Petal [h.s.]

TWENTY-FIVE - DIZZY ON THE COMEDOWN

I had too much tequila.

The menace inside of me was begging to come out and play through all of dinner. I could feel my father watching me for the entire last half hour , monitoring my alcohol intake as if he was my fucking warden. I met his eyes as I took a long sip of my after-dinner drink, downing the entire thing and placing the glass onto the table loudly.

"Do you really think you should be drinking like that?" My father asked me, his voice low and dark. He couldn't let Jessica's parents hear, of course. They couldn't know about anything that was wrong with me.

"Why not? I'm not driving, thanks to you." I glared at him, because although I told Jessie that I didn't require a ride tonight, my father insisted and sent her regardless.

I was already in a sour mood from the guilt I felt over my talk with Finn and then my interaction with Arabella on the balcony. Jessie arriving at my apartment to drive me to my father's house as if I'm some stupid child only made things worse. I barely said a word to her until we were outside of my father's house and then I had to flip my charm switch on.

Her parents were insufferable. Her father, Richard, was nearly worse than my own-lacking in empathy, arrogant and the type of man who put his secretaries on edge with his inappropriate behavior. He was a disgrace to my father's company and I ached to take over if only that meant I could get rid of him.

Her mother, Jocelyn, was heavily medicated. She abused opioids and we all knew about it, but nobody did anything to help or stop her. Jessie never would. She enjoyed stealing painkillers from her mother far too much to ever help her stop. Looking into her eyes was like looking into a void. She just sat in silence and drank her martini, smiling dumbly as she looked at nobody in particular.

Jessie preferred her mum that way-silent and stupid. She enjoyed being the one receiving all the attention from our fathers. With her mother out of commission and me not giving a fuck, Jessica got exactly what she wanted. For once, I was grateful for her desperate need for attention. I didn't want to entertain these people. I didn't want to be here at all.

"Harry," Richard cleared his throat, folding his hands under his chin as everyone turned their attention to me, "Jessica tells us that your store isn't doing very well."

Of course she did.

"It's doing just fine. I had a rough first year, but things are much better now." I replied, wishing that I had the energy to sound much more charming than I did.

I used to be much better at charming Jessica's parents before my mum died. Without her around to give me knowing smiles and to bounce jokes off of, being around these people just felt like another job that I didn't want to do.

"Maybe I can look into your finances. See what can be done to improve profits..." Richard suggested, tilting his head to look at my own father, "What do you think, Ed?"