caller • mattia polibio

028.

The silence was so prominent that it felt deafening.
Her father sat at the breakfast bar, still dressed in work clothes and a coffee steaming in front of him. He didn't look at Claudia, didn't bother to turn around, he just sat there. She wrapped the blanket tighter around her body. She couldn't lie, she couldn't do a thing now, he already knew.

"Pa.. Look.." Claudia started.

"Why didn't you tell me, ask me, how can you keep this from me?" Anger was present in his voice. "You know how I feel about boys, you're still young. Is this what you do when I'm busy? Go out with boys?"

"No! This is the first boy, ever! Ever! I wasn't 'going out' he took me on a date! It was beautiful. He treats me amazingly Pa. You would love him to if you just met him! I'm not young anymore, you can't protect me forever, I'm not going to leave you, just let me live.." Tears were welling up in Claudia's eyes.

"Go to your room." He once again didn't listen, he didn't understand. "Don't think about going anywhere."

Tears flowed down her face as she raced up the stairs and shutting herself in her bedroom, sliding down the backside of the door, heart aching. Her father was the most important man in her life, she had no other family, so when they argued it hurt and it hurt a lot. She didn't want to go behind her father's back.

She stood in front of the mirror, stepped out of the pretty blue dress, brushed through the perfect curls and wiped her tears, smudging her mascara, she had been stripped back of happiness that she had constantly felt over the course of the past few months. Many scenarios and questions trifled through her head. Would she see Mattia again? Could they make it work? Would her dad forgive her? Approve of Mattia? Sobbing endlessly, she pulled her self into bed, not even bothering to wipe off her makeup or get into pyjamas, but instead cried herself to sleep in her underwear and an excess amount of blankets.

——————

Days had passed, Claudia had spoken to no one.
She couldn't bring herself to reply back to her friends or her boyfriend. She couldn't think of away around the issue other than avoiding it, hoping Mattia would find someone better, who he could actually be with. Her heart felt empty and the joy she once felt was almost forgotten about. Her and her father hadn't spoke, the house was filled with unreal amounts of tension and anger. Her father was just trying to protect his beloved daughter and the daughter just wanted an understanding father.

As Claudia drove home after another long and jarring day at school, she cried again, listening to the songs they once sang to and how they would drive for hours in the dead of night everywhere and anywhere. She just wanted to love him, give him a big hug, tell him how sorry she was, but the damage had been done now.