With a Chance of Jake

Confrontation

He knew I was there. I could feel his eyes beaming down into my soul even though he wasnt looking at me. Why was he here!? I tried my best to walk quietly to my bedroom, but he had seen me. "Stop", he said. I stopped in the middle of the hallway without any hesitation. There was silence for about 5 minutes with me staring at the ground, and him staring into my mind. "Ashley", he said softly. The words sent chills down my spine. I wanted to die right there, but I knew I couldn't. He'd be too quick. He'd rather have me suffer than to end it all. "Come", he said softly but sternly. The words haunted me. I stood completely still in the hallway before he broke through me. "Come!", this time he was louder. I walked slowly into the living room and stood next to the couch. "Sit", he said. I sat down on the chair next to the couch, and faced my attention away from him. I knew he wasn't looking at me, but on the off chance that he was, I wasn't going to lock eyes with him. But that meant nothing to him. "Look at me when I'm talking to you", he said. I dreaded seeing his face. I slowly turnes around and faced him. I looked into his eyes, which were still facing the ground, and I saw pain. Suffering. He had been crying. In my 16 years, I'd never seen my father cry, or seen him after he had been crying. "Where were you"?, he said softly. I tried to speak but the words wouldn't come out. Just then my phone rang, it was Jake. I didn't even dare to look at it.Things were too serious. I just let it ring, then waited for the awkward silence that was to come after it ended. "Where were you!", he said, this time louder than before. "I was at a party", I said. The words barely came out, and when they did, they were mumbled. "Do you know how horrible it is to not know where someone is? Your mom told me that you would be back at 8 pm last night! It's 8 am Ashley! Where was your phone. What was going on at this party huh? It must've been one hell of a party for you to be there for 12 hours!" He had gotten up now and was pacing around the room. Suddenly, my mind tuned him out. I looked down at my 'used-to-be white' shirt. Who wears a white shirt to a party? It was covered in stains. It looked disgusting. "Huh!", he yelled, snapping me away from my thoughts. "What?", I asked. "What are you wearing. Did your mother let you go out like that?", He yelled. I hadn't even noticed that he was on a different topic. I looked down at the white button down which was pulled up and tied in the back. Half of my stomach was out. Then I looked at the shorts that ended way above my knees. "No, I wore this after coming from the beach.", I said untying the shirt. He started to talk again, but I just didn't hear it. It's like my brain didn't want to hear anything he had to say, which was weird because I always listened to my dad, and when he would get mad at me it would always make me sad, but not this time. "Ashley!", he yelled. "huh", I said. "Who was that that drove you home? Is that that Jake kid?", he said. "No, it was my friend Aramis", I said. "Are you even listening to me", He said. "You know what, no I'm not listening to you. I'm tired of listening to people. They tell you exactly what they think you want to hear. I am so sick of listening to people.", I yelled. "Go to your room", He said softly. "Aren't you gonna punish me. Huh. Where's my 2 months of no tv, or no phone, huh. Or are you gonna surprise me, and when I get home one day everything will be gone. I don't care! I really don't. Do what you want!", I yelled. "I'm not gonna punish you. Your punishment has already come, and I hope you know how disappointed I am in you. This is not the daughter I raised. I don't know who you are, but you are not the smart, beautiful daughter I raised. She would've called. She wouldn't have passed out at some party." I stop on my way to the stairs. His words cut me deep. I didn't even think about how he could've gotten that information. "I hope you had fun", he said before walking out and slamming the front door. I stood there for minutes before my baby sister started to cry. I ran to her room and picked her up. "Don't make the same mistakes I made Beth", I said as I rocked her back and forth.

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Later that day I decided to call Jake. He didn't answer the first couple of times but the 6th time he did. "Jake", I said. "What", He replied. There was a cold and evil tone that he spoke in. I hated it. "Did you call me", I joked trying to cheer him up. "Ashley do you not understand how you made me feel. I called you so many times I can't even remember. I called your mom about 30 times asking where you were. I even called LAPD. What were you doing. Why didn't you answer. You don't understand how I felt. Were you with Zach, did he do something to you? Please just tell me. Please Ashley." I could tell that he was crying by the end, and it made me cry. "Jake I'm sooo sorry. I was at Zachs party and it got a bit crazy so I hid my phone. I'm sorry. I can only imagine how worried you must've been." "I told you not to hang out with him. He's crazy. Why would you do it anyway." "I don't know Jake. I was tired of people telling me what to do, and Zach was so nice and sweet, and he still is. He watched me all night after I passed out and he-" "YOU PASSED OUT!?", He yelled, cutting me off. "How did you pass out?" "Well we were drinking and I guess I had too much, and then he had these pills, and I don't know what I was thinking", I cried. "I don't know either", Jake said before hanging up. I tried calling him back about 10 times but he never answered. I finally gave up, and threw my phone at a wall. I sat there crying for a long time before my phone rang, and I jumped up, running to go get it. It was Zach. I really didn't want to, but I answered. "Hey." "Hi", I replied. "Wanna come over. It's just me and about 4 other people", he asked. I sat there thinking about what Jake said, and then I remembered how much fun I had last night, and the memories surrounded me. "Sure, I'm on my way. Let me just get ready", I said. I hung up the phone and headed straight for the shower.