Swallowed in Flame

Chapter 12

I wake up still curled up into dads side on the couch. A blanket was draped over us. I sit up and wipe my mouth of drool. My hair was a mess but it always is, even when it's up. Dad shifts in his sleep slightly and pulls me back against him. I look at my shoulder and see dads hand there. I almost laugh but stop myself so that it doesn't wake him. I shrug my shoulders causing dads hand to fall off of my shoulder.

I stand up and walk into the kitchen. Pepper was at the counter making some pancakes. "Hey Hailey how did you sleep?" she asks me politely. "Fine. Well, besides the nightmare that apparently woke up everybody in the house but after that I slept pretty great, actually," I respond. "Did you get me some coffee?" "No, sorry. Do you want me to go get you coffee Hailey?" Pepper asks me turning towards me. "Nah I can get it myself. Plus you're more like family than my dads assistant now," I tell her. She blushes at my comment and I just smile. 

"I'm going to get me some coffee now, want anything?" I say after a long pause. "No thank you. Your father might want some though," she tells me. I look back at dad at the mention of him. He's still just sleeping peacefully on the couch. I'll get him something. I'll just guess what he likes. Or I get something he hates as a prank. Yes, that's what I'll do. I'll prank him.

I walk down the stairs into the lab. Thankfully my car had not gotten wrecked with all of my dads 'exciting' adventures. I grab my keys from the rack of keys. I walk over to my car and hop in. Let's go. 

I miss riding my motorcycles but I can't sneak out anymore since dad actually likes me and pays attention to where I'm going. 

I jam the key into the ignition and start the car and I'm off to the nearest Starbucks. I pull up to the drive-thru. "Welcome to Starbucks. How may I help you," the lady through the speaker greets. "One large black coffee and A large...... Caramel Cloud Macchiato," I tell the lady my order. Oh dad is going to hate me for what I got him. That's ok that's what he gets for sleeping in.

I drive up to the pay window. The guy at the window jaw drops. I smile sweetly at him, "How much will my order be?" "Oh... uh.... yeah," he fumbles. He looks at the screen and tells me how much and I just hand him my debit card. He scans it quickly and then hands it back. "Just-just pull up to the next-next window," he stutters out. I nod my head and pull up to the next window. "Here is your large black cof-," the lady stops mid sentence when she gets a look at my face. I sigh and grab the drink from her. She seems to snap out of her daze when I do that and hands me the the other drink. "Thank you," I tell her cheerily. I then drive off back to my house. That's always fun to go places when you're famous. 

I make it home and walk up stairs sipping on my coffee. Dad is sitting at the counter eating pancakes. Pepper is next to him talking to him. I grab my plate from by dad and sit down next to Pepper. Dad gives me a funny look and I shrug my shoulders. I hand him his drink and then quickly eat my food so I can get out of there before dad gets mad at me. One thing I learned about my father is he very much dislikes caramel. Like hates caramel. "Why are you so worried?" dad asks me. "I don't know maybe you should ask yourself that," I respond. I put my plate next to the sink. "Can you wash that plate?" dad asks me. "Nope," I say popping the 'p'.

Dad rolls his eyes and sighs. He then lifts his cup of coffee to his lips. This is it. This is the time where my prank gets set into action. He takes a sip of coffee and I can see the moment the caramel touches his tongue. It shows on his face. He grabs one of the napkins on the table and spits it out. I start laughing. I have to bend over and clutch my stomach I'm laughing so hard. "You think that's funny Hailey? You'll see what's funny," dad then grabs my cup of coffee and I stop laughing. "What are you doing?" I ask him. If he dumps my coffee out I will... I don't know what I'll do. It just won't be pretty. He slowly opens the lid and walks over to the sink. "You wouldn't dare," I tell him as he holds the cup over the sink. He just looks at me with defiant eyes. We lock eyes and dad dumps my coffee down the drain.