Dawn

The owl hoots were totally giving me the creeps as I tiptoed down the hallway towards the darkened living room. I passed Dad's room quietly, noticing the yellow light still shining underneath the doorway with a rather loud thump of my heart. If he was still awake, and he heard a noise, a.k.a me, he could easily just come out of his room and freak me out. After all, it was eleven thirty, way past my bedtime, though not necessarily past my actual sleeping time. 

Since there was no door to the living room, thank god, I easily slipped towards the couch with a small rustle of bare feet on the carpet, my eyes vainly trying to pierce through the dark room. Locating my phone at last resting on the couch armrest, I smiled victoriously and took a step forwards.

And tripped.

Yes, the extremely loud crashing sound of feet colliding with a low lying table was me.

And yes, the second loud thumping noise of a body hitting carpet was also me.

Yay.

I stayed silently on the ground for ten absolutely scary seconds, hearing the loud beat of my heart in the dark silence of the room while feeling frozen with shock.

There was no doubt Dad had heard me. The question was, how would he react? Knowing him, it'd probably just be a few minutes of him being a little angry and then sending me back to bed saying some 'if I didn't wake up in time to get ready for school he wouldn't be waking me up' shit.

An idea came to me- what if I pretended I was really here for something else much more innocent, and not my phone with the tantilizing message from Noah?

What if I pretended I just needed a glass of water from the kitchen because I was thirsty and tripped over the table when making my way back to my bedroom through the living room? 

Skills.

I squinted through the dark and noticed a half-empty glass of water next to me on the table I'd just tripped over, probably left over from earlier tonight from Dad who hadn't put it in the sink. 

Perfect. I didn't have time to run to the kitchen to get some water to make my plan realistic anyway.

So I grabbed the random half-empty glass sitting on the table that I'd somehow not knocked over, and sloshed it with gritted teeth all over my front, shivering as cold water ran inside my shirt. I needed to look as realistic as possible, and though it was so dark I couldn't judge my handiwork, I figured it was good enough. And no, I was not going to wonder why the liquid wasn't see-through like water normally was.

At least it would be obvious that I'd tried to get a glass of water and tripped over the low lying table as I went back to my bedroom through the living room. Dad did not need to know that the glass of water was actually just a random glass sitting abandoned on the table, that he'd probably been using. I really, really hoped he had a bad memory. 

I waited patiently, lying on the ground, with a sopping shirt and gritted teeth.

The living room light flickered on, announcing Dad's arrival.

"Are you okay swee-" He froze, his eyes locking onto my chest, eyes widening.

My explanation that had been ready on my lips died as I watched him take in my front. 

Okay, yes, I wasn't wearing a goddamn bra, but even if my shirt was wet and you could probably see through it, this was my goddamn dad-

I looked down and my mouth widened in a silent scream.

My front was covered.

In red liquid.

That was the time I realised that the random half-empty glass of water sitting on the table left by Dad was not filled with water.

It was filled with red wine.

*

"Why the bloody hell would you drink?"

"No, I wasn't drinking Dad, I swear!"

Yes, I could swear that. I could also swear that the neighbors opposite our house could hear us shouting. 

"Then why on earth would you get a glass of red wine from the kitchen to drink because you were somewhat thirsty?"

"No, I- ughhh, that's not what happened! I can tell you-"

"Well then, tell me exactly what happened right now, and you better not be lying!"

Hanging my head and blowing out a breath, I glared at the red stained carpet and muttered, "I wanted to get my phone to check my messages."

My dad's indignant sound was enough to make me flinch.

Let me get this straight. 

When my mum got angry, she'd just explode like a cannonball and scream and rant for an hour, and still be mad at me until the next day. 

When my dad got angry... that was another story altogether.  

He would act really silent though you could basically feel the angry waves radiating off him, and it would be like this until you felt ashamed of whatever bad action that you'd just done. 

Then he would start the yelling. 

Which would kill your ears. 

"And then?" He prompted when I didn't elaborate.

"I... tripped over the table because I was in the dark and I couldn't see where I was going."

"Continue," he stated.

"And then I was worried you'd get angry at me because, well, you'd specifically told me earlier that I was not to check my phone so often because it was such a distraction. So I decided to make you less angry, I would just look like I wanted some water and then accidentally tripped on my way back."

I swallowed, then paused for breath.

"But since I couldn't get water from the kitchen, I thought I was in luck that there was a half-empty glass sitting right next to me, so to make it more convincing, I poured it over myself. And then you came in," I finished, still staring at the stained carpet.

"That was my glass of wine I drank a few hours earlier. I must've forgotten about it," Dad commented icily. 

My dad actually drank? As in, every night, or just every once in a while?

"I don't drink that often, so get rid of that judgy expression."

I instantly swiped it from my face. "Sorry."

Hearing him sigh made me pull my lips together in a thin line. 

Surprising me, I stiffened when I felt him move closer and wrap his arms around me, stroking my hair.

"It's okay not to tell me some things," he said slowly, quietly. "We are all the judges of our own selves- we judge what we want to tell and what we need to keep hidden- what we need to keep secret. I kept the gap between your mum and I a secret, because I thought it wouldn't be good for you, but then it became too much. And you can judge for yourself what you want to tell me and others and what you want to keep secret."

 "But sometimes there are things you should tell me, okay? Don't think you should keep everything to yourself, because that's not how humans are wired to work. We are wired to work as a team, and so you are meant to tell others so you can share the burden together. You're sixteen and still growing, so don't crush yourself with untold secrets yet. Okay, honey?"

He pulled back after that and lifted my chin so I was forced to look at him. 

"Yes, Dad," I said equally as quietly. I swear he knew about Noah. But I was sooner going to tell Noah he looked hot 24/7 then tell dad about Noah and I. 

Hell no.

But the moment was so calm and so perfect and so father-daughter style that he went to make a cup coffee for himself and brought me some biscuits and we sat together on the couch and ate in easy silence until one in the morning. 

But of course, when Dad got up to make his second cup of coffee, I grabbed at my phone and grinned goofily at the message in front of me.

Yep. i can do tomorrow. c u then. 

And, no joke, there was a small smiley-face emoji right next to his message. A smiley-face! It was so friggen cute I couldn't even-

Let's just say that a small part of me died from insane happiness that night. 

*

"I ship you guys," Aria said a little bit too loudly at recess the next day. "I really really really really really really think you guys are, like, soooo cute together-"

"Aria."

"You guys are literally my OTP ship-"

"Aria!"

"Kat? Kat! Don't you agree?"

"Huh?"

"Shut. Up!" I hissed, my eyes darting around to check if anyone had heard us. 

Kat, who had somehow sunk right back into her own little world of killer games, didn't look up again, even when Aria ignored me and continued to ask her if she agreed with her statement.

I was just about to place my hand over that annoying mouth of Aria's that she never seemed to control when I felt someone's presence right behind me. Their scent hit me a second later, and I was unable to stop the smile from breaking out as Noah wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my head. 

"Hey," he said, and I saw- no, felt him nod hello to my group of friends, of which a certain someone was currently fangirling and basically not even trying to hide the huge grin and wiggling eyebrows. 

I shot her death stares until Noah removed his arms and sat down next to me, instantly converting my previously life-threatening glances at Aria to a small, excited smile that was directed at Noah. 

"Hi," I said back, a little breathlessly. 

"I... um..." Noah cleared his throat, suddenly looking awkward. 

I gave him a little encouraging smile, ignoring Aria who was currently rocking the bench we were sitting at by bouncing on it excitedly. 

"Well, you know how we were going to go to your place..." He started, and my heart dropped and the bench abruptly stopped rocking. 

Going to my place? Did that mean he wasn't going to anymore?

"I... was wondering... please don't take any offence..."

My heart sailed right past my stomach and continued its plummeting drop. Screw Science and the human body; I could basically feel it slipping down, down, down...

"That instead of going to your house, we could go to the fair together that the school's holding this weekend?"

"Oh!"

I originally hadn't been planning on going- one, Aria and Kat weren't, two, I was so not going by myself, and three, it was generally rubbish except for the food. And the Trash & Treasure stall, which only had the occasional good YA book or jewellry. 

But I was fairly certain Noah had something in mind.

"Um, sure, okay. Why not?"

The bench started rocking again, announcing Aria's rekindling excitement.

A second later, the bell screamed at everyone, so I jumped up, and told Noah I'd be seeing him around. We stood awkwardly again, staring at each other until I stepped forwards and gave him a hug, burying my face into his shirt, which smelled so goddamn good, and feeling his warm arms wrap around me.

"Bye," I said, giving him a grin, and ran to Aria, who was waiting for me with a squeal. 

"Me and Kat are so not going now, to give you the best time you can possibly have!"

"Its Kat and I," I corrected with a laugh, then ran away, laughing harder as Aria scowled and tried to chase me.

"Oh yeah, and by the way, we all knew it was you jiggling the bench, and not a phantom wind!"

I was really quite glad I was a fast runner.

Hi people! How are u all? 

This was just a filler chapter, though it does hint some events that are gonna happen way in the future of this little book of mine lol. 

*cough* something will happen at the fair *cough* that will come up much later in the book *cough*

totally didn't say anything!

Have a good weekend guys! (well, for people who live in my timezone I guess anyways) 

But still, stay safe! ( for those who are having their holidays like me)

bye!

xxx,

HalloPhoenix