My boyfriend's dad. ✅ [Wattys 2023!]

10: The restaurant.

I woke up the next day at 6:00 am because it was already Monday and I had to go to work at the photography studio.

A new week was getting started, which means starting the routine and I needed to forget about everything that had happened these days ago, at least for a while, as I got ready and worked.

I stretched my body up still in bed and got up, turning off the annoying standard music that my phone was making as an alarm.

If I played a song that I liked it was clear that I would end up hating it for the rest of my life and I had decided to use a default sound that I would end up hating in the same way.

I looked over the desk and smiled proudly when I saw all the drawings that Brian and I had done yesterday after dinner, staying until after 1 in the morning finishing some.

I hoped it was worth it.

I went to the bathroom, took a shower, fixed my hair a bit, and changed my clothes into something we called "the uniform."

For some strange reason that I couldn't understand, I wanted to wear a skirt today, so that's what I wore. Maybe it was because of the confidence Ian had been giving me by gripping my thighs in such an intense way.

My thighs; one of my biggest insecurities.

To finish the outfit, I put on some short boots, a basic t-shirt in a simple color, and a jacket with the logo of the photography studio.

The studio belonged to Abby's father, my best friend, but we were the only two who worked there.

Actually, the studio was practically hers because her father didn't even go through it and completely trusted us, so we didn't have a uniform as such, that's why we made matching jackets with the logo.

I went to my room again, where I slung my backpack over one shoulder with the camera and tripod, which Abby's father had given us when we graduated from the academy, plus a few supplies inside.

Then I went to get the house keys, my wallet and my phone.

I looked at the broken screen and ran my finger over it, but it felt sharp and like thousands of tiny crystals were about to come off in the top corner, so I decided to put it away without touching it too much.

I couldn't break it anymore because I couldn't afford not having a phone. I couldn't buy another one. It would be impossible for me to make that effort.

In a folder I put all the drawings that Brian and I finished last night and this one I put inside the backpack to send by ordinary mail those that I had finished and had been paid for.

Also, I was going to go to the tattoo shop that was in the mall where I worked to leave some drawings of Brian, to see if I could get him some work there.

When I went into the living room, Charlie was at the kitchen counter and I was quite surprised to find Brian there too, because he didn't like getting up early at all, and a feeling of pride filled me.

We greeted each other in a low voice and talked having breakfast in that tone, since dad got home really late last night and was still sleeping, although he would go back to work later.

Sadly, we hardly all saw each other from time to time, when we could meet for breakfast or dinner if we had a day off that matched with someone else's.

He didn't know about yesterday and we had agreed that we wouldn't tell him anything at all about what had happened; not about our discussion at the airport, not about the theft of money, not about my "momentary disappearance."

It was obvious that he would notice the broken windows in the van, but that was inevitable and something we could cover up with any unfortunate excuse from the neighborhood.