The Peters

Caving

[Evan's POV]

I lie on the couch, Tai next to me with her head on my chest. She was half asleep even thought it was only lunch time. My hand fiddles through her dirty blonde hair and catches on a knot occasionally.

"Dad?" I hear, which I knew would happen if I tried to sit down quietly. Taissa jumped at the sound, looking around before nuzzling her head against me and watching as Tessa comes in, her hair crowding around her shoulders. I nod for her to continue. "Can I have someone over?"

"No," I say sternly. "You're still grounded from going to that party." Her eyes widen making her look upset.

"But da-" She starts.

"No buts you need to-" Taissa gently placed a finger against my mouth so she can speak. She lifts her head from my chest as she speaks to Tessa.

"Who do you want to have over?" She asks; Tessa's eyes drop to the ground anxiously.

"Spencer." Her voice has dropped so it was barely audible. Who was Spencer? It must have been her boyfriend. I feel Taissa breath deeply.

"You can have him over for supper." She nods, Tessa holds back a groan as she blushes. "That's it."

"Thank you," She fiddles with her thumbs, giving me a look of hurt. I ignore it; she was only trying to get me to feel bad and I wasn't over the whole party thing so that wasn't going to happen. Tessa shuffles out of the room before anyone could say anything about her and her boyfriend again.

"You caved." I chuckle as Taissa sits up, yawning lazily.

"Only because I wanna meet this guy." She rubbed her palms on her jeans as if to take the dirt of them.

"Why?" I smirk, my stomach tightening as I struggle keep a straight face. "You aren't planning on stealing this kid from her, are you?" I couldn't help but laugh. She instantly looks pissed off but still sniffles a laugh herself and gently punches me in the chest. She goes to hit me again but I catch her hands, setting her into a laughing fit when poke her side. All the distress on her face was masked for moment as she giggled. But as the laughter and tickling faded; she sighed yet again and laid back down beside me. I pushed a small piece of hair behind her ear, watching her eyes close so she could sleep.

Even after she drifted into her dreams, you could tell she was always worrying by the small creased that always formed on her brow.