Forbidden / Shayne Topp

Forty Four: Bad Surprises

I didn't know who would be here since I know Anthony wouldn't come over while I was here and he had to know Shayne came here to help me pack. My parents couldn't be here yet and Tristan made it sound like he was really committed to going to Danielle's party, so who could he here? I walked out of the bedroom and started walking down the hall and making my way into the living room. My anxiety was definitely starting to kick in because I really didn't know who was at the door and I didn't want it being Anthony.

Please don't be...

I put my hand on the door knob and opened the door. To my surprise, it wasn't Anthony or Tristan or anyone I knew; in fact, it was a man I didn't know. He was a light skin man (a little darker than me) with brown eyes and a dark brown (kind of black) goatee, and his appearance was eye catching since he was wearing a brown suit. He looked at me with a small smile, but all I said in this moment was, "Um, hi."

"Are you Veronica Cruz?" he asked me.

"Yes, and you are?" I asked him.

"I'm Elliot Ryder," he replied as he held his hand out. I took it and shook his hand, but then he asked, "I don't wanna be rude, but may I come in?"

"Um, sure," I responded. We let go of each other hand and he walked in and stood in front of the coffee table while I shut the door. He was looking around the house which confused me, but I crossed my arms and looked at him. "I don't want to sound rude either, but how do you know my name?"

He just looked at me and slightly chuckled. "Just like I know that you were born on March 31st, 1992 and just like I know that your middle name is Elaine," he said. I just looked at him in confusion but he continued on. "And I know that when you were very little, you use to listen to music when you went to bed since it helped you sleep." My heart sank down to my chest and I could feel my eyes widen.

No... there's no...

"I also know that your birth mother was an addict who died overdosing on behind the counter pills when you were just a little baby and left me all alone to raise a child," Elliot finished saying. I never expected in a million years to meet the man who is the reason I'm here today and I didn't want too. He's my real dad, but I wasn't ready to accept that. "I didn't want to give you up, Veronica, but with your mother passing and me having no money, I didn't have much of a choice."

"You always have a choice," I told him.

"Veronica..."

"You don't know what hell I went through!" I yelled out. "Do you know how long I waited for someone to adopt me? Years and years I watched kids get adopted by couples who wanted them, but there I sat playing by myself because kids didn't like me and couples didn't look twice at me since I wasn't perfect enough for them. I had to move to so many different agencies because of it and I was only hoping that the next agency I went too, I would finally get adopted and you know what? I did at the age of twelve and got to know what it feels like to be loved by parents. By a fucking family."

"I still love you, Veronica. You're still my daughter and I'm still your father," he told me. "I wanna be apart of your life again."

I couldn't even say anything since my heart dropped again when Shayne started walking out to us. "I love how I was having a full conversation with you, thinking you were still in the bedroom, but then-" Shayne looked over to see Elliot in the room and looks at me. "Who is this?"

I bit my lip and softly said, "My dad."

Shayne's mouth slightly dropped and his eyes got a little big when he looked back at him. "And who is this, Veronica?" Elliot asked.

"This is Shayne Topp; my boyfriend and one of my best friends that I use to work along side with," I replied.

"Wait, why would you date someone that you use to work with?" Elliot asked me. Shayne started shaking his head and was grinning out of annoyance. "Were you guys dating when you were working together?"