Faking It || l.r.h

10. Burn

*Avery's POV*

I headed up to my house after I got out of Luke's car. I heard him drive off as I opened the door and went inside. It was too early for my dad to be off so I went into the kitchen to start dinner.

My dad is super finicky about me keeping up with my responsibilities. I have to make sure everything around here runs smoothly. If something is dirty, it's my fault. If there isn't any dinner, I'm to blame. If he has nothing to wear to work, guess what, that's a bruise for me. I try to be perfect so I don't get hurt but I still manage to mess something up one way or another.

I took out the chicken I had thawing in the fridge before I left this morning and some vegetable to accompany it. I was gonna roast the chicken and vegetables since it was a simple meal that didn't require too much of me being in here so I could start on my homework.

I cleaned and seasoned the chicken, washed and chopped the vegetables, and put it all in the roasting pan and sprinkled it with oil before putting it into the hot oven. I cleaned up my mess and got started on my work. After a while I finished one assignment and went to check the chicken and drizzle some of the drippings onto the top so it didn't dry out before starting on my other work.

It took me no time to finish that and I was soon putting my things away and heading upstairs to put on a load of clothes. I went into my dad's room to collect the whites out of his hamper and put them all into the washing machine, running the water and throwing in a detergent packet. Once that got going, I went back downstairs to put on a pot of rice to go with the chicken and vegetables.

I left the kitchen to make sure the living room was in order. I kind of felt like Cinderella, except she had a happy ending and I don't see any way I'd have one.

I turned on some music so the house wasn't so quiet and eerie and cleaned. The only problem with that was I got so lost in my music that I forgot about dinner until I started smelling it...burning.

Oh shit oh shit oh shit...I mumbled to myself as I ran into the kitchen to turn the oven and stove off.

But there was no point in doing that. Most of the chicken and vegetables were black and the rice was so over cooked that there was no way I could salvage any of it. I threw everything in the trash and leaned against the counter and ran my fingers through my hair. What was I gonna do? Dinner was ruined and to make matters worse, I could hear the garage door going up.

I was panicking 'cause I knew the hell he was gonna bring when he came inside.

"Why the fuck do I smell something burning?" My dad yelled and slammed the door. "Avery?"

I wanted to stay silent but if I did, he took that as me ignoring him and it'd only make things ten times worse.

"Y-yes?" I managed to say.

"Why do I smell something burning?" He repeated his question with the same amount of forcefulness, just not as loud.

"W-well I-I was cleaning a-and I wasn't paying a-attention..." My entire sentence was choppy and I shuttered as I spoke 'cause he finally came into the kitchen and was staring me down.

"Do you think I pay for groceries around here for you to just go and fucking burn everything! I pay the bills, I put a roof over your measly head and you can't manage not to burn a damn meal!"

"I didn't mean t-to..." I kept my focus on the floor. I was too afraid to look him in the eye. "I-I'm sorry-"

"Your little 'apology' isn't gonna put food on the table now is it!" He asked.

I heard him take steps towards me and I began to back up but remembered I was already against the counter and felt helpless. He grabbed my face and forced me to look up at him. The squeezing was painful but I couldn't say anything or he'd just make it worse. I was already crying before, but the tears were really flowing down my face onto his hand, but he ignored them.