Expect the Unexpected

Chapter 6

I woke up and glanced at the clock, Only 5:03? I thought to myself. How in the world can I be this excited at 5 in the morning on a Sunday? Wait...today Jason's coming over! Sweet! Oh my god...what am I going to wear?! Well....maybe I should shower first. I walked over and turned my light on probably a little too quickly, having to wait a minute for my eyes to adjust to the lighting change. I opened my closet and stared at my clothes, and for as much as I had, I was still at a loss. What does he want me to wear? I mean yeah it's not a date and he's just a friend, so something causal. I would probably have to paint over my chipped metallic nail polish that was currently on my nails from Amber's doing on Friday. I groaned, it was way too early to even think about being girly. I just grabbed shorts and a red tank top and hopped in the shower. After I was done showering I combed my hair, humming to myself. I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed. If only I could do something with this hair. I threw it up in a messy bun and decided that would just have to do for right now. I threw on my shorts and my red tank top. Uh...way to showy..I thought to my self taking it off and walking to my closet to find another shirt.

"Hey Scar what are you doing up this e-" I cut his voice off by screaming and shutting the door as quickly as I could, realizing I was only wearing my bra and shorts.

"I-Uh- Sorry about that, I just wanted to know why you were up and showered so early and I didn't expect you to be half naked when I walked in" I mentally face palmed myself. Being seen in my bra by my dad probably shouldn't be a big deal to me, I mean he's seen me in a bikini countless times, not recently, but I'm just not very comfortable with my body.

"I just couldn't sleep." I replied trying to act as if that didn't just happen.

"Alright, well, Marlins lost last night 5-4," I smiled at this fact. Out of all of the craziness in the past 48 hours, this had been the most familiar thing to hear, and I was forever grateful for it. I sighed thinking about our bond over baseball as he continued "ll be making breakfast." I heard his footsteps slowly fade down the stairs and into the kitchen. What is with him a cooking lately? I walked over to my phone and checked the temperature. 86 degrees right now and it's only 6 in the morning. God I love Florida I thought to myself. I looked out my window and through the darkness I could just barely see the ocean. Living right by the beach was pretty amazing I have to admit. Being able to say "Hey dad I'm going to walk down to the beach I'll be back later," is not something everyone can say. To wear shorts and a t shirt 85% of the year is also pretty amazing. That's a good thing for me because I hate wearing socks and shoes. Even though my favorite time of the day to go out to the beach is definitely nighttime when all the stars were out, the morning is just as equally beautiful. I walked back over to my closet and pulled out a plum colored shirt that had spaghetti straps and lace down the back. I nodded in satisfaction throwing on the shirt and taking out my bun. I laughed at how crazy it was. I grabbed a brush and brushed it out examining it, thinking if I should keep it down or not. I decided to just keep it down, deciding that wavy from the shower was a good luck. I changed into three quarter length jeans, afraid of showing too much. I walked out of my room and quickly shoved my phone in my back pocket. I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Hey, I'm making pancakes!" I rose my eyebrow in confusion and questioned, "Um you're doing what?"

"Oh C'mon Scar! Can't a Daddy make breakfast for his beautiful princess?" I laughed and kissed his cheek saying "Yes, yes he can, as long as there are chocolate chips on top AND inside the pancake." Winking at him I sat down at the kitchen table studying his confused face.

"How do you put them inside the pancake...?" He said dumbfounded. I let out a huge laugh saying "That's for you to find out, and for me to eat!" After about 20 minutes of watching him figure out how to make the pancakes, they were finally done. He set a plate of 2 messy frisbee sized pancakes in front of me smiling proudly. They were covered in chocolate chips. I laughed, "Where are yours?" "Right here!" He said pointing to his plate which had just plain pancakes on them.

"Oh come on Dad! Didn't you want chocolate chips?" I said laughing a little. "Yes actually I did! But a masterpiece like that can not be duplicated!" I let out a laugh, "Masterpiece?" He nodded with his eyes wide. Laughing at his confidence I said "I'll be the judge of that!" I cut up the pancake and nervously took a bite. I nodded, "These are really good Dad!" I said with a mouth full of pancake. Now it was his turn to laugh. "Scar don't chew with your mouth open! How un lady like!" I dramatically gasped, "You think I'm a lady?"

"Well, this morning you were in a bra so that would mean you have-"

"STOP STOP I GET IT" I said cutting him off. I didn't need to hear the rest and I certainly didn't need to be reminded that that had even happened. We continued making small talk as we ate our surprisingly delicious pancakes. I glanced at the time showing that it was already 9:00am. I helped my dad clean up the dishes (which went over well considering my dad hasn't used a dishwasher in god knows how long). I went upstairs and laid on the floor grabbing my laptop. I quickly turned it on and went into my videos file. I clicked on the first video I saw, and it popped up. Mom's face came on the screen and a little girl with her hair up in a ponytail in a princess dress came running onto the screen. I smiled looking at my mom, just how I remembered her.

"Scar! Come here goofy girl!" I heard her say. Hearing her voice again brought tears to my eyes.

"MOMMY!" I heard the little girl screaming running towards her with arms opened and a huge smile on her face.

"Scarlet why don't you tell everyone what it is today?" I heard my dad say from behind the camera. My mom looked at me with the biggest smile on her face, and sparkles in her eyes as I said "My birfday!"

I laughed at how I talked, thank god no one else had gotten ahold of these.

I continued to watch the videos one after another in order by date up until the last video. It was my 14th birthday and my mom had surprised me with tickets to a Rascal Flatts concert. I watched as my face lit up when my mom held up the tickets. Then the camera stopped and the screen went blank. I wiped the tears from my eyes and took a huge deep breath in. You know you never really realize how much you need someone until they're gone. I shut down my laptop and took the picture frame off my desk and held it, looking at the picture, longing for her to be back. Wishing so bad that she would be back. That's when I lost it. My knees went weak and I fell to the floor breathing heavily. It seemed like I had been laying there for hours just crying my heart out, praying things were different. That my mom wouldn't had stayed late at work, that I hadn't gone to that party with Amber, that I shouldn't have let Nick pull me into that closet. I cried all of my emotions out, just wanting them to go away. I calmed down to the point where only silent tears fell down my face. Then I heard the doorbell ring. I got up confused. Maybe Dad locked himself out of the house again....No that couldn't be it, maybe Amber is here? I walked down the stairs slowly looking at the strangely familiar car parked in our driveway. I opened the front door and my mouth fell open, "Jason?"

Much Love!
-Ali Marie