All My Love

6

My dad came charging toward jimmy like a bulldozer. Nothing could stop him and I knew it. But I, in my stupidity, decided to jump in his path to stop him.

BOOM

He slammed into me hard and sent me flying into the other room, tumbling to the floor and hitting jimmy, bringing him down with me.

"What are you doing with this boy?" My dad sneered.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to lie to my own father. I looked over at jimmy who was shaking a bit, trying to keep his cool. Then I slowly stood up and walked over to my dad.

"Dad, it's not what you think. He just came over because he got into a fight and needed some medical attention. But to be completely honest, dad," I braced myself for a beating,"he did kiss me."

As soon as the words escaped my mouth, his expression immediately changed and his eyes were full of rage, staring right through me and then jimmy.

It was awkward and quiet. But then he whispered,"get out of my house, you scum."

Jimmy proceeded to leave, not even looking back to say goodbye. That was probably a good idea.

The front door slammed shut and he was gone. I figured I I'd walk away but my dad grabbed my shoulder as I turned to go and swung me around.

"Louisa, what did I tell you about being alone with a boy in this house?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I thought I was just going to give him a bandaid or whatever he needed. But apparently not..."

He let out a deep sigh,"Lou, you know I love you very much. I don't want to see you throw your life away for some lowlife boy with no future. You're very intelligent and I don't want your talent to go to waste."

I smiled weakly. I understood what he was trying to say. But sometimes I just wanted to do my own thing. I was old enough to make my own decisions.

"Thanks, dad." I gave him a hug.

"I love you. Don't ever forget that."

"I love you, too."

-----

My mom came home that night seeming a bit stressed out. Surprisingly, my dad didn't tell her anything about Jimmy. I was so relieved. I was also very excited about my brother finally coming home. I hadn't seem him since Christmas two years ago. He never seemed to have any time to come home.

An hour passed and we finally sat down to eat. It was all silent and then there was a knock at the door.

"Who could that be?" My mom asked, sounding a bit confused.

She went to open the door and from the kitchen, I only heard the shrieks and squeals coming from my mom. My brother was home, that's for sure. And I was so excited to catch up with him.

-----

All in all, it was a great night. My dad didn't mention anything to my mom or my brother, which was great. I hoped it would stay that way.

At about 11:00, I decided to go to bed. But I just couldn't fall asleep. I guess I was still thinking about what happened today. It all went by so fast. It kind of felt like a dream. And believe me, I wish it was.

But mostly, it was the terrible guilt that was keeping me up. I felt so bad for John. He just wanted to be with me and then that all happened. So I decided to call him.

I dialed his number, but it rang several times before he answered. He was probably asleep. Great, now I'd feel bad for waking him up.

"Hello?" A tired, raspy voice answered the phone. Yup. He'd just woken up. But I couldn't blame him. It was pretty late at night.

"Um, hey, John. It's Lou."

He stayed silent for a couple of seconds and then finally replied.

"What do you want. It's really late and I need my sleep."

"I just wanted to call and apologize and just check up on you."

"Well, go on. I'd love to hear it."

"John, I know you're a bit angry with me at the moment. But I'm trying to make things right."

"Just apologize already."

"Ok... I'm sorry, John, for leading you on and going off with one of your best friends. I'm sorry for trying to hide all this from you. I'm sorry for anything and everything else I did wrong."

It was silent again. So I started to talk again.

"I don't care if you don't forgive me. But I just wanted you to know that I just am trying to fix-"

"Alright, I get it." He murmured, interrupting me.

"Ok then... Bye, I guess."

"No, wait!"

"What?"

"I'm still a bit angry with you. But I just wanted to invite you to one of my band's upcoming gigs. That would mean a lot to me."

"Sure, sounds fun! Where and when?"

"Just meet me at my house tomorrow and we can drive together."

"Sounds reasonable. I'd better go to bed now."

"Me too. G'night."

"Good night, love you."

Oh crap. I said love you, didn't I? Drat. I always did that whenever I was done talking on the phone, even telemarketers and random people I didn't know. It was too late to explain myself though. He had already hung up.