Never Say Never (Completed)

One {Love Me, Love Me Not}

I distinctly remember my father pulling me aside the night of my twelfth birthday and asking me what I'd wished for as I blew out my candles hours prior. Being twelve and a little boy crazy, I'd begged for two tickets to whatever disgustingly poppy boyband had a stronghold on prepubescent little brain. He had laughed and granted that very wish by giving me the four hundred needed for my best friend and I to have the night of our lives, before he walked out of the house.

He never came back.

Being twelve and thoroughly confused about life in general, I had blown it off as something as small as a little disagreement between him and my mother, something that would blow over in a few days. But days became weeks, and weeks became months, and I was forced to face the reality of my father's abandonment. Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy as me being able to just get over it and move on with my life, to occasionally glance at a picture on the wall and feel the pang of hurt of his decision to leave.

Because I had to watch three pairs of eyes remain glued to the door, waiting in anticipation for our father to step through it with a great explanation of his absence. Sadly, just as I had come to the conclusion, it registered in both of my brother's almost as quickly. My sister, only just about to turn one at the time, knew nothing more than Daddy was gone and hadn't come back.

Gazing upon a father staring down at his daughter lovingly now, in front of the glass showcase, I couldn't help but feel that little pang of what could have been in my chest. It was a rarity it the emotion surfaced, but when it did, it was hard to shake.

"I'm sorry." My best friend said, tapping his fingers along the glass. "But the rabbit is two thousand and you only have fifteen hundred."

There was clear irritation in his voice, and I knew it was taking every ounce of self-control not to allow the emotion to twist his forced smile and wide eyes into grimace and glare. We'd been working here for just about three years, and this was the first time I'd heard Ian so irritable. He was usually the calm, cool, and collected, but the poor unsuspecting father and daughter had caught him on a bad day.

"Hey there." I popped in beside Ian behind the counter and smiled. "How about we load some more time on the card so we can get you to that two thousand?"

The little girl's hazel eyes glistened with excitement at the proposition. She nodded enthusiastically and handed her play card over. I quickly added more time and handed it back to the father. He mouthed a 'thank you' before grasping his young daughter's hand tightly and walking away, an excited bounce in the little blonde girls every step.

Ian immediately threw himself on to the small stool in front of the shelves of prizes. "Thanks for making me look like a jerk."

I leaned back against the wall, shaking my head. "You mean, '" Thanks, Charlie, for helping me out when I was clearly in desperate need of it. You know I can't get another strike against me.'" Right?"

Ian cocked his head to the side, a lock of his mess of tousled brown hair falling into his dark eyes. "I don't sound like that."

"You do." I smirked. "You definitely do sound like that, Ian."

"Mhm." He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, training his eyes on something across the room, but I was too exhausted to try and figure out what it was.

Sebastian Cruz and I had been friends since we were in diapers. My father and his mother had been childhood friends, and felt it was best to pass the wonderful opportunity to have a best friend for life down to their first born. According to the stories I'd heard from Mrs. Cruz, Ian and I had been so close than the moment I stood up to walk for the first time, he'd gotten up and followed. For the next seventeen years, where one of us was, the other was never far behind. We'd trudged through it all together, the relationships, the heartbreak, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Of course, we had our fair share of arguments that resulted in slammed doors and promises of never speaking to one another again, but in the end, we'd always found our way back to each other with apologies and food.