
"You should get ready," she advised,well more like ordered if you asked me. Sighing lazily,I flipped off the T.V and smirked in her direction as she rushed to the couch. "Hey! I was going to watch Zenon,it's the best Disney movie there is!"
As if,nothing beats Aladdin,Sleeping Beauty or Snow White...
After finally forcing myself into taking a bath(I was really lazy),I was at least one step closer from seeing my dad. I washed my hair,prolonging the process lathering it with shampoo and conditioner twice.I was in no hurry.
I wrapped my towel around me and stepped out of the shower,and after I blow dried my hair,passing a comb through it. I let out a sigh of relief as my hair naturally became straight as a rod,and cascaded down my back,reaching just past my shoulders.
Then I applied some light makeup as usual and went into my closet to see what exactly what I would be wearing. After much deliberation,I decided on a light yellow camisole,along with a black cardigan,a pair of short shorts,black fishnet stockings to match and black barrow boots. I popped a bright yellow bow on the top of my head and skipped out of my room,snatching my iPhone on the counter by the kitchen.
It bleeped in my hands as soon as it hit my hand. I stared down at the screen seeing it was a text from Justin.
Good morning beautiful(: Hope you slept well. I'll be there in a few.
J x
I did a mental 'aww' ,since you know,my mom was there and plopped down beside my mother. She was still looking at Disney.
"Wow,that was quick." she commented,glancing at me. I shrugged.
"Not really mom. I spent an hour up in my room."
She shot me a look of alarm and her eyes went wide.
"Shoot,I was expecting a call from one of my clien-"
The sharp ringing of the phone cut her off and she dashed from the chair.
In about five minutes time,Justin was there.I bid my mom adieu and sprinted out the house and into the car. I leant over the compartment box between the driver's and passenger's seat and hugged Justin. I pulled away a few seconds later.
"Woah,you had sugar for breakfast or what?" he asked incredulously.
I nodded eagerly."Yeah,I had pancakes and syrup!"
He chortled and peeled out of the parking spot just as I strapped on the seatbelt. I leant back into the seat and surveyed Justin's appearance. He was attired in a light cream button up shirt,a pair of black skinny jeans,a pair of silver supras along with a gray beanie on his head.
He looked super cute.
I rolled down the window and stared out the window for the remaining of the ride. Since my mom had given me the address,I relayed the directions to Justin through text message the night before.
When I hopped out and into the red themed bakery store,air condition smacked me on the face as we entered. Justin grabbed my hand and I squeezed his hand,really glad for the moral support.
I chanced a glance at Justin not wanting to acquire more attention than needed. "You're gonna get noticed." I sang,nudging him.
"It doesn't matter." he replied shrugging.
I rolled my eyes. "You'd be surprised," I warned him averting my attention to the cashier in front of me.Her hair was an ebony black and her eyes,even more raven colored;but probably that or a really dark brown.
"Hello welcome to Montgomery Inn,how may I help you? Please feel free to make a donation to the unfortunately needy people by means of the donation box to the side there," she hooked a thumb over at a box painted in forest green paint.
"Or spare us a tip,"
She smiled and turned to Justin,I'm pretty sure she had just acknowledged his presence.
"Holy crap,you're Justin Bieber," she whispered much to my thanks. Now if she had been the most typical of fan girls,and shriek happily,imitating a clapping seal like all those bimbos in the movies,about an army of screaming fans would be tuned in and would now mob Justin. Since she however was smart and held her surprise,I had to give the girl
some brownie points. She was smart,I would give her that....
Then she surprised me with the next thing that came out her mouth.
She tossed her hair behind her shoulders and shrugged. "Oh well. Who cares..."
My mouth formed a gaping 'O'. She caught onto Justin's appalled face and burst out laughing.
"You should have seen your face. Aww,I just punked the Biebs!" she did a happy dance and then paused mid twirl.
Justin seemed to recapture his smug smile again when she clarified she was a fan.
"Wait,now I get it...You're the Boss' daughter...He did mention you.."
I nodded. "Yeah and this is my boyfriend Justin Bieber."
She flipped her hair in a overly girly fashion,imitating a chipmunk with a vocal cord an octave too high;and that's saying something,or maybe I was exaggerating. "Oh and I happen to have twelve foot span wings jutting out my back," she said humorlessly. She caught onto my serious look;though I was trying my very best to keep a contained face with this girl,she was way too funny,and that's when all the color drained from her face.
She didn't get a word in when I heard a masculine familiar voice call my name.
My head whipped to the side where the man I had not seen in years,walked up to me. Jet black hair,piercing gray eyes....It was like something inside me cracked. The wall I had built warding off my very own dear father,clambered to nothing but cement.
All prior feelings swayed away and I surprised myself by pulling him into a hearty hug filled with cries and all the other sappy shit going along with that.
He pulled away from me,pulling away so we were only within arm's length. His eyes watered and my vision blurred before me. No,Lauren,hell no. Stop with the shitty crying.God,you're pathetic.
However,my sub-conscience was pulled out of my head,only to be replaced by profound love towards my father. Sure,he made some really bad decisions in the past but at least he was willing to accept help.
He pulled me into another embrace and I let myself fall into his arms,defenseless and vulnerable.
"Oh Jade,how I've missed you..." he sniffed,melting my heart instantly when he revealed any signs of weakness. He often called my by Jade,he rarely addressed me by my first name. Yeah,a bit odd for a father-daughter relationship but,ah,well.
Justin's words from the previous night resounded through my ears;mainly to just give my dad a chance.And that's exactly what I did.
When my father finally extricated himself from our embrace,his eyes flitted over to Justin,a smile spreading across his face.
"Justin?...As in the one that practically grew up in our house,running around in diapers and Nerf guns?Is that the same Justin or is this some sort of evil clone?"
I snickered at the last part. My dad was always known to come up with those sort of insane conclusions somehow.
I could tell that Justin was embarrassed because my dad spoke loud enough for the girl behind the cashier to hear. His eyes fell downcast,his cheeks going pink.
"Um....yeah?" he said,quietly a smile gracing his lips.
"Don't just stand there,give your old man a hug. I know I haven't been around a lot.."
I stepped aside and watched as they pulled off the whole Bro' hug thing.
"Olivia,you don't mind looking after the place while I'm gone now,do you?" Dad questioned,draping his arm over my shoulder.
The brunette behind the counter executed a mock salute before she allowed a perky grin to smear across her face. "Sure thing Boss!"
- ][ -
We went to some Chinese restaurant a few blocks down for an early lunch. As usual I was a bit peckish so when we were seated (meaning Justin,dad and me) along the stools lining the walls I was relieved.
I ordered a portion of fried buffalo wings and fried rice along with a bottle of Gatorade,Justin ordering the same as me. My dad seemed to be more elaborate with his menu choice,for he ordered a box of lo-mein with an enormous container with shrimp to the side. He demanded the shrimp alone,and nothing but the shrimp in the container.
My dad was a boss.
"What?" he asked,popping a shrimp into his mouth when he caught me staring at him incredulously. I just couldn't stomach eating all what he had and was currently shoveling down.
"You should know by now that I love my Chinese."
he said,once he swallowed.
Then he turned to Justin,who was seated beside me. "So how long have you guys been together?" he summoned,like if he had just said that Ducks go Quack. It was like his question wasn't random,like if he was easily discussing the weather.
I was speechless for a moment. I turned to Justin who just shrugged at me as if he were indirectly saying; 'Take this one,'.
Glowering at him,I turned to my dad not bothering to cover up or pull on a façade. "How'd you guess?"
"Not everyday,a girl and a guy hold hands." he deadpanned.
I nodded as Justin chuckled from beside me.
We drifted off into other topics,none being too serious. We surfaced school,life in general and just kept it light.
"Seriously Justin,break her heart,I kick your ass. Goes hand in hand.......No pressure,"he added as an afterthought as I just sat there. I sent a warning glance to my dad which he didn't pick up on. Sometimes I wondered if he was like,related to Iggy from Maximum Ride or something since they were often both completely oblivious to glares.
"Yes,sir," Justin responded almost immediately;curtly and with respect.
"So since no one has pulled out the rule book yet,I will do the honors." my dad clarified as I tensed up. The rule book was never,ever good.
I silently prayed a major distraction would intervene,granting me relief of this torture I was enduring.
Fate chose to blow up in my face and dissipate into thin air so no distraction of any sort appeared.
"Rule number one,show up at her house for a date at precisely ten minutes before the date is to be started. DO not,under any circumstance compliment her with crude words such as:sexy,smoking or whatever else you teenage hormonal guys say."
I buried my face in my hands,a strangled cry escaping my lips. Sure,my dad had been a little unstable,but in general he was always a dad to me;well,excluding the times when he would be intoxicated. Back when I was at elementary school,having your dad show up at a parent-teacher conference drunk was not comical at all.
Now,switch it around,and picture your dad coming to a parent-teacher conference in high school incredibly intoxicated. It would be rather comical. All of the guys at the back of the class would pat you on the back and laugh their butts off and you'd gain major popularity.
Despite that,my dad was always a father figure. He provided me with everything I could ask for. He just wasn't there for some years in my life but in other words,he wasn't a disaster to the point where I felt like dis-owning him,he was a dad that just wasn't there much....... With age and time of course,came knowledge.
"Rule number two,you are not to show any signs of PDA within my supervision,or I'd taisor your ass from now till next year."
I dared not look at Justin as he was lectured by my dad.
"Absolutely sir,I totally see where you're coming from."
Oh god.
"Rule number three,I'd seriously consider putting a personal alarm on my daughter so it would go off every time you get too close to her."
"Rule number four, I don't care about your past relationships but my daughter stays a virgin until marriage,got it?" His voice was emotionless,so I couldn't tell whether or not it was a joke he was pulling off but something tugged at the back of head telling me that he was intentionally doing this;just to embarrass Justin and me as a source of his own twisted entertainment.
"Rule number five, I'm fully aware of guys around your age find a particular zeal towards wearing their pants under their waist.It's very stupid and all of you look like complete fools,no offense.To make it worse,some of you don't wear proper boxers underneath and it really is a shame."
Justin remained silent.
"Final rule,follow all the above rules and we'd be on the same page."
Oh someone shoot me now.
"Yes sir,"
I looked up at my dad. "Was that really necessary!" I fumed,grabbing onto my Gatorade,taking a few gulps. I slammed it down on the table rather loudly obtaining 'WTH' looks from some people in the restaurant,all of them being over thirty,so they had no idea a celebrity was indeed seating next to me.
"Gosh,that was so humiliating!" I exclaimed.
Then the most unpredictable thing happened.
Justin and my dad both burst out into laughter. When I say laugh,I mean really laugh. The good twenty second laugh.
Finally after an eternity had passed and a new one rolled in,Justin wiped a tear from his eye. I settled for glaring at them both,hands folded,a pout tugging at my lips.
"What's so funny?" I demanded,still a bit mad.
"It was all an act." Justin explained,after downing the rest of his Gatorade.
I was a little perplexed to how that could have happened. It was like,what,an hour or so and they were already ganging up on me? Note the mock outrage.
"Eh?"
"Your dad came up with the entire thing and I pretty much played along to see your reaction. Totally worth it." Justin responded as I rolled my eyes playfully turning to my father,raising an eyebrow.
"Let me guess,you're getting the hook of texting now so now you experiment....on me. Shame on you."I jabbed him in the chest as he chuckled at my childish ways.
"The rules are real though,Justin. Take them into consideration." my dad advised,finishing off his meal.
"Sir,yes sir!" Justin did the whole salute thing.
I did mental face-palm as they both shook hands as if confirming on a deal.
Oh boy.
*_*
We spent the remaining hours talking aimlessly,about no one thing in particular though. We kept on ordering other stuff,so you could say the waiter was getting pretty tired of us.
"My mom's probably worried,better call her." I announced,sliding through the contacts on my phone. As I was about to tap her icon my phone went off and the caller ID read the same said person.
"Hey mom!" I chirped into the phone which was a bit strange for she took a while to answer.
"...............Are you okay? You sound.....happy?"
I laughed, "Oh,sorry. Dad,Justin and me are at a Chinese restaurant off the suburb of town,sorry for not calling earlier."I apologized,poking the ends of my purple napkin.
It took a while for her to reply. "Okay then,well I'd suggest you come home soon though since Elise called earlier and asked if you could go shop for a dress tomorrow with her for her cousin's wedding. I kind of voluntarily said yes for you."
So like my mom.
"Okay,be there soon."
I ended the call after a few brief words to my mom and turned to Dad and Justin who were speaking of something that sounded like some sort of new Sports car on the market.
Absentmindedly I stared out the window at the cerulean blue sky with barely enough clouds to claim clouds even exist. It was fairly hot outside,and cold inside the restaurant since they had seemed to crank the notches for the AC a few degrees up.
"Ready to go,Lauren?" my dad asked as I took a long sip out of my lemonade.
I nodded. "I kinda have plans early tomorrow with Elise so.." I trailed off not feeling the need to go further in depth.
"Okay,off we go." he replied,standing up,pulling out a crisp wad of bills from his wallet and shoving it next to the check the waiter had placed on the table five minutes ago upon our last order.
Once we were outside in the warm air,he pulled me into a hug,thrusting a page (what I presumed to be a note) into my hands. I gazed confusingly at him as he smiled down at me.
"See you next Monday when your job starts." Adding a more caring note to his voice,he added,"Read the note when you get home."
I nodded pocketing it.
I nodded feebly pulling him into another hug. I swear,he possessed the most caring and warmest of hugs.
Once we all shared the last of our goodbyes,I headed back to the parking space where Justin had parked his ride a few hours back. Once he unlocked the car's doors,I hopped in and strapped on my seatbelt,blowing out a sigh of exhaustion.
Justin pouted. "Aww,my little baby is tired?" he cooed kissing my cheek.
"Just drive," I reprimanded.
Just about I was going to shut my eyes to take whatever sleep had in store for me,my phone burst out into the annoying ringtone and I cringed at the sound.
"What?" I bellowed into the phone,my eyes struggling to stay open. Gosh,I was beat.
It was all too weird. From the moment,I pressed the phone to my ear,sobbing broke out from the other end,along with the words, 'Help...me,help me..'
Something was terribly wrong. The sobbing mixed together with the ''help me's '' sounded familiar. Like I'd heard it somewhere before,I just couldn't place my finger on it now.
"Elise?"
Seriously,it was creeping me out. Not every day you'd answer your phone and be greeted by,by...this!
I lowered the phone away from my ear and told Justin to take the shortcut back so that we would end up at Elise's house first.
He shot me a confused look as I just persistently looked at him and finally he sighed and nodded wearing a 'you have some explaining to do' look.
Five minutes later,when we pulled up at Elise's house I banged on the door,a very perplexed Justin behind me. I blocked out all his questions. I needed to make sure Elise was safe since she had sounded so terribly scared out her mind not so long ago.
What surprised me the most when the door swung open was a very normal looking (not scared out her mind,perfectly looking) Elise smiling at both Justin and I as she pulled her hair into a tighter bun on her head.
I stared wide eyed at her and then at my phone screen only now realizing the phone call was disconnected.
"Elise,didn't you just call me?"
Her smile faltered replaced by a frown. "Um....no.You got the message about our shopping spree tomorrow right?" she wondered aloud as I got thrusted into more turmoil and confusion.
What the heck was happening?? If Elise was totally fine and wasn't the one that had called me,then who did?
My phone beeped again,this time because of a text.
Fooled you bitch.
-M
___________________________________________
So it's been a while,sorry for the immense wait(school is being school).First off thanks guys a million for over forty thousand reads,you guys are beast
Hopefully,the next chappie would be a bit more light and fun,in otherwise more Lauren/Justin and Lauren/Elise time!!
So I'm keeping this short,song for the video~ Levels by Avicii (The video is hella hilarious!)