We Should Talk. (Book One)

Void (Part one)

"Hi dad! I'm home!" I shout, getting my backpack off my shoulders. "Some friends are gonna stop by to pick me up in a bit, alright?"

I go to the kitchen, knowing that's where he'll be.

And in between a room smelling like a million smelly onions, was my father, making dinner.

"Where at you headed tonight?" He asks me.

I get a knife from the darer and start helping him cutting the onions, naturally.

"Ziggy and Theo are going to show me this really cool place downtown. Apparently everybody wants to go there but it's really hard to get in. They said they can manage to get me in there because of a friend they have that always goes there and absolutely loves them."

"Wait, who? Zig and what?"

I giggle.

"Ziggy and Theo, dad. They're my friends."

"God, how long was I asleep?" He asks, feeling confused about the new names. I laugh. "Well, now I feel like a terrible dad. I don't even know my daughters friends."

"Oh come on dad, you're not that bad. Ziggy and Theo are new, and plus, I think I hadn't even told you about them before."

He sighs. "At least I know Gus and Horacio. And that other boy who you invited to Grandma's birthday, I forgot his name now but it was something weird. Wait, was that Ziggy?"

I laugh.

"No dad! Ziggy is a girl!"

He chuckles. "What kind of name is Ziggy?!"

I laugh. "What kind of name is Tobelia?!"

We both crack up.

"Check-mate!" He shouts playfully

The laughing vanishes slowly, until we can go back to slicing the onions normally . "Plus, I'm pretty sure Ziggy is just a nickname. But I'm not sure." I tell him. "I'm a terrible friend. I don't even know her real name."

He laughs. "A terrible dad and a terrible friend..."

I chuckle. "Hey, dad..."

"Yeah, sugar?"

"Maybe you should know that I'm not really hanging out with Gus and Ace anymore. Or even Avi or Jack."

He stops slicing the onions and looks at me surprised.

"You're not talking to Horacio anymore?" He asks, shocked.

"No." I look down, sad to tell him the truth.

"What happened?"

"It's a long story. But it's not his fault. It's just... Too complicated."

"I'm sad to hear that." He tells me in a melancholic way and going to the kitchen balcony to get the pasta and soak it in water. "I always though you two would, umm... End up together."

"I heard." I say. "Why would you even think that?"

He smiles like he's remembering something precious. "Well, when you were little--"

Someone knocks on the door, interrupting my dad's words.

"I'll get it!" I say. I go up to the door and open it without even checking who it was before hand.

"Theo!" I exclaim.

"What's up, B?" He says.

I smile and let him in. We go to the kitchen and I introduce him to my dad.