Facetime

Chapter 15

I whimpered and grabbed onto him tighter.

“Don’t leave me.”

He sighed and ran his fingers through my hair, how he used to when I was little.

“Baby, I have to go back.”

“Do you love me?”

“More than anything, you know that.”

“Then why do you always leave me?”

“I have to serve my country Tess.”

“You’ve served your country long enough. It’s time for you to start working on being a dad because you’re doing a really shitty job.”

“I know you’re mad that I have to leave but I know you don’t mean that.”

“If I don’t mean that then how do I know you aren’t lying about loving me? Do you realize you’ve had to choose between your family and your job and for the past ten years you’ve chose your job.”

“It’s not like that, Tess. You know that.”

I bit on my lip to try to stop crying but it was no use. He sighed and pulled something out of his pocket.

“This is for you. I know you have school but missing one week won’t hurt anything. You need to be around someone who loves you right now because taking out your anger on me won’t make me stay.”

I studied the plane ticket to London and frowned.

“What about Mom and Austin?”

“They have each other. Now come on, Niall’s not expecting you so it will be a surprise.”

“Where do I go when I get there if he doesn’t know about it?”

“I got his address right here and just take a taxi there or something. I know you can find your way around.”

I nodded and pulled him in for another hug.

“I’m sorry Dad; you know I didn’t mean any of that.”

“I know, sweetie.”

He kissed my head and walked over to his plane, waving goodbye one last time. After he got on the plane I turned and looked at my mom and Austin.

“Are you going to go to London?”

“The plane leaves in ten minutes and I don’t have anything packed…”

They laughed and gestured behind them where there was a suitcase. I raised my eyebrow at them and they laughed.

“Don’t worry about it. Now go catch your flight. Your famous boyfriend is waiting.”

I grabbed the suitcases and started walking away but I spun back around flipping both of them off.

“HE’S NOT MY BOYFRIEND.”

They laughed and rolled their eyes while I boarded the plane. I plopped down in my seat and sighed, looking out the window.

I pulled out my phone and posted a picture of me and my dad on instagram. It was a picture someone had taken at the TCA’s. I was on stage and my arms were around his neck while he was picking me up of the ground with his hands around my waist. You could see the tears down his cheeks and I had my face buried in his neck.

I love you.

I reread the simple three words that were the caption and smiled before hitting post.

I plugged in my headphones and started playing some music before slipping into a deep sleep. This was going to be a long flight.

~