Settle For Less (A Before You Exit Fan Fiction)

Pre-Annual Family Ball

The sunlight burned through my eyes as it made me conscious that it was already late morning. I turned to the side of my bed lazily, patting my side table for my phone without opening my eyes. When I realized there was nothing on top of the table, I had a slight panic. I wrinkled my nose. That’s right, I’m totally cut off from my dad.

                I was still not used to the “grounded” situation. It’s been five a week since my dad last spoke to me. When I arrived home the night Connor and I sneaked out, it wasn’t pretty. Dad was waiting on the foot of our door steps with his devilish angry look. Mom was calming him down but he was so red, an erupting volcano would’ve been less scary. He pulled me inside calmly which meant his anger was in the red alert level already. It made me shiver when he said to me, “We need to talk.”

                As we walked inside, mom and the others started following. I could see Connor looking really worried. His eyes stared at me like I was about to walk straight to my death. Almost every time Chloe and I brought someone home to meet our dad, they always say he’s scary and all. Even Howard, despite our history, was still scared of him. There was really only one person dad eased up to—Daniel. And the reason for that is still a mystery to both Chloe and I.

                “No, you all stay there,” said my dad, closing the door to them. All of them followed Dad’s command. Out of fear or out of respect, I wasn’t sure. I took one last look at every one. Mom and Luke who both looked like they were seeing the end of the world. John and Maryse who looked like they had eaten bad salad and was forced to swallow it. Jessica, Luke’s sister, looked like she was enjoying the drama. Before the door was shut, I was certain that Chloe and Daniel had gone missing again. They had officially chose the worst time to do their thing, I thought.

                “I don’t like what you did tonight,” Dad said in monotone which shocked me since I was excepting something worse.

                “I know. And I’m so—”

                “I don’t think you should see that boy anymore,” he interrupted me.

                His words were stabbing me to death. He couldn’t be serious. He was being irrational, that's for sure. I stared at him for quite some time, still processing the whole momentum. He stared back at me as if waiting for my reaction and I was too stunned to give him the reaction he wanted.

                Finally, after what felt like forever, I gave him the satisfaction that he was waiting for. “No,” I said quietly at first.

                “What did you say?”

                “I said no!”

                “He’s been a bad influence to you. Look at you now you’re disrespecting your own father for that boy. I’d rather you go back to that Howard boy you’ve been dating. At least, that boy can give you a good reputation unlike him. Who is that boy anyway?”

                “I can’t believe you! Since when did you care about who I date or what not?”

                Dad sighed a long tired sigh. “Look, Zoe, you’re too immature to understand anything. Too young and naïve to think for yourself. You’ll just windup heartbroken or pregnant and we don’t want that, do we?”

                “It’s not like that, Daddy,” I said raising my voice on him out of frustration. “You’re the one who doesn’t understand anything!”

                “Zoe, you’re a Lockwood! You’re not supposed to be running around, having affairs with normal people!” He said the word “normal people” in a hissing way like snakes do. This was the first time I saw this side of Dad and I wondered what other sides he’d been hiding to us.