Dork Diaries: Next Generation

Give Me a Break

I stretch awkwardly, and my body pops in weird places. I've slept on an air mattress for the last week in Terra's room. I may be mad at my father, but I miss my bed. So much. And Terra's room smells strongly of perfume from Bath and Body Works. It's like she sprays a new scent every day.

My phone rings for the umpteenth time this week. It's Dad. I stare at it as it rings.

"Brandy, please," Terra groans from the comfort of her pillows. "That's the millionth time he's called. Just listen to what he has to say."

"There's no logical way he can justify what he did," I retort. The rebuttle is always at the tip of my tongue; we've had the same conversation after each time my dad has called since the first night I spent here. I hit ignore.

Terra scoffs. "You wouldn't know. You haven't talked to him." There's a slight venom in her voice, exasperated. She tried to mutter her words. She didn't do it well enough. As if on cue, my phone dings with a text notification. Yet another from my sperm donor.

Father: Brandy, please come home. Can we please talk?

Father: C'mon, Powerpuff. I know you're mad, but we can sort this out like we always do... Maybe over dinner at In N' Out?

Tempting...

Father: Alright. I'm done being nice. Come home or I'm filing a missing child report.

No, he wasn't. Or maybe he was. I can't take him seriously, especially when he lies to me for months on end. And if he did call the police, that was fine by me.

Mom: Hey, love. You're still breathing and functioning, right?

Me: Yes. I'm alive.

Mom: Alright. Have a good day, sweet heart. Please come home soon <3

I smile at my mom's calmness about the situation.

"Alright, super star. Time to get the day started," Terra says, stretching almost as awkward as I did.

I grab my bag of makeup, clothes, and hair products and rush to the bathroom. Terra does the same. We have this unspoken race on who can get in the shower first.

"C'mon, Brandy," she whines. "You always take an eternity. Just let me in the shower first for today. Please."

My silk pajama shorts were already at my ankles. "No can do, girlfriend."

"Okay, Brandy, look. I get that it's been a  a hard few days—"

"Let's talk on the drive to school. Don't wanna be late," I say, shooing her out of the bathroom.

She huffs and stomps away.

*~*~*~*

I roll off of Rick, slick in sweat and panting. "God, I love you," I gasp.

"I love you, too," he says, leaning over and kissing my shoulder.

My phone chimes with another text from my father, no doubt.

Father: You're so grounded when you get back home.

I almost laughed. I'm not the one at fault here.

I decide to spite him with the only text he'll receive from me.

Me: Who ever said I'd come back?

I shut my phone off and set it back on Rick's side table.

"Your dad again?" he asks, propping himself on his elbow.

I nod. "Apparently I'm grounded." I let out a chuckle. "He thinks he has the right to ground me."

"Well, I'd ground you too with how much sex you're having. Not that I'm complaining, but we rarely ever go out anymore."

"You wanna go out on dates?"

He shrugs. "Why not? Dinner, amusement parks, movies."

I roll out of his bed and search for my stray clothes, putting them on as I find them. "We can eat and amuse ourselves while watching a movie in your livingroom. At least here I don't have to wait in line for my favorite ride." I wink at him.

He laughs. "Again, I guess I can't complain." He gets out of bed and starts to pick up his straggling clothes as well. "But seriously, let's go out tonight."

I sigh, and my phone buzzes again, making me release a heavier sigh. Rick looks at me, his eyes asking me if I was going to answer it. I roll my eyes and pick it up off his side table.

When I see that it's my dad once again, I don't even bother reading the text. I frown and throw my phone on Rick's bed. "I can't believe him," I yell.

"Then let's go get some dinner and take your mind off it. I'm starving," he begs.

"Fine."

*~*~*~*

We sit in a corner not lit up as well as the other tables around the restaurant, making it difficult to tell who I was. Rick holds one of my hands from across the table, flipping through his menu with the other. I close mine after deciding what I want: iced tea and a chicken salad.

My phone vibrates on the table. Rick's eyes glance up from his menu to the phone then to me... then back to his menu. He sighs.

I take that as a sign to read it.

Father: You're causing more trouble than this issue is worth. Just come home so everything can go back to normal. Look, I don't care if you're angry, I just want you home.

I scoff. "More trouble than the issue is worth,"I repeat. "He's the one who lied and he thinks I'm causing more trouble than the issue is worth? Seriously?"

Rick caresses my hand to try to calm me down. "Brandy, relax. Just ignore him for now."

"Rick, he's not owning up to what he did, and he's mad at me for being mad at him when he's the one who made a mistake."

"Well hell, Brandy, if talking to him will finally make you shut up about it, maybe you should just let him play the victim."

My eyebrows draw together. "Excuse me," I say lowly.

"I can't even have sex with you without you complaining about your damn dad. You're acting like a child. Just talk to him. I'm sure he had a reason for his actions, and if you don't like them then you never have to talk to him again."

"What the hell do you know? You don't—"

"Look, I get it. You're fighting with your dad. Whatever. But I can't listen to you yap on and on about it without you doing anything about it. It's annoying as fuck, and I just want my girlfriend back."

The waitress comes to the table, ready to take our orders with a polite smile on her face. "Hello, are you two ready to order?"

I grab my purse from the back of my chair and stand. "Give him a few minutes. He's still looking," I say. I back away from the table and walk out of the restaurant.