Life Of The Party × CH

31

By the time my dad got home, Calum had already left (giving me a goodnight kiss before he did), and I was already in bed, scrolling through my phone.

I pretended to be asleep when he came in my room to check on me, soon after falling asleep for real.

The next morning, a cold breeze in my room woke me up. My window had been open since last night, and as I looked out the window, I saw a cloudy sky. A few people were walking past our house, all dressed in long sleeves, giving me the indication that it was a cold day.

I rolled out of bed after I found it useless wrapping myself in my covers, trying to stay warm. I closed the window before walking to my bathroom to brush my teeth and face. Walking into my closet, I was already thinking of what outfit to put together. The weather was cold and I loved wearing hoodies.

As I searched through the endless pile of hoodies in my closet, I couldn't help but want to own one of Calum's hoodies. Oversized hoodies were my favorite, and Calum's scent was a bonus. I would ask him to give me one, but we weren't an official couple, no matter what we were doing, whether it was fucking or dates in other towns.

Walking down to the kitchen, I found my dad on a highchair, eating toast. I decided on making some for myself as well. I rolled the sleeves of my hoodie up to cut some bread, and just as I took the bread-knife in my hand my dad spoke. "Why are your eyes swollen?" he asks.

I panicked. "It's probably because of sleep," I say.

"Are you sure you haven't been crying?"

"Yes, dad," I look at him, feeling more confident than I had been a moment ago, "I'm sure."

"What did you do last night?" he asks.

"I just watched a show on Netflix," I told him.

"When did you get back home?" This was my dad's way of finding out whether I was lying. Luckily, after living with him for sixteen years, I was used to these kinds of interrogations from my cop father, and I knew exactly how to lie.

"Early," I answer, cutting some bread, "I was home around nine." Lie. It was eleven and a half.

"Who did you say you were out with again?" he stopped eating, looking at me.

"Stella," I say. "Lola was at her grandparent's house." Not a total lie.

"How did you get that bruise on your wrist?" he asked, looking at my wrist. I'd completely forgotten about the bruise - it didn't hurt unless I touched it - and right about now it was a purple color.

"My hand got stuck in one of Stella's mom vases," I tell him, looking him right in the eye.

"I thought you were out with Stella?" he raised an eyebrow, hoping he'd caught me in a lie.

"We were out," I say. "We were at the Coffee Club Café until about eight, and then went back to hers because her mother invited me to dinner."

My dad stopped talking for a bit, probably thinking about what I had just told him. I walked over to the toaster to take the toast out. I placed the two pieces on my plate before turning the toaster off and walking to the counter.

"Alright," he finally says. "I believe you. But if you are lying, I will find out."

"I'm not lying," I tell him as I look at him seriously. "Seriously dad? Why would I lie?"

"You might have your reasons," he says. And I do.

I roll my eyes, "I wouldn't lie about a bruise."

"Okay," he says, sounding as calm as ever, as if he hadn't just accused me of lying, not like I wasn't.

"Whatever," I say, a little annoyed that he was interrogating me first thing in the morning. I walked to the living room and sat down on the couch, placing my plate of toast on my lap and taking a bite out of one of the pieces.

The rest of the morning went by quickly, and so did most of the afternoon. At one point, dad walked into the living room and sat down next to me on the couch. By this time, I had ranted to Calum about my morning interrogation and had gotten all the frustration out of my system. I was currently still texting him, and I was thankful my dad was sitting on the other end of the couch.

"Do you want to play cards?" dad asked.

I decided to agree in order to leave our argument aside. I didn't want to seem suspicious to him in any way. "Sure."

We ended up playing cards for a few hours, getting more comfortable and less uptight by the end of it. We'd been having such a great time catching up and playing - dad had even told me about his new girlfriend, Mary - that we didn't realize it had been lunch time up until the point my stomach started growling.

Calum: Come over for lunch? My mom insists.

"I forgot to tell you, I invited Mary to lunch," he looks a little unsure.

"Oh that's great, dad," I give him a reassuring smile, "but I kind of already made plans for lunch," I frown. "Lola, Stella and I were going to go to this new burger place today."

"Okay," he says, a disappointed smile makes its way on his face. "As long as this has nothing to do with Mary?"

"I know it looks that way," I give him an apologetic look, "but I swear it has nothing to do with her. How about I come home early to meet her?"

Dad smiles. "That would be great," he says. "As long as you want to. If you don't, I'll totally understand."

"No," I say. "I want to meet her. I just completely forgot to tell you about my plan today."

"I get it," he nods, "the weekend is your only time off work. I understand if you want to spend it with your friends."

"Thanks, dad," I say as I get up. I hug him before walking upstairs to get changed.

I just had to say burgers, didn't I? Now I'm starving, and thirty minutes away from Calum's house.