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chapter; twelve lando, ━━━━━
"HOW WAS THE DRIVE UP HERE?" Lando's father inquired, clenching through his bared teeth as he alleviated the weight of his body off of his cane and manifested into the seat that Lando had pulled out for him to sit in. He murmured his reassurances to his son, waving him off good naturedly as he perched in the seat with an exasperated sigh.
"It was okay," Lando responded, watching as his mother placed the plate of food in front of him. Lando's father gives her a small, appreciative smile though from the way it falls immediately when she turns away, Lando knew that his father's appetite had yet to make its full return.
His father nodded, giving him a pointed look. "You know, you didn't have to come up here. You shouldn't be missing school just because of a slip and fall—" He begins to condemn, ready to divulge in another spiel but Lando was haste to interject, offering his own reprimands of his father's frankly, absurd insouciance about his health and recovery.
"You fell." Lando surmised, "I'm not missing school over nothing. My professors understand this is a family emergency."
He makes an indiscernible noise in the back of his throat, still shaking his head in disbelief. "I'm just saying. Your football season is coming up, the QB can't afford to miss practice regardless if it's a family emergency or not. You've already missed a month at the beginning, if you keep this up your coach will probably kick you off of the team! I've told you about allowing yourself to get distracted. You have to keep focused." Lando felt his jaw clench incensedly at his father's chastising.
He knows he means well; regardless of the wording and approach of it all, but Lando still can't help but feel like he's disappointing his father. He hadn't yet informed his parents about him quitting the team a month ago, dreading the conversation that was inevitable to follow it. He already knows what his father's reaction will be, knows that he's going to tell Lando that he's making a mistake and that he was acting impulsively on his emotions.
And while some of that may harbor some truth, the decision to quit was primarily because he'd lost that interest and penchant that he once felt for it. His mental health was affecting his ability to play and he didn't want his personal issues to hinder the team's progress in any way. They were the ones who made the effort to show up to every practice with their minds and attention's focused, while his wandered everywhere all at once. It drained him going to practice—on the days that he actually decided to go—and made him feel like a nuance.
Football had lost its importance in his life and he doesn't know if his father could ever understand that.
Fortunately for him, his mother, who'd acknowledged the sudden shift in the room, walked over to Lando with a small smile as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Would you two mind going to the store for me? I need a few more things to get us through the weekend but I haven't had the time stop by there." She saunters off before Lando even has a chance to respond, walking off towards the counter where she picks up a piece of paper with a grocery list already scrawled with items. She proffers the paper and her card towards him, giving him an expectant look that he recognizes all too well.
