repercussions | l.h

SIX: REMINISCENCE AND ADMITTANCE

The next morning, Nellie sat at the small table in her parents kitchen. She looked kind of tired as she stared into her cup of coffee. Her father, Nick, was wandering around the kitchen, talking about how they weren't selling his favorite brand of ice cream at the store anymore. Nellie was trying to listen, she was usually a good listener, but he couldn't help but notice her lack of words. He glanced at her over his shoulder, grabbing a few more packets of sugar for her coffee before he stepped over to her.

He opened them after he put his own cup down, ripping them open softly. Nellie looked at him after the noise, the man giving her a raised eyebrow as he poured the sugar into the coffee.

She was really giving herself away. Her spaced out moments showing how much in her thoughts she truly was, and she could try to play it off; or she could just come clean. Maybe she would if he asked directly. Still, the odds of that felt slim.

"You okay today, Nell?" He asked. Nellie nodded her head, pulling her coffee closer to her as her father took a seat across from her.

"I just have a lot on my mind, I guess," she said.

"Was your date that bad?" He joked, making Nellie furrow her eyebrows.

She had truthfully forgotten that had even happened, especially with all that had happened afterwards. Nellie was still kind of distracted about how she left things with Luke. She knew how he was, and she knew how she felt. She even asked Jared to make sure he didn't drink too much, and that if he did that he would stay with him for the night. Nellie still hadn't heard from either of them, and least to say that was stressing her out, too.

"My date was fine, I guess," she said, biting her nail as she thought about it. Her date was actually probably awful. Adam probably thought she was a terribly distracted person, but then again Nellie wasn't sure if that was a bad thing. And she wasn't quite sure if it was personal either because she was now doing the same thing to her father.

"You're doing a lot of guessing, Nellie," Nick said.

Nellie made a face like she was tired of being judged about it. It wasn't her dad's fault he could read her well, she was just an easy giveaway. Her other dad, Leo, didn't read her as well. He wasn't exactly as sensitive as Nellie and Nick were. She figured she would give him at least a little bit of what he wanted, humor him about the date and at least be honest that she was the one that made it terrible.

"I don't know, if we're being honest I think it was just a waste of everyone's time for everyone but Lainey and her date," Nellie shrugged, "I didn't want to go on a date and you guys made me. And Lainey took me to that stupid restaurant on 23rd." So much for owning up.

"You know we were just trying to help," he said, making Nellie nod. The soft words making her feel somewhat guilty, like she wasn't being grateful. Nellie had a very different view of it; of how her family was causing her to treat Luke. She was kind of blinded, and the only one who realized such a thing (ironically) was Luke. "So why did you go to Michael's last night?" He asked.

"What?" Nellie said, furrowing her eyebrows as she looked at her phone screen. She had just gotten a text from Jared, which had made her forget that she had lied about going to Michael's. She was at least given reassurance about Luke though.

"You told me you went to Michael's after your date," her dad said, making her look up confused before she realized she slipped up on her lie. She shook her head softly and muttered under her breath.

"Oh yeah, I did."

"Yeah?" He asked, smiling slightly. Nellie was doing everything she could to not look him directly in the eye. She looked down at her phone screen, just making herself look more guilty than she did before. Her dad sighed, "Nellie, where did you go last night?"