Dads

Devon

Andy ran down the stairs.
"Alex, dinner has to wait." He said.
"What? What's wrong?"
"Emily's gone, she ran away."
"Shit." Alex said and they got in the car and started to drive.
"Are you going to tell me what is going on?"
"Emily ran away b-"
"I got that"
"Your mother is in town an-"
"What? What is she doing here?"
"If you would let me finish!" Andy said a little annoyed.
"Sorry."
"She is in town and apparently she paid Chester to go out with her. I think she was upset because of that and it became even worse when she saw she was at our place..."
"Where does he live?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"I want to talk to Chester."
"Talking with your mouth, not with your fists I hope."
"That depends on what he says." Alex said.
"I don't know where he lives, I guess you should look that up or ask the school."
"Fine, but first we need to find Emily."

Emily walked through the streets, carrying a bag with some of her clothes in it. She looked at her phone, she had put an adres in it and was on her way. suddenly a car stopped next to her.
"Emily?" She heard and looked at the driver.
"Devon? What are you doing here?" Emily asked.
"I was on my way home from work, what are you doing here?"
"I was on my way to your place."
"Really? Get in, it's cold outside." Devon said and pushed the door open for her. Emily sat in it and smiled at her.
"So why were you on your way to my place?" Devon asked as he started to drive again.
"I don't want to be home for a while now and you are the only one I trust right now, and I only have your adres."
"What happened?" Devon asked and Emily told what happened, all of it.
"So now you have the feeling you...?"
"Like my dad doesn't understand me and I just need a break from all of it."
"Right...."
"So... could I stay at your place for a while?"
"Ehm... yes, you can."
"If I'm causing you trouble I'll go somewhere else."
"No, it's okay, really."
"Thanks."
"My brother will come over tomorrow though."
"Okay."
They arrived at Devon's place and went in.
"Are you hungry?" Devon asked.
"Ehm, I kind of am, yeah." Emily said, a little awkward.
"Okay, I'm going to cook soon. I'll first show you the guest room." Devon said and they walked up the stairs. Devon opened a door and turned on the light.
"Here you go, there's a closet there, you can use it if you want to."
"Thanks, Devon. You're the best." Emily said and Devon smiled at her.
"It's nothing." He said and walked down stairs to start cooking. Emily put her bag down and sighed. 'I can't believe I actually ran away from home' she thought while unpacking her bag and putting her clothes in the closet. She looked at her phone to check the time and saw she had missed a ton of calls from Andy and Alex. Chester had called het a couple of times too. Emily got rid of the notification and put her phone in her pocket. Devon soon called her for dinner and she went downstairs. they had dinner together and  talked a bit, it was a bit awkward though. Devon then got called by Andy.
"It's your dad." He said when he saw it.
"Please don't tell I'm here." Emily said. Devon signaled her to stay quiet while he answered the call and put it on speaker.
"Devon? Are you there?" Andy asked.
"Yes, what's wrong?"
"I need your help. Emily ran away from home and I can't find her yet?"
"Really? Why did she run away?" Devon asked.
"I think she was upset with me and she doesn't feel understood or save at home, I feel so terrible."
"Why doesn't she feel save or understood?"
"What is this? An Interrogation?"
"I just want to know, mostly if you know."
"Her mother is in town... I didn't notice how broken she still was until it was too late, again."
"How do you mean, too late?"
"Amanda did something to her that broke her heart, then she saw us together and I think that made her feel like I am not there for her and choose Amanda over her."
Devon looked at Emily. 'Is that true?' He mouthed at her and Emily nodded a little.
"Right... well, maybe she just went to a friend."
"I called all her friends I know, including Chester, but they all say they didn't see her."
"I think she doesn't want you to find her, maybe you should let her cool down for a few days and try to call her Monday or something."
"But what if something happens?"
"I'm sure she is not stupid enough to stay out on the street. She's save, I know it, Andy."
"I hope.... I think I'll follow your advise. Thanks, Dev, your the best."
"No problem, that's what you have friends for."
"Still thanks. I'll talk to you later. Bye."
"Yeah, Bye." Devon said and hung up.
"Thanks." Emily said.
"Any idea why I let you listen?"
"To make me feel guilty about running away?"
"Do you?"
"A little, I didn't mean to worry him so much."
"I didn't let you listen because of that."
"Then why?"
"I asked him if he knew why you ran away, I wanted you to hear his answer, he knows and he knows he made a mistake."
"I know now... and I think it was a good thing what you said. If he gives me a day or two I'll probably come home, I just need some time alone right now."
"I understand and you can stay here."
"Thanks." Emily said and smiled at him. Devon smiled back at her.
"He said something about Chester, who is that?"
"He was my boyfriends, though i guess he wasn't.... I don't know if he was. I know he used to be my friend."
"Because he was the one your mother paid?"
"Yes."
"Then he doesn't deserve to be even a friend to you."
"I guess..."

Chester sat at home, having dinner with his father but he didn't say a thing and hardly ate.
"What's wrong?" his father asked.
"Nothing, I'm fine." Chester lied.
"You're not. What happened?"
"I fu- Messed up something I didn't want to mess up."
"What did you do?"
"I made a bad decision."
"Yes I got that, what was that decision?"
"Well... six weeks ago this woman came to our school and wanted to talk to me and she offered me a deal... She would pay me a lot of money if I would pretend to be the boyfriend of her daughter Emily."
"Please tell me you refused."
"I didn't. I agreed."
"Why?!"
"Because I already liked Emily and.... things weren't amazing here so i thought....we could use the money, I could use the money for college."
"How much did she pay you?"
"300."
"For that money you can't go to college."
"300 a week, for every date another 100 and when I stayed at her place for a few days she even gave me 500 extra. And she would pay me 500 more if I.... if I would sleep with Emily."
Brandon sighed and stayed quiet for a little while, tapping his fingers on the table in frustration.
"Did you sleep with her?"
"No."
"Good. I want you to give that woman her money back."
"Why?"
"Because what you did was wrong and I don't want you to use that money."
"Dad, I understand what you're saying, but you are gone most of the time to earn more money so we can pay our bills. With this money we can pay them."
"How much do you have?"
"ehm... 4300."
"Excuse me?"
"4300."
"If we now suddenly pay all our bills that might seem suspicious."
"Not if you do it the right way."
Brandon sighed. "I'm probably going to regret this but we could use it indeed."
"I know... I'll give it to you." Chester said and got the money. He gave it to Brandon, who looked into the thick envelope."
"You know... since you've been honest to me about this, I think you deserve it to keep some of it for yourself."
"Really?"
"Yes... but don't do anything foolish with it. If I find out you are buying drugs with it you'll never get a single penny anymore."
"I won't, I'm probably going to use it for make it up to Emily."
"Do I need to know anything about this Emily? Tell me about her?"
"Ehm... I don't know what to tell about her, only that she hates me now."
"Why?"
"She found out about the deal I made with her mom."
"I understands she hates you at the moment then."
"Me too... and her father just called me, she ran away from home."
"That doesn't sound good."
"No, she has some issues with her mother, she than found out about the deal i made with her mother and when she came home she saw her mother there as well and i think that broke her."
"Should we look for her?"
"I want to, but I doubt that it a good idea. She probably doesn't want to see me."
"Right... maybe we should go look for her tomorrow."
"Maybe that's a better idea."
"Okay. I'm glad you told me about this."
"I am no too. Thanks for listening."
"I'm your father, of course I listen to you."
"Still thanks."
Brandon smiled at him. Chester smiled back at him.