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The house is eerily quiet today.
Why is there no bickering and laughter of Em and Tan or barks of Whiskey? Groggily, I step out of my bed from my nap and walk outside, raking my fingers through my hair. I walk down the stairs, to see that the living room is empty, no one's here. Where's everyone? I walk into the kitchen to fetch myself a glass of water to see Martha against the stove, preparing something.
"Martha?" I say, to capture her attention.
I hear her gasp, the spatula falling from her hands onto the counter top. I stifle a chuckle.
She turns around, looking at me with narrowed eyes. "I swear one day you are going to kill me with your sneaking abilities."
"Sorry." I'm not sorry at all.
She rolls her eyes at me. "Do you need something?"
"A glass of water." I tell her, and walk past her to pour myself some water into the glass. "Also, where is everyone? Tanner, Em, dad and Whiskey? The house is so quiet."
"Emilia has gone to meet her friend Kelsey, Tanner said that he'll be back in a few hours and Whiskey is with your dad, in his room." She tells me.
"Oh." I nod, finishing the glass of water in one go.
"I'm gonna go sit with dad and Whiskey till dinner." I inform her.
Before I can leave, she stops me. "While you're at it, ask your father to eat something. He hasn't eaten anything since last night."
"Oh, okay." I nod. That's not like dad at all. I wonder what happened.
I sprint out of the kitchen, straight upstairs. I open my father's room door to see that all the lights are off and Whiskey and dad are sitting on his bed, both still.
"Dad?" I call out softly.
He doesn't respond but Whis perks up at my voice. Slowly, I enter his room, shutting the door behind me. I sit in front of him. My eyes fall on a frame in his hand. It's a picture of mom and dad when they were in high school. Mom's laughing, looking at the camera but dad's smiling at mom. I've always loved this picture so much. There's pure love in the picture.
I shake my dad's shoulder to make him look at me. He lifts his head up and locks his eyes with me. I gasp when I notice his red, puffy eyes. Dad's been crying. On my god.
I take the picture from his hands, putting it in my lap. "Dad, what happened? Please talk to me."
"I miss her, honey. I miss your mom." He whispers, tears falling from his eyes. Seeing my dad like this, breaking apart, vulnerable, makes my heart ache.
A drop of tear falls on the frame making me realize that I'm crying too. I wipe them away and then place the picture carefully on it's designated place, next to dad's pillow.
"I miss her too dad. Everyday. But you cannot break down like this. Martha said that you haven't eaten anything. You cannot do this again, dad. We need you. I need you here." I manage to whisper out, holding his hands in mine.
"I know. I just feel so alone without her. She was supposed to be here, with us." He whispers. "And I'm sorry you had to see me like this." He murmurs, removing his hands from my hold to wipe away his tears.
"It's fine, dad. You're a human being. I'm not going to judge you for showing emotions. And you remember what your therapist said, right? Don't suppress your emotions. Let it out."
"Thank you honey. I'm so proud of you."
I smile, nodding. "Come on now, let's eat something. I'm starving."
"Why don't you go down and I'll meet you after I freshen up?" He says.
"Fine by me."
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"Did you check your phone, sweetie?" Em barges in my room, opening the door with a bang.
I roll my eyes. "No." Putting the book I was currently reading to the side, I sit up straight in my bed.
"We are going to a party. Get ready. You have thirty minutes." She informs me, walking straight to my closet to find an outfit I guess.
I sigh, and climb out of my bed and head straight to the washroom to freshen up. After I'm done with my business, I come out to see a red velvet cami style draped dress. I smile at her choice, putting it on quickly. I put on some make up and my favorite red lipstick, straightening my hair.
Em enters my room a minute later while I'm setting up a handbag to keep a few essentials in it. "Come on, Tanner's waiting down - wow! You look sexy in that dress."
I wink at her. "So do you." She's wearing a silver deep v-neck mini dress.
"Come on, girlfriend, let's get going!" She whoops, dragging me down the stairs where Tanner is waiting with dad. I smile at my dad when I see him.
"So, I really don't think that I need to remind you guys to be careful?" He says.
"We'll be fine dad." I assure him.
"Okay. Call me if you guys need anything and please don't drink too much." He affirms, in a strict voice. "Also, don't call me if you guys need me to bail you out of a police station."
"That won't happen. I'll be with them all the time." Tanner tells him.
"Do you need me to remind you that you were the reason why I had to get your asses out of the cell?" He remarks, raising an eyebrow. "I had to use my profession to make sure that the school didn't press charges against you three."
"Sorry, daddy dearest. But we are very late so we are going, bye." Em chirps and hurriedly runs out of the house taking me and Tanner along with her.
"Stay safe kids." I hear dad's voice from behind. I flash him a reassuring smile and a thumbs up before we get inside the car and Tanner starts it. Within the next few minutes we reach the party venue.
The party's in full swing, musing blasting, red empty cups loitering around, oh and a few people are on the floor too. I guess they had too much to drink. We rush inside, navigating through the crowd to find our friends who are near the bar, as told by Tanner. I spot them immediately, but my eyes mainly focus on my boyfriend, who's giving me a dark, hungry look walking towards me.
"Hi babe." I saunter towards him, swaying my hips a little.
His eyes darken a shade his voice low and husky. "Fuck, you look hot."
My eyes scan his profile. He's wearing a black button down shirt and black ripped jeans and his favorite red sneakers. "So do you.
He pulls me to him, capturing my lips is a soft yet firm kiss. "God, I'm gonna have to make sure that no one steals you away from me tonight."
I chuckle at his serious expression. "Come on, alpha male, I need a drink."
Hand in hand we walk towards everyone, hugging them and greeting everyone.
Bruce is filling the shots, mixing different drinks together first. "Shots! Shots! Shots!" He yells after he's done.
We all jump at his voice downing the shots in one go. Drinks after drinks are prepared and after my sixth or seventh shot I feel the alcohol kicking in. I wrap my fingers around Ridge's wrist pulling him towards the dance floor. "Come on, let's dance."
I hear him chuckle but I don't bother and just start dancing my heart out to the music playing, swaying my body as the beats pick up. Ridge doesn't dance but still he keeps his arms loosely hanging around my waist, making sure that I don't trip and fall down.
Few minutes into dancing, I feel thirsty so I excuse myself from Ridge to get myself some water.
"Wait! I'll come with you." He stops me, holding my hand.
We stumble through the crowd to the kitchen where Ridge waits at the entrance while I get myself a glass of water. When I've finally quenched my thirst, I turn around to come face to face with an ugly site. Shay putting her hands all over my boyfriend who's trying his best to put some space between them and looking painfully uncomfortable. I know for a fact that it's not Faye because she's not going to do something like that. I know her enough to know that Shay and Faye might be twins, but they are poles apart in their behaviors.
I strut towards them, my heels clicking against the floor. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I look at him, giving him a smile, completely ignoring the bitch in front of me. His eyes bore into mine, his arms wrapping around me. His eyes hold uncertainty. Maybe he thinks that I got the wrong indication about their position. But it's nothing like that. I trust him. So I peck him on the lips to reassure him.
I pull my attention towards Shay, who's looking at me a if I've disgusted her. "Hey, Shay. You need something from my boyfriend?"
She gives me a big, fake smile. "No. i just dropped by to say hi to Ridge."
"Oh, so you just throw yourself at guys when you greet them?" I arch an eyebrow. I hear Ridge coughing but I ignore him.
She glares at me, scoffing. "You don't like other girls talking to your boyfriend? Why don't you keep your boyfriend tied to a leash then? Or you can use that short dress that you're wearing as a rope. Because it doesn't look really that great on you. I mean, you need long legs like mine to look good in a dress like that."
I feel Ridge breathing heavily, as if he's trying to control his angle. I push his chest slightly, a gesture to assure him that I got it. I take a menacing step towards, my eyes narrowing into slits. "Look Shay. You can call me ugly all you want but that doesn't change the fact that I am beautiful, pretty, smart and a hundred times better than you in everything. So why don't you use those long legs of yours to crawl the hell away from my sight instead of spreading them for every guys you see." By the time I'm done, I'm fuming with anger but there's satisfaction running down my spine on seeing her humiliated face.
She gives me a deadly glare, muttering something inaudible before storming away in the opposite direction. I turn around to look at Ridge gazing at me with a proud expression. He steps towards me, kissing me roughly, cupping my face in his palms. I reciprocate, wrapping my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. We pull away, and he flashes me a dimpled grin. "That's my girl."
I smile back, resting my head on his shoulder, sighing loudly. "I'm so tired after this fight."
He wraps me in his embrace. "Do you want me to drop you home?"
I shake my head, burying my head deep against his neck. "Let's stay like this for some time."
I feel him tightening his arms around me, swaying us slowly as the song changes to a softer, slower one. We stay like that for a while, wrapped in each other, the surrounding world completely forgotten.
Not that it matters anyway.
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Thank you so much averymarinoxo for your lovely comments and support on my book! You are truly magical!
Next update soon!
Till then,
Stay Safe and Stay Happy! <3