The Art Of You And I

Chapter eighteen: Strippers.

Alexander's hands wrapped themselves around me and gently pulled my hiccuping form to my feet.

"Come on." He whispered. "Let's get you home."

I swallowed the big lump in my throat and nodded. His arms were still around me when he lead me to the passenger seat of my car. He unlocked it and opened the door and placed me inside slowly, as if I was fragile. He went back to get the blankets from the ground then came back to my side of the car. He covered me in them.

While he covered me, I tried to see his face. His dark blue eyes were serious and focused. There were soft lines on the side of his mouth, and his cheekbones looked very prominent and hard when his shadow fell across his face against the moonlight. I couldn't read his emotions and I was getting annoyed. What does he think about me?

After he was done, he grabbed the rest of our stuff, including my bag, from the ground and stuffed them in my car. Finally, he went into the driver's seat, turned on the engine and drove out of the drive in theater.

The car was silent and my sniffs were excruciatingly loud. The awkward silence was thankfully broken when my phone rang, signaling a call. I reached for my bag and found my phone. Dad was calling.

"Hello?" My voice cracked. God I sound horrible.

"Honey." He said. Oh no. He sounded drunk.

I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. "Dad, where are you?"

"You shall not enter my house." He shouted. An uncontrollable cough took over his body.

I groaned. "Dad. You're drunk. Wherever you are, stay there. We'll come pick you up. Where are you?"

He chuckled. "You don't need to know that. I'm at a friend's house. I'm sleeping here."

I nodded, relieved. Alexander was half paying attention to the road and me. "Ok. Just please. Don't do anything stupid."

He cleared his throat. "I think I just did."

"What are you talking about? If you broke something-"

"I lost your house keys."

I was confused. "That's not possible. I have them here in my bag."

The line was silent. "Do you?"

After a few minutes of rummaging through my bag and cursing, I sighed exasperatedly, "Goddamn it, dad. Did you take it?"

"Not on purpose." He said quickly. "But yes. I called you because-" he burped. "Because I wanted to make sure you had somewhere else to stay for the night until I make you a new house key."

I scratched my scalp. "Yes I do. I'll stay at Dave's place, alright?"

"I love Dave. I want to hug him."

"Dad, you haven't met him yet."

"He sounds like a sweet guy."

"You didn't like him before."

"People change."

"Bye dad."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

After I closed the line, Alexander cleared his throat. "You're locked out?"

"Unfortunately. Make a left here, then go straight. Then take the third right." I informed him, all the while I was dialing Michael's phone.

He picked up on the last ring. "Hello?" He answered, his voice muffled and hoarse.

"I'm coming over. I'm gonna sleep on the sofa alright?" I said as I yawned.