Daddy's Home - Sophie Mayron

11

We are now at the basket ball game that step-douche brought tickets for. The puppy is sleeping in my bed at home. I need to think of a name for him. We are walking down the steps trying to find our seats.

"You guys got enough candy?" Step-douche asks us.

"Yeah." Megan and Dylan reply.

"Remember, you can have anything you want, 'cause it's Christmas!" Brad cheers excitedly.

"No it's not. This is you trying to prove you are better than our dad by buying our love." I scoff at him.

"Oh well, here we are." Step-douche says stopping by a row of seats. "Pretty good seats right? Sara you first, then you Sophie. Megan you sit down right next to her. Perfect. Dylan you sit right next to me. And, Dusty, I'm sorry. I could only get five in a row. I couldn't get six. So you're across the aisle next to that gentleman." Dad says pointing dad to a guy in an American flag vest.

"All right, guys, I'll be right here." Dad says sitting down. I wanna go and sit with dad but the game is already starting and I do not think Mom will let me sit next to American vest guy.

"Look, there's Kobe! It's him! He's right there." Dylan yells excitedly when he see's his favourite player. "Thank you, Brad, this is the best present I've ever gotten." Dylan hugs Step-douche.

"You are so welcome. I'm glad to hear it's the best present you've ever got!" Step-douche hugs him back and says it loud enough so that Dad can hear. Mom leans over me to ask step-douche a question.

"How much did these seats cost?" She asks him.

"Not too much." He replies shaking his head clearly not wanting to tell her.

The announcer starts speaking about the kids from Hearts of Courage when someone walks up to dad.

"Dusty! Dusty Mayron!" The guy says excitedly walking up to him.

"Marco? Hey!" Dad says pulling him in for that bro hug thing guys do. "What's up man? Are you coaching now?" Dad asks him.

"Yeah, I'm the new strength and conditioning coach." The guy, Marco, says to dad smiling.

"Oh, man. Check you out. Hey, I played ball with him in Italy." Dad says turning to us. "This is my famiy. My little guy, Dylan. He's the biggest Kobe fan in the world."

"Really? Well, come on down. I'll introduce you." Marco says causing Dylan to look at him gobsmacked.

"What?" He says in disbelief.

"You want to meet Kobe?"  Dad asks him causing him to nod his head excitedly.

"Bring the whole family down. You guys can sit with the team." Marco says gesturing to all of us before walking downthe steps. Dylan, Megan and I all get up and follow dad and Marco down the steps.

"Hey, these are my little girl's Megan and Sophie. They just invited me to the Daddy daughter dance." Dad says putting his arm around my shoulder. I asked him last night before I went to bed. I made him promise that he would be there, not just for me but for Meg.

I hear Step-douche yelling something. Turning around, Mom is walking away looking mad while step-douche looks sad. Great. Now they are fighting. I don't dwell on it too long cause we are introduced to the team which is awesome. The game starts and sitting this close is really good. I keep looking back at step-douche who is sat in our original seats drinking. A feeling starts growing in me. I think, I think I feel sympathy for him. Ew.

"What's up, everybody? Let's make some noise!" An announcer yells from the court with cheerleaders around him. "Tonight, one lucky fan is going to get a chance to shoot from half court to win a family vacation to Disney World! And our lucky fan is sitting in section 113, row 6, C-1. Where is he? Let's see it. Where is he?" He says into the microphone causing everyone to look at their tickets.

"It's me. It's me, I win!" Step-douche yells standing up clearly drunk. "I'm a make it to Disneyland. I'm a make it all right." He slurs stumbling down the steps to the announcer. Megan and Dylan cheer him on while Mom, Dad and I just look worried. He is definitely gonna mess things up.

"All right, sir, how you doing? What's your name?" The announcer asks him, putting the microphone to his face.

"First off, I love my kids." Step-douche slurs.

"He loves his kids! Let's give it up!" The announcer says trying to distract everyone from the clearly drunk dude.

"And if anyone was ever to do anything to them, I would hurt them. I would freakin' hurt them!" He slurs again. Ok. Now I am genuinly embarrassed by this dude.

"Okay." The announcer says uncomfortable. He tries to take the microphone back but step-douche takes it from him.

"This guy over here is trying to take them! Trying to steal my family. He doesn't sweat!" Step-douche says pointing at dad.

"Okay, you know what? Why don't we just shoot..." The announcer says pointing at the hoop but step-douche interrupts him again.

"But I got news for you, buddy! Last night, while you were sleeping, I made love to our wife! My wife! Sara, right over there! Took my wiener out of my pants!" He yells looking at Dad. Mom and Dad cover Megan and Dylans ears but that left me listening to everything he said. I can feel the puke coming up my throat. He is the worst.

"This is a family event, okay?" The announcer says causing the crowd to start booing at step-douche. I would boo aswell but I think it would be a bit innapropriate to do so infront of Megan and Dylan.

"So, even if Sara does pick you, you're going to have to be the stepdad to my kid! You see how you like it! Okay?" Step-douche starts again at dad.

"Let's get somebody else down here, all right? Somebody else... Somebody else is going to win a family trip!" The announcer says looking at the crowd.

"Give me that ball, you. This one's for Dylan and Megan and Sara and Dylan and Soph. Nothing but net." Step-douche says snatching the ball.

"All right, he's going for it!" The announcer cheers. Brad throws the ball in the complete wrong direction and ends up smashing a cheer leader in the face. Everyone in the crowd gasps as we watch the cheerleader drop to the floor and step-douche spinning around.

"Do-over! That's a do-over!" Brad yells walking towards the rack of balls at the side of the court.

"No do-over. No." The announcer says trying to stop him but step-douche just pushes past him shouting.

"It's a do-over!" Step-douche throws the ball again but completely misses and hits one of the Hearts of Courage kids right in the face. Everyone gasps again and step-douche falls onto the floor. Security comes down and and literally carries him up the stairs and presumably out of the stadium. Well, I guess that marks the end of step-douche and Mom.

---------------------Time Skip------------------------

It's that night and Mom kicked step-douche out. She also wouldn't let dad stay the night which I kinda get. I'm in my room in bed on my phone with my new puppy on my lap sleeping when she walks in and sits on the end of my bed.

"Hey honey. I'm sorry you had to see that today. Are you ok?" She says rubbing my leg.

"I'm ok. Are you ok?" I ask sitting up.

"Yeah. Just, gonna have to figure some stuff out with Brad." She says looking like she was about to cry.

"You know, I think you should forgive him. Even though I don't like him and I think he is a douche, I know you, Megan and Dylan love him. Soo, I can swallow it if you want to give him a second chance." I say to her with a small smile. For my family, I could put up with the step-douche for a while........or for the rest of my life.

"Thanks sweetheart. Now you get to sleep. School tomorrow." She says kissing my head and leaving my room. Before the door closes, I call out to her.

"Mom." She puts her head through the door. "I can keep Rocko right?" I ask her with my best puppy eyes. She looks confused so I point at the sleeping puppy.

"Yes. You can keep him." She says smiling. She shakes her head and closes the door behind her. I pick him up so I can lay down. Slowly, I fall asleep.