We Met At A Lake House | Greg Feder |

05

The car was silent, the only noises being the engine running, other cars nearby and the quiet hum of the radio. Only the two front seats were occupied, a man and his teenage daughter sat one content with the slightly awkward silence and the other overthinking how to start conversation.

The rest of their family had decided to stay home, opting out to instead sit home and binge watch Disney movies with copious amount of snacks. The teenager imagined they were wrapped up in cosy blankets and fluffy socks, the weather was unbelievably cold – mostly consisting of harsh wind and rough pellets of rain; it was supposed to warm up dramatically over the next two days but for now most were cosied up at home waiting it out. And to think it was summer.

The silence was abruptly broken by the oldest of two, his apparent need for conversation causing the other to roll her eyes. "Do you know what you need?" Eric cringed at his own question, out of everything he could have asked, he chose that. As if it mattered anyway, he wasn't going to question what the growing woman needed – if Donna taught him anything, you never question that. It makes for awkward conversation.

"Yeah." Ada pursued her lips, side eyeing her dad for a second before sighing. "Did you ask Sally if she needed anything while we're out?" She figured if the man couldn't handle the silence, she'd take over conversing to save herself the secondhand embarrassment.

"She sent me a list through messages. Just things for dinner and ibuprofen, she thinks Beans got a cold." He hummed, taking a breath through his teeth. His hand reached over to turn up the heat of the car, his whole body was tensed with the cold and his jaw was lightly chattering – Ada, on the other hand, was perfectly fine.

Eric, for some bizarre reason, had chosen to wear grey fleece shorts and a shortsleeved white T-shirt; not only was his style inconsolable but he chose to be dense enough to wear a hot summer days clothes – the only thing remotely warm he wore was the of scuffed work boots on his feet. Adhara, however, was wearing baggy navy blue jeans held up by an obsidian frame buckled belt, a plain white T-shirt with a dark green and black tartan shirt left unbuttoned over it; she had a thick brown jacket on top of that – it being slightly oversized, her hands were covered by fingerless black woollen gloves and a few crystal necklaces with different length chains hung round her neck. Her brown locks were shoved messily into a bun and the only products on her face was a moisturising cream, mascara and lip balm – still, she looked great.

"Should you not get a medicine for that instead then?" She asks confused.

Eric sighs, looking like he was contemplating his whole existence. "Probably."

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Ada had left the older man next to a stand filled with medicine, slipping away with the moving basket to go look for the aisle with the cleanly products in. She hadn't told him exactly where she was going, believing he'd find it awkward to stand with her while she looked for the right kind of pads and tampons, which led to the father panicking when he couldn't find her and getting the stores workers to call for her on the intercom.

Adhara doesn't think she's ever been so embarrassed in her entire life.

Now, she stood at the self checkout, quickly swiping the barcodes across the scanner and placing it on the metal plate beside it as she went. Eric stood to the corner, awkwardly glancing around the building in an attempt to avoid eye contact with her and everyone else. The teenager cleared her throat, still swiping the items from the basket as she gained the mans attention. "Dad." She called, staring at him weirdly as he quickly snapped his head in her direction.

"Mhm." His voice cracked in the middle of hum, forcing him to clear his throat and try again. He was clearly nervous, shifting on his feet and trying to avoid anyones looking eyes, Adhara just didn't know why he was nervous.

"Why're you being weird?"

His eyes glanced down to the box of tampons, then back to her, to the pads, then back to her and then the razors and back to her. Ada scoffed, her emerald orbs squinted, her brows furrowed deeply and her plump lips pursued – her eyes flicked to the items too, before she looked back back up at him with a 'really' look.

"I'm not." He squeaked back, seeming to revert back into himself as an old couple, husband and wife, looked at him funny. The teen was confused — sure, she hadn't taken him to pick them out with her but he had to have done this before; wether it be for his mother, Sally, perhaps Donna or maybe even her mother once upon a time.

"Surely you've done this before." She voiced, "You're surrounded by females, Dad, you know we get periods and shit. Why're you so nervous?"

He seemed embarrassed as he shook his head no, his eyes blown wide as he shoved his hands in his pockets. His head darted around as he made sure no one was eavesdropping on them, Adhara sighed aloud – confused as to why he cared so much.

Jesus Christ, She sighed aloud, What the hell is wrong with him now?

"What now?"

"What?" Great, now he's acting oblivious! Could it get any better?

"I think everyone in this place knows what a period is and how it works, and if they don't they're likely younger than eleven. You should stop caring so much about what everyone else thinks, cause they don't care what you're doing unless you're doing something wrong. It's easier to not give a fuck." She proclaimed, bagging up the products without a glance at him. "Are you sure you got everything Sally needed? Don't wanna upset the wife if ya' haven't; happy wife, happy life and all that shit."

"Yeah, I got it. Does you mom let you cuss like that? I think you got a problem." He scoffed, shoving playfully into her side as they walked towards the doors. Adhara, who's hands held two of the three bags they'd filled and was unsuspecting of the coming shove, went toppling to the side and into a tall pile of stacked toilet paper – sending it falling to the ground in seconds.

The girl straightened herself up with widened eyes, her dad mirroring her expression exactly. A man came around the corner, wearing what seemed like the shops mandatory uniform and name tag, at the loud noise they'd made. His face quickly turning to rage, and his mouth opened before he started yelling – walking closer to the father-daughter duo as he did. "What do you think you're doing?" He raged, "Do you know how long that tak–"

Eric and Adhara had taken a quick glance between the toilet paper, the shouting teenage worker and themselves before bolting the rest of the way out of the automatic doors, giggling between themselves loudly along the way.

"Hey! Get back here, you shits!"

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| Well, Ada and Eric bonded a little through that I suppose. It was cute to write, a little cringey to read — affection is just; ugh.

I feel like Adhara is always the one giving the advice/telling right from wrong and it's kinda sad cause she just a kid herself and shouldn't really know how to console people like that yet. But I smell some character development from chapter one already! Go Ada, I guess :)

I actually have no idea if anyones ready this, lmao. But if you are... hi. How ya doin'? ;)

If you got that, I love you. |

1,207 Words.