lacuna

Chapter Twenty-Six

Fallon's pov

It had been almost an hour after I came home but like the typical person I was, I kept replaying everything that happened in my head. The drive there had been quiet. Not the kind of quiet where your mind floats everywhere, unaware to ever consider any awkwardness. It had been the kind that made you sweat and scratch your brain for a way to say something just to break the silence.

"So, Mr Campbell" Wren had saved me from my hyperventilation, "You have a really gorgeous daughter". My cheeks had reddened and I'd noticed my dad glance at her from the rearview mirror as she sat next to me in the back.

"Thank you" was all he'd said. I had sighed.

Wren had started playing with her rings, "Do you work around here, sir?".

"You really don't have to-" I had started whispering to her but my dad interrupted.

"No". I wanted the seat to swallow me up whole and let me never see the light of day again.

"Really? Well, my mum used to work in Sandy's, the doughnut shop a few blocks away from your house. And my dad is a driver. I rarely see him home but we're really tight-knit, you know? Me and my dad," she'd said, a smile making its way to her face as she talked about her father, "I've never gone to the theatre with my dad and I'm planning to do just that on his birthday this October". There had been a pang in my chest then.

Jealousy.

Envy.

Why don't you and your dad do those?

I had known what was coming and I hoped I could turn back time just so I could've avoided my dad tagging along.

"I'm not going to the theatre with you. Just dropping you off" his voice had been stiff and blank with no emotion. So blunt that it seemed to have carried on with the same tone, pitch and vibrations if that was even possible.

"Oh. That's okay. You can if you want to, though. It'll be-" she had started.

"No" he'd replied. My leg had bounced nervously and I held my breath, waiting for the theatre to come into view. Didn't it use to take only around ten minutes to get there?

"I get it. There are different things people like. So, maybe we could do something else? What about a small dinner at my-"

The theatre had come into view just as my dad cut through her sentence, "No". Wren had opened her mouth to say something else but I saw it. The way her eyebrows are slightly knitted and her shoulders droop. Anger boiled within me. Breathing in and out a few times helped and the car slowed in front of the theatre. I stared at my dad pointedly in the mirror and just as he met my eyes, I reached around Wren to her door and opened it, gesturing for her to get out.

"Thank you for the lovely ride and for making my friend feel so beyond comfortable and respected" I'd smiled too sweetly at him before shutting the door behind me. I didn't wait to see if he drove off as I took Wren's hand and pulled her inside the huge building after me.

"Shouldn't we tell him when to pick us up?" Wren said, looking back. I tugged her arm, stepping up to the ticket counter.

"He'll be late so we can figure something out. Is that okay?" I had turned to her, meeting her eyes. I didn't want someone like her to get treated so dismissively by my father. Someone so sweet and talkative and someone who was lovable. She did not deserve that.

She'd smiled, "Okay, amare. Anything you say". I had booked the tickets and we grabbed some popcorn and two slushies before heading inside the hall. It hadn't been that crowded aside from the front two rows and a few seats at the top are filled up. We took our assigned seats and waited for the movie to start. I'd looked at her in the dark as the screen in front of us changed into different trailers of movies, the lights colouring her face. I'd reached out and touched her hand which was resting on the armrest we shared and wrapped my fingers around it. It didn't interlock in the way it does with Eli's; only her fingers folded over mine.