Here is Chapter Fourteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen wow we're almost done!! A massive thank you to everyone who stuck with us through the whole thing, we really really appreciate it!! :) xx
Sorry, this is another short one but it's early! We'll definitely write tons over the holiday (we promise) yeah right
By the way, a million thanks to Luna, who drew us an amazing picture! We love it so much :)
It's still dark when I wake up, the gentle raindrops pounding against the roof above my head. I slip out of bed, creeping across the creaking floorboards to the living room where I wrap the quilt thrown over the couch around my shoulders.
"Hey." A soft voice calls, Papa peeking around the corner.
"Good morning, Pa." I reply, making room for my father to curl up on the sofa beside me.
"You're up rather early." He remarks, a smile on his lips as he tugs the blanket up to his chest. I shrug.
"I guess."
Papa's eyes slide closed, then blink open again as he tries to keep himself awake.
"Birdie, my little bird, I have something to tell you." He murmurs tiredly, resting his head against my shoulder.
"Yes, Papa?"
He grins drowsily, his fingers toying with the ends of my tangled hair.
"I have a girlfriend."
My heart sinks at his words. "What?"
"Her name is Janet." Pa continues, a crack of thunder sounding from the black sky. "She's really nice, Birdie. I think you'll like her a lot."
"Yeah, congratulations." I smile politely, and head off to my room. " I need to get my textbooks organized, be back in a few." He lets me slip into my room, not pushing to figure out my apparent lack of interest on the subject of his girlfriend.
Since I'm already in my room, I decide to clean up my school things anyway. My closet is a disaster. I take a moment of preparation before tearing open the closet door, and when I do I'm glad that I took a second to release my stress.
Boxes tumble down, littering my floor with books. Frantically, I manage to save my old fish bowl before it hits the ground, and set the empty glass dish on my desk. Textbooks from years ago are scattered across the hardwood, dog-eared with doodles and awful sketches between the endless lines.
I drop to my knees and begin to gather the fallen objects, the distraction not enough for me to forget about Papa's girlfriend.
I know she's going to hate me. All women hate me. I'm awkward and clumsy, not feminine in the least. I get nervous around other girls, because I know I'm not like them. And that ever since what my mother and Claire have done to me and what from I have seen from spending time around Kittie, I'm never going to trust another female for as long as I live.
I toss the junk from my closet onto my unmade bed, surprised when I feel tears dripping down my cheeks. It's been a while since I've cried alone in my room and it feels strangely unfamiliar, despite the dozen years I had done it every single night.
There's a gentle tap on the half opened door, my father peeking around the corner timidly.
"I heard a crash." He murmurs, his eyes landing on the disaster of books and loose pages strewn across the thinly-worn bedspread. "You okay?"
I peer down at my socks to hide my teary eyes, but he's already witnessed my sadness.
"What's wrong, little bird?" He says softly, squatting down so we're at the same eye level. "Why are you crying?"
My lips stay glued shut as I stubbornly turn to face the wall.
"Come on, Birdie." Pa sits down on the cold flooring beside me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "Don't be like that. You can tell me what's bothering you."
"It's your girlfriend!" I blurt, watching the confusion form on his wrinkled face. His stubble has turned into a scrawny, pathetic excuse of a beard. Whenever he would grow any facial hair when I was little, I would always grab it in my fist and try to tug it out. I have absolutely no sense of fashion, but even as a toddler I knew that his beard looked appalling.
"What's wrong with Janet? You've never even met her." Papa crinkles his forehead, his eyes hurt.
I sigh, explanations a swirled mess in my head.
"It's just... I-I..." I stammer, toying with the loose threads hanging from the blanket sweeping from my bed to the dusty floor. "I know that she's going to hate me, Papa."
Papa pulls me in for a hug, the scratchy hair surrounding his mouth feeling like a porcupine climbing my forehead. His chest bounces as he chuckles slightly, playing with the frizzy ends of my wavy hair.
"You don't know her." Papa grins after I pull away. "She's not from Wrenside, she's from Yarmouth. I met her about two months ago, and she's absolutely lovely. I know she'll like you, Birdie. You're wonderful, who wouldn't like you?"
I wrinkle my nose. "A lot of people don't like me..."
Pa's mouth is smiling, but his eyes look depressed as he is clearly remembering the horrible things people have done to me.
"Not Janet." He assures me, getting to his feet, then helping me up. "She's going to absolutely love you."
I follow my father to the kitchen where he searches through cupboards for sugary cereal that we eat out of coffee mugs with crumbs in the bottom.
Now I know that Janet will probably like me, but that really wasn't exactly my main concern. I'm secretly more worried that I'm going to hate her.
After our brief breakfast, we both head down to the Marina. The sky is still as dark as night, hidden behind ominous clouds that had thankfully stopped dropping rain. Leon is already on his yacht, sweeping up debris from the deck.
"Hello!" He waves joyously, gesturing for me to climb aboard.
"Why are you here so early?" I ask, leaning against the railing. The elderly man shakes his head.
"It was Ty who wanted to come."
My head shoots up from where I was examining a pebbling stuck in a crevice in the bottom of my runners. "Ty's here? Ty actually woke up this early?"
Mr. Koppinger laughs. "I know, I had a hard time believing it myself. He's down by the beach, said something about wanting to practice his swimming." He raises a furry eyebrow. "I think he's waiting for you?"
"Oh." I scramble back onto the dock, marching towards the beach. "I'll see you in a little while."
"Have fun!"
I only find it the tiniest bit insane that Tyler wants to swim in this weather. The water is a dark grey, matching the threatening sky and it's so chilly I actually had to put on a sweater. My sneakers slap the wet planks, my eyes scanning the sandy patch for the teenaged boy. I spot him further down the strip, waded in barely to his knees and even from where I observe from a great distance away, I can see that he is shivering and trembling remarkably.
I jog through the damp, sticky sand to where he stands frozen in place, his lips tinted blue and his hair a little bit flatter than usual.
"Hey, Birdie. I've been waiting!" His teeth chatter uncontrollably, his hands rubbing the goosebumps dotting his toned arms. "Where's your bathing suit?"
"I don't have it." My eyes flick to his tanned abs. Wait, what? No, no they don't. I swallow, fixating my sight on the dark horizon, chanting some ancient nursery rhyme in my head to prevent my thoughts from wandering to Ty. He is my only friend, probably my best friend, and that's all I can think of him as. I've never had a friend my own age before, I can't lose him because of some imaginary feelings that my head concocted and tried to make me believe.
"I don't have it," I repeat, allowing myself to sneak a glance at the cold boy. "Because it is seven degrees outside! Ty, you're crazy, we can't go swimming!"
"Of course we can!" He insists, bending over to feel the water with his hand. "It's really nice!"
"No it's not." I roll my eyes, hiding a smirk. "Ty, come on. Let's go back to the marina or play video games or something. This is ridiculous."
"It's really nice!" He says again, his voice wavering from his intense quivering. "See?"
He bends over, cups his hand and scoops the water up and throws it towards me. I can't stop the scream from escaping my lips as the frigid water soaks through my sweatshirt.
"I hate you!" I wail, watching him snicker, then splash me again. "Ty! I'm wearing jeans, for god's sake!"
He continues to attack me with the salty water until I'm completely soaked from head to toe.
"Fine." I growl, slowly taking a step towards the ocean. The water is the coldest it's been for as long as I can recall. I slip off my shoes, leaving them in a dripping pile by the shoreline, biting my lip as the water laps up the bottom of my pants.
Ty smiles at his accomplishment, then turns on his heels and dives straight into the water. He surfaces sputtering, but still a huge improvement from the last lesson. I take a deep breath, then also dunk myself into the freezing bay. It knocks the wind out of me, but there's something about swimming in the morning that is refreshing and rejuvenating. I swim farther out from shore, passing Tyler and treading water just as my toes can longer touch the bottom.
Ty is still only waist deep, but without warning, flops down into the water and thrashes towards me in his original stroke. He doesn't lift his head until he stops beside me, standing on the ground, looking especially proud of himself.
"That was so good!" I gasp, grabbing onto him to hold myself up as I give my tired legs a rest. "Have you been practicing?"
He shrugs. "A little bit."
"Well, you don't need me anymore!" I beam, my heartbeat quickening in my chest, because Ty has his arms around my waist, holding my shoulders above the surface. I feel extremely heavy in my sweater and jeans with my hair clinging to the side of my face. but I'm sure I'm warmer than Tyler in his patterned swim trunks.
"I'm so good," Ty narrows his eyes mock competitively. "That we should have a race."
I smirk. "Let's do this."
"Go!" Ty suddenly releases me from his grip, my face dipping below the water as I struggle to kick back to the top. Tyler is already speeding halfway back to shore, his limbs flying madly in every direction.
"Cheater!" I shout, plummeting into the ocean and chasing after him. He might be stronger than me, and I might be wearing all my clothes, but my experience is no match for his skills. I beat him with ease, lying down flat on the beach with my ankles in the water.
"Darn it." Ty pants, landing on the shore beside me. "I thought I would've kicked your butt for sure."
I laugh, my chest rising and falling heavily. "In you dreams, slowpoke."
"I'm the slowpoke?" He chortles with fake disbelief. He scrambles to his feet, grabbing my cold hand and pulling me up. "I challenge you to a rematch."
We swim for a good forty minutes, the cold nothing compared to how much fun we were having. Is this how people who had lots of friends live everyday? That would be amazing, getting to laugh and joke around with people who were practically family. I think that I would like that very much.
It begins to rain once again as we're walking home, but being already drenched, we take our time strolling through the forest, stopping in every puddle of deep brown mud to squish it in between our toes like little children. Once at Leon's, we both do our best to wipe our feet on one of the many prickly welcome mats, but it tickles the soles of our feet so badly that we leave a trail of dark footprints all the way to the bathtub where we rinse them well. I borrow a pair of Ty's sweatpants, leaving on my soaked underwear for a wet splotch on my bum, which left Tyler in hysterics for at least five minutes. After we're both changed, we light a fire in the fireplace and bury ourselves under the dozens of exotic quilts and afghans scattered around the cluttered living room, which is where Leon and Papa find us playing video games three hours later.
"There you guys are!" The eldest Koppinger eyes the mud tracked to the bathroom. "Where were you?"
I hold up a dripping strand of curly hair which, frustratingly, was still drenched, despite the fact that we had been crowded around the warm orange flames for a fairly large portion of the day.
"You guys went swimming? In this weather?" My father slips off his jacket, throwing it over the teetering coat rack of unusual hats.
"You bet!" Ty grins, fixing his quiff, which has unfairly gone back to being absolutely perfect.
Leon disappears down the corridor lined with photos, probably following the footprints staining the uneven hardwood floor. Pa comes over and kneels down in front of the warmth.
"Hey, Birdie..." He smiles, a hand flying to his sore back. "Do you think that I could speak with you for a just a second? In the other room?"
I drop the controller, Tyler being not enough of a gentleman to pause the fast-paced game for me. My father leads me to the kitchen where he giddily bounces on the balls of his feet.
"So, after this morning when you told me that you were worried that Janet wouldn't like you," He inhales excitedly. "I called her and we're meeting for dinner in Yarmouth tonight. Isn't that great?"
"What?" I sit down on the cushioned chair at the oak table. "Tonight?"
Papa nods. "Yep! I'm so excited for you to meet her."
"Yeah, I can kinda tell..." I remark, observing the childish grin on his face.
"This is going to be so much fun!" He does the most embarrassing dance that makes me sort of aware that part of the reason I have had almost no friends was because I have his genes. Papa didn't have many friends growing up, either. But at least he was always there for me, unlike my mother. I look up to him, he plays a major role in my life. He is very much respected around town for the good work he does, and I hope one day, people will treat me the way that they treat my father.
"I'm going to home to have a shower." Pa waggles his hips as he makes his way to the door. I know I can't tell him. There's no way that I can let him know without breaking his heart that I am dreading this evening more than anything before.
I like being the only woman in Papa's life. I like making him laugh, seeing him smile. Of course I want him to be happy, but it's just been the two of us for so long that I don't if I can share.
But I am probably being stupid. There are tons and tons of parents who date, and from what I've learned from the relationships around town and on television, they don't necessary last.
I'm being an idiot again.
What a big surprise.
"Birdie?" The blonde boy pokes his head around the corner, his expression impatient, but becomes immediately sympathetic when he sees me. "Is everything okay?"
I think over my answer for a second before staring down at my lap and shaking my head slowly. Ty pulls up a seat at the table.
"Um... Do you, erm, wanna talk about it?" I can tell that this is new for him, but just the fact that he is trying to get me to open up about my feelings makes my heart swell. He is so kind.
"It's just..." I hesitate. I've never trusted anyone with my secrets before. Taking a deep breath, I decide to take the chance. "Papa has a new girlfriend, and I hate her. I think."
"You think?" Ty raises an eyebrow, looking freakishly like a younger, ponytail-less version of his grandfather.
"Well, I haven't really met her yet." I explain, intertwining my fingers and resting them on the scratched tabletop. "But I'm going to. Soon."
"How soon?"
"Tonight."
Ty purses his lips. "Are you going to be okay?"
Am I going to be okay? The words bring tears to my eyes and a buried memory to mind.
"Nobody cares about you." Claire sneers, jabbing me in the ribs. "We could kill you, and nobody would even care."
"Somebody would care!" I insist, wiping the tears from my eyes, earning myself another fist to the gut.
"You're wrong. Your mother left, she hated you so much, your brother hasn't stood up for you once yet, and everybody knows that your father doesn't really love you. You're just too much of an idiot to realize it." She jeers, shoving me to the ground and starting to march away. "Nobody will ever care about you."
"Birdie, don't cry." Ty inches his chair closer to mine, pulling me in for a warm hug. "Please don't cry. Please."
"I'm sorry." I choke out, trying to escape his tight grip, but he won't let me go. "I'll be fine. I'm just being stupid."
"You're not being stupid." He murmurs, and I let myself go limp. "When my mother started dating other guys, I was just as upset. It's weird, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
We stay like that for a few minutes until he finally pulls away.
"If you're really nervous about it, I'll come with you to meet her." Ty smiles compassionately. "It's going to be okay."
"You're so nice, Ty." I rest my head against his shoulder, letting my eyes slide closed. "You're so, so nice."
Tyler exhales, his arm where I lay my head dropping as his chest deflates. "I'm working on it."
When I get home, a clean and well-dressed Papa stands in front of the mirror, running a comb through his wet, graying hair. He had been looking happier lately, I just figured that it was because of Izzy's visit.
I wish he had told me about her earlier. I was not expecting this to happen. I never had a single suspicion that the nights he went out without letting me know where, he was going to see his girlfriend. He's been alone for so long.
"Papa," I begin, causing him to spin around, his glasses sliding down his freckled nose. "Is it alright if Ty joins us this evening?"
My father frowns. "Well, you see, I was kind of hoping that this could just be the three of us..."
"Oh." I purposely make my voice drip with disappointment, scrunching up the corners of my eyes in a way that I hope makes it impossible for Papa to say no. "It's just... Well, you know how I get around strangers. I just thought that maybe if I had a friend with me, I would feel a little bit more comfortable. But if you wanted this just to be about us, that's fine, I guess..."
Papa stares at his worn hands, bandaged and calloused from the strenuous work he does daily at the marina.
"You know what?" he mumbles, looking up to smile at me. "I think that sounds like a great idea. Of course Ty can come, if he wants."
I jump to my feet, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "Thank you so much. I'm so excited!"
Total lie, but my father buys it and hugs me with a huge grin on his face.
"That's my girl. Now, go get ready. There's no way I would ever let my two favourite girls meet face to face while you're wearing those sweatpants"
<A/N> We're pretty proud of this chapter no matter how short it is ^ v ^
weeeeeee
~Fedora & What
Sorry, this is another short one but it's early! We'll definitely write tons over the holiday (we promise) yeah right
By the way, a million thanks to Luna, who drew us an amazing picture! We love it so much :)
It's still dark when I wake up, the gentle raindrops pounding against the roof above my head. I slip out of bed, creeping across the creaking floorboards to the living room where I wrap the quilt thrown over the couch around my shoulders.
"Hey." A soft voice calls, Papa peeking around the corner.
"Good morning, Pa." I reply, making room for my father to curl up on the sofa beside me.
"You're up rather early." He remarks, a smile on his lips as he tugs the blanket up to his chest. I shrug.
"I guess."
Papa's eyes slide closed, then blink open again as he tries to keep himself awake.
"Birdie, my little bird, I have something to tell you." He murmurs tiredly, resting his head against my shoulder.
"Yes, Papa?"
He grins drowsily, his fingers toying with the ends of my tangled hair.
"I have a girlfriend."
My heart sinks at his words. "What?"
"Her name is Janet." Pa continues, a crack of thunder sounding from the black sky. "She's really nice, Birdie. I think you'll like her a lot."
"Yeah, congratulations." I smile politely, and head off to my room. " I need to get my textbooks organized, be back in a few." He lets me slip into my room, not pushing to figure out my apparent lack of interest on the subject of his girlfriend.
Since I'm already in my room, I decide to clean up my school things anyway. My closet is a disaster. I take a moment of preparation before tearing open the closet door, and when I do I'm glad that I took a second to release my stress.
Boxes tumble down, littering my floor with books. Frantically, I manage to save my old fish bowl before it hits the ground, and set the empty glass dish on my desk. Textbooks from years ago are scattered across the hardwood, dog-eared with doodles and awful sketches between the endless lines.
I drop to my knees and begin to gather the fallen objects, the distraction not enough for me to forget about Papa's girlfriend.
I know she's going to hate me. All women hate me. I'm awkward and clumsy, not feminine in the least. I get nervous around other girls, because I know I'm not like them. And that ever since what my mother and Claire have done to me and what from I have seen from spending time around Kittie, I'm never going to trust another female for as long as I live.
I toss the junk from my closet onto my unmade bed, surprised when I feel tears dripping down my cheeks. It's been a while since I've cried alone in my room and it feels strangely unfamiliar, despite the dozen years I had done it every single night.
There's a gentle tap on the half opened door, my father peeking around the corner timidly.
"I heard a crash." He murmurs, his eyes landing on the disaster of books and loose pages strewn across the thinly-worn bedspread. "You okay?"
I peer down at my socks to hide my teary eyes, but he's already witnessed my sadness.
"What's wrong, little bird?" He says softly, squatting down so we're at the same eye level. "Why are you crying?"
My lips stay glued shut as I stubbornly turn to face the wall.
"Come on, Birdie." Pa sits down on the cold flooring beside me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "Don't be like that. You can tell me what's bothering you."
"It's your girlfriend!" I blurt, watching the confusion form on his wrinkled face. His stubble has turned into a scrawny, pathetic excuse of a beard. Whenever he would grow any facial hair when I was little, I would always grab it in my fist and try to tug it out. I have absolutely no sense of fashion, but even as a toddler I knew that his beard looked appalling.
"What's wrong with Janet? You've never even met her." Papa crinkles his forehead, his eyes hurt.
I sigh, explanations a swirled mess in my head.
"It's just... I-I..." I stammer, toying with the loose threads hanging from the blanket sweeping from my bed to the dusty floor. "I know that she's going to hate me, Papa."
Papa pulls me in for a hug, the scratchy hair surrounding his mouth feeling like a porcupine climbing my forehead. His chest bounces as he chuckles slightly, playing with the frizzy ends of my wavy hair.
"You don't know her." Papa grins after I pull away. "She's not from Wrenside, she's from Yarmouth. I met her about two months ago, and she's absolutely lovely. I know she'll like you, Birdie. You're wonderful, who wouldn't like you?"
I wrinkle my nose. "A lot of people don't like me..."
Pa's mouth is smiling, but his eyes look depressed as he is clearly remembering the horrible things people have done to me.
"Not Janet." He assures me, getting to his feet, then helping me up. "She's going to absolutely love you."
I follow my father to the kitchen where he searches through cupboards for sugary cereal that we eat out of coffee mugs with crumbs in the bottom.
Now I know that Janet will probably like me, but that really wasn't exactly my main concern. I'm secretly more worried that I'm going to hate her.
After our brief breakfast, we both head down to the Marina. The sky is still as dark as night, hidden behind ominous clouds that had thankfully stopped dropping rain. Leon is already on his yacht, sweeping up debris from the deck.
"Hello!" He waves joyously, gesturing for me to climb aboard.
"Why are you here so early?" I ask, leaning against the railing. The elderly man shakes his head.
"It was Ty who wanted to come."
My head shoots up from where I was examining a pebbling stuck in a crevice in the bottom of my runners. "Ty's here? Ty actually woke up this early?"
Mr. Koppinger laughs. "I know, I had a hard time believing it myself. He's down by the beach, said something about wanting to practice his swimming." He raises a furry eyebrow. "I think he's waiting for you?"
"Oh." I scramble back onto the dock, marching towards the beach. "I'll see you in a little while."
"Have fun!"
I only find it the tiniest bit insane that Tyler wants to swim in this weather. The water is a dark grey, matching the threatening sky and it's so chilly I actually had to put on a sweater. My sneakers slap the wet planks, my eyes scanning the sandy patch for the teenaged boy. I spot him further down the strip, waded in barely to his knees and even from where I observe from a great distance away, I can see that he is shivering and trembling remarkably.
I jog through the damp, sticky sand to where he stands frozen in place, his lips tinted blue and his hair a little bit flatter than usual.
"Hey, Birdie. I've been waiting!" His teeth chatter uncontrollably, his hands rubbing the goosebumps dotting his toned arms. "Where's your bathing suit?"
"I don't have it." My eyes flick to his tanned abs. Wait, what? No, no they don't. I swallow, fixating my sight on the dark horizon, chanting some ancient nursery rhyme in my head to prevent my thoughts from wandering to Ty. He is my only friend, probably my best friend, and that's all I can think of him as. I've never had a friend my own age before, I can't lose him because of some imaginary feelings that my head concocted and tried to make me believe.
"I don't have it," I repeat, allowing myself to sneak a glance at the cold boy. "Because it is seven degrees outside! Ty, you're crazy, we can't go swimming!"
"Of course we can!" He insists, bending over to feel the water with his hand. "It's really nice!"
"No it's not." I roll my eyes, hiding a smirk. "Ty, come on. Let's go back to the marina or play video games or something. This is ridiculous."
"It's really nice!" He says again, his voice wavering from his intense quivering. "See?"
He bends over, cups his hand and scoops the water up and throws it towards me. I can't stop the scream from escaping my lips as the frigid water soaks through my sweatshirt.
"I hate you!" I wail, watching him snicker, then splash me again. "Ty! I'm wearing jeans, for god's sake!"
He continues to attack me with the salty water until I'm completely soaked from head to toe.
"Fine." I growl, slowly taking a step towards the ocean. The water is the coldest it's been for as long as I can recall. I slip off my shoes, leaving them in a dripping pile by the shoreline, biting my lip as the water laps up the bottom of my pants.
Ty smiles at his accomplishment, then turns on his heels and dives straight into the water. He surfaces sputtering, but still a huge improvement from the last lesson. I take a deep breath, then also dunk myself into the freezing bay. It knocks the wind out of me, but there's something about swimming in the morning that is refreshing and rejuvenating. I swim farther out from shore, passing Tyler and treading water just as my toes can longer touch the bottom.
Ty is still only waist deep, but without warning, flops down into the water and thrashes towards me in his original stroke. He doesn't lift his head until he stops beside me, standing on the ground, looking especially proud of himself.
"That was so good!" I gasp, grabbing onto him to hold myself up as I give my tired legs a rest. "Have you been practicing?"
He shrugs. "A little bit."
"Well, you don't need me anymore!" I beam, my heartbeat quickening in my chest, because Ty has his arms around my waist, holding my shoulders above the surface. I feel extremely heavy in my sweater and jeans with my hair clinging to the side of my face. but I'm sure I'm warmer than Tyler in his patterned swim trunks.
"I'm so good," Ty narrows his eyes mock competitively. "That we should have a race."
I smirk. "Let's do this."
"Go!" Ty suddenly releases me from his grip, my face dipping below the water as I struggle to kick back to the top. Tyler is already speeding halfway back to shore, his limbs flying madly in every direction.
"Cheater!" I shout, plummeting into the ocean and chasing after him. He might be stronger than me, and I might be wearing all my clothes, but my experience is no match for his skills. I beat him with ease, lying down flat on the beach with my ankles in the water.
"Darn it." Ty pants, landing on the shore beside me. "I thought I would've kicked your butt for sure."
I laugh, my chest rising and falling heavily. "In you dreams, slowpoke."
"I'm the slowpoke?" He chortles with fake disbelief. He scrambles to his feet, grabbing my cold hand and pulling me up. "I challenge you to a rematch."
We swim for a good forty minutes, the cold nothing compared to how much fun we were having. Is this how people who had lots of friends live everyday? That would be amazing, getting to laugh and joke around with people who were practically family. I think that I would like that very much.
It begins to rain once again as we're walking home, but being already drenched, we take our time strolling through the forest, stopping in every puddle of deep brown mud to squish it in between our toes like little children. Once at Leon's, we both do our best to wipe our feet on one of the many prickly welcome mats, but it tickles the soles of our feet so badly that we leave a trail of dark footprints all the way to the bathtub where we rinse them well. I borrow a pair of Ty's sweatpants, leaving on my soaked underwear for a wet splotch on my bum, which left Tyler in hysterics for at least five minutes. After we're both changed, we light a fire in the fireplace and bury ourselves under the dozens of exotic quilts and afghans scattered around the cluttered living room, which is where Leon and Papa find us playing video games three hours later.
"There you guys are!" The eldest Koppinger eyes the mud tracked to the bathroom. "Where were you?"
I hold up a dripping strand of curly hair which, frustratingly, was still drenched, despite the fact that we had been crowded around the warm orange flames for a fairly large portion of the day.
"You guys went swimming? In this weather?" My father slips off his jacket, throwing it over the teetering coat rack of unusual hats.
"You bet!" Ty grins, fixing his quiff, which has unfairly gone back to being absolutely perfect.
Leon disappears down the corridor lined with photos, probably following the footprints staining the uneven hardwood floor. Pa comes over and kneels down in front of the warmth.
"Hey, Birdie..." He smiles, a hand flying to his sore back. "Do you think that I could speak with you for a just a second? In the other room?"
I drop the controller, Tyler being not enough of a gentleman to pause the fast-paced game for me. My father leads me to the kitchen where he giddily bounces on the balls of his feet.
"So, after this morning when you told me that you were worried that Janet wouldn't like you," He inhales excitedly. "I called her and we're meeting for dinner in Yarmouth tonight. Isn't that great?"
"What?" I sit down on the cushioned chair at the oak table. "Tonight?"
Papa nods. "Yep! I'm so excited for you to meet her."
"Yeah, I can kinda tell..." I remark, observing the childish grin on his face.
"This is going to be so much fun!" He does the most embarrassing dance that makes me sort of aware that part of the reason I have had almost no friends was because I have his genes. Papa didn't have many friends growing up, either. But at least he was always there for me, unlike my mother. I look up to him, he plays a major role in my life. He is very much respected around town for the good work he does, and I hope one day, people will treat me the way that they treat my father.
"I'm going to home to have a shower." Pa waggles his hips as he makes his way to the door. I know I can't tell him. There's no way that I can let him know without breaking his heart that I am dreading this evening more than anything before.
I like being the only woman in Papa's life. I like making him laugh, seeing him smile. Of course I want him to be happy, but it's just been the two of us for so long that I don't if I can share.
But I am probably being stupid. There are tons and tons of parents who date, and from what I've learned from the relationships around town and on television, they don't necessary last.
I'm being an idiot again.
What a big surprise.
"Birdie?" The blonde boy pokes his head around the corner, his expression impatient, but becomes immediately sympathetic when he sees me. "Is everything okay?"
I think over my answer for a second before staring down at my lap and shaking my head slowly. Ty pulls up a seat at the table.
"Um... Do you, erm, wanna talk about it?" I can tell that this is new for him, but just the fact that he is trying to get me to open up about my feelings makes my heart swell. He is so kind.
"It's just..." I hesitate. I've never trusted anyone with my secrets before. Taking a deep breath, I decide to take the chance. "Papa has a new girlfriend, and I hate her. I think."
"You think?" Ty raises an eyebrow, looking freakishly like a younger, ponytail-less version of his grandfather.
"Well, I haven't really met her yet." I explain, intertwining my fingers and resting them on the scratched tabletop. "But I'm going to. Soon."
"How soon?"
"Tonight."
Ty purses his lips. "Are you going to be okay?"
Am I going to be okay? The words bring tears to my eyes and a buried memory to mind.
"Nobody cares about you." Claire sneers, jabbing me in the ribs. "We could kill you, and nobody would even care."
"Somebody would care!" I insist, wiping the tears from my eyes, earning myself another fist to the gut.
"You're wrong. Your mother left, she hated you so much, your brother hasn't stood up for you once yet, and everybody knows that your father doesn't really love you. You're just too much of an idiot to realize it." She jeers, shoving me to the ground and starting to march away. "Nobody will ever care about you."
"Birdie, don't cry." Ty inches his chair closer to mine, pulling me in for a warm hug. "Please don't cry. Please."
"I'm sorry." I choke out, trying to escape his tight grip, but he won't let me go. "I'll be fine. I'm just being stupid."
"You're not being stupid." He murmurs, and I let myself go limp. "When my mother started dating other guys, I was just as upset. It's weird, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
We stay like that for a few minutes until he finally pulls away.
"If you're really nervous about it, I'll come with you to meet her." Ty smiles compassionately. "It's going to be okay."
"You're so nice, Ty." I rest my head against his shoulder, letting my eyes slide closed. "You're so, so nice."
Tyler exhales, his arm where I lay my head dropping as his chest deflates. "I'm working on it."
When I get home, a clean and well-dressed Papa stands in front of the mirror, running a comb through his wet, graying hair. He had been looking happier lately, I just figured that it was because of Izzy's visit.
I wish he had told me about her earlier. I was not expecting this to happen. I never had a single suspicion that the nights he went out without letting me know where, he was going to see his girlfriend. He's been alone for so long.
"Papa," I begin, causing him to spin around, his glasses sliding down his freckled nose. "Is it alright if Ty joins us this evening?"
My father frowns. "Well, you see, I was kind of hoping that this could just be the three of us..."
"Oh." I purposely make my voice drip with disappointment, scrunching up the corners of my eyes in a way that I hope makes it impossible for Papa to say no. "It's just... Well, you know how I get around strangers. I just thought that maybe if I had a friend with me, I would feel a little bit more comfortable. But if you wanted this just to be about us, that's fine, I guess..."
Papa stares at his worn hands, bandaged and calloused from the strenuous work he does daily at the marina.
"You know what?" he mumbles, looking up to smile at me. "I think that sounds like a great idea. Of course Ty can come, if he wants."
I jump to my feet, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "Thank you so much. I'm so excited!"
Total lie, but my father buys it and hugs me with a huge grin on his face.
"That's my girl. Now, go get ready. There's no way I would ever let my two favourite girls meet face to face while you're wearing those sweatpants"
<A/N> We're pretty proud of this chapter no matter how short it is ^ v ^
weeeeeee
~Fedora & What
