He's Not Your Average Bad Boy (Harry Styles Fanfiction)

Chapter 14

I got up from the floor and wiped my tears. I looked at Ian and gave a fake smile, I still don't consider him my dad, but he was trying.

"It will be okay... I never let a boy stop me before." I gave Ian a slight smile.

Ian sighed and sat on my bed, he beckoned me to sit next to him so I did. I looked at him waiting for him to talk, but he didn't say anything. 

"Ian?" 

"Sorry, I'm just thinking about life, ya know?" He forced a laugh, "I just always had this thought that a little girl needed her dad, at least that's what my mother told me... my dad walked out on us too."

"What? So wait we actually have something in common." I joked trying to lighten the mood.

"Ha, yeah... But I just always pushed myself to be anything but my father, and I ended up being the same as him." He looked down ashamed.

"Why did you leave?" I asked

"Because I always saw examples of what a good father should be like, from my friends' dads, and I said to myself 'I'm gonna be a good father one day like him.' Except when I was 17 I started getting into bad habits like drinking and partying...." 

He took a pause and looked at me "When I was 21 I got your mother pregnant, and I was petrified. I came to a realization that I was not going to be a good father, that I could never live up to the expectations of your mother or...you. You would look at other dads and wish they were your father-"

I scoffed, "Ian I wouldn't have thought that!"

He smiled softly and said, "I know but that's not the point..."

At this point I got annoyed and rolled my eyes, "Okay so then what is!"

He laughed at me, "The point is you or your mother never really needed me. You are everything that I couldn't have taught you, being the delinquent I was, you are a smart, confident, and absolutely beautiful young woman. I couldn't be more proud of what you turned out to be. My one regret is that I wasn't able to see that transformation."

I felt something wet falling down my face. Tears. The good kind of tears because all my life this is what I wanted to hear from my father. Not that he isn't a good father, or that he regretted not being here, but because he was proud of me. 

"Thank you, dad." I smiled, a real smile this time.

Ian hugged me, "I love you, Kennedy."

"Love you too."