touched by stars -chaennie

One shot - part II

Different reasons to jump off the couch
part II (II/II)

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Your father drives you and Jennie to a little place downtown called Volt’s . You used to come here all the time with your father when you were younger. It had been a thing the two of you did every two weeks after your mother died. That is until you hit high school and thought it “uncool” to keep something like a regular dinner going with your father. You’d never seen him mad at your blowing him off for people you didn’t even really consider friends, and by graduation you didn’t even talk to them anymore. The summer before you’d left for university, you’d realized how much you’d probably hurt him by cutting him off. You felt guilty and started going again.

A week before you’d left, your father admitted the reason he liked coming to this place so much was because it was where he’d taken your mother for their first date. Knowing the place meant so much to him hadn’t made you feel any less guilty, but he seemed understanding of your minor rebellion.

The knowledge of how much Volt’s means to your father makes it that much more special to you that he’s decided to bring Jennie here. Jennie keeps her walking stick folded and held in her right hand. You’re holding her free hand in yours following after your father as he leads you to his usual booth. He sits down on one side while you slide into the opposite side. Jennie releases your hand to guide herself into the seat beside you.

There are menus already placed on the table, an extra on your dad’s side since there are only three of you. You know the menu pretty well but you look over it trying to decide what you think you want to eat. Jennie doesn’t bother with it, instead sliding a hand under the table to rest on your knee. You slide a hand under the table to drum your fingers against the back of her hand. The silence is deafening and just as you’re deciding to pick something to ramble about your father interrupts your train of thought.

“So,” your father breaks the silence so loudly the elderly couple a few booths down look to you. “What do you like to eat, Jennie?”

You look immediately from the couple you’d been smiling apologetically at to Jennie. You can already spot the filthy smirk growing on her face and you pinch the back of her hand. Jennie’s only acknowledgement of that is her smirk shifting to a quick grimace. She swallows and puts on a poker face and to respond to your dad’s question.

“I’m open to anything you would recommend, sir.” You pat the back of her hand in approval and she frowns in your direction.

Your father had been too busy staring at the menu to notice your exchange with Jennie, but he looks up with a smile at her answer. He knows this menu like the back of his hand and has had everything they have to serve and he still reads over the menu every time you come here for something new he could try. For such a small place, Volt’s had a pretty good menu in your opinion. There was enough variety to keep it from being just a burger place even if you felt that’s what they were best at. You watch as he methodically pulls at the hairs on his chin trying to decide on what to recommend to Jennie to try.

You’re really glad your father brought Jennie here. It makes her feel like she’s already family. Then again, Jennie  is the first girl you’d brought home since you’d told your dad you liked girls just before you’d left for university. He’d been mid-lecture about boys “only wanting one thing” and you’d blurted it out in an effort to stop said lecture. The confession hadn’t changed anything about the rant but the pronouns.

“The cheeseburgers here are fantastic.” He finally decides. You feel Jennie shift excitedly in her seat and you don’t bother trying not to roll your eyes. All that time debating and he decides on burgers . Jennie is clearly unbothered. If anything she looks even more eager at the suggestion of something so simple. As she shifts closer to your side, she squeezes your knee and it sends an unwanted spike of something that need not be mentioned while your father is sitting a few feet away.