Blurred Lines

Chapter Thirteen

"I'm up here!" Dad yelled from his room.

"Okay! I'll be up in a minute." I kicked off my wedges, locked the front door, and turned off the porch light. Before going upstairs, I went into the kitchen for a glass of water and to decompress before going upstairs to the bombardment of questions that I knew were going to be hurled at me. When I made my way up the stairs and in my dad's room, I found him sitting on his bed, typing away on his laptop. I plopped down on the chair in the corner.

"So," he prompted, closing the laptop and peering at me over his wire glasses. "How was it?"'

"Better than expected. When they first arrived, Patrick looked like he was miserable and I was dreading the entire night."

"I'm glad you saw that too. For a first impression, he did a horrific job." He pursed his lips and set his laptop to the side, also taking off his glasses to set on the nightstand.

"I agree, but we kind of talked it out and he was nervous, which is why he acted like that. He's actually very nice, Dad. He just needed to come out of his shell a little bit."

I paused to let him think about this. He didn't speak, just pinched his lips together and crossed his arms across his chest.

"What about the other boy?" Dad asked. "What was his name? Jimmy?"

"Jonah." I stifled a laugh. "He's super polite and really attentive, I think that Bri and him get along really well together. I have a feeling like they're going to start dating soon."

"So overall a good night? Would you do it again?"

"Yeah, I think so. Or I would at least hang out with Patrick again. Even though Bri liked Jonah a lot, I found him to be sort of dry at times." I shrugged. "I don't know, I guess we'll just see what happens."

I stood up. "How was Carol and Mr. Mike's?"

"Fun as usual. They're a hoot, those two."

"Good." I smiled. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow. I'm going to bed."

"Night, Blair. Can you shut the door on your way out?"

"Sure." I pulled the door closed and headed to my room to get ready for bed. As I was slipping on my pajamas, I heard my phone buzz from the other side of the room on my dresser.

It was from an unknown number.

Hi Blair, this is Patrick. I wanted to let you know I had a fun time tonight and I'd like to hang again sometime.

A warm feeling like fire spread in my stomach, the flames dancing around as I read the text again. I finished getting ready for bed and slid under the covers, still smiling. It was true, when he first walked in, I was already disappointed with how the night was going to go. But once he apologized, I gave him a clean slate.

He had held the door open for me when we walked onto the back patio, gesturing with his hand for me to walk through first. It was as if apologizing had taken a weight off his shoulders, and as if he didn't feel as much pressure or wasn't as worried about the night anymore.

He was a goofball, always heckling Jonah for things like how perfect his hair looked or for how much extra ice he wanted in his water. When he joked, he looked over at me, his blond hair askew and his brown eyes dancing with mischief. My cheeks hurt at the end of the night from how much smiling I did.

Me too.

***

"Want a smoothie?" I shouted over to Dad who was still in his bathroom. The door was open and he came out to give me a thumbs up, brushing his teeth.