I Found You, Something Told Me To Stay - (Jason Berry/Zacky Vengeance)

Chapter Twenty-Six.

Hellooooooooooooo! I didn't expect to get an update out today, but...here it is. Sorry if it's not great...please vote and comment!

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Silently, I sat as I watched my dad pace the floor.

He held his hands behind his back, a thunderous expression on his face as he kept repeating the same things over and over. He’d not yet said anything directly to me, and I was beginning to wonder if he would actually do so.

“Well, come on then!” He suddenly blurted out, angrily turning to me. “What have you got to say for yourself?”

I didn’t wince the slightest bit at his raised voice or become intimidated under his harsh gaze. I think that annoyed him a little. Already, he could see that I wasn’t one to back down without a fight.

“Not really.” I shrugged.

“Not really?” He repeated my words incredulously, throwing his hands in the air. “So, what, it’s perfectly alright that I just had to pick you up from the police station?”

“They wouldn’t let me go by myself, otherwise I would’ve—‘’

“Oh, come on! You know that’s not what I meant!” He cut in.

I rolled my eyes in response, at which he grew even more annoyed. A sigh escaped his lips as he wandered out of the room and into the kitchen, coming back a moment later with a glass of water in his hand.

“Drink that.” He shoved it towards me, then sitting down.

That was the only rule I’d really obeyed by this evening, simply because I was thirsty. All the talking from my drunken ramblings and the conversation with the guy in the police station had left my throat pretty sore. Jason watched as I gulped it down and then placed the cup on the coffee table.

“Right.” He leant forward in his chair and spoke. “Now talk.”

I merely shrugged. “I went out.”

“With Charlotte and Linds.” He stated, at which I nodded. “So why were you alone when you got caught? Where had they gone? Do you realise what could’ve happened to you in that park while you were all on your own?”

I couldn’t suppress another eye roll as he continued to worry. Sure, he was my dad, so he technically had the right to worry, but I was right here in front of him. Nothing had happened to me.

“Don’t go blaming Charlotte and Linds.” I told him in a stern voice. For a moment, it felt like I was the parent. “None of this is their fault. I walked away from them way before I got caught. I just wanted time to myself and they appreciated that.”

Of course, I was lying, but I hadn’t gone to the extent of being the only one to get caught, to then now get them in trouble.

“And if I call Matt and Brian right now, will the girls have told their dads the same story?” Jason inquired.

I hesitated, obviously unsure, but I had to go along with it. “Of course they would.”

“And you’re not lying?”

My expression darkened. “You’re one to talk. You’d know all about lying, after all.”

It was then that my dad began to catch on to the real reason that I’d gone out and gotten drunk in the first place. Realisation crossed his face and he stood up with a scowl, shaking his head.

“So that’s what this is all about.” He said. “Alright, let’s talk about it.”

I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to talk about it at this point. It had been three days and he’d had plenty of chances to confront me about the situation. Surely the fact that he hadn’t already done so was completely his problem, and not mine.

So while he expected me to suddenly start yelling at him, I stayed quiet, waiting for him to open the conversation himself. It was his mess, and I wanted to see him get himself out of it.

“Well?” He cocked an eyebrow.

I shrugged. “You tell me, dad. You’re the one that kept it from me, after all.”

“And I’ve already told you why, Midge!” At this point, he began pacing again. “I didn’t want to put you off. Look at it from my perspective—it had been nearly seventeen years since I’d seen you, and suddenly, you turned up out of the blue. I was happier than anything that you’d found me and I didn’t want anything ruining it. Especially not my parents.”

“And I get that, but if you’d sat down and explained the entire situation to me beforehand, we wouldn’t be in this mess now, which is surely worse!” I raised my voice.

“Maybe so, but I had one thing on my mind at the time and that was my determination to get you back! Perhaps I didn’t handle it in the best way, but I’d lost you so easily before for such a stupid reason and I wasn’t about to let that happen again!”

As I began to slightly understand where my dad was coming from, I stared down at my hands, unsure of what to say.

“You’re my pride and joy, Midge.” He added, perching himself on the edge of the sofa and looking at me. “And you’re by the far the biggest achievement of my entire life. I’d already missed so much and I didn’t even want to risk anything that would make me miss even more.” He paused. “I was lucky enough to see you walk for the first time, but your mom took you away before I could hear you talk. Before I could hear you call me daddy for the first time. That hurt me a lot.”

Floods of guilt began to wash over me as I thought over what my mum had done—what she’d put my dad through. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how I would feel in that situation.

I turned to face my dad and reached forward, abruptly bringing him into a hug. He hugged back instantly, rubbing my back soothingly as I tried my hardest not to cry.

“Sorry.” I quietly murmured over his shoulder. “I didn’t think of it that way.”

“Hey,” He whispered, pulling back and giving me a reassuring smile, “It’s alright. It’s out in the open now and done with. Except...I am going to have to see what they wanted.”

I gave a nod. “That’s understandable...I guess. Are we done now?”

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “We’re done. Go on, get to bed.”

He ruffled my hair as I passed him, feeling somewhat better already. I’d honestly expected that conversation to be a long-lasting slanging match, but it had only taken an explanation from my dad and an apology from me, and we were good. That was one thing I loved about being here. Although I’d spent that last three days kind of sulking, I realised that it was totally on my part. My dad was a very easy person to settle things with—another way he differed from my mum. She’d always prolonged the argument, no matter what.

My bed was looking very appealing to me. I rushed to get ready for sleep, doing my usual night time routine of removing my makeup and washing my face and brushing my teeth. It seemed like forever before I was finally in my pyjamas and crawling under the duvet.

And I was just drifting off as my phone began to ring. A groan escaped my lips as I attempted to reach for it, not even opening my eyes. It was Charlotte.

“Midge?” She breathed out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God. What happened? I went home straight after and I felt really bad for not taking any of blame but then I thought you might get mad if I did so I kept quiet and...” She paused her ramblings and then repeated herself, “What happened?”

“My dad had to pick me up from the station...that’s about it, really.” I tiredly mumbled back, surprised that I’d even managed to catch a word she’d said.

“Oh, shit...is he really mad?”

“He was.” I answered. “But not anymore. Look, I’ll call you tomorrow and tell you all about it, okay? I’m like...exhausted.”

“Okay. Night, Midge.”

I managed to murmur a goodnight in return, and then the call cut off. It seemed to take so much effort to put my phone back on the bedside table, but as soon as I did, I buried my head further into the pillow.

And the last thought on my mind as I drifted to sleep, was how intrigued I still was by the guy back at the station.