Shatter [Jonathan Byers] Stranger Things II

XXI: Destroy

de·stroy

verb

put an end to the existence of (something) by damaging or attacking it.

The familiar streets of Hawkins flew by, even though Emilia was basically crawling at the speed she was comfortable with. The restaurant was in sight, some dingy little diner. Emilia parked her little Pinto and glanced over at Jonathan, then frowned when she noticed that his hand was clutching the "oh shit handle".

"That's an insult to my driving, Jonathan." She stuck out her tongue.

"This car is an insult to cars."

"You aren't even into cars, don't give me that!" She laughed.

"My point exactly!" He chuckled, then unclipped his seatbelt.

As they emerged from the little Pinto, they were laughing, but when Emilia saw the expression on her father's face through the window, she let her smile drop. Although they had left on better terms than she imagined possible, she wasn't expecting him to look so... happy to see her. She reached for Jonathan's hand, and he held it the whopping seventeen steps to the front door.

The bell jingled and Emilia's dad rose from the booth he had selected. He smiled, his teeth less yellow. The crows feet at his eyes tugged and for the first time, he actually looked like a parent. Or, perhaps, an estranged uncle. When he hugged Emilia, she was completely taken aback and stood as still as a brick wall.

"I didn't know you were bringing a friend," he said, glancing at Jonathan.

"Dad, Jonathan's my boyfriend," Emilia said, nervously even though she had no reason to be. Her dad was an asshole, always had been, and had absolutely no say in her life.

He pondered this, then held out his hand, "William."

"Jonathan. Nice to meet you, sir." Jonathan made sure to shake his hand firmly. Handshakes were a first impression that really mattered to fathers, he'd read that somewhere.

They took their seat in the booth, Jonathan and Emilia facing her father. He clasped his hands in front of him, the cigarette stains faded. He looked clean, well balanced. Emilia felt a pang of guilt as she realized that she had no idea how he was doing these days, but then shook it off because she was here now, wasn't she?

"Uhm, how have you been, Dad? You look good," Emilia asked awkwardly.

"Good, really good," he nodded as he spoke. "Got a job at a pulp mill, been kicking quite a few habits I picked up over the years."

"That's really good to hear," Emilia offered.

"Hey, you don't need to talk to me like I'm in prison. You're still my daughter, alright?" His voice rose.

Emilia stiffened, and then the waitress came over, a bright smile on her face. She distracted them long enough to hopefully move on to another conversation. Emilia wasn't here to talk about her relationship with her father, she was simply there to make sure he hadn't drank himself to death. She didn't want to ruin the relationship she had with him, but she didn't want it to be anything more than it already was.

"My dad worked there for a bit," Jonathan said, bringing the conversation back to being work related. It was a healthy, adult conversation.

"Oh yeah? Who is your dad again?"

"Lonnie... Byers," Jonathan hadn't said that name in a long time.

Her father processed it for a moment, and then he made a face. "Oh yeah, I remember now... you're the punk who was taking pornographic photos of my daughter, aren't you?"

"Dad!" Emilia yelled, not caring that attention of other patrons was now on them.

"Yeah, I saw those pictures. Emilia," he addressed her, "I'm surprised you're still with him, I thought you were better than that."

"You have no right to say anything about Jonathan, or me," she growled through gritted teeth. "I don't care if you're sober and working, Dad, it doesn't change the fact that your issues are what destroyed this family in the first place! Mum would be alive if you hadn't been such an asshole to her!"

Her father slammed his fists against the table, and from the back the waitress turned back around with their drink order. Emilia knew that the manager would come out soon and tell them to leave, and her dad would make more of a scene. It wouldn't be the first time it happened, but she was damn sure it was going to be the last. She grabbed her bag and stood up, beckoning for Jonathan to come with her.

"Sit down! You're still my daughter! You have absolutely no right to talk to me like that!"

"Come on, Jonathan" She pulled at his hand. Jonathan clambered out after her; he'd stood up for her before, but he didn't know how to talk to her father. His intimidation tactic was working on him; it was the first time he'd ever met someone's father in a situation like this, and it had gone far worse than he expected.

Her father followed her out into the parking lot, he jabbed his finger towards them. "You just replace people when they aren't good enough, don't you? Jim Hopper is your new dad? The Byers are your new family? What happened when you grow bored of them, huh, Emilia? You've always been afraid of attachment."

"Yeah, I guess I get that from you, Dad." Emilia turned back and stepped right up to her father.

"Emilia, let's just go," Jonathan said.

There were onlookers peering from the sidewalks, from inside the diner. The waitress was shaking her head, the manager had a phone in his hand ready to dial the station if things were going to get unruly. Someone always remained close to the phone when William Roth was in their place of business.

"Coward," he said to Jonathan.

Emilia slapped him, hard enough to make him recoil.

She expected to be hit in return, never having been hit by her father before. As she braced for impact, he dropped his shoulders and stumbled backwards.

"Emilia... I..." He realized that he had gone too far. After everything he had done to her and their torn up family, he had officially severed every last tie with his only remaining blood. "I'm so sorry."

"Apology not accepted."

"Please," he begged, "I... I didn't come here to start a fight with you, I mean it... I just lost my head."

"Nothing new there."

"I came to ask you to move back in with me, and I blew it... I understand that."

She stared coldly at him, a part of her officially severed as she cut him off for good.

"Goodbye, William." 

Gotta stir up the drama somehow, and how better to do it than with her deadbeat dad? I'll hopefully get a lot of writing done this weekend; my boyfriend is gone for the holidays and I get the house to myself! Woohoo! Also not doing Christmas anymore, so there will be an update on Monday as per usual.

Question of the Day: What do you do when a friend or family member continually disappoints you?