Pleasure

Chapter Nineteen

I wake up the next morning feeling foggy. Memories of last night begin to resonate in my mind and for a moment, I wish it was all a dream. I sit up and rub my face. I hear a knock on my door and I instantly look at it.

"Come in," I groan, and lay back on my bed. My dad stumbles in smiling and leans against the door.

"How was your date?"

"It wasn't a date, dad." I mumble, feeling embarrassed about the events that unfolded at Jacob's house.

"Well, how was the night with your boyfriend?" I bite my lip and look away. "Was he mean to you?" He bulks his chest out, frowning.

"No, dad." I want to say more, but I don't know what else to really say.

"Well, I would still like to meet him. Come on, get up for breakfast. Your mom and I have news." He kisses my forehead and walks out, closing the door behind him.

I get up to wash my face and brush my teeth. Once I go into the kitchen, I see my parents preparing breakfast on the table. They're laughing and joking and it reminds me of how things were when my dad was around. The joy he would bring my mother with just three words.

"What's going on?" I question, staring at all the food on the table.

"Sit sit, sweetie. We made breakfast." My mom greets with a wide smile. I haven't seen her this happy in a while.

I take a seat and make my plate. The whole time, my parents watch me intently. Once I'm done gathering my food, I sit back and stare back at them.

"What?"

They take their seats and make their plates, keeping silent. I watch them until they take their seats and stare back at me. My face is hard and I suddenly think I've picked up a few facial expressions from Jacob.

"So I - we have news." My dad corrects himself, breaking the ice. "I'm going on discharge."

I immediately smile, realizing what he's saying. "You're not going to be in the military anymore? Dad that's great! You're coming home."

"Yes," he smiles, and rubs my mothers hand. They don't seem to look as happy as I am.

"What's the matter? Why don't you seem happy about that?"

My father looks at my mother with sad eyes. I hate when they do this. I never know what they're thinking. This is the same look they gave each other before my dad left when I was a child.

"Well the lieutenant wants to locate me back home." My dad replies. I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion.

"We are home," I state in a hard tone.

"No sweetie," my mom interjects. "Back in Indiana. Home."

I feel anger rise inside of me. How could they call that home? We worked so hard to get here and now they want to just get up and leave? What do they expect me to do, transfer senior year? Things were going perfectly fine for me. I had just one more year. Just one year left and I was free. I didn't have to pack up and leave people every time my dad got relocated. I was so fucking close. What about my friends? And this house? And Jacob . . .?

"No." The word slips out of my mouth, I almost meant to say it in my head. They shoot me a perplexed look.

"What?" My dad asks.

"No." I repeat more confidently. "I'm not moving again. I have just one more year. I'm graduating, I'm so close. I can't leave now."

"Baby it's still early in the year, you can-"