Leaving The Friendzone

Chapter 10: Confrontational

"Oh my god." Are the first words that come out of his mouth.

I raise my eyebrow.

"You've got your mother's height." He grins.

I open my mouth, but the words won't come.

"D-d-d-d-d..." I stutter.

"Elizabeth, I'm your dad."

I feel tears welling up in my eyes. I don't know what to say. I just stand there, frozen.

"Say something Honey." He says, his voice sounding concerned. As soon as he says that though, I come back down to Earth. A wave of emotions washes over me, the most prominent and un-ignorable one being anger.  

"Don't call me that. I'm not your Honey," I use air-quotes with the last word. "Also, I don't go by Elizabeth anymore. I stopped when I was 14. And lastly, what do you want that was so important that you had to come down here after 4 years of not saying shit to me or Mom. You couldn't have come to do this on my birthday every year? What about my grade 8 graduation? None of that? Now you show up on my door-step at..." I turn around to look at the clock behind me.  "7:00 on a Monday night?" I cross my arms.

He just stands there quietly, listening patiently during my rant.

"Okay. Listen to me, whatever-your-name is," I resist the urge to smile, because I have a feeling I know where I got my attitude from. "I don't expect you to jump up and down at the sight of me. You have everyright to hate my existence. Hell, that's what I'd do! But before you do, can I at least give you an explanation?" He searches my face for any signs of kicking him out of here. 

Truthfully, he was right. Before I could tell him I never wanted to see him again, I wanted to know the truth. I wanted an explanation more than anything. I wanted the reason that I couldn't even go home without a worry for my safety at the moment, emotions and grudges set aside for the moment.

"Ella! Where's the damn pizza?!" I hear Cory yell.

I shut my eyes.

"Pizza's not here, Cory!" I yell back.

"Well, who's at the door?" His voice is closer now, and quieter. I hear his footsteps pounding down the stairs as he stomps down them quickly.

In a second, I feel him hovering behind me.

"Hey, you look like--" He points at my dad. Wow, it's really weird thinking about that. My dad.

I shut my eyes once again, waiting for the explosion. I know how Cory feels about my dad leaving me back a few years ago.

His words from a while ago echo through my head.

"I swear, if that guy ever comes back here, I'm gunna have a few things to talk to him about. One of them being responsibility." Cory crosses his arms.

"Ha, Cory Kensington, giving a grown man a speech about responsibility. That'll be the day." I roll my eyes. "--Besides, it's not like he's going to come back anyway." I look down at the ground.

"I know. But if he does, he'd better watch it. He's not in my good books." 15 year old Cory shakes his head.

"Since when are you involved with any type of books?" I smirk.

"Oh, shut up, Elizabeth. ...I mean Ella! You know what I mean!"

"Actually, she looks like me." He raises his eyebrows, crossing his arms.

"Wait, you're Ella's dad?" A bunch of emotions cross his face, it's hard to just pick one.

"Yeah... You're Cory? As in Kensington?" He looks surprised.

"The one-and-only." Oh shit. He doesn't sound amused at all.

"Are you two a thing? Is that what they call it these days? A thing?"

"No." He answers flatly. The way he responds to the question kind of makes me wince internally. But I know he's just pissed off because of who's asking.

"Oh. My apologies..." My dad states awkwardly.

"What makes you think I'm offended?" Cory jumps down his throat. My mouth literally falls open.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" I look up at Cory.

Cory hesitates, before backing away from the door. I hold up a finger to my dad, and he nods acknowledgingly, before I shut the door lightly.

"What was that?" I ask.

"What was what? Elles, he left for 4 years. 4 years. He wasn't there for anything in the last 1460 days." He runs his hands through his hair.

"You don't think I know that? Cory, I've been waiting for this moment for the last four years. Trust me, you don't think I'm a little pissed off too? But the guy that is responsible for my existence is standing on the other side of this door--" I lean on the door with my good hand. "And I think I've waited long enough to find out why he hasn't been here, and you're not being the most supportive person in the world." I frown.

"What do you want me to do?" He pauses, opening his mouth, before shutting it abruptly. "Ella, I care about you. I can't stand to see you hurt again if he decides to up and leave again. It doesn't just upset you." He shakes his head.

"Cor-- I get it. I'm not getting attached. All I want are some answers. Don't you know me better than that? I wouldn't make the same mistake twice." I feel something like dread well up in the middle of my throat.

"No." He hits the wall, making one of the pictures on it tremor. "You will... I've seen the look in your eyes whenever you talked about him. Longing. I know how long you've waited to meet him. To finally have the father that you've dreamt about to come back to you, and... and take you home so you can live together and play happily ever after." I see something flash through his eyes. Hurt.

"Cory, what are you trying to say?"

He shakes his head slowly, before slipping past me and running up the stairs.

I can't fight the tears when they spill over my eyes.

Cory and I just had our first fight.