Kindergarten Boyfriend

3 | The Ominous Favour

  As I walked into my house I realized something was wrong.

All of the lights in the house were turned off, which was weird since my dad should've been home by now.

Panicking, I immediately grabbed my phone and dialled his number. He picked up on the third ring

"Hello"

"Dad! Where are you? Shouldn't you be home by now?" I asked him, worried that something had happened.

I had to take some deep breaths to calm my heart.

He's fine I told myself, he answered the phone nothing could've gone too terribly wrong.

The line was silent for a moment.

"Dad?" I repeated, waiting for an answer nervously.

"I'm so sorry honey! I was just put onto this new project at work and I didn't want to call you while you were in school. I had to go into the city for an impromptu work trip. I won't be home until Sunday." he said apologetically.

"But dad what about our plans. We can't not go, we go every year. You have to come home dad!" I pleaded, feeling tears begin to well up in my eyes.

"We can always go next week honey" he said

"But dad! What about mom?" I started, feeling my body begin to shake.

I couldn't not go. I looked forward to the tradition every year, it made me feel closer to my mom and there's not much that can do that these days.

"Please honey, I understand but I can't get out of work, I'm very sorry. Maybe you could get a friend to take you" he said, trying to reason with me.

Not wanting to argue I dropped it.

"Yeah maybe"

"I love you honey, there's leftovers in the fridge if you get hungry" he said hanging up the phone.

What was I gonna do now? I couldn't get Bri to take me because I told her to take the Reynolds job tonight, so that was out of the question.

I started to feel the tears welling up in my eyes begin to fall down my cheeks and soon I was sobbing. I really needed to do this today and now it was seeming impossible. I felt all out of options in that moment, but then an idea hit me.

No, you can't I thought to myself.

He did say anything though.

Did I really want to ask him to do this? It was kinda personal. However, I was feeling very desperate and I was out of any other options. It looked like I would be texting Owen after all.

I opened my phone up, finding his number and then sent him a quick text before I second guessed myself.

C: Hey, does the offer still stand for me to text you about anything?

C: This is Celeste btw

Maybe he wouldn't even respond, I couldn't tell whether I'd prefer that or not.

As I waited for him to text me back it felt like it was taking him hours to respond, when really it was only mere minutes before I got a reply.

O: Why do I feel like you're about to ask me to help you do something illegal?

I couldn't help but let out a small snicker.

C: Not exactly, but I do need to ask a favour

O: Okay what's up?

C: I don't really wanna go into detail about it but could you give me a ride somewhere tonight?

I asked waiting nervously for his reply.

O: Very ominous.

O: I'm down

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding in. I couldn't help but smile, tonight wouldn't be a disaster after all.

Or maybe it would be but in a different way, I couldn't help but think.

O: I'll be there in 10

As the realization of what I had just done set in I began to panic. Why did I do this? Do I really want Owen to be with me tonight? What if this was all just some big joke to him and I was about to fall right into his trap?

Calm down Celeste! I told myself, Owen had seemed genuine in the car and there weren't any other options.

I rushed to my room to go change my clothes quickly. I changed into a pair of blue jeans and a dark green sweater and then quickly ran to the washroom. My cheeks were looking pretty blotchy from crying, so I splashed some water on my face. I gave myself a once over in the mirror, tucking a piece of my brown hair behind my ear. I saw my brown eyes looking back at me in the mirror, I looked nervous.

"It's going to be okay! Remember who you're doing this for" I gave myself a quick pep talk before I heard a knock at the door.

I gave myself one last look, trying to muster up all the confidence I could find and then walked to the door.