Beyond This Moment

24 Day Ten- 10:44 A.M.

This is it. We're standing at the door to the dressing room where we were navigated to, where our dad is. Sitting in that room getting ready for his wedding that is going to start in just twenty minutes. Needing as much moral support as I can get, I loop my arm through Elias's as Gabe goes to knock on the door. He's very eager right now, so excited to see our dad again after so many years. Well, it hasn't been that long for him since he flew out here when we were fifteen to stay with him for a week during the summer.

For me though, it's been a whole eight years since I've seen my father in person. I don't know how I should act, what I should even say to him. He's twenty minutes away from getting married, I can't start an argument or say anything sarcastic which will be hard for me considering it's my number one defense mechanism and he makes me feel incredibly defensive.

"It's going to be fine," Elias whispers to me as Gabe's knuckles bang against the white door in front of us and I flinch at the loud sound, feeling very jumpy and Elias can see that. He holds my arm with his and offers me an encouraging and unfairly beautiful smile.

Cassie, who has never met our father, looks nervous but in an excited way and Gabe just looks insanely excited. Mac is just hungry. We're all experiencing a wide gamut of the emotional spectrum and that's kind of ironic. I'll have to point that out later, when I'm not so anxious.

I hold my breath the entire time between when Gabe knocks and when the door swings open, our father standing on the other side. He looks like a taller version of Gabe and, in turn, an older, male version of me. The same dark hair, his is even shorter than Gabe's and starting to gray out, and the same hazel eyes, tan skin. He's dressed in a nice tux and when he sees Gabe on the other side of the door, his broad mouth spreads into an even broader smile.

I think that Gabe and I inherited our mothers small, timid smile but when our dad smiles, it takes over the entire room.

"I'm so glad that you finally made it," He tells Gabe, wrapping him in a tight hug. He almost doesn't notice the mud. "I've missed you so much, Gabe. What the hell happened to your tux though? And what the hell is that?" He motions to the dog in my arms.

"It's a long story," Gabe mumbles. "I missed you too, Dad. And I'm sorry that we're so late, it's been kind of a crazy road trip but we're here now and I really want you to meet my girlfriend, this is Cassie."

My dad turns to the blonde girl standing beside Gabe and he offers her his large bear paw-like hand to shake, which she does, and he looks distracted for the moment about Mac. "Hello, sir. It's so nice to meet you, I've heard really awesome things."

"Likewise," He smiles at her. "I'm glad that you could all make it today, I'll need Gabe to stay back here and we'll walk through the best man duties. I'll have Veronica show the rest of you to your seats, she's the planner. She should be back here somewhere."

Gabe glances over at me like he expects me to say something to the man but I don't have anything to say. If he wants to greet me, to thank me for—oh, I don't know—crossing the entire country to be at his stupid wedding then he can be the one to say something. I'm the child here, I'm the one who's allowed to act immature but I'm still his daughter and I know that I shouldn't get my hopes up anymore but every time that he ignores me, it surprises me that he's so willing to do so when he made me.

"I'm Elias," Elias breaks the silence as everybody waits for my dad to acknowledge my presence.

"Oh, right," My dad apparently recognizes his name and shakes his hand as well. "You're friends with Gabe, from the hockey team, right?"

"Yeah, and Peyton's date," He adds, obviously forcing my name into the conversation.

"Really?" My dad raises his bushy eyebrows in surprise at that and then he looks over at me and the smile is gone. The smile that had shown so brightly for Gabe, Cassie, and Elias suddenly depletes when we finally looks over at what seems to be the biggest mistake he made in his entire life. "So soon after what happened with Keagan?"