"Are there any boys I should be scaring away?"
I've been mixing my cereal around in my bowl for Irene knows how long. It's grown soggy, and the mix is discolored. Laurance let the cereal grow stale but leaving the box open sometime over the week, and I only eat breakfast on the weekend, so I didn't catch it. He'll never be able to live on his own.
The spoon drops into the bowl, creating a "plunk" sound and letting some milk squirt out onto the counter top. "Maybe Laurance from the cereal boxes. He made it go stale again."
"After twelve years of raising him, he still doesn't understand the concept of closing the cereal when he's done with it. Even I'm tired of waking up to a stale bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch." He sits down across from me on the table, offering to make me a bagel to which I decline. Laurance probably made those go stale too. The first bite of this bowl made my appetite fade. Dad sips from his morning coffee, humming from enjoyment. "But no boys? You're almost fifteen now. There's gotta be one at least."
I glance up at him with a small head shake. A quick chuckle runs past my lips into the open air. "Sorry daddy, boys still have cooties."
My words seem to please him, as if his job as a father is paying off. Dad comments something along the words "as they should" and how he wished Cadenza felt the same way about boys the same way I did. Jokes on him, she does.
"I, um, actually wanted to go to the park today. Is that alright with you?"
"I don't see why not," he mumbles, coffee cup against his bottom lip. He takes a long sip, staring into the liquid afterwards. "Meeting up with Kandi?"
"Something like that."
There's an automatic assumption I'm meeting up with Vylad. If it's not Kandi, it's Vylad. If it's not Vylad, it's Kandi. And if it's not one, then it's both. I guess my father thinks I don't have much of a social life outside of them because he assumes it's always one or the other.
I've had a good relationship with him. He labels me as the "easy" child because I don't make his credit card hurt, nor do I have some form of "playboy" or "womanizer" label laying on my back. I do my work. I volunteer. I don't smoke. I don't do drugs. I don't have sex. I don't go out to crazy teenage parties.
But I do hide boys in my room and usher them in through my window.
Because of this, he doesn't question what my response means. Instead, he just lifts an eyebrow and goes back to the newspaper in his hand. Seems like an everyday tv dad to me.
I stand up from my seat, grabbing onto the bowl. Dad stops me by gently grabbing my arm, having me lean down so he can kiss my cheek. "Need any money?"
"I don't think so. If I end up needing it, I'll just pay 'em back. Though, I still doubt I'll spend money at the park."
He nods and lets me walk in the direction of the kitchen. The cereal disappears, and the bowl is washed. Laurance walks lazily down the stairs and rubs his eyes when he hits the bottom. We lock eyes.
"Some girl got Garroth's attention today," he groans. "Guess it's a Dante day today."
"I'm sorry."
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
"Is little Zvahl going to the party tonight?"
I'm freezing my ass off, and he's asking me about some party. "Does little Zvahl ever actually go to parties?"
He looks at me like I've asked him an incredibly hard question that he's never heard before. So much so, he pauses to look at me. "She could. Kandi's going."
"And Vylad?"
"Kandi's going."
I groan, kicking at the rocks in front of me. How are these not frozen to the ground? Covered in snow and ice?
"If I agree to go, will you take me somewhere warm now?"
He nods his head.
He ends up taking me to a café nearby. We don't need an excuse to be around each other. I'm tired of having to make up excuses.
"Gar, don't you think we can tell Laurance?"
Garroth cups his hand around his hot chocolate, his smile dropping. I know what he'll say. "We've discussed this before" and "Laurance wouldn't take too kindly to it." Never once is it "you know what? That's a great idea."
"What about Vylad and Kandi?"
This question is responded with silence. This a new question, but it doesn't seem like a question he likes either.
"I'd rather tell Laurance than my sister. Laurance will know because of her."
"Is it really so bad if they know?"
"You know the answer to that."
