Disconnected (Luke Hemmings AU)

Chapter 6

YAY! Another week, another chapter. Sorry I was late! (BTW big plot twist coming your waaay)

The next morning, my dad asked me to go for a drive with him alone.

"Am I in some kind of trouble?" I asked when we got into the rental car and he started its engine. It was already hot and steamy at eight in the morning.

"No, not trouble," my dad assured me. "Jill just told me that you went off on your own during the show last night. I wanted to remind you that you're only fifteen. If someone were to walk off with you, I'm not sure what we'd do, Allison."

"Dad, I'm not a piece of luggage. No one is going to walk of with me," I complained. "Besides, you told me that if I came this summer I'd get to see all this great stuff. So far I haven't seen anything except a couple of store in downtown Atlanta, I have to spend every day with Jill while you're off rehearsing and doing sound checks and I don't think she likes me." I said, throwing my hands up.

We drove along a broad highway with an enormous expanse of blue sky above us and skyscrapers in the distance.

"What do you mean, doesn't like you? She told me this morning that you guys had a great time yesterday," Dad corrected me. "Look, she's taking the whole think with you joining our family very seriously. She wants you to be friends but she also knows she's going to have to do a lot of the parenting this summer while I'm on stage. I get that you didn't have a lot of disciplining with your mom. It's cool, all right? If Jill's coming on too strong then we should sit and talk it out."

My dad could make anything sound so easy. It was part of his appeal and no doubt was why the band was so successful.

We drove into downtown Atlanta and went to a small diner. As we walked in, conversations stopped mid-sentence and heads turned. The buxom middle-aged waitress who greeted us was smiling ear to ear.

 "Welcome to Buster's Diner," she cooed, motioning for us to follow her to a empty table. "Why this is so exciting! Cameron  Atwood at our very own little diner! Can I get you a coffee to get started, Mr. Atwood?" 

My father loved the attention, I noticed. He really was a bit of a fame whore.

"Why certainly, Doris," he told the waitress, reading her name tag with smile. "And an orange juice for the little lady, here, too."

Did I mention that he was also an incorrigible flirt?

"I'll have coffee," I corrected him.

"Go easy on Jill," Dad told me. "I know sometimes she can be tough. But she keeps me in line. She really takes care of me, I know it's her intention to do the same for you."

After we finished our breakfast, Dad pulled two tickets out of his wallet for the show that night and hand them to Doris along with cash to pay our check. "Two tickets for tonight's sold out show," he told her. "I'd love for you to join us if you don't have plans."

The waitress was floored. I mean, fanning herself and hyperventilating. The works. Total fangirl. And I could tell that it meant a lot to my dad that he made a working-class waitress so happy. so much that I wondered a little if our private breakfast in town had been more of  a small publicity stunt that he had orchestrated than purely a one-on-one daddy/daughter breakfast.

On our way back to the car, a gold Saturn was pulling into the parking lot. It was Luke and his mom, I was sure of it, and my heart skipped a beat. I waved at Luke, who was in the passenger seat. My father grunted something and looked at the ground, picking up his pace so as to get me into our rental car before Luke and his mom were able to park.

"Good morning, Cameron!" Luke's mom bellowed across the small parking lot.

"Hey, Liz!" My father exclaimed as if he hadn't just tried to avoid her entirely. His keys were in the driver's side door of the rental, but he hadn't been able to get the door open fast enough to save himself from the social exchange. "Fancy meeting you here."

"And hello again, Miss Allison," Luke's mom said to me. She was walking toward us in a leopard-print sundress and towering espadrilles. Luke was shuffling behind her, looking at the ground. "Are you enjoying the tour so far?"

"Sure," I said with a forced smile.

"Be sure to try the Belgian waffle in there, it's not to be missed," my father advised Luke's mom, dismissing her. With that he hopped into the rental car and started the engine.

I caught Luke's eye and we both grimaced at each other. Something had just happened here; obviously my dad knew Luke's mom and wasn't at all pleased to see her. Luke's expression gave me no insight into what I had just witnessed. I climbed into the car and Dad backed out of the space.

"I'd appreciate it if you would stay away from that woman," my father told me calmly.

"Why? She seems nice enough," I said.

"Groupies are just trouble," Dad warned me. "They ask for help and you offer it and then it amounts to heaps of regret."

I was no match for his cryptic statements and he was in no mood to be pressed further for information.

The rest of the way back to the hotel I thought to myself, "What the actual frick was that?"

AYYYE. So, what did you guys think? I'm so excited for the next chapter! :) Happy Saturday! -Leslie