Fallen

38. Father Christmas

About a week later, it was the night before Christmas eve. Harper hadn't seen Ivy since their beach date because they were out of school. Harper was thankful for this; God knows she could use a break, yet it pained her not to see Ivy. In a miraculous miracle, Ivy said they could hang out today, and Harper could even come pick up Ivy at her house because her parents wouldn't be home. Long story short, she was wrong. Harper didn't know that Ivy had gone out somewhere, just to pop by. And Ivy didn't know her dad got home early. 

Harper got quite the surprise when she knocked on the door, patiently waiting to see her girlfriend's face. Instead of this, it was more like she got a slap in the face. 

"Er..Who are you?" A tall, dark haired man asked, peering down at Harper. 

"Oh..I-I'm Ivy's friend." Harper mumbled. "Harper..?" 

"Oh!" Ben exclaimed. "You're Harper!" 

She nodded in response, uneasy. 

"Well, Ivy's not here right now, but you can come in and wait for her." Ben suggested. 

Harper shook her head. "Oh- no, it's okay-" 

"No, really." Ben insisted, forcing Harper inside. 

Ben sat on the couch, offering Harper a seat too. She sat far away from him. For all Harper knew, Ben was a predator..

Ben smiled. "I'm Ben, Ivy's dad..I'm sure she's mentioned me." 

"Erm..Yeah." Harper said. 

Ben nodded, looking her up and down. "And you," He said. "You're Nick and Charlie's daughter." He mumbled, to which Harper nodded. 

"I used to hang out with your dads." Ben continued with a shrug. 

"Yeah." Harper scoffed. "I know." 

"Oh, so you do know." 

"Yeah."

"Well then." Ben muttered, sitting more comfortably now. "Whatever your dad told you isn't the truth. He's a dramatic little-" Ben cut himself off, giving a look to Harper that said 'you know what I mean.' 

Harper just nodded, starting to get up. "Well, I think I better go-" 

"No, stay." Ben ordered. "I wanna talk to you about your parents" 

"Sorry, I don't take orders from random 40 year old men.."  Harper said. 

Ben groaned. "I'm not as bad as your dads say I am." 

"Well sexually harassing my dad is pretty bad." 

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Ben cursed. "It wasn't like that. He came on to me, and he didn't say stop, I swear on everything!" 

Harper crossed her arms, not giving in to the lie for one second. "Whatever. Besides, it's terrible for you to be so homophobic, when you're not straight yourself." Harper mumbled. She had never been so disrespectful to an adult in her life; but Ben was different, he sexually abused her father. God, Ben was even worse than David. 

"About that.." Ben murmured. "I know that you and Ivy are doing more than she's letting on. You stay away from my daughter because I will not have her dating some twinkie girl, understood." He said as more of a statement than a question. 

"Understood." Harper said, getting up and heading for the door. "Merry Christmas." She added. Harper stormed out of the house, and she almost fell down the stairs when she bumped into someone. 

"Harper?" 

"Ivy?" 

"Oh fuck fuck fuck.." Ivy cursed, her heart rate increasing drastically. "Please tell me you didn't see my father."