My Daddy || Ashton Irwin

Chapter 34 -

"Oh my god!" I scream. I clamp my hands over my eyes, but nothing can take back what I just saw.

My mother mutters something I can't hear, and then she says, "you can look now, sweetie."

I slowly take my hands away. My mother is standing beside a man, now fully dressed. She looks nervous, glancing every so often at the guy next to her.

She clears her throat. "This is Jered."

I look over to Jered, he has brown hair, styled into a buzz cut. His blue eyes are glistening, and his jawline is sharp. If I hadn't just found him with my mother, I would have said he's very attractive.

"Um, hi," he mumbles. "You must be Ella."

"Yeah, I am. Mother, you didn't tell me you have a boyfriend," I accuse her.

"I'm sorry, but I wasn't sure how you'd take it, considering everything with your father." She tells me.

Honestly, I don't mind my mother having a boyfriend. She deserves someone, but I only wish she had told me sooner, rather than me finding out by walking in on them.

"Well, nice to meet you Jered. Mom, I'm fine with you having a boyfriend, I'm just not fine with the fact that you hid it from me," I huff, storming upstairs into my bedroom.

I hear the door open and close, and I assume Jered left.

He seems nice, and I think he could be good for my mother.

I walk to the closet in the hallway, closing my bedroom door behind me. Inside the closet I choose a yellow towel and go into the bathroom.

I strip down and turn the shower on, letting the water heat up. I hop in when it's still slightly cold, but I'm eager to rid myself of the meatloaf and milk.

I scrub in the shampoo and do that twice, washing it out each time. After I get my conditioner in, I use the body wash.

I quickly rinse out the conditioner and clean off all the bubbles on my body, and step out of the shower.

I turn it off and wrap the towel around me. When I open the bathroom door I'm greeted by my mother.

"Sweetie, I'm sorry. You aren't that mad, are you?" She asks quietly.

"I guess I'm just surprised. I have to change," I say, moving around her.

Once I'm in my bedroom safe and sound, the door closed, I drop the towel and change into blue cotton shorts and one of my my father's old t-shirts. It's extra large on me and it goes to mid-thigh, but I think it still smells like him.

I lay down in bed, and before I know it, I've fallen asleep.

-

My eyes open and the covers are drawn over my head. When I throw them off the air is chilly and I get goosebumps up and down my arms.

Outside the window it's pitch black, and I realize I just have fallen asleep. Now I won't be able to get to sleep again.

I check the time on my phone. 2:13. Setting it carefully back down in the nightstand, I crawl out of bed and make my way downstairs,

The whole house is cold, but the kitchen is somewhat warmer than the rest.

I'm starving, and inside the fridge there's nothing to be found. Someone really needs to go grocery shopping.

I check all of the cupboards, and finally in the last one I find a jar of pickles.

It's better than nothing, I guess. I sit down on a stool and tug open the lid. It's a new jar, my mother must have bought it and forgotten it.

The pickles are salty and delicious, and I eat more than five before my mother comes down.

"I hope you know you're making a racket with those cupboards, sweetie," she grumbles, sitting down on a stool across from me.

"Whoops," I answer her. I take another pickle out of the jar, and she extends her hand across the island. I place it into her hand.

I dig around in the jar for another one, and place it into my mouth.

"How about dinner tomorrow night, we can go out?" My mother suggests.

I raise an eyebrow. "There's something you aren't telling me."

She sighs, shaking her head. "Jered will come along, you two can get to know each other more."

"Okay," I answer her, shrugging.

"Great." She smiles, standing up. "Now you get to bed."

"Fine," I grumble. I place the lid back on the jar and put it into the fridge.

Upstairs in bed, I can't seem to get asleep. So I lay there awake, alone with my thoughts,  until the sun rises and it's time for school.

-