Ella's POV- November 2019
I admit I was a bit annoyed that my dad felt the need to fly across the country just to make sure I was okay with the excuse that he needed to do an oil change on my car. However, that feeling all went away the second I saw him as I approached my dorm after a discussion section.
"Why are you alone?"
Chill, dad.
"Nice to see you too" I replied.
He frowned and enveloped me in a bear hug. I got a kiss to the forehead and tight squeeze.
"I like the hair"
"Thank you" I answered.
"So it looks like it's just you and me for lunch"
I figured.
"Plans with Karen?" I wondered.
He shrugged.
"He gave me no reason"
I see.
"You're taking your backpack, right?"
"Yes, but I need to go up to get another jacket" I answered.
I still had a class in a couple of hours, and that class was 3 hours long.
"I didn't keep you waiting, right?" I wondered.
He shook his head.
"No, I actually spent more time looking for parking"
Yup, that's how it went.
"Come on" I directed.
Aly and I had cleaned up the room, so it looked presentable.
"Feel free to take a seat on my bed or desk chair," I said.
"I'm okay standing"
As I rummaged through my closet in search of a specific jacket that I wanted to layer over the one I had on, dad looked around the room.
"So what exactly are you and Gavin?"
"We're lovers" I responded as I grabbed my jacket and stepped back to close the closet door.
I looked at him and smiled when I saw he was not amused by my answer.
"I'm kidding," I told him.
He hummed.
"So are you two dating?"
He eyed the polaroid that Aly had taken of Gavin and I before we headed to the Halloween party.
"We're getting to know each other" I replied.
He glanced at me.
"So he's not your boyfriend?"
"He is not" I answered.
"You two talk for hours every single day, I'm sure you two have gotten to know each other really well"
Wait, what?
"Dad that's an invasion of privacy" I complained.
He waved me off and looked at the polaroid taken during dinner last night.
"An invasion of your privacy would be reading the text messages between you two"
Oh, god.
"Which I did not do"
I hummed and gestured towards the door. He slipped on my backpack and followed me out.
"What time is class at?"
"5 PM" I replied.
"And at what time are you out?"
"8:45 PM" I responded.
I looked at him.
"If you want to wait up, we can get dinner?" I suggested.
He smiled.
"You won't bail on me?"
"Never," I told him.
The walk to the parking lot was quiet, it wasn't until we approached my car that dad spoke up.
"Why did you never tell me your brother wasn't showing up to practice?"
"Who told you that?" I wondered.
"Alyssa"
Oh.
"I can see why he had that panic attack now, he was blaming himself and he kind of had a reason"
I looked at my dad.
"Alyssa also told me that on many occasions you walked to and from the ice rink"
Also correct.
"Why did you never tell me this?"
He placed my backpack in the trunk and turned to me.
"Because Theo and I were not getting along, we haven't been in a while" I admitted.
I got into the car before he could ask for an explanation. He saw me struggling with my seatbelt, so he reached over and helped me put it on.
"Thank you," I said as he put on his seatbelt.
He nodded and turned on the car.
"It sounds to me like I need to set my son straight"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You've got a partial scholarship, so we're not paying full tuition for you"
I had an academic scholarship.
"But we are with him"
Right.
"I know he's missed class to hang out with his girlfriend, and if those grades have slipped, your mother and I have decided it's best he get a job"
Oh, shit.
"He wants to act like an adult, then we'll treat him like one"
My phone chimed.
"It's Theo," I told dad as I looked at the screen.
Are you with dad?
I replied,
Yes
"What does he want?"
"To know if I'm with you" I said.
My phone chimed, and I looked at the screen.
I've got a midterm tomorrow, so I'm at office hours
"He went to office hours" I replied.
"For that midterm he has tomorrow?"
"Yup" I answered.
Dad pursed his lips as my phone chimed.
I'm out of my midterm review at 8:45, are you and dad getting dinner?
To which I replied,
Yeah, I'm out of class at the same time
My phone double chimed.
Great!
I'll head to your dorm
"He's joining us for dinner," I told dad.
He nodded and glanced at me.
"I feel bad for assuming he didn't want to spend time with his old pops"
"When are you and mom going to talk to Theo?" I wondered.
"We want to see these upcoming grades"
Oh, fun. During the holidays.
"But we're going to talk to him about his behavior towards you, this weekend"
Fun, Theo was going to think I tattled.
"Alyssa isn't the only person who told us Theo was missing practice, your coach let us in on what was going on"
Our coach randomly showed up to one of our practices, and thank god (at least for Theo) that both of us were there.
"I didn't know he knew" I confessed.
"Your practices are recorded"
Huh, the more you know.
"And only you show up in most of these recordings, Ella"
"I didn't know that" I replied.
He smiled.
"Well now you do, and I'm working on getting some of those recordings to show your brother this weekend"
This weekend was going to be eventful then.