Scars To Your Beautiful : A Modern Beauty and the Beast retelling ✔

29. Beneath the scars

Dedicated to miolaola. Happy birthday, girl. This is for you.

★★★★

The rain raged outside.

It started off as a gentle drizzle that dragged into a thunderous rainfall, as violent gusts of wind rattled over the rooftop and swept into the chilly night.

Callie made her way to the window and swept open the rose patterned curtain, glancing through the enclosed panes. "Do you think the rain ever stops around here? It's always raining, it sucks."

Abe's chuckle made her smile. "At least it keeps us indoors and we'll get to catch up on TV. I've been dying to watch our favorite series—" Callie joined him to say. "The witch's return." They both started laughing at their simultaneous response to the TV show's cheesy name. "It's starting in an hour so we can watch it together."

Callie loved their many TV-watching time. They'd snuggle together with Aunt Georgia and catch up on anything they missed. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Brown hopeful eyes shifted to her face. "So tell me anything new about you? I'm guessing that you're a celebrity now, since I only get to see you at night."

"Very funny, dad." Rolling her eyes momentarily, Callie chirped. "I made new friends."

"You made new friends?" She nodded when he asked. He snorted, disbelieving her. "Liar."

"I'm serious, dad." Callie couldn't believe that he doubted her abilities to make more friends. It wasn't like she was a nobody or something. She just chose to stay away from people.

Abe gave a exasperated huff. "That just doesn't sound like you. You've had only one friend and that's Naomi. Speaking of which, I haven't seen her come over in a long time. Are you two still friends?"

She didn't expect her father to ask that, especially when Naomi wasn't a frequent visitor in the past. Her visits were usually bimonthly or so, but he must have sensed something between them. Callie tore her gaze to the floorboards and quietly said. "We are. We just drifted apart a little. But that's normal in high school. I'm a different person from who I was, weeks ago and she seemed to have noticed. But we're working on our friendship. We're both rediscovering ourselves. I just feel bad that we're doing it individually."

Abe nodded. Callie liked when he was like this. He was at his calmest and he poured all his attention on her. No paranoia. No anxiety. No breakdown. Just pure connection with her father. "Just make sure you don't cut her loose. She's a good person and friends like that rarely happen in a lifetime. I'm incapable for making friends, but I'm sure you already know that. If your mom didn't have a friend like Georgia, imagine how our lives would be like. Now that she's getting married, I'm struggling to see how she'd ever have time for us."

Callie frowned. "You still have me. I'm not going anywhere."

He didn't look like he was paying attention to her. "You'll be going to college in less than a year, Callista. Didn't you pick a university on the east coast? Some place far away from here."

"Well, I can't take care of you forever. I deserve a life of my own." Callie clicked her tongue. Her eyes flashed instantly.

His expression morphed into shock. The swift look made her wish she could take back her words. God, she hated when she had her bursts of anger. "I want you to have a life and I'm happy for you. Just don't act like you'll always be there for me, because you won't."

"You can't keep depending on people, dad. When mom died-" Her throat tightened, when she paused. Abe watched her warily and Callie continued. "When mom died, the first thing that came to my mind was 'who's going to take care of dad?' I didn't get to grieve properly. I never got the chance to mourn my loss. I spent my time worrying because you were too busy taking out your pain with the world and getting into trouble."