As we rode back to the house I kept feeling that feeling of being followed. I watched from the window thinking that I just might catch who was watching me. Maybe I was seeing things? Maybe it was just all in my head? Maybe I need to eat some chocolate? Who knows. I just knew that I didn't want to tell my dad because he's already got his crew in black suits keeping tabs on me as it is. He might even up the anty and home school me. I definitely didn't want to take that chance now that Tré will be moving to Chanhassen soon. I will tell him about Tré inviting me to his basketball game next Saturday night. We pulled up to the compound and I ran inside to tell him about the amazing news.

"Hey kid! You forgot you bag!" Tony shouted from the car.

I just kept going knowing that he would bring my bag in and hide it from Joey for me. When I got closer to the kitchen I could smell garlic.

"Mmmm daddy's making stuffed peppers again!" I said to myself.

I went in the kitchen and found him cutting fresh garlic.

"Hey there! How was the mall?" He asked with a smile.

"It was cool! Guess what?" I said as I hopped up on the counter.

"Hey get down from there! Who knows where your butt has been." He laughed as he waved a hand at me.

I went around to the other side and leaned against him as he was still chopping away.

"Now what was it you wanted to tell me?" He asked.

"I got asked on a date I think." I said with a flirty smirk.

Daddy suddenly stopped chopping.

"A date? With who?" He said almost afraid to ask.

"With Tré! Well it's. Not A date. He invited me to watch him play his basketball game next Saturday night at school."

He was finally calm and went back to chopping and threw the garlic in a skillet to Sauté it with the olive oil.

"Oh! Well baby that ain't a date that a school activity." He chuckled.

I shook my head and smiled at him giving him a small kiss on the cheek following a hug around his waist.

"Ok so can I go on a school activity with Tré then?"

I hoped that he wouldn't say no. He stood quietly stirring the garlic. He looked at me from the corner of his eye and to speed up his answer I poked my lips out and gave him the sad puppy dog face. It worked like a charm because it buckled under the pressure.

"Alright I'll let you go but I'm coming with you."

Thanks dad! Just throw off my mack. I'm trying to get my swerve on with this dude and here you come trying to be in the way. I never said that out loud because he would have changed his answer with the quickness so I just kept my mouth shut. I just sighed and agreed.

"Just promise me you won't be embarrassing? I really like this guy and he's really nice."

Dad just smiled and shook his head.

"I don't know what I did when I sighed up for this gig but I feel like I really need to lock you away." He said squinting his eyes at me.

"Come on dad are you still stuck on the condom thing? I told you I don't have a need for them right now."

"YOU might not have a need for them but what about him? I was sixteen once too ya know."

"Yeah but you were worried about making music at sixteen."

"That's where you're wrong mama. Come with me to my office. I wanna show you something."

He turned the flame on the stove off and left out of the kitchen with me following behind him. We walked up the steps to the second floor and down the hall to his office. I went inside and closed the door behind him.

"Have a seat on the sofa." He said grabbing a book from the shelf behind her desk.

Dad came over with what looked like a photo album in his hand.

"I thought this day would come sooner or later." He said sitting down beside me.

"What's that?" I asked.

"This is a photo album from my younger days. I kept my favorite pictures of me and my friends in here from my wild days."

I was shocked to hear him say that he lived on the wild side.

"But daddy you're so chill!"

"Yeah now. I wasn't so chill years ago though."

He opened the book and he began to flip through the photos of his past. He came to a page with a picture of what looked like him but with a huge Afro.

"Daddy is this you?" I asked him excited.

"Yeah. I was your age in this picture. I was feeling myself back then."

"Daddy you've been feeling yourself now." I giggled flipping through the book.

The next page was a picture of him and a group of guys that looked like his band.

"This was our first band. We played all over Minneapolis. Where ever we could find a place to take us we would play a set and move on to the next gig."

"Who's the werewolf looking dude standing next to you on bass?" I joked.

"That werewolf looking dude is my good friend Dez Dickerson."

Well that was awkward.

"My bad daddy." I said softly.

I found anther photo of him in a tank top and leopard print underwear.

"Daddy! Where are your pants?" I said out loud.

He laughed and put his hands on his face.

"That's what we wore on stage. I told you I was a lot wilder back then." He said.

I turned at one more page to find a strip of pictures from what seemed to be from a photo booth of my dad and a brown skinned curly haired girl. The last picture was the two of them sharing a kiss. This picture was different from the others because my dad looked older and his hair was a lot longer and straighter.

"Who's the girl you're lip locking with?" I asked.

Dad turned the album to him and his eyes lit up.

"Ah I remember this day. This was my best friend Regan. We were so in love back then. We were to be married after she finished college."

His eyes looked sad as he spoke about his love.

"What happened?"

He let out a sigh and closed the photo album.

"We'll talk about that later. That story is a little too heavy for you right now."

"Did she hurt you too?"

"No not at all. But that's for another day. Let's go and have something to eat while we wait for Joey to wake up from his nap huh?"

I stood up from the couch and met him at the door. He placed a hand on my shoulder as we walked out of his office. I guess now would be a bad time to tell him what else happened at the mall today.