My Best Friend, The Bad Boy

28 | Moments Featuring an Unexpected Guest

Carter's POV (not edited)

It can't be. He couldn't be here. As I walked up behind Kaillie, it was like the world slowed down as he fully appeared in front of me. Obviously, he had aged since the pictures had been taken years ago, but I didn't doubt that the man in front of me is my father. My estranged father. There are too many similarities between our appearances to even doubt it. We have the same deep blue eyes, as I'm sure Kaillie has noticed, as she turns to face me, her expression almost mirroring mine. Both our jaws are hung open, except she looks slightly more surprised than me. I guess that's my fault though, because I didn't exactly tell her about my father stuff. I didn't want to be a burden, especially considering I know exactly how Zach's actions made her feel, as I've been there myself.

"Hello?" I pose the statement as a question to him breathlessly, not quite sure why he's here. It's Christmas, shouldn't he be with his other family? You know, the one he's with all the time? Since when was I important enough to make the list of places to visit on Christmas day?

He seems to be reacting like me, as if he wasn't sure he'd make it to the door or something. "Can I come in?" he asks, as I feel my mom's hand come to rest on my shoulder in a comforting gesture.

"Hi Aaron," my mom greet him warily, "Of course you can come in. Kaillie, can you close the door behind him, please?" Aaron steps through the door looking nervous, almost like he doesn't know what to do. But then again, he probably doesn't, I guess. Kaillie matches his nervousness, except hers is because she is not sure how to react to the situation, other than to do as my mom says. It's like she's in some form of shock, completing the movements with a hollow, confused expression on her face.

Mom takes his coat and leads him in the direction of the kitchen after he has taken his boots off, clearly going to have a chat before I will probably have to talk to him. As they slide into the kitchen, the only thing I hear him say is her name. Is he trying to explain why he's here? I mean, why is he here anyway? And why now? Why when I've almost lived all of my life without him in it? Why on Christmas Day? But for now, I just put my arm around Kaillie and walk upstairs with her, heading for my room. To put it lightly, I have a bit of information to inform her of, and maybe that will help to calm me down and help me understand why he is currently in my house.

"Hey," I almost whisper when we get there, and sit on top of my bed, the shock wearing off of her facial expression.

"So that was your father?" she asks, her facial expression starting to return to something closer to normal.

"Yup," I replied, "I'm not quite sure why he's here. The only reason I can think of is because I was asking my mom questions about him, and I recently discovered the story of why he's not around."

Nodding slowly, she says, "Okay, so you think he's here because you've been wondering about him?" I can see she's trying to take it all in, and it's almost like she has enough shock for the both of us.

"While, not just wondering..." I trail off, knowing what is coming up next, "My mom had me call him, but I didn't know what to say, so Abby may have called him afterward and talked to him a bit." Thinking about it now, there are things I should have said. Like, you know, hello. But it's just a little awkward to call your estranged father in the first place, isn't it?

For a moment, she just looks at me, before looking away. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asks quietly, observing the floor before turning her gaze back to me. I can see a tiny bit of hurt blossom in her eyes, which starts to tear me up a bit inside.

"I'm sorry," I start, taking a hold of her hand beside me, "I didn't tell you because of everything you were going through with the whole Zach situation. I didn't want to add to the load you were carrying. So instead, I called Abby to help me figure it out. And then, I didn't think anything would come of it, so I didn't bring it up again. But you know, now he appeared," I point out with a soft, trying smile, "so it's kind of a hard topic to avoid." As I finish, her eyes turn back up to meet mine, and the metaphorical tearing sensation I was feeling stops.