Mercy; Shawn Mendes

19. The Truth

"The truth always has a way of coming out from hiding."

•••

Veronica.

It was Friday afternoon and I did my usual lunch with my dad. Shawn was out at the recording studio. I got dressed in some jeans and a plain white tshirt. I put my hair up into a ponytail and slipped on my white slides before grabbing Shawn's matte black rover car keys.

He bought the car recently and said I could use it. I guess he was tired of me using the bus to meet my dad every Friday. I grabbed my bag and left out of the house and got into the car. I put on the radio and put on my shades before I drove out of the driveway.

My dad said to meet him at a Subway so we could get lunch. I drove to the location and seen his silver truck already there. I pulled up next to his car and parked. He was waiting in his car so I grabbed my purse and got out of the Rover.

I locked the car and then walked over to my dads side and opened up the car. I smiled at him, I missed my dad. But he didn't smile back, he actually looked upset. Uh oh. That can't be good.

He got out of his car and closed the door behind him. We walked in silence into Subway and ordered our sandwiches. I didn't even know what I did wrong, that was the scary thing. The whole time we ordered I kept thinking of things I had done. Maybe I hadn't responded to a text? Missed a call?

We got our food and sat at a table outside. My dad just opened up his sandwich and still hadn't said a word.

"It's a nice day to sit outside and eat huh dad?" I asked trying to break the silence.

"Mmhmm." Was all he said.

It bugged me that he was silent, "Okay did I do something?"

He looked at me and he had this frightening serious look. He didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"When were you planning on telling me about your boyfriend?" He asked finally speaking.

Boyfriend? Then it hit me. He must've found out about Shawn. I knew it should've occurred to me but I've been having these lunches with my dad for a month and nothing has came up. I just assumed he was never on social media or seen magazine covers and read articles.

"What?" I asked still trying to see if we were both on the same page.

He leaned back in his chair, "You know Veronica, I might not the ideal dad of the century. But I try hard, it's hard to be in your life ever since the divorce. I get you're closer with your mom but I would've like to have known my daughter would've come to me and told me she was seeing someone. I had to find out from one of your uncles because your younger cousin seen you in a magazine on some boys arm."

After he said that I started to feel really guilty. I never thought or imagined my dad felt that way. Little does he know my own mother doesn't even know about this. I sighed.

"Dad I'm sorry I just...It slipped my mind every time we met. I wanted to know what was new with you not talk about boys. I'm sorry I didn't tell you." I told him sincerely.

He rubbed his jaw, "What's his name?" He asked before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Shawn." I say before drinking some of my water.