A Simple Folded Paper

45

After Camila managed to calm down, Lauren signaled for her dad to meet her in the kitchen and they both met there, leaving Camila and Hannah on the couch watching TV.

"I called Dr. Franklin today, Camila can go see him tomorrow, it looks like she really needs it.", her dad said as he opened the fridge to retrieve a beer from inside. When he closed the door and looked behind, Lauren had a look of disapproval on her face. "Don't worry, it's just a beer. I'm making barbecue for dinner, I can't break the tradition of barbecue and beer.", he said, putting on a playful tone to try and cheer her daughter up who didn't look amused at all by his antic. "Sorry."

"You can do whatever you want, I just want to thank you for setting up the appointment for her."

"It's all good, he said that the first appointment is mainly to talk about what happened to put her in such a traumatic state, so she can drag someone along with her if that it's important for her to have by her side.", her dad informed, knowing well that Camila would need Lauren there just for witnessing what had happened in the living room.

"That'll be good, thank you. Can I ask you one more question?", Lauren asked. She didn't want to ask her dad this, she wanted to take care of it by herself but she knew that, alone, she wouldn't make much damage. The man nodded in response and Lauren proceeded, "Can you come with me to Camila's house tomorrow?".

The man raised an eyebrow at his daughter, "Isn't Camila's dad in there?".

"Yeah."

"Then why do you want to go there?", the man asked, slightly confused.

"Camila needs her stuff, clothes and all. She can't go there and I don't want to go alone in case he... You know... Tries something.", Lauren answer, playing with the hem of her shirt. In reality, she wasn't scared of her girlfriend's father presumable moves, she could very well handle herself - at least she could with some help of her friend, Pepper Spray -, but she needed her father to go. She needed a distraction.

Her dad agreed as soon as he realized that his daughter could be in danger, but he internally felt how difficult it would be to not beat the crap out of the other man who was capable of doing such outrageous act to Camila, to his own daughter.

After, Lauren left and left her dad in the kitchen, preparing everything for the barbecue. Once the steaks were already grilling and he had nothing to do but to, eventually, flip the meat, the man caught himself thinking. His mind went back to a year and a half before when everything was still alright. He had a good job, good friends, 3 lovely kids and a splendid wife, but things went down when his middle daughter died. After that it was just arguing and throwing things, it was sleepless nights, friends and wine. In the end, the man became something that he despised.

What changed? You ask. Well, it was precisely the moment when he saw Camila on his couch. The story began after his daughter died, when he was in bed without being able to sleep. He decided to go to the kitchen and drink something warm, only to encounter his older daughter already there preparing a drink. After the man prepared two hot chocolates, they sat on the porch talking about everything and anything. It was on that night, that the man became so proud of his older daughter. Lauren talked about how fucked up she thought society was, how against the school system she was because it didn't prove any of her qualities although she had pretty good grades, how she chose to be by herself, without any friends around, because teenagers were all shallow and empty. And it was on that night that, out of the blue, she confessed to like girls. Her dad couldn't say that he saw that coming, but felt so proud that he almost shed a tear. He hugged his daughter and made her promise to present to him whoever made her happy when the day came.

That day came a year later when he saw Camila in his living room. Lauren never brought friends home and, for Camila to be there, she must have been pretty special. He decided that it was time to stop acting like a rebel teenager and get his shit together because his behavior was affecting other people and he had to take care of his daughters. He felt so bad for having his daughter's girlfriend - or friend at least - there and know that Lauren wouldn't keep her promise due to his behavior, that he threw the bottle he had to the garbage can and stayed sat in the car pondering.