Damned If I Do Ya [An All Time Low Fanfic]

Chapter Seventeen

I instantly recognized the man, despite the 7 years we had been separated from each other. My dad. He had shaven off his beard and cut his hair to an acceptable length for a man of his age. He ditched his dirty clothes and started wearing normal dad clothes. His skin was showing signs of ageing. His forehead was lined and his eyes were crinkled as he beamed brightly at me. He was still as tall as he had been when I was 11 years old. I would probably reach his shoulder now. I bit my lip and pushed toward them slowly. He walked forward, probably impatient, and enveloped me in a hug. He was suffocating me. He didn't smell like beer, like he had the last time, thankfully. I didn't hug him back, just awkwardly patted his back. He eventually got the message and released me. He smiled down at me again, "It's been too long and I'm so sorry Holly."

I didn't know how to respond, just shrugged my shoulders and nodded. It was weird seeing him after all these years apart. His wife and his son walked to us and introduced themselves to me.

"Hi, I'm Hayley, it's great to finally meet you Holly! And this is Ryan. Say hello Ryan!" she smiled cheerily. Ryan was shy and rested his head against his mother but whispered a quiet hello. He had light brown hair like me but his eyes were blue, not green like mine. Dad took my suitcase off the trolley and hurried us to the car which was parked close to the door.

"Holly, you're going to be staying with us for your stay. You can't stay in a hotel when you have family here." He said as he threw my suitcase into the boot of his expensive looking car. Where did he get the money for this? We were never this rich. I didn't want to stay with his family, even though Ryan was my half-brother. Before I could complain, he ushered me into the back seat where Hayley was strapping Ryan into his seat. He turned away from me and didn't look at me the whole journey back to Liams house. Hayley made small talk with me. She was trying to ignore the real reason I was here. She obviously became tired of my lack of interest and started to read a magazine. I put in my earphones just to drown out the sound of Liam and Hayley's boring conversation. I rested my head on the window and stared out at the bleak, dull, cloudy English weather. Raindrops raced down the window and I sat watching, trying to figure out which one would 'win'. It reminded me of when I was a kid. Another 10 minutes passed until Liam announced that we were nearly at his home. Hayley, who hadn't talked in a while suddenly turned around and pointed at a picture in her magazine.

"Look! Why are you in this magazine? Who is that?" she asked, a little excitedly. I squinted my eyes and looked at the small picture. It was of Jack, Alex, Rian, Zack, Matt and I at lunch. That was about a month ago, why did it only come out now? I shrugged and Hayley showed Liam.

"Are you friends with that pink-haired boy?" he asked surprised. I buried my head in my hands. This was going to be a weird few days.

Dad didn't really show much emotion during the next few days. We drove to the morgue, to the funeral home, to the church and to the graveyard and he didn't shed a single tear. We arranged Mums funeral to be on a Saturday. It was a small funeral in a small church in the countryside. About 30 people were there. Hayley had stayed behind with Ryan. Mums friends that she had made were there and gave me reassuring smiles. It was nice to hear a different accent for once. People lined up to shake my hand and they sang their praises of my mum.

"She's in a better place now anyway deary."

"It's great to finally meet you Holly, you're mum never stopped talking about you."

"She loved you so much, she was going to fly back over to America once you turned eighteen but unfortunately, she couldn't."

"She was so sorry that you were taken away. She never forgave herself for it."

"I knew your mother well, she was a good person. I'm so sorry for your loss."

As her coffin lowered into the grave, I remembered that even though we did have bad times we also had good times. That summer when we went to the beach almost every day, regardless of the weather just to make sandcastles. When my mum spent her whole pay cheque buying a lot of junk food and spending the day pigging out with me. I was sorry that she was gone. She wanted to be buried beside her son Mark. So I had a full biological brother that I knew nothing about that had died while I was in Foster Care. I brought flowers to put on his grave too. I sat by their graves for about half an hour before Liam pulled me away. I felt weird calling him Dad. I didn't really have a Dad.

We drove back to his large, expensive house in the posh side of the town he lived in.

Hayley had explained to me that after he moved here, he became friends with a rich manager of a company nearby and he offered Liam a job. Hayley worked at the company too and they got married. They jetted off to Spain to get married. I was shocked that he had done these things. He really had changed. When we arrived home, Ryan ran to Liam and hugged him tightly.

"Hey buddy!" Liam said and shook off his jacket and pulled at his tie. He had never did that to me when I was younger. I felt jealous as he kissed his cheek. I was jealous of a 5 year old. Wow.

"So, Holly! Your dad told me your favourite dinner when you were younger was spaghetti. I made some just fo-" Hayley sang from the kitchen. It was my favourite dinner. She wouldn't be able to do it like Mum had.

"Not hungry!" I shouted at her and stomped to the door of the guest room I was staying in.