It's All About You

October 20th 2013

October 20th 2013

Meri tried to relax. She was about to walk into a café and have lunch with her biological father. She walked in and saw him immediately. He'd sent a picture of himself so she would recognise him. He was quite tall, had a beefy build – Meri knew from their conversations that he was a builder. He had no hair and bright blue eyes. Blue eyes that were just like hers.

"Hi, you must be David..." Meri said awkwardly.

"Hello, love. Meredith, I assume?" he replied, shaking her hand. Meri nodded and told him to call her Meri. "I'm not going to call you that ridiculous name love. It's Meredith. Or Mer,"

"Oh, right. Okay. Meredith is fine then," Meri said. She sat opposite him and he ordered them both cups of tea.

They filled the silence with boring chit-chat and awkward, unimportant small-talk because they didn't really want to talk about the big things. "Honestly, these Pakis are so fucking slow," David said when they still hadn't gotten their drinks.

"You can't say that..." Meri tried. She was shocked. Her father was a racist? Great.

"Of course I can, my love. They're stealing all our supplies, I call them whatever the fuck I want," David told her. Meri just stared at him, shocked and disappointed and hoping no one could hear him. "Now, let's talk about you,"

"Me?" Meri asked.

"Yes. You told me your job is making videos in your bedroom. That's got to stop, for starters," David started.

"What? No... no it doesn't. I love what I do," Meri insisted.

"Yeah, because it requires zero effort. Tell me, when was the last time you actually went out for something, before now, that is?" David asked.

"Yesterday. I had a meeting in London," Meri replied. She was sort of put-out by the way he was talking about her and her job.

"Yes. But what does this 'job' do for you? Do you get any travelling experience? Is it good, hard-earned money?" David continued. A man bought over their drinks. Meri said thank you. David just tutted.

"I'm going to Dubai with all my friends for business in December," Meri informed him. She wasn't just going to let him talk crap about what she did. He didn't even know her.

"I don't know why I'm bothering with this. You're a woman. How could I expect more from you?" David muttered. Meri's mouth opened in shock. What the hell was his problem? "So, let's change the subject. Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Yes. I do," Meri said through a clenched jaw.

"Right... and tell me he has a proper job, at least?" David asked.

"He has the same job as me," Meri said, ignoring thatching because she wanted to annoy her 'father'. "So, yes, he has a proper job,"

David sighed and shook his head in a disappointed way. "You know, I expect something like this from a woman, much like yourself. But from a man? That is shameful," he said.

"How dare you?" Meri snapped.

David looked at her with an expression of confusion. "Meredith?" he asked.

"How fucking dare you. I met up with you today because I grew up without a father in my life. The one man who was supposedly my father physically and emotionally abused my mum before she finally ended it. And I thought, you know, you would be decent. We could have a nice chat and maybe plan to meet up again but you know what? Fuck you. Fuck you and your racist, misogynistic comments about me and my boyfriend and people you don't even fucking know! Just fuck you!" Meri yelled, her voice raising with every sentence.