The Revelation

Lesson learned

Shane's room

Julie's pov

I knocked on Shane's door after receiving his text a few minutes ago. My room. We need to talk

"Come in," Shane called out.

"You wanted to speak to me?" I asked, entering his room and closing the door behind me.

"Yes, Julie. Where did you go last night?" Shane was sitting at his desk. He continued working after questioning me as to my whereabouts yesterday.

Last night was the first time I was able to hang out with my friends in what seemed like forever.

"Out," I replied bluntly, not feeling the need at eighteen years of age to explain to my guardians where I am 24/7. When we returned home from the cruise, Mike and Shane grounded us for a week for our little excursion to Senor Frog's and they've had us on a pretty short leash ever since.

Without looking up from his paperwork, he said, "I don't recall requesting you come with an attitude in the text I sent you. Am I mistaken?"

Trying to nip this in the bud from becoming a whole big thing, I answered, "No sir, you're not mistaken."

"Good, then tell me where you were last night," Shane repeated, a little more sternly this time.

"I was just out chillin' with some of my friends. Why? We're not grounded anymore so what's the big deal?" I'm not in the mood for this interrogation.

Now giving me his undivided attention, Shane looked directly at me as his facial expression hardened.

"I'm only going to ask you one more time. Where were you last night?" Shane spoke slowly, clearly annoyed by my lack of cooperation.

"We were just hanging out at the park."

"What park?" Shane's tone was icy cold but I wasn't quite sure why.

"The one down the street from the highschool," I replied matter of factly. Did he seriously think I would ever hang out at Memorial Park?

"Were there a lot of people at the park?" Shane asked casually.

"No, it was pretty much just us and a couple other kids."

"What were you doing there?" Shane placed his elbows on his desk and folded his hands in front of his face, tightly interlacing his fingers as he rested his chin on his knuckles.

I rolled my eyes, sensing this tete-'a-tete was going to be anything but short.

"Oh my gosh! Are you for real right now? This is so freaking ridiculous. I'm eighteen, not eight. I don't have to tell you everything I do, for chrissake."

"Whom exactly do you think you're speaking to in that tone of voice?" Shane narrowed his eyes into cold dark slits. "It surely shouldn't be one of your guardians. Now should it?"

"No sir," I responded respectfully, hoping to put an end to this interminable exchange between the Admiral and I. When I turned to leave, Shane let me take a few steps before stopping me.

"I'm sorry, Julie, did you think this discussion was over?"

"Yeah," I scoffed.

"Oh no, luv, far from it, actually." Shane stood and slowly unbuckled his belt. "In fact, we have a long way to go." He purposefully took his time pulling his belt through his pant loops as he kept his eyes on me. Gently setting the belt down on his desk, he once again took a seat.

Not gonna lie, seeing him remove his belt made me nervous.

"Is this the first time we've had this discussion, Julie, about the proper way to speak to myself, Mike, or any other adult for that matter?"