the only exception - kenny wu

14. chicken tenders

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the man turned around, and got out of his seat to give her a hug. "belle!"

arabella remembered his old hugs, how she used to be small enough for him to pick her up and twirl her. but this hug was still amazing and warm. as they pulled out of the hug, her dad noticed fulton, and arabella introduced them to each other. "dad, this is fulton. he came with me to make sure nothing bad happened in the uber."

her dad shook his hand and said hi and introduced himself as joe, then thanked him for protecting her. "you're a little young to be dating, aren't you?"

arabella shook her head and laughed as they all sat down. "he's my friend, dad."

fulton smiled, not knowing what to say. the waitress came and asked what they wanted to drink. arabella's dad looked at her, and she ordered a strawberry lemonade.

then her dad looked at fulton, but he shook his head. "i'm fine, i just came to make sure she came here alright."

her dad insisted on buying him something, and fulton agreed to a dr. pepper. after the waitress left, it wasn't long before her dad brought the topic that she was wondering about all this time.

"listen, belle, i know i've been gone, but you should know that it wasn't up to me." fulton and arabella shared a look, but he continued. "i knew that your mom and i wouldn't work out, and i couldn't stand raising you with a broken family."

"so you thought that not being in my life was better than being in it?"

joe, her dad, sighed. "i know it was dumb, but you gotta believe me. i wanted you to be okay, and your mom seemed to know how to take care of you. i didn't want to ruin things. plus, your mom said that i was a bad parent, and i would probably raise you wrong. i wanted you to be successful in life."

arabella frowned. "you were always the better parent, you saw how she could get."

joe nodded. "it didn't help that she got a restraining order on me. that's why i couldn't visit you, i wasn't allowed near her."

a scoff came out of arabella's mouth. "she was never around me, so there wouldn't have been a problem."

the waitress came back with the drinks and handed them out, then asked if they were ready to order yet. arabella forgot they were in a restaurant, so she hadn't even looked at the menu. her dad asked for another minute, and the waitress left. 

"what looks good?" he asks, giving them the menus.

fulton and arabella looked at each other and smiled. they both said, "chicken tenders."

joe laughed at them, then looked down at the menu to see what he wanted. "still liking chicken tenders, belle?"

she nodded, smiling. that's when her dad turned to fulton. "everywhere we went, no matter how fancy, she would always order chicken tenders."

"blame charlie's mom for that. she's the one that gave me my first plate of tenders from her restaurant."

joe smiled at the memory, then asked, "are you still friends with charlie?"

arabella paused. she was friends with him, but she was definitely still mad at him. "it's difficult right now."

"you guys both like each other?"

arabella shook her head, her eyes widening. "no! i'm just mad at him right now, but yeah, we're still friends."

her dad looked a bit worried, but arabella explained for him. "he told one of our teammates about you and mom, and it's not something i just share to anyone."