My Superhero

Chapter 27

The car ride was silent. The strange thing was, the silence wasn't awkward or loaded like I'd expected it to be. It was...nice; the way it was back when we were friends, or whatever it is that we were. At one point I thought Jason had fallen asleep but when I subtly turned my head to look at him, I found him leaning his head against the window and staring out onto the streets. I couldn't help but stare at his profile, his sharp nose, his long boy-lashes, his pouty lips, and the way that his soft curls- which were in need of a haircut- were falling onto his forehead, obscuring half of his eyebrow. I was mad at him, furious even, but that didn't mean that I didn't miss the way that we were.

He stayed that way until the cab driver pulled over in front of the building where I live.

"Well, thanks for the ride," I said to Jason, who had righted himself and was staring at me with a weird intensity that I decided not to analyze, simply because I was too tired to.

"Thank the driver, not me," he said with a hint of a smirk, to which I replied with an eye-roll before I clambered out of the cab. I forced myself not to look back at him and just kept walking towards the building entrance. The night was chilly and dark, a soft wind blowing from the beach not far from here making me shiver slightly.

"Hey, Viv?" I heard Jason call from behind me just as I was about to pass the threshold of the door. I turned around to see his head pop out of the window. His eyebrows were drawn together, and his hair looked disheveled, like he had just run his hand through it.

"Yeah?" I prompted when he stayed quiet.

"Forget it," he said sighing, "goodnight Viviana."

I frowned and opened my mouth to answer him but before I could get my lips to move he had disappeared back inside the taxi, the driver driving off a second later. I hate it when people do that. What did he want to tell me? And why did he look so distressed? I could already feel the wheels of my brain grinding into action. I sighed and walked into the building, knowing that I won't be getting much sleep tonight.

As I walked up the stairs, I pulled my phone out of my purse and found three missed calls from Kate, and four messages, one from Miranda asking me how the party went, and three from Kate.

Okay, have fun. Be safe!

Why aren't you answering my calls? I'm starting to worry.

Viv, where are you? Come home now,it's urgent!!

The last message was only fifteen minutes ago, so I wasn't too late. My heart started beating faster as I rounded up the last set of stairs that led to the apartment. Did she find out about what happened? Is that why she wanted me to come home? I forced myself to calm down long enough to manage getting the key into its designated hole and twist, opening the apartment door to the sound of laughter.

Huh?

"Kate?" I called out, slowly nudging the door shut and taking my shoes off before walking in the direction of my sister's laughter.

"In the living room," she called back. Wasn't she supposed to be shouting at me for drinking? Why did she sound so happy.

A second later, I found out why.

There, on the couch facing the television, sat my father, his graying hair combed back to perfection, and his dark navy pants and white button up shirt as crisp and unwrinkled as ever.

"Dad!" I screamed, running towards him and throwing my arms around his neck. "Oh, dad I've missed you so much." I didn't even notice the tears that had started running down my face. He wrapped his arm around my waist and hugged me to him, smoothing down my hair the way he always used to whenever I'd have a bad dream when I was a child.