Love Shy

Chapter Ten

Finally the door opened and my eyes shot to Rio's face. He was smiling? Oh. He winked at me and threw the Cornetto ice cream to me which I missed still staring in confusion. Why was he happy? Now I was really scared. Dad wandered in after him and they resumed their original positions, Rio in the arm chair and dad on the sofa. I was on the floor in front of the sofa, nowhere near Rio kmt. I collected my ice cream from the floor and ate it sulking as I watched the rest of the film. After that Carina said she had to go home so Cody stood on cue, awwww what a gentleman. Kayla and Chris agreed they should make a move and everyone looked at Rio waiting for him to stand with them like he normally did. He didn’t. What the hell was going on here? Dad was standing in the hall stretching.

“Ready?” Chris asked Rio pointedly and he looked up from his phone.

“Nah nah Imma stay a bit,” he said. Oh. This was news to me. I stood gobsmacked as got up to spud Cody and Chris. Carina and Kayla gave him a joint hug and I left him in the front room to go to the door with them, still utterly confused.  I gave them all a hug and Carina squeezed me tight and whispered good luck before both her and Kayla demanded I text them to let them know what was happening. At least I weren’t the only one confused. I suddenly felt really hot.

I returned to the front room to see dad and Rio in a serious conversation in the corner of the room. I cleared my throat as I walked a little closer and they both spun away from each other. Rio had a sheepish smile on his face and dad looked thoughtful as he stared at me arms crossed.

“So I hear my baby girl has a boyfriend now?” he said and my heart dropped through my body. I stood frozen wishing the floor would swallow me. “Took you long enough to tell me.” I glanced at Rio the traitor and he was brushing his hair down with his bad hand. I wanted to break the other one. “Shy?” my dad brought me out of my trance and my tongue felt heavy and dry in my mouth, all I could do was nod weakly. I knew I was possibly the reddest I had ever been as I ducked my head down to look at my socks. My dad chuckled. “He was a lot braver than you Shy.” My head snapped up. Wait was I being mocked?? My dad was laughing, does that me he weren’t mad? Rio held out his hand and with heavy feet I made the steps to get to him. My knees felt like jelly. His hand grasped mine and squeezed tightly before I looked up again. Dad was still staring and Rio was talking but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I tried to focus over the ringing in my ears and the heat in my face and heard the last of my dad’s sentence. “You look after my little girl Rio. I like you but I won’t hesitate to have my sons break you apart if you treat her wrong.”

“No chance of that happening sir,” Rio’s response was sincere. I was still in shock. Dad gave me a quick hug and kissed me on my forehead.

“You can talk to me you know child?” dad said smiling at me. And I smiled back.

“Thank you daddy”

“Rio I don’t wanna see your face upstairs unless you’re using the toilet. You guys know the rules. Shy get the blankets out. Imma be upstairs.”  Dad called behind him as he headed upstairs. Wait when was this decided? Dad was already making his way up the stairs and I turned to Rio who was smiling, no...grinning like an idiot.

“I guess we are official now,” he said pulling me into a hug.

“What happened?” I asked finally finding my voice. Rio laughed.

“Go get the stuff and I’ll explain it all.” I rushed to get the blankets and pillows and changed into my night clothes before re-entering the front room and dumping it all on him. I made us both a hot chocolate and put on Love and Basketball before cuddling into Rio’s strong embrace and waiting for him to begin his story. “Basically your dad caught me staring and asked me what my intentions were. Asked me about exes and warned me you’re a good girl and not to trouble you if I was just in it for fun. I got a proper warning and some advice and he said I was a good kid and I seemed to make you happy so as long as I didn’t distract you from school or hurt you he was happy. That’s it.” I nodded understanding his explanation and feeling surprisingly good that dad knew.