Needing is One Thing

Chapter 5. Walk a little tightrope

  Mika opened her locker with a sigh as her phone buzzed, reminding her she got a text during her last class of the day. Checking, she saw it was from her dad.

I'm driving you home, wait for me outside.

"Who is it?" Naomi asked, looking over.

"Some secret admirer?" Suzu teased.

"It's my dad. He wants to pick me up." Mika stared at the phone perplexed. Was it about the letters? He hadn't opened them.

"Oh!" Naomi pulled the strap of her satchel over her shoulder and locked her locker. "Well, we can drive you home tomorrow."

"Hopefully, you're not in the doghouse again," Suzu grumbled, frowning at the phone as the blonde smacked her shoulder.

"She doesn't need to worry about something like that!" Naomi chided her.

"What? We all know her dad's the biggest dick."

"Suzu!" Naomi complained, "That's so crude."

"Well it's true," the Italian shrugged. "Don't let him bother you, Anderson. You don't live in his house anymore so you don't have to play by his rules."

Mika sighed. If only that were true. But she had a bigger problem. Andrew was coming to take her out for coffee.

"Hi!" Mika's head shot up to see the man in question walking down the hall towards them. More than one group of girls stared at him. Mika wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"Hi, I'm Lisette!" Mika's rival suddenly barged in between them, offering Andrew her hand.

He looked down at it for a second. "Hi," he barely acknowledged it before quickly stepping around her to meet Mika. Lisette stared after him, her hand still out for a moment before she quickly dropped it, embarrassed.

"Looks like 'Little Miss Cockblocker' struck out," Suzu laughed nastily, loud enough for Lisette to hear.

Andrew ignored it all as he leaned against the lockers beside Mika's and smiled at her. "I hope you don't mind, I needed to stop in and use the restroom. Are you ready?"

Mika blushed as she heard her fellow students start whispering. Some of their words made it to her ears. "Is that her boyfriend?" "He's so hot." "How'd she catch him?" "Lucky!"

Andrew exaggeratedly rolled his eyes at her, getting her to giggle. Her friends' mouths dropped open and he chuckled at them. "Hey," he greeted them, tucking his hands into his front pockets and shaking his head to flip his hair back out of his eyes. Naomi and Suzu looked him up and down, still staring.

"Um, you didn't see my dad out there did you?" Mika bit her bottom lip. Andrew turned back to her, his own expression becoming concerned, seeing the worry on her face.

"No. In fact, he was just heading into a board meeting when I left the office. Why?"

"Oh. He texted me that he was going to pick me up," Mika shrugged, feeling a little helpless. Will Andrew be mad if I have to cancel?

Andrew's brows shot up and he shook his head. "I don't think that's going to happen. Those meetings can go on forever and he's never missed one." He cocked his head to the side and gave a half smile. "If he is there, I'm sure we can sneak out of here without him noticing. That is if you don't mind being bad with me."

All three girls stared, surprised. Suddenly Andrew's cheeks bloomed red as he realized what he'd said. "Wait! I mean..."

"Go ahead," Naomi smiled at them. "Say we took you home."