Crescent (Old Version)

+ Part 7 +

I covered my ears with my palms, if only to get the sound of breakfast sizzling on the stove out of my head. The sound throbbed in my skull, and I groaned as my father dragged his chair out from under the kitchen table.

"Elbows off the table."

I knew he was talking to me, and despite the fact that I felt annoyance flare, I did as he said. The movement forced me to sit up straight, but I didn't look him in the eye. 

Not after the stunt I'd pulled last night.

My mother kissed his cheek, her version of a peaceful intervention, as she set a plate of steaming pancakes down in front of him. She set another plate in front of me and balanced another smaller one on her arm, which she set down in front of Rosie. Rosie's pancake was lathered in strawberry syrup with whipped cream in a smiley face on top. It was her favorite. I smiled at her as she dug both of her little hands straight in.

And, the mess ensues.

My father cleared his throat as he shoveled a mouthful of food into his mouth, and my eyes shut on their own accord.

I knew what was coming next.

"You wanna tell me why you didn't come home until one this morning?"

"Matt." My mother added gently, but I shook my head at her.

It was my fault. I should have known I was going to get caught.

"I'm sorry," I told him. "I didn't realize what time it was. I would have called..."

Rosie giggled loudly, but I felt my father's eyes staring into me, so I didn't dare look at her. I didn't want to start yet another one of our arguments. He was to the right of Rosie, and he rubbed a hand down her back in calming gesture. "Were you with that Wyatt-kid again?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed as I leaned back in my chair. "Wyatt is an idiot, Dad. It was just me and some friends. We were having fun at the bowling alley-"

"So, you weren't with that neighbor down the street either?" I froze as I grabbed my glass of orange juice. "What's his name again?"

I really didn't want to tell my dad that I was, in fact, with Grayson. We'd been dating on and off for the past year, and last night had been a drunken mistake of epic proportions. 

He was also an idiot.

My mother, mercifully, inserted for me. "Honey, you know Grayson. He's a nice boy, but-"

My father laughed, chuckling as he downed his coffee. The smell alone made my head swim; he drank the stuff every morning. "He's a boy, Heidi." He turned his attention back to me. "You don't even like him."

"Why does it matter, Dad? Mom's right! He's nice, he's cute-"

Dad's voice went low. "He's human, kid."

My arms dropped limp to my sides, and I sighed again. It always came down to this: "Humans are dangerous. If they ever found out about us, they would give us up without a thought. We have to be careful."

Rosie's plate shattered loudly on the ground, and I jumped up as she giggled again. She grinned, pancakes spread messily across the table cloth, but shards of her plate now decorated the ground. I used the distraction to stand up, to avoid this conversation for the hundredth time over. It always ended the same way:

"I know, Dad. 'We have to be careful.'"

Mom cleared her throat as she finished making faces at Rosie. I knelt beneath the table and swept the glass into one of my palms with my hand. "Did you hear anything back from any of the schools yet?"