Hearth

20: daddy's girl

Annaliese

Oh. Gosh.

In his black tanktop, his muscles were easily shown off as he crosses them over his chest angrily. I laugh nervously as his icy blue eyes connect with mine. "Annaliese? What's with the guy clothes?"

"Well-"

"Why's it so quiet in here? Are you guys that sad she left?" Alexander asks, walking into the room obliviously. I turn to him with panicked eyes. No, no, no! Shoo! Leave! He just furrows his eyebrows at me.

"So this is the twerp, huh?" Franny mutters under his breath. Alexander's face drops into a cold mask, his posture straightening. Franny tilts his head at the change. Oh gosh, oh gosh, this is really, really, really not good.

I yawn loudly, catching both of their attention. "Franny, I'm really tired. Can we please go home now?" I ask tiredly, purposely adding more exhaustion than I felt into my voice.

"Fine," He backs down immediately. Taking my backpack off my shoulders, he exits the house. "We'll go."

He's very, really mad.

"I'm sorry," I tell Mamá as soon as he leaves. She simply wraps me up in a hug.

"It's alright mija. My older brother is very similar to him," She chuckles, peppering a kiss to my forehead. "Go home, sleep well. Alexander will give you my phone number in case you need anything. Come back again soon, okay?"

"Yes ma'am. Thank you for dinner," I answer politely with a warm smile, breaking free from the hug. Clara wraps me up in a quick hug as well, whispering about how we should have a mall date soon. Finally, I turn to Alexander with a wicked grin. He flinches back.

"Bye Goosie," I wink, waving at him. Not giving him a hug is rude but I'm afraid of touching him. That kinda sounds silly after how much time we spent together today, and how comfy I got with him, but that blanket of uncomfort won't go away. "Don't miss me too much over the weekend."

"You know what, go watch Tangled or somethin," Alexander grunts, turning and heading up to his room. I just smile after him in amusement before leaving the house and getting into Franny's car. I take a deep breath and open the door, sliding into the heated seat.

"Thank you for picking me up," I say quietly, afraid of the response I'll get. Swallowing my unease, I muster up courage. "I'm sorry for not telling you it was a boy. I forgot that you weren't comfortable with that. It's my fault."

"Damn it, how could you go to a boy's house by yourself?" Franny snaps, his knuckles turning white around the wheel. "Do you not think?"

I stay quiet. His anger doesn't dwindle.

"That's a fucking boy Annaliese. You should know what the hell they're capable of. God, they're fucking assholes. You can't trust them enough to go to their house," His voice rises in tune with his anger.

I should know what they're capable of? Are you serious?

"Franny, you have no right talking about that," I mumble, trying my best to control my anger and hurt. So what if he's upset, it's not his place to talk about something I trusted him with. He should be proud of
me for even being able to hang out with a boy.