Father (Rewritten)

| Part 4 | Conicidence

| Part 4 | Conicidence

It has been 3 days since Claudia last saw Charles, it took her brain a long while before finally hitting itself for forgetting to ask for his email, she had no way to contact him and it was starting to stress her out.

"Hey...you feeling okay? you're looking kind of pale there" worriedly said a voice. A hand reached out and pressed against her warm forehead for a while before the hand was quickly replaced by somebody's forehead. "Hmm...?" Claudia hummed lost in thought, not noticing the intense heat radiating from Maddy's reddened face as she stared into her brown eyes.

The almost non-existent proximity in between the two girls didn't bother Claudia, it felt natural and besides-ever since the day she had met Madeline, she knew that her best friend was the touchy sort but she didn't mind.

"Maddy...?" she finally spoke out, starting to sweat now. "Mhmm?". "I think that's enough," Claudia said pulling away from Maddy's forehead, not noticing how those dark browns were observing her and wiped away the beads of sweat forming there.

Claudia had thought she had noticed a strange and unknown emotion in her friend's brown eyes but it quickly went away as Maddy masked it in a split second. Her cheeks were slightly tinted with rosy, it could've been from the heat, Claudia got off of Maddy's bed along with her. "So-uh...what do you think of Charles?" Claudia spoke out, brushing her black hair back and leaned against the bed stand.

Surprised, Maddy retorted back "What about him?" she was curious to why her Claudia would even ask about a stranger...it wasn't like her but then again, did she even know her?

Her browns not once had left Claudia's blank face, Maddy tried searching for emotion but she was defeated when she found none. Claudia shrugged and fiddled with the fabric of her long sleeves, unconsciously averting her grey hues from Maddy's threatening gaze. "Do you think your mom has his number? I want to give him a call about something," Claudia said while Maddy narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her.

"I dunno, probably, but why do you want to call him?" she asked trying to seem nonchalant even though a little poison was shoved in her words. "Well, it's none of your business Madds." She frowned, feeling doubtful, no doubt her mind was going all out on imaging the worst case scenario with explicit imagery as always. "Not my business?! I KNOW you, Claud, you don't hide things from me, so why now? what makes this time so different!" Maddy raised her voice, obviously upset and wasn't going to give up pressuring Claudia until she gave in...like always.

These were the times that Claudia felt uncomfortable with. And so, she did the only thing she could do... she ran out the door like the coward that she was. As she ran out of her house, she started slowing down after years of not working out took a toll on her body and she panted like she just ran a marathon.

"Claudia!" a faint yell could be heard from behind as the girl continued to push herself, squeezing her eyes shut as the cool winds whip her black hair in her face. Then...BUMP-Claudia bumped headfirst into a solid chest, earning a yelp from the stranger who she had hit. She held her head and rubbed her forehead that had a growing red bump while the man that she had accidentally walked into, was coughing loudly.

"You...need to look up and be more careful Miss-huh?...C is that yah?" a throaty voice asked, it wasn't Charles for sure...Claudia looked up, her eyes met with a pair of startling forest-greens that peered at her. "Oh-uh...Dexter?" said Claudia surprised, encountering one of her mom's 'partners' was a rare sighting nowadays. "What are you doing here?" she probed even though she knew the answer in the back of her head.

"Well-I was just on my way to your house...and speaking of your house, is Lauren by any chance there right now?" he inquired, scratching the back of his ear nervously. That small movement didn't go unnoticed by Claudia though, she just simply bobbed her head and mouthed a 'yes'.

She wanted nothing to do with her mom's private life, and without pressing for more details, she quickly walked past him in an obvious attempt to avoid his eagle eyes. Dexter was the most loyal partner that Lauren had ever had-well so far to Claudia's knowledge, and even though he knew he was going to be used by her mom in the end... he chose to stay for whatever reason.

As she turned her head back, the faint golden outlines of Dexter's dirty blonde hair stood out and even though he was a little young compared to her mom-he seemed to care for her well-being.

Claudia felt somewhat-watched by someone, but she shook off that feeling before it could paranoid her into retreating back home. The entrance doors beeped sliding apart automatically as she walked into the convenience store on her left, the chilly air engulfed her in its cool embrace as she roamed around like a lost lamb.

And across from the store and road was a tall man hunched over, watering, several pots of blooming flowers. The man's sharp almond hues flared with amusement, following the black-haired girl into the back of the convenience store.