It's official. I hate Brad and Don. There was not a moment of silence in five hours. They were constantly talking or playing games. Worst thing is, I left my headphones in my suitcase. Griffy fell asleep after an hour, the lucky shit. Finally, we pull up to the house we are staying at. It is like what you always imagine a Christmas vacation home to look like. As soon as the car stops, I jump out and stand Griffy up in the thick snow. He immediately starts to play in it. I crouch beside him and start to take pictures of him being cute while everyone else starts getting out the car.
"Dad, thank you. You make a five-hour trip go by like that!" Brad says getting out the car.
"I just wanted everybody to have a good time." Don says cheerfully. Aww, he is too sweet to tell him that he made it worse.
"Nothing like a nice, relaxing road trip, huh, Dad?" Dad says to Grandpa Kurt sarcastically.
"It was nothing. I've been in a confined space with a chimp." Grandpa says back to him.
Just then, I happen to look up from my phone and see a boy around my age with a girl around Adrianna's age. The boy is probably the cutest guy I have ever seen.
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He looks up and we make eye contact. We both smile at each other and wave a little. He goes back to building a snow man with the little girl and keeps looking over at me with a bright smile, which I obviously return. Out of nowhere, a snowball hits me straight in the face causing me to fall on my butt. I look up to see dad glaring at me with a slightly snowy hand.
"What the hell dad?" I say to him standing up and glaring back at him.
"Don't even think about it. You are too young for a boyfriend." He says walking to the trunk of his car. I make a snow ball and throw it at him. It lands in the centre of his head. He turns to me and I just smile at him.
"Nice hit baby!" Grandpa Kurt says laughing at dad.
"I'm gonna get Rocko inside. Get him settled." I walk to the trunk and open it for Rocko to climb out. I grab his lead and take him into the house to have a look around. I look at the boy again before I walk inside and he gives me a sympathetic look. Great.
Dusty POV:
As I get out of the car, I look and see Sophie taking pictures of Griffy in the snow. However, she isn't even looking at Griffy. I follow where she is looking and see a boy a little older than her smiling at her. Oh hell no. I make a snowball and through it at her. It hits her and she looks at me with the same look I'm probably giving her.
"What the hell dad?" She says standing up.
"Don't even think about it. You are too young for a boyfriend." I warn her. I turn to start emptying my trunk when something hits me on the back of the head. I turn to see Soph smiling at me. Damn, she has an arm on her.
"Nice hit baby!" Dad says laughing at me.
"I'm gonna get Rocko inside. Get him settled." She says getting Rocko out the trunk and heading inside.
"What was that about baby?" Karen asks me getting out the car.
"She was staring at that boy over there and he was giving her a look right back." I tell her annoyed yet slightly proud of how good my baby is at throwing.
"Well, Dusty, she is 14 now. She started high school this year and is growing up. She is starting to notice boys." Sarah says getting a bag out.
"No. No. She is still too young." I tell her.
"You know, maybe instead of trying to stop her, we should talk to her about it all." Brad says in his usual happy tone.
"What do you mean talk to her Brad?" I ask him in a slightly threatening tone. "You mean the talk-talk? The nitty-gritty talk? I thought Sara already talked to her about all that." I say slightly disgusted.
"Yeah I did. But not about boys. About all the other fun stuff you guys were too scared to." Sara says. "Maybe you and Brad could talk to her." She suggests.
"That's a great idea Sara. I read in an article about raising how to raise the new generation that young girls can greatly benefit having an open conversation with their father figures about these sort of things. Apparently they learn a lot more by talking to their father about this stuff then anyone else." Don says adding to the conversation. Dammit, as much as I do not want to admit it but its true. I mean, it's better I make sure she know's about all that stuff than her learning on her own and making a huge mistake.
"Fine. I'm on it, Sar-Bear. I'll talk to her. It's gonna be awkward as hell but I will tell Soph about all that stuff. Do you think I should teach her how to fight as well?" I ask trying to remember if I had taught her how to fight yet.
"Is this a co-dadding moment?" Dad says pointing between me and Brad.
"No." I say immediately.
"No." Brad also says at the same time. Damn it no. Dad is not building that bridge between us.
"I mean, no, of course it is." I say to him
"It is." Brad says cautiously but clearly getting excited.
"Yeah, it is. It's gonna be." I tell him firmly.
"Okay, yeah." Brad says smiling brightly.
"Yeah, we're gonna talk to her together." I say matter of factly. We do everything else together as a team so I don't see why we wouldn't talk to Sophie as a team.
"Oh, Dusty! I read about some flashcards we could use." Brad says excitedly.
"Flashcards. He's got flashcards to teach your daughter how to not get screwed over by a guy." Dad says to me.
"No, of course not. They cover hormones, feelings and protection." Brad says. I cringe at just the thought of having to teach my daughter about protection.
"Okay, great. You tee it up with the flashcards, and I'll knock it home with the heartwarming speech." I tell him. We can do this. It may be the most uncomfortable conversation ever but at least I will have the comfort of knowing I have educated my daughter.
"All right? We got this." Brad says confidently.
"Oh yeah. Soph is gonna love the flashcards. Can't wait to see how quickly she can set them on fire." Dad says walking towards the house. We get the rest of the bags out and follow him into the house.
"I'll never forget when Brad first started asking questions about girls. I took him out for "the talk." He was so inquisitive and attentive. Then I dropped him back off at his dorm." Don says in his usual cheerful tone making all of us slightly uncomfortable.
