Skinny • Book 1 In The Reality Series

Calum

Do you ever stop yourself, mid first world problem inner monologue rant, and realize that your problem, is just that, a first word problem. Making you wonder if any of your problems are legitimate or if you're just a whiny, self entitled brat which leads to a existential crisis of sorts?

I can't say I do frequently, but as Katy and I sat awkwardly in bar stools at the granite kitchen counter island, I did.

So there we were, sitting there in nearly unbearably uncomfortable silence when I chanced a glance at her face and found her eyes trained on something in the next room. That something, upon further inspection, being my Dad's fish tank.

My Dad isn't an overly warm and fuzzy guy. He's not big on affection, or praise or hugs, or being within five feet of someone in general, however he has one soft spot, his fish.

The tank takes up more or less the entire left wall of our living room from floor to ceiling and is filled with crystal clear water, an abundance of coral and other stuff I don't know the name of, and a ton of a really exotic, beautiful and strange sea creatures, from fish to magenta spider like starfish.

Realizing that Katy was staring at the tank a feeling of guilt washed over me. The tank, much like the rest of the house, was too big. It wasn't a pet fish tank it was an aquarium exhibit. And the rest of the room decorated with chairs you weren't supposed to sit in, books you were supposed to open and art you weren't really meant to look at it, was a museum.

I've always known my Dad was kind of loaded. He drove expensive cars, wore expensive suits, stank like expensive perfume, and that didn't really bother me, because the majority of the time, the people that came to my house lived in similar means, but Katy did not.

"That's my Dad's." I blurted out, not wanting her to think the wall of imprisoned marine life was my doing.

"It's cool." She mumbled awkwardly before tearing her gaze away from the tank.

"He should be home soon." I continued, wanting to keep the ball of conversation rolling.

She smiled awkwardly.

Looking back down at the counter I drummed my fingertips on my lap. Upstairs, Anna and her boyfriend Harrison could be heard battling it out in some sort of violin concerto duet, the shrill notes ringing in the air like bells.

It wasn't silent in that regard, but neither of us was saying anything, which was weird. Clearing my throat I tried to strike up conversation again.

"So, have any pets?"

Looking startled she shook her head, "Not intentional ones. But I think their might be rats."

Instinctively I made a face then tried hard to correct my blunder.

"It's okay." she laughed, "It's gross."

Opening my mouth, I started to speak again when I was cut off by the thunder like rumble of the garage door.

"Is that him?" Katy questioned hopefully.

Feeling vaguely ill I took a shaky breath and nodded, "That's him."

I'm sorry this is so short. I'm going to be updating regularly again but I'm really busy but I couldn't leave you guys hanging anymore so I thought this would be better then nothing. I'll try to update again in a bit. Thank you so much for reading <3