Mistakes

Eight

Calum

I beat both of them, mostly because they had hangover and I kept yelling, trying to distract them. Luke was out getting Alka-Seltzer for Michael who had thrown up after I shook him when I won. Oops.

"Didn't you say he'd be here in 30 min with Gail?" I asked Michael, who was leaving over the sink, looking like he was going to throw up again.

"Her name is Dale, and that was 30 minutes ago." He burped loudly.

"They should be here by now. Where are they?" Luke walked in the kitchen, grocery bags in his hands.

Michael searched for the alka-seltzer, making one for himself as soon as he found it. Luke chugged a bottle of ginger ale, and I laughed at both of them as they burped loudly.

"Ew, your breath stinks." I shouted.

"So does your Mum's." Michael said, making Luke giggle.

"Hey, now." Ashton came in the kitchen. "Don't be rude."

"Where is Da- oh." Dale walked in the room, wearing Ashton's hoodie which looked humongous on her.

She had a pink bow on, instead of the black one I saw this morning.

"What happened to the bo-" Ashton covered Luke's mouth with his hand before he could finish his sentence.

"Look at the one I got her. Isn't it beautiful?" Ashton said, Luke pulling his hand off his mouth.

"It's pretty." Michael said, burping again.

There was an awkward silence. Michael ran out the room, making gagging noises as he ran.

"Ew." Luke whined.

"Um, Calum, show Dale her room." He smiled, obviously a fake smile.

"Wha-"

"The guest room next to my room." He mouthed at me.

"Ok." I said. "Come on, Dale."

I walked out the kitchen and into the hall. Dale walked out the kitchen behind me, looking really sad.

"What's wrong?" I asked her, pulling the hood off her head. "Take it off, you're sweating."

She hesitated to unzip the hoodie, pulling it off after I told her to take it off again.

"You okay?" I asked.

She nodded, her face saying otherwise.

"You don't look okay." I told her, bending down on one knee to get to her height.

She just stared at me, like she wanted to say something but was afraid to. Her grey eyes held fear, something I was familiar with.

"Let me show you your room." I said, walking down the hall and up the stairs.

She followed close behind me, looking around the place with curious eyes. I saw her looking at the picture of Ashton making a silly face.

"He's always like that, making everyone laugh." I told her, laughing at it.

"A-Always?" She whispered.

"Always. I'm sure he'll be a great dad." I said awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

She shook her head like she was disagreeing. I wanted to ask what she meant, but we were standing in front of the guest room door. Well, her room now.

"Here it is." I pointed at the door, waiting for her to look in.

She stood there, staring at the door. I opened it awkwardly, waiting for her to walk in. She just took a peek, and froze.

"Dale?" I asked, tapping her shoulder. "You okay?"

She slowly walked in the room, looking around in awe.

"M-M-Mine?" She stuttered.

"All yours." I leaned on the door frame, finally understanding why she was amazed.

It was the second biggest guest room in the house. Michael wanted it, but he took the biggest room instead.

"We'll have to get you stuff, obviously, but this is your new room."

There was a bed and a wardrobe, and the other things you'd see in a bedroom. But it wasn't decorated, it was all white. We didn't usually have guests, so we never fixed it up.

"I'll let you soak it all in. We'll all be downstairs if you need us." I told her.

She turned on her heel to face me. She stared at me for a moment, which felt weird, then walked up to me.

"I-Is A-Ash-shton m-m-my d-d-dad?" She asked me.

"Yup." I nodded. "You're Dale Irwin."