The Bad Boy Calls Me Bambi

Chapter 14: Three steps backward, four steps for ~Part II

Part II

Hayden watched as Courage opened his mouth and was about to start explaining when I stopped him, surprisingly.

"What if I don't want to know?" I asked.

"Then you don't need to hear it, but I need you to believe me when I say that you are the only one I cared about. I'm not going to go into a huge sappy speech and pull out a giant ring, yet. But you have to believe me when I say that I have never cared about someone as much as I have you, Lydia," he said, staring at me with eyes wide open shining with honesty.

I nodded, "Okay, prove it then. Not now, right now I want to know why you keep calling me Lydia." I demanded.

"It's your name?" He said, confused.

I snorted, "Well, yes, it's on my birth certificate, Hayden. But I thought we already discussed that you were going to keep the nickname."

"I thought you didn't like Bambi, Lydia. Why would you want me to call you it? Especially if you're debating calling your dad and Courage back in here to take you home, " Hayden said and I realized that my dad and Courage had left the room.

"If I knew I would be able to tell you. I don't know, so I can't tell you. And even if I did know, I still wouldn't tell you," I said, then smirked. "Call my dad in, would ya?"

He nodded, and stepped out of the room. He came back in a few moment later with my father. "You ready, kid?"

"Yeah, why not?" I answered, then put my arms up in a motion inviting my dad to carry me. He came over, grabbed me and I heard Hayden talk.

"You're leaving?" He asked, and I looked back at him.

"Yeah. Calm down Hayde, we'll see other soon," I said to him, even though I didn't feel like leaving either.

--

"Kid, you want to tell me what's got you so silent right there? I don't think you've ever not talked this much before. That's a new record," he said, jokingly and I smiled a little. When I realized what I wanted to say, my smile dropped slightly.

"How long was I there?" I asked me dad. His eyes grew cold and distant, and his voice was clipped when he answered.

"Three days," he answered tensely. He parked the car and we both got out of the car. Well, I waited for him to come over to my side and he carried me inside and dropped me on the couch.

"Not bad," I said quietly.

"Not bad?! Really, Lydia? Do you know how out of my mind I was looking for you? Did you think I was totally fine when they were doing only God knows what to you? I wasn't, Lydia! At all! I didn't even know if you were alive or dead every time I sat at that computer trying to find you. If I would've paid more attention, then you wouldn't have had to go through that, Lydia! Do you understand that if I would've paid more attention you wouldn't have gotten hurt. You wouldn't have had to have nightmares almost every day. If I wuld have paid more attention, you wouldn't have had to be scared every time I left the house! I should have paid attention!" And as he finished, I saw my dad start to cry for the first time I could remember.

"Dad, it's not your fault. How many times do I have to remind you of this?" I said, as I moved closer and dragged him back onto the couch off of the floor.

"Lyd, you can tell me that all you want, but it was my fault. We're not discussing this now, though," he said, as he tried to wipe his eyes and sniffled a little.

"No. I'm tired of you trying to be strong for me and I'm tired of you brushing it off every time it comes up. Why do you insist on keeping everything locked up when I am right here?! He's gone! He's dead, he can't hurt me anymore! So, tell me, why are you still holding it in?!" I finally screamed. It felt good to finally get this off of my chest.