The Only Exception

One

~Lainey~

"No, just grabbing a smoothie with Chels and heading home." Chelsea rolled her eyes, leaning back against the counter and drawing a halo over around her head, smiling gleefully at me. I smirked, grabbing my drink as the guy behind the counter slid it down. A piece of paper followed immediately, name and number scribbled with a little note of 'call me'. 

4 minutes of openly checking the guy out with Chels whilst talking about some standard drama in dance class. Another rumor about one of the girls dating one of the guys from the office or one of the instructors. Not like anyone in that class would be the first to do it. Only difference was doing it without anyone knowing about it. Leaving him so broken hearted he refuses to even admit it happened. Win win. 

Adam, as it turns out the baristas name is, wasn't my type. Red head, a little scrawny. He seemed to have confidence, sliding the note over. But he seemed a little too nice. He had potential to be wonderful to someone. I wasn't about to ruin the guy for them.  I signed for a pen and he handed one right over. 

'Sorry, you seem sweet but you're really not my type. Best of luck though x' 

I slid it back to him, giving him a sorry smile before nodding my head at Chelsea for us to leave. 

"Lainey? Are you there?" 

"Yeah. Sorry dad, was just grabbing my drink. What were you saying?" 

"I was asking how school is going? Honestly Lainey. I'm gone 4 days." 

"Exactly dad, you've been gone 4 days. I've been to classes. Handed in a paper or 2. There is nothing huge going to happen in 4 days." He grunted down the line. "Everything is perfectly fine. Chels is staying over tonight and we're having a girls night, face masks and everything. Tomorrow we're working on some assignments and some extra curricular stuff and if we have time we're going to go shopping. It's literally no big deal. Nothing is out of place from normal other than Chelsea staying at ours instead of me staying at hers. Relax. Everything's fine." 

Every single time dad was away for work he got like this and it didn't make sense how he was getting worse with it the older I got. The first time I was home alone at 16 he called me 3 times in the whole week. In all fairness, the housekeeper was probably reporting back that I hadn't washed my dishes and that I'd slept in my bed so he was well aware I was fine. I was over the anxiety of being alone now. I spent most of the year home alone. At 21, it wasn't exactly like I was still a teen. I finished college in 3 months. I was, for all intents and purposes, a fully grown adult. 

"Yes. I know." Dad sighed. "I just don't like you being home alone so much." 

"I'm fine dad."

"You say that Lanes, but all it takes-" 

"Dad." I rolled my eyes, shifting my weight onto my hip as Chelsea looked well and truly bored. 

"I'm going to get Noah to drop in." 

"What? No!" I shifted my hold on the phone quickly, standing up straight. "Why? I said everything's fine. You've been gone a few days." 

"I know. But a few other apartments have been broken into on the block the last few weeks. Having him dropping by might deter anyone from-" 

"Dad, you have security on the front doors, cameras in every hallway that's constantly watched. No one can get in there without living in the building or having pre-registered authorization. No one is getting in. I don't need Noah checking up on me. I'm not 10. Noah's got his own stuff going on." 

"Too late. He'll be there in the morning to check everything over. Until I'm sure you're okay there. I have to go Lanes. Be nice to your brother. I'll speak to you soon." The phone line disconnected and I locked my phone, pushing it into my pocket, staring at Chels in pure shock.