now or never (LUKE PATTERSON)

11

Lydia awkwardly sat at the table with her parents, watching as the two had small talk. She knew that she told her mom that she'd talk, but she just couldn't.

The girl hadn't said anything to her dad after she ran out on him earlier that day.

"So, you got home pretty late, what were you up to?" Her mom asked and Lydia covered her mouth as she chewed, preparing to talk. "I went with the boys after school to see them practice." She explained whilst trying her best to hold back her tears.

"Did you have fun?" The woman asked and Lydia simply nodded. "Boys?" Her dad asked, eyes wide as he looked over to Mercedes. Mercedes could only laugh at her ex husband. "Lydia made new friends, they are a band called..." Mercedes trailed off, not remembering the band's name. "Sunset Curve." Lydia finished and her dad nodded. "That name sounds familiar.." Griffin said. He took a second to realize why it sounded familiar, and when the thought came to mind, he nearly choked on his food. "Macey loves that band." He stated which caused Lydia to grow completely uncomfortable in the matter of seconds. Something about the new name that came into the conversation made her shiver in annoyance. Another thing that roamed her mind was how could such coincidence happen? They were a pretty underrated band. She left like gatekeeping them all of a sudden.

Macey...Macey?

Then Lydia realized. It had to be one of the new kids from his new family.

Mercedes eyes widened in shocked, a smile grew on her face. "What a coincidence!" The woman said and Griffin turned to his daughter. "They're your friends?" He asked shocked and Lydia nodded.

"I have some news to drop." He suddenly said and the two looked over to the man. "So, I'm moving back out here." Griffin admitted, it made Lydia smiled just for a second. "That's great." Lydia said softly as her eyes stayed glued to her plate. "With Tiffany, Macey, and Jason." He added and they only nodded along, but in the inside they both wanted to cry. But they had to be strong.

"And I was thinking, since Macey is turning 17 can you maybe ask those boys to surprise her?" Griffin asked.

Lydia wanted to slap her dad. How dare he comes to their house and tell them all about his new family and now he wants Lydia to help surprise some girl who replaced her?

Lydia held back her scoff before speaking.

"Uhh, I-I can ask the boys and see if they're free."Lydia said and she mentally slapped herself. A fake smile replacing the way she really felt.

Why did I just do that!?

"That great, thank you so much, honey. I have a surprise for you too." He said which had taken her by surprise since everything seemed to be moving along so fast. It was conversation after conversation, news after news. Lydia couldn't handle it. Mercedes could only watch.

He handed her a card that seemed to be bought from a store. She opened it as her parents watched her.

She read the note and she smiled lightly, she then looked at the right side of the card to see a gift card. She looked at the top to see..

$500

The girl sat there shocked as her dad smiled. "You can buy you whatever you want, I'll even drive you anywhere you want to go so you can buy the things you need." He said. "Thank you. I really appreciate it." She said and stood up hugging him tightly, he was taken back by surprise by the gesture but he quickly wrapped his arms around his daughter. Even though money couldn't replace the pain she felt when he left, money sure did make her happy. She knew that he couldn't buy his way back into her life.

But Lydia was feeling so many emotions. She was happy, sad, angry, overwhelmed. Too many things at once.

She didn't want to ask the boys if they could surprise someone who basically replaced her, she didn't want her dad to be with another family. She wanted everything to go back to normal. But she knew that it couldn't, it would've ruined the other family too.

So Lydia soon sat back down as the small talk continued, her dad asked about Justin and Riley and she quickly made up a lie saying that the two were busy this week. She had no idea what they were up to, she honestly barely interacted with the two today.

After dinner her dad left and she quickly hugged her mom goodnight. She ran up to her room and plopped on her bed. She tried not thinking of how her dad left to be with another family. But that was all she could think of. So she cried herself to sleep that night feeling nothing but overwhelmed. She was still very angry at him, but she just couldn't express that.

edited

Idk how I feel abt this chapter. It's kinda sad too :(