AMBER EYES (rewrite)

20 | catfight

"You have a call" is what Jude says to me when she wakes me up. "Calls, actually. Your phone has been going off every fifteen minutes. It's annoying."

With a sigh, I reach for my phone and see that I have two missed calls from Mason, seven from Iris, one from Kai, and one from Seb. However, it's the last, the most recent call that catches me off guard. It's my dad. I haven't talked to in months. I never thought he'd call me but he is, which means he probably wants something from me. I don't call him back.

Instead, I get up from bed and freshen myself up. Then, I consider giving Iris a call but think against it, realising that I would have to hear her whiny voice for minutes before she gets to the point. I call the only person who feels like would get to the point immediately without stretching the topic. I click on Mason's contact and he picks up quickly after three rings.

"You sure seemed like you were going to get a hangover," he says to me and I can hear the smile in his voice. "You drank more than I did."

I shrug. "Is that what you called me for?"

"I knew you could get impatient but I didn't know you were this impatient, Harley." I click my tongue in annoyance, rolling my eyes and he laughs. "Anyways. Iris has been bugging me a lot and says that she'll blame both of us if we don't plan on meeting her today. Normally it wouldn't bother me this much but she's called me thirteen times since this morning and sent me a hundred texts and it's getting so fucking annoying for me so do you mind meeting today at four in the studio? It's mostly booked today so we'll have to share it with someone but yeah there's no other option."

I let out a sigh, running a hand through my hair and closing my eyes. "Yeah. Whatever. I'll be there."

Just when I cut the call, my phone begins to ring all over again. Irritation creeps under my skin as I furrow my brows to read the contact on screen. My dad. I would have declined the call if I thought that he'd give up. It's him first. Then it will be Seb. And then it will be Mom. Or maybe even my sister, if she can.

"Morning, dad," I mutter as I accept the call. I try to hide the annoyance in my voice and I know I'm doing a good job at it when Jude glances at me, noticing the sudden change of tone and chuckles. Good that someone's finding this entertaining because I most definitely am not.

"It's almost noon," he says, his voice low and cold. I do sense that he's trying to be kind but I know that he cannot be so. Especially with me. "Did you just wake up?"

Almost noon is still morning, I want to say to him but I don't. "Yeah," I say. "Why did you call?"

He sighs in disappointment. "Is it bad that I want to make sure that you're okay? I haven't talked to you in months, Lee."

"Exactly my point." I run a hand through my hair, breathing out. "Just tell me what happened that made you remember that I exist?"

There's a pause. I can literally see him fuming on the other side but even if he is, he tries not to show it in his voice. "Next month, there's a dinner party here. You've never attended it before but this time, you have to. For the sake of my reputation, do it."

The annoyance running through and through my head only seemed to increase. "I'm not doing that. You've never cared about it before. No. I'm not coming."

"Harley," he breathes out. "You don't have a choice. Usually it would be your sister attending these but since-"

"Then why don't you fucking ask her to attend it again?" I snap. "I do not fucking care about your work. Not even a little bit."

"You know I can't-"

"Cool. I'm not interested at all."

With that, I hang up. I know what he must be thinking. I know how angry he must be at me right now but if there's something I've learnt from living with him, it's the art of ignoring what people, even when they are close to me and their opinion on me should matter to me, said no matter what. Never let it get to your head, I'd tell myself. Just do what you have to do.