Adopted

Chapter 67

"Did you  have fun?" Mom asked as Dad and I walked into the house.

"No," Dad said. "We have perhaps the world's most boring teenager. She has no friends, and has absolutely nothing to contribute."

"Yeah. You should probably return me," I said.

"You two are, without a doubt," Mom said. "Jess, are you sure you weren't adopted initially? And B, are you sure you didn't father a child 13 years ago?"

"Pretty sure," he said.

"Yeah. Me too. I looked a lot like my first mom," I said.

"Did you?" Mom asked. "You  know, we haven't looked at your photos in a while. Do you mind?"

"I guess," I said. "But now? I mean, Dad's only home what, one night?"

"Yeah, Sarah, I mean, I love the idea of looking at Jess's old baby photos, but we have so much time for that when I get home next week, and I thought I could give our kid another guitar lesson," Dad said.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Yeah," Dad said.

I ran up to my room and grabbed my guitar, then ran back down. I stumbled on the last step, but caught myself.

"Careful, Jess!"Mom said. "Your head is still healing!"

"Mom, I'm fine!" I said.

"You sure kiddo?" Dad said, looking in my eyes.

"Yeah. I just stumbled because I was running down the stairs. Yeesh you two."

"Alright, let's go out to the studio," Dad said, putting his arm around my shoulder, before shooting Mom a look. They thought I didn't notice.

Dad and I worked for about an hour, then he thought it would be fun for us to do a quick Twitch stream.

He set it up while I put my guitar away.

"Hello my vros!" he said. "I bet you're surprised to see me in my home studio. Especially since I am supposed to have a concert in Vancouver tomorrow night. Well, since I had today off, and Vancouver isn't a far flight from LA, I thought I'd surprise my kiddo. Most of you know that back in September, Jess was assaulted by some kids at school. You've all sent some amazing messages and brought gifts and cards to the concerts, most of which are still on the bus, but I promise, she's going to get them when I get home for next week."

We watched the chat fill up with 'how's Jess doing now?' and 'where's Jess? Is she with you?'

I walked into the frame.

"Hi guys!" I waved.

"Here she is! I came home to surprise her because this week she got her cast off. Show them your arm, kiddo."

I lifted my left arm.

"You are a brat," Dad said. "Your right arm."

I held up my right arm.

"See. No more cast," I smiled.

'Yay! How are you feeling?'

"I'm feeling really good, thanks. Especially now that my cast is off," I answered.

'B. What's happening with the shows that got postponed?'

"We'll be tacking them on to the end of the next leg where possible."

'I was sad that Montreal got cancelled.' Someone typed.

"Yeah, I know. I know a lot of you were disappointed that the shows got postponed. Montreal was the night after I found out about Jess. I was back home with her in the hospital by then. I'm sorry we had to postpone those shows, but I promise, we'll be back."

"I'm sorry, too," I said.

'Don't blame yourself, Jess! You didn't do anything wrong.'

'Don't blame yourself either, B. You didn't do anything wrong, either. Glad to see Jess is feeling better.'

'Are you guys suing the family? What's happening with the case?'

"Aw, I can't discuss that you guys. Too much still in the works," Dad said.

'Jess, how's school?'

"School's good. I'm out of PE until my doctors say I can go back to it."

'I hate PE. You're lucky.'

"I guess," I shrugged.

There were a bunch of questions for Dad about tour, the next leg, how long he was staying home, stuff like that.

"Alright my vros, I gotta get this one to bed, because she has school in the morning, and hopefully got her homework done. You're awesome, thank you for being you, thank you for existing and never forget how dope you are. Byeeee!" he said. I waved as he turned off the monitor.

"Alright you, up to bed you go," he said.

"But Dad! You're only here tonight!"

"And I'm  home in a week. It'll go by fast. But you my young one, need to go to bed. Because despite how you feel  now, you're still recovering from what was done to you, and we need to keep you healthy."

I followed Dad into the house. Mom was watching TV and texting with Kala.

"Hey you two. Jess, bedtime," she said.

"I know," I sulked. "Dad already told me."

I went upstairs and got ready for bed. I got into bed and turned out my light.

Someone opened my door. I turned over and away from the door.

"Jess, don't sulk," Dad said, coming into my room and sitting on my bed.

"I'm not sulking," I sulked.

"Kid, I'm the King of sulking. Or, well, I was really good at it as a kid," he said.

"Well, I'm not sulking," I sulked.

"Look, I know you'd like to stay up all  night and hang out with your old Dad, but you need your sleep and guess what. So do I."

"I don't see why I had to go to bed at exactly 10. Especially since you're only home the one night."

"Because, I'm still the parent, you still need rest. Look, I'll drive you to school in the morning, okay? Don't be upset. Please? I'm home next week."

"Fine," I said.

"Okay. Sleep tight. Good night, kiddo. Love ya."

"You, too," I said.

He left and turned the light out again. I had a hard time going to sleep. I didn't want him to leave. I didn't realize how much I'd been missing him.

Finally, I drifted off and slept pretty soundly.