The Dancer's Daughter (1D)

Chapter Eighteen

 Waking up in my new house was disorienting. I was sharing the bed with Zayn, and I could hear voices in the room next to us, so I automatically assumed we were in a hotel. I pounded on the wall, three loud knocks, to get them to shut up: our normal code for the hotels. Two answering knocks meant that it was nearly noon and I could just get over it. I groaned in frustration before pushing Zayn off of the bed to wake him up.

"What was that for?" he grumbled, climbing back onto the bed. Then he smiled at me. "Do you like the house?"

It took me a bit to think of just where we really were. Then I smiled. "You know, I just assumed we were in a hotel. It was a good night, but they woke me up being loud. It will be nice to come back without them," I replied.

"Without me?" Zayn asked, raising his eyebrows. I flicked his forehead.

"That depends on you, love," I told him. "You'll always be welcome here." He pulled me up for a kiss before getting up to yell at the others for making noise.

~~

It had been Louis and Harry in the room next door. And the time, actually, ended up being about 9:30 in the morning. Liam helped me choose an appropriate punishment: no phones for the day. Li took Harry's and I took Lou's, just in case Eleanor wanted to call later.

Paul gave me two extra hours in the house since it was new, and told us we could stay in London practically all day, as long as we were back on the bus by ten. I was starting to realize that ten was our curfew while on tour... I hadn't had a curfew in a long time. I wondered what would happen if I just ignored it.

I knew Liam and Zayn wouldn't let me stay out later than ten though. They were both too protective. So, at exactly noon, we left my new house (in exactly the condition it was before we opened it) and headed back for my father's house.

I rang the doorbell and then stepped back, expecting either Dad or Micheal to answer the door. I was not expecting to see Gladys, holding Adrienne. And Gladys was certainly not expecting to see me again, judging by the way she slammed the door in my face as soon as she saw me. I stood frozen, waiting for Dad to come to the door and let me in. He didn't.

I rang the doorbell again, crossing my fingers that he'd open the door. But again, it was Gladys. Without Adrienne. So clearly he was home!

"What do you want?" she snapped, barely opening the door. I could feel Zayn's arm around my waist, and I felt like he was the only thing holding me up.

"To see my father. I promised him I'd come see him before we left again," I reminded her. I knew she'd been watching her children while I was here, but I also knew that she could hear every word we'd said. She just had to let me in to see him!

"He doesn't want to see you. Go away and don't come back," she snapped, slamming the door once again. I turned and buried my face in Zayn's shoulder, confused at why she'd do this to me.

Worse yet, I almost believed that he didn't want to see me. He'd gone years without talking to me, maybe these last few days were just too much for him. That hurt me worse than him leaving the first time. At least the first time I was young enough to not realize what was going on. This time I was feeling the full force of the rejection, and it HURT.

Zayn rubbed my back and made some kind of gesture to the others that I couldn't see. They all came over to hug me too, each trying to touch a part of me. I smiled through my tears, knowing they'd always be there for me. Liam pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to me when we all separated.

"He won't know my number, so he'll probably answer. You can at least find out what's going through his head," he told me. I nodded and dialed the number. He answered on the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Dad... why won't you let me in to see you? You said you wanted me to say goodbye before I left again... I thought we were getting along!" I said before I could calm myself down.

"You haven't even gotten here, baby girl. Of course I'll let you in."

"I just got here and Gladys said you don't want to see me," I said quietly.