Cold Coffee | Alice Cullen

i.

 Stefanie Lynn Forge drove down the highway, barely paying attention to the dark green of the trees as she sped past them, turning them into nothing more than a blur in the corner of her vision. She hummed along to the ABBA song that was in her vehicle's cassette player, tapping her fingers to the beat along her steering wheel. She had spent the last three days cooped up in her ancient Volkswagen, driving seemingly nonstop to live with her father. Stevie hadn't seen her dad since her eighth grade graduation. She was now starting her junior year in high school. She removed her left hand from the steering wheel to bite her middle finger nervously. Does he know? Did mom tell him? She knew her father was a bit old-fashioned, and the knowledge filled her with apprehension for what would have otherwise been a heart-warming reunion if it weren't for, well, her.

 Stevie drew a breath in as she passed the sign that said "Forks - 5 miles". Her new home - or rather, her childhood home - was only a minute away. Starting to slow her van down, Stevie was on the lookout for her dad's driveway with his beat-up black Toyota in the front yard. No... no... no... this one. Stevie slowly pulled into the driveway of her childhood home, taking it in. Her childhood house wasn't much to look at, a simple two-story home with cedar siding and a black metal roof, a decaying greenhouse visible from the backyard, and her father's canoes in the garage, with his truck in the front yard. She put her car in park, before turning off the ignition. This is it, she told herself, now or never.

She grabbed her suitcase, leaving the rest of her luggage and the few boxes in the back of her van, and walked up to the front red door. Before she could knock the door swung open, startling her, and then all she could see was a wide and comforting smile before a pair of strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her close.

"Stevie," Waylon breathed.

"Hi, dad," she choked out, "I've missed you."

~oOo~

After what was a slightly emotional, yet awkward meeting, Waylon showed Stevie to her room. Bright yellow walls with star-patterned curtains greeted her. Other than there now being a twin sized bed and no toy chest or dollhouse, it was just as she had left it back when she was seven years old, right down to the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the ceiling. There was a white, scuffed-up desk in the corner of one room, with a bookcase next to it. Her closet was in the other corner.

"I wasn't sure how much you would want to redecorate it, or if you had brought bedding from Alaska, but I have your grandma's old patchwork quilt in the linen closet if you want it, as well as some clean sheets," Waylon said nervously.

"No, no that's great dad," Stevie smiled, "I had left in such a hurry that I didn't even think about bedding or posters or the like. This'll be great," she assured him.

~oOo~

After an hour of two of putting away her books, school supplies, and clothes, Stevie walked downstairs to see her dad setting the table, a pizza box visible on the kitchen counter.

"Oooh, what kind of pizza are we having?"

Waylon placed the last plate on the table smiling, "Half cheese and jalapeno for you, half supreme for me."

"Is that cause you're supreme, dad?" Stevie teased.

"You know it," Waylon winked.

They spent the first few moments at the table, eating in silence, before Waylon finally asked the question Stevie knew he had been saving since the moment he got the phone call that she was moving to Forks.

"So, Stevie... why did your mom kick you out? Are you pregnant? You can tell me if you are, we can work it out--"

"No, dad," Stevie half-laughed, "mom kicked me out because she caught me in bed with my best friend."

"Well, that isn't so bad,"

"We were having sex."

"Oh."

Stevie picked at a jalapeno that was on her pizza. "I'll understand if you don't want me to stay here, but if I could maybe just spend one night, in a real bed before I leave again?"

Waylon took a deep breath. "Stevie, I don't understand fully, but I love you and you are welcome to stay here for as long as you want."

Stevie held her tears back, mouthing a thank-you at her dad. He gave a hesitant smile before returning to his pizza.

"I had a friend help me with enrolling you at the high school," he mentioned after a moment,

"Oh, thank you,"

"Not a problem, kiddo."

There was only the sound of them chewing their pizza before Stevie spoke up again.

"So, what have you been up to?"

"Oh, you know," Waylon responded, "this and that. I'm trying to fix up an old boat I got for cheap. Harry, Charlie and I wanna go on a long fishing trip sometime this upcoming summer, so I wanna make sure we'll be fishin' in style."

Stevie snorted, and tried covering it up with a fake cough. "Well, I'm sure that you boys will be 'fishin in style', as you put it."

Waylon chuckled, "Thank you for your support,"

"You have it in full, father dearest,"

~oOo~

After dinner was over, the two of them sat in front of the TV. Waylon watching his crime shows, and Stevie reading Little Women for the... well, she lost count of how many times she had read it. She didn't mind the silence between herself and her father. While yes, it had been many years since they had been reunited, they had always gotten along; and after his comment at the dinner table about how she was welcomed to stay, despite her sexual preference, she felt more at home in that moment than she had since she was seven years old.