Brooklyn (A Paul Lahote Story)

Chapter Two

"I think he's love struck and I don't know what to do about it, Becca.." I sigh, filling her in with what my dad recently told me.

We are currently sitting in Starbucks, drinking our go to drinks - hers being an iced latte frap and mine being unsweetened iced green tea with a splash of lemonade. We've been walking around Times Square, just talking and shopping; more her than me.

"Tell him how you feel, Dani.." She sighs, placing her drink down before grabbing my free hand. "He'll understand." She finishes, giving my hand a squeeze.

I huff, looking out the window and watch people weave themselves around to get to their destination. "But he deserves to be happy.. I don't want to ruin that for him, Becs."

After that, the subject is dropped and we finish our drinks before getting up to throw them out. I fix my high waisted jeans, a black tank underneath with a long, white cardigan over it and a pair of white flats. We make our way to the trash cans, throwing out our drinks before exiting the shop.

"Do you know where he was in Washington?" Becca curiously asks and I shake my head, fixing my small shoulder bag.

"Never told me." I answer, stopping on the sidewalk to wait to walk across the street and towards Macy's.

"We should call for a cab, yanno.." I say in a sing-song voice, knowing how much she hates walking.

"Good idea.." She mumbles before whistling and throwing her hand up in the air. "Taxi!"

~*~

"I'll see you Monday! Only three more months until we graduate together!" Becca says, carrying her many bags as we approach the gate to the apartment I call home.

I smile and nod, holding my three bags as I open the gate. "Just like we promised each other in third grade." I say, pushing the metal gate open before giving my blond best friend a hug. "Love you!" I shout, watching her hail a taxi.

Once she gets safely into the taxi, I walk in and through the open gate before closing and locking it, making my way up the stairs. I gather my keys, them jingling in my hand as I press the piece of metal into the lock, twisting it to the right before hearing a click and pushing the door open.

"Dad! I'm home!" I shout, placing the bags on the floor by the table before walking into the living room.

I see my dad walk out of his small work space - phone pressed against his ear -, smiling and waving at me before telling me to wait one second. Must be an important call.. I think to myself before walking into the kitchen, opening the fridge to figure out dinner.

Maybe we'll order Chinese tonight.. I cross my fingers, closing the fridge door before walking back into the living room and sitting down on the couch. I turn on the tv, flipping channels until I find a rerun of Full House. I smile, relaxing into the back seat and rest my feet onto the ottoman after taking off my shoes, Skie jumping up on the couch to join me.

"Hey princess, sorry about that." My dad says, placing his phone on the ottoman before sitting in his recliner.

"It's okay.. I was thinking about ordering Chinese for dinner. How does that sound?" I ask him, turning my attention to him before looking back at the tv.

"Sounds good." He answers, relaxing against his chair before grabbing the paper to read it.

"Who was on the phone?" I ask, curiosity getting the best of me.

"The company." He answers, not giving me much detail.

I slowly nod, trying to focus on the screen in front of me but thoughts keep swarming through my mind. What did the call him about? Is everything okay? Did he get a promotion? Did he get fired? What's happened?

Nothing but silence fills the room, the only sound being the paper my father has in hand and Michelle's voice booming through the speakers of the tv. But it's a nice silence, I like it. The best part is the fact that it's not just me in this silence, I have my dad. Just me and my dad in our beautiful city. Oh, and Skie too.

"Dani," my dad sighs, sitting up from his spot and looking at me. I look over at him, my eyebrows bunched together.

"Dad..." I drag out, waiting for him to finish his sentence.

"The company wants me to move to Washington and oversee the new project." He says and my worried expression disappears.

"Oh, okay.. That's fine. I can stay here. It'll only take you, what? Three months?" I say, relaxing my tensed muscles.

"That's the thing, princess. It's a permanent move.." He trails off, hoping that I'll get the idea; and I do.

"What!" I shout, standing up from my spot. "Dad, I'm graduating in three months!"

"And you can graduate there. They have a wonderful school." He says and I groan.

"But I'm the fastest female runner Brooklyn High has! I'm supposed to go to nationals!" I bite back, watching him stand from his spot and move towards the kitchen. Probably to get the number to order food. I stand and follow - Skie behind me.

"And the school has a track team, I'm sure you can join."

"What about graduation?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"You can graduate there."

"But I'm supposed to graduate with Becca! Not a bunch of strangers." I complain, feeling my whole world crashing into one messy pile.

"I think you'll be fine." My dad says, grabbing his phone, dialing the number to the Chinese restaurant.

"Moms grave is here! We try and visit every other weekend, what are we gonna do then? Huh?" I angrily state, my heart pounding against my rib age.

"We still can. But it won't be as frequent." He says, waiting to press the call button.

"This is because of Paige Morgan, huh?" I ask, realization hitting me. Hitting me hard.

"She doesn't know about this, Dani." He sighs, leaning against the counter.

"No, but she's the reason why you're saying yes. If you didn't meet someone there, you wouldn't have had a reason to say yes. You would've said no because you know how important it is to me that we are close to mom, that I graduate with Becca and not a bunch of strangers!" I cry, tears running down my face. "But you put all of that aside for some girl." I hiss, turning around and running out of the room, up the stairs towards my room.

"Dani! Wait!" My dad shouts, chasing me. And I don't stop, I keep moving towards my room, locking the door behind me because I finally realized something.

My world is crumbling all around me. And it's because of Paige Morgan.

____________________________
A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!

I'm not going to be updating this book as frequently as 'Hello'. But, I do want you guys to know that this book is a part of the wolf pack series I'm doing! How exciting it that?!

Anyways, please leave your thoughts in the comment section below and vote!!

Until next chapter,
C