Hidden Heart

10- The Flowers are Singing

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Chapter 10

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"I don't get it why are the flowers singing?" Travis' face made me break out into a fit of giggles.

"Its Wonderland. Anything can happen in Wonderland that's the whole point of it."

"it's still doesn't make any sense." he grumbled, slouching into the couch.

"It doesn't have to make sense that's the WONDER in Wonderland." I laid back down on the couch putting my converse clad feet in his lap. "What are we going to do today? Macy's out with friends, so we can stay here or go out." I jabbed him lightly with my foot.

"Uhm..." Travis looked at his phone then back at me. "Well Joey wants me to meet his newest blonde bimbo tonight so we could.... Or not if you don't want to.... I mean I would totally understand... And we could do something else if you didn't want to...." Travis let the words spill quickly from his mouth all in a single breath.

"I would be fine doing a double date with your brother and his girlfriend." I laughed at Travis's sigh of relief.

"Okay great.... I gotta go now but I'll be back at seven to pick you up... Okay?..... Are you gonna be okay here by yourself?"

I stood up with Travis leaning against him for momentary support "I'll be fine Travis go, do what you need too. I gotta go look for a new job anyways so.... I'll be fine" I stood up on my tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll be fine... I promise."

"Okay." Travis smiled and kissed me back quickly. "I..... I'm gonna miss you."

"I'm gonna miss you too." I smiled "Now go... Don't be late for.... Whatever it is you need to do."

"I'm just running a few errands for my parents. I'll be back at seven." Travis smiled.

I walked him towards the door, grabbing my car keys. Locking the door behind us I stepped to the left towards my car, which was only my car now that mom was..... Gone......, as he stepped to the right towards his car.

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I turned the key in the door and stepped inside, coming face to face with an unknown man, about 6'5", brown hair, and carmel colored eyes. He had a large frame, and a strong build that could probably pick me up and throw me a good hundred or so feet. his hair was disheveled and tears stains streaked his face.

He stood when he saw me, "Sarah?" he looked almost like a mix of sadness and joy, as if he had found a lost puppy, but been told he could keep it.

"Yeah? Who are you?" I took a step back looking around the room for Macy. "And what are you doing in my house?"

"Uhm..." the man looked around, staring at each wall for a minute before moving on to the next, and then staring down at his feet. "I'm.... Well my name is Joel Pontern... I don't know if your mother ever told you about me...."

"Wait... Pontern?" I looked at him, recognition dawning in my mind. "You... You're my dad."

"She told you about me?" his voice hinted at incredulous, disbelief.

"Well she told me your name, but that was it." I could hardly contain my excitement anymore. "What... Why have you come back... I mean, after all these years what made you come back now?"

"I heard about your mother. That you were alone."

"I'm not alone." I laughed a bit. "I have Macy, and my friends." the last bit was a tiny bit of a stretch, I mean I had Travis, and I guess Joey and Mike too, but my best friend had moved last year and I hadn't spoken to her for the last month. The truth though, was that I wasn't quite ready to let him into my life right away. Okay well that was a huge lie. I sorta felt like Merlin, when he discovered that his father had never actually been dead, in season two. I mean honestly who in their right minds wouldn't want their father back in their lives. But I wasn't about to let him see that.

"oh I just supposed.... I mean." he stammered turning towards the door. "I guess I'll just go now."

"Wait." I placed my hand gingerly on his strong forearm. "Where are you staying?"

"I was just going to find a hotel a few blocks away or something." he looked at me, hopefulness glimmering in the back of his eyes."

"I guess you could stay here." smiled shyly. "I mean you'd have to ask Macy as she is the 'adult' in this situation. I'll be going out tonight but she should be home any minute now. You can ask her then." I headed up the stairs, barely hearing him mumble a thank you as I passed.

I pulled my phone out to check for info from Travis. There was two texts, waiting for me to read them, burning into my eyes.

Travis- hey :) I'll pick you up at around five-ish

Travis- apparently Joey wants to impress his new girl with a fancy restaurant. Wear a dress.

I smiled and opened the door to my room looking at my selection of newly dry cleaned dresses. After Travis and I started dating and Mike decided he should try to be nice to me he paid to have all his juice stains professionally removed from my clothes. So now I had all my dresses and nice shirts back.

I grabbed my dress of choice and slipped out of my shorts and tshirt to slide it on. Standing in from of my mirror I smoothed down the sides of the skinny black strapless dress. Usually I wore it with a shirt over it, or a flaring skirt and a sweater but today I was going to leave it the way it was. I slipped my feet into my black ballet flats and fixed my hair pinning my bangs off of my face. I wasn't one of those girls who thought they were ugly, although 12 years of bullying made you start to wonder, however I had never seen myself as 'drop dead gorgeous' either. It was just me. Just like it always had been.

I stepped out of my room and walked down stairs where Travis had already let himself in and was currently waiting for me.

"Hey" I smiled brightly.

Travis's jaw nearly dropped to the floor. "Woah. You look.... Amazing. Like really REALLY hot."

The smile already playing on lips grew even wider. "Thanks. Ready?"

"Yeah." Travis shook his head and lead the way to his car.