Daddy Issues

14 - Band practice

Calvin texted me a couple more times to apologize. Followed up immediately by texts asking me again not to out him to his girlfriend, making me pretty sure that he's not actually sorry. I decided to block him. Mel always told me she thought he was a douche, but I always liked that we kept things real with each other without having any expectations. But I feel horrible about having sex with him when he has a girlfriend. And he knew I would. Maybe he really is just a douche.

I try to put it all out of my mind as much as possible when I wake up. Which I do pretty late because I stayed up until around 3, reading the new book Dan got me. Somehow, it's even better than Gates to the Grave. If I hadn't been hungry, I might have just stayed in bed all day to read some more. But I am, so I get up to find myself some food.

I don't bother to shower or to put some decent clothes on. I just put my hair up in a bun, pull on a sweatshirt over my pajamas and head downstairs. But then...

'Morning.'

'Jesus!'

I nearly tumble down the stairs when Dan's voice pops up behind me. With a pounding heart, I grab on to the banister and turn around to throw him a furious look.

'I'm sorry,' he laughs. 'Didn't mean to scare you.'

'What are you doing here?' I ask exasperatedly. 'Aren't you working?'

'I work from home on Thursdays,' he says, pointing back at the study he just stepped out of.

'Why?'

'Why? Well, it's convenient. I can eat a little earlier before I go to band practice.'

I take the bun out and shake out my hair a little as I walk down the stairs because Dan follows me and I look ridiculous. If I had known he was at the house, I would have made sure to look a little more put together.

'Oh, so you won't be home tonight?' I ask. To my own dismay, it comes out sounding a little disappointed. Dan seems to catch it too.

'I'll be back around 10.30,' he says. 'A little late for dinosaurs.'

'Yeah, sure, no problem,' I say nonchalantly.

I take some yogurt from the fridge and pour in some cereal. Then I watch Dan grab some bread to make himself a sandwich.

'You haven't had breakfast yet?'

'It's lunchtime, honey,' he says a little condescendingly.

'Oh well, excuse me,' I retort. 'It's your fault I'm up so late, you know.'

'How's that?' he asks confused.

'I've been up all night reading this.'

I show him the book that I carried downstairs with me. He takes a curious look, then his lips curl up into a smile.

'So you like it?'

'It's amazing. Thank you.'

'You're welcome,' he says, smiling broadly. 'At this rate, I'll lose all my money on that book store.'

'You must have a lot of books yourself. Can't you lend me some?'

'Oh yeah,' he says enthusiastically. 'Take a look through my collection whenever you want. They're still mostly in boxes in the attic.'

'Thanks,' I smile. 'I'll finish this one first, though.'

'If you like it, you've got 4 more to go.'

'We'll see.'

I already know I'll definitely be reading them all. But I don't want to give him too much satisfaction for getting me into reading. Still, he smiles knowingly.