Life Of The Party × CH

19

"Dad, I'm home," I called out once I entered the house.

I didn't get a response, but I knew he was home. His police car was parked in the garage.

I walked up the stairs. Leaving my bag in my room, I walked over to my dad's bedroom, lightly knocking on the door.

"Come in," I heard him say.

I opened the door, stepping inside to find my dad standing by his mirror, constantly switching between two ties.

"Good," he said, "you're home." Turning to me, he holds both ties in each hand, holding them in front of him. "You're the one with a fashion internship, which tie do you think is better?"

I laugh, "Dad, it's an internship at a magazine," I correct him.

"It's a fashion magazine, isn't it?"

"Yes," I say.

"See," he says, "Now which tie do you think is better? This one," he places a navy tie at the collar of his shirt, "or this one?" he removes the navy tie, placing the maroon tie in its place.

"The navy one goes better with your pants," I say, "but the other one goes with your belt."

We stay quiet for a bit, in my head I'm debating between the ties.

"The maroon one," I finally say.

Dad smiles, "Thanks, sweetheart."

"No problem, dad," I smile back. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going out with Mary again," he says, looking at me through the mirror, adjusting his tie.

"Mary?"

"The woman I went on a date with the other night," he clarifies.

"Oh," I say, "Wow, two dates in a week, this must be serious," I joke.

"She seems nice," is all he says.

"Okay, well I'll go make myself some dinner then," I say, already walking out the door.

I'm already in the kitchen, boiling spaghetti, when I hear dad walk down the stairs.

"Sorry about dinner, honey," dad says, "I promise we'll have dinner together tomorrow night."

"Sounds good, dad," I say.

"I won't be out too late," he says, "but you don't have to wait up for me either."

"Okay," I say.

"Have a good night," he kisses my forehead before grabbing his wallet and keys off the counter, "and no boys in the house." He's already out the door before I can say anything.

×××

It's been an hour since dad left.

I'm sitting on the couch, eating popcorn as I watch a horror movie by myself, covered by a velvet blanket up to my waist.

A noise comes from my bedroom upstairs, but I'm too into the movie to process it. I continue watching.

A few minutes later, right as a curdling scream comes from a character on the screen, I feel a hand being placed on my shoulder. I jolt off the couch, screaming and spilling the popcorn in the process.

I turn around to face whoever is behind me, only to find Calum laughing.

"Not funny," I say through gritted teeth. I sit back down on the couch, thinking of how I'm going to have to clean the popcorn off the floor.