Once

Two

"It's a fine day!"

Elle looked up from the kitchen table with a scowl. Her hands were clamped round a cup of black coffee and her brain had barely stirred itself awake yet. That cheery morning greeting was hardly what she needed to improve her mood.

"Yup," was all she managed to say.

"Oh, come on, Elly-belly," he said with a grin. He began to clatter around at the coffee machine, and Elle scowled at him again. Aside from his early-morning perkiness and his ability to do any simple task in the noisiest way possible, both of which were things that were always guaranteed to annoy her, they were both well aware of her feelings on the nickname Elly-belly. It had been a source of practically weekly arguments for about the last five years.

He picked up his cup of coffee and took the most insanely loud slurp from it.

"So what is it today?" he asked.

Elle did her best not to roll her eyes. This was a question she had been hounded with every morning for the past two weeks, ever since her final GCSE exams had started. It wasn't exactly great for calming any pre-exam nerves, having an uber-chirpy middle-aged bank manager grilling her for details before she'd even drunk her first cup of coffee.

At least today marked the start of the last week of exams - and actually, now she thought of it, this was officially her last Friday in Year 11. The last exams were scheduled for the following Thursday. One week from today and none of them would ever have to set foot in Farway High again. The thought of it was enough to make even her dad's cheery morning conversations bearable.

"History," she said.

"Ah. History." He raised his eyebrows at her. She wondered if he meant it to be somehow meaningful. "Good one. History. Celts and Romans. All that."

She took a deep patient breath through her nostrils.

"Not quite, dad. My paper is on Germany Between the Wars."

His brows sprang up and he puffed out his cheeks.

"Wowzers. Heavy stuff, Elly-belly."

She took a long sip of her coffee, and physically focused on not grinding her teeth together.

The problem was, she knew he meant well. That was half the issue with her dad. He had all the best intentions, but at the end of the day he couldn't help being hopelessly tragic.

She looked about, as if she'd just noticed something was missing, and said, "Has Kaye gone already?"

"About twenty minutes ago. She's got an early meeting so she took the twins to breakfast club."

"I thought it was quiet."

"You mean without the twins? Or without Kaye?"

He grinned at her. She forced a thin smile back.

"Both, I guess."

"Yeah. Used to be a lot quieter, didn't it? When it was just you and me?"

Elle stared down into the circle of coffee in her cup, her own reflection glimmering back at her as if she were staring into a round dark mirror. For just a second she felt insanely tense. Her dad didn't really talk about this sort of stuff often. They were both different people now, living completely different lives.

And the thing is, she wished he would talk about it even less than he did.

"I guess it did," she said.

She forced her eyes back up to him. He was looking at her with a pensive thin-lipped gaze.

"You're alright, aren't you, Elle?" His pensive look became a sort of worried frown. "I mean, you'd tell me if something was wrong?"

She gave a tiny sigh.

"Yes, dad. I'm fine."

"But - you would tell me -"

"Jesus, dad! I said I was fine. I'm just - I guess I'm just stressed about exams. That's all."

"OK." After a tiny pause he added, "You know, you can always talk to me, don't you?"

She couldn't take it anymore. She rose to her feet, draining her coffee in one mouthful.

"I have to go."

"Well, hang about a minute. I'll give you a lift if you like."

"No, thanks. I'm meeting the guys."

"I can pick them up, too."

"It's fine, dad. Just leave it."

She was already out in the hall, pulling on her trainers.

"OK. Best of luck today, Elly-belly!"

She grabbed her bag from the coat rack.

"Thanks, dad."

"Love you!"

This time she couldn't help herself. Her eyes rolled so hard she could practically hear it.

"Cheers, dad." She slung her bag over her shoulder and opened the front door. A guilty spasm ran through her mind and she groaned, calling out begrudgingly, "Love you too."

She couldn't see him, but she could easily imagine the stupid satisfied grin on his face. She went out, closing the door just a bit too hard behind her.