Escaping Lights - A Greyson Chance Fan Fiction

Chapter 28: Sudden Freedom

I chewed on my beef slowly while one elbow was propped on the table, my hand holding the fork in midair. I was intently staring at my plate, avoiding the eyes of my family.

     "Elbows off the table, Phoebe," Dad told me softly as he sipped on his drink, a translucent blue liquid that fizzed at the top.

     "Sorry," I muttered then returned to my food.

     Suddenly, his phone went ringing and he dropped his knife on the plate and wiped his mouth with a table napkin. He opened his bag and rummaged for his phone. "Hello."

     I couldn't help but give my father a hard glare. He continued speaking, raising his hand up to signal me to carry on with my meal. Then I turned to Mom. I opened my mouth to say, "Make him stop."

     "Honey, this is really important. You wouldn't want your dad to miss this, would you?" Mom explained patiently.

     I shook my head in disbelief. Then I faced Dad and made him lock his gaze at me. Then I placed both my palms on the table and cried, "Dad, we are supposed to be eating." It was loud enough to let whoever was on the other end of the line hear me.

     "One moment, please," he said to his phone. Then he covered it with one hand and leaned over to me. "This is very important, dear. Please don't interrupt me."

     "I don't care. We are supposed to be eating and you are behaving improperly. Where are your manners, Dad?" I said. People from the other tables were now starting to eye us curiously.

     He sighed. "This is a very important matter. Just please continue eating."

     I crossed my arms and scoffed.

     "Phoebe, what is it now?" Mom asked. Seth stopped eating as well and put his full attention on me.

     I grumbled something that made my mother and brother furrow their brows. Meanwhile, my father was trying to regain his conversation with the person on the phone.

     "Speak louder. What is it?" Mom repeated.

     I leaned back on my chair and said, "He has some nerve to tell me to behave properly but he's doing exactly the same thing?" I told her loudly while indicating at Dad.

     "What?"

     Dad finally turned off his phone for me. "Calm down."

     I was getting angrier by the minute. "You tell me what I should do when I'm doing something wrong, but I can't tell you what you should do right?"

     "This is different. This is business," he argued.

     "Oh, so I don't have the right to have my own business as well? What has the world become?" I raised my arms in frustration and dropped them forcefully. Then I pushed back my seat loudly and got up, allowing the napkin on my lap to fall on the floor. Without another look, I walked away from the table and towards the glass doors that led me out of the hotel restaurant and into the sidewalk.

   Knowing that there was only one place I could go to, I headed off to the left to hail for a taxi. I barely minded the thick feeling in my throat due to my unfinished meal. I should've drank water before I made my exit. Hopefully I don't choke on my own tongue.

     The breeze blew my hair in soft flutters, but that didn't soothe me enough. The anger inside of me was still fresh. What could I have done so wrong that it seems like everything disagreed with me? How can they just-

     "Phoebe." A hand clasped around my left forearm. Instinctively, I whirled around to see Seth's slightly desperate face.

     I sighed and stopped walking. "I bet they sent you to drag me back there."