romeo + juliet ↠ l.h

24

"Emma! I need to talk to you." my dad called out to me from his usual spot in the living room.

It was a quiet Sunday morning, a rare weekend that my dad was actually home. We had family dinner last night. If my mom wasn't mute and glaring at me all night, we almost could have been a normal family. Her newest trek to control me included her berating me ten times a day to dye my hair back to my natural color. My dad had his most 'high profile event' soon, and I guess my mom thought my pink hair would just be 'horrible' for their image. My dad told her that she wasn't being nice, but that's about all he said. Not that I would expect him to actually stand up for me.

"What's up?" I sat down near him on the couch, nervous for his next words. No one wants to hear 'I need to talk to you' come from their parent's mouth.

"Your mom says you're on the, whats it called, graduation committee?" he started, not taking his eyes off of his laptop.

"After-Grad committee, but yeah." I didn't know where this was going.

"Lots of kids in the group?" he pressed further.

"Not really, just a few of us. Why?" I answered.

"What about that Hemmings boy? Is he on the committee with you?"

Ah. That's where this is going.

My mind instantly raced. What do I tell him? Does he already know the answer? Is he just testing me? Oh my god, he knows.

"Yeah." I replied, attempting to seem unbothered. If I lied and he eventually found out, he'd be even more suspicious.

My dad has yet to look up from his laptop or give me any indication of his thoughts. His face lay blank as the screen reflected light onto it.

"So you guys talk, yeah?" He spoke, still emotionless and yet to look at me.

"Not if we don't have to, Dad. You know how it's always been. I just avoid him." I tried to use my best acting skills, praying that I could fool him this time. My dad had a way of always finding out the truth. Maybe this time I'd be lucky.

"Just making sure." He finally turned to look at me, "Love you, Em."

"I love you too, Dad." As soon as I spoke, I darted to my room, shutting the door and leaning against it.

Why couldn't I be like every other girl my age? Have a boyfriend, invite him over for dinner, go on dates that aren't 45 minutes away? Instead, I get an archaic, five generation family rivalry.

I hide in my closet and call Luke. I needed to get out of my house today.

"Hello." A woman's voice answers.

What the fuck?

My skin instantly felt hot, my hands shook, and I struggled to find the words to say. Why did a girl answer Luke's phone? My mind immediately went to the worst case scenario. He's cheating on me. We'd never talked about how exclusive we were. I guess I was dumb to assume.

"Hello? Am I speaking to Emma Baldwin?" the woman spoke again. I got too caught up in my assumptions to reply.

"Yes. Who is this?" I tried to keep tears back, but something about this girls voice was familiar. Maybe a classmate I hadn't talked to that much?

"Hi sweetie, this is Beth. Luke's golfing with his dad and left his phone here."

Relief flooded over me before I had time to panic. What was I going to say to Luke's mom?

"Oh, hi, sorry. I was just going to ask Luke about some school stuff we were supposed to work on. I can call back later." I spoke, hoping my cover up was believable.