Half Bitten

Trying to control myself, I felt strangely happy walking to my dad’s house. I skipped to the doorway with a smile that seemed larger then it should have.
“Is there something I should know about?” my dad raised a brow in suspicion. “Something going on between you and Cole?”
I raised a brow to challenge him, “his name’s Lowlii.”
My dad yelled after me as I trudged by him, running up the stairs.
“Was that the same boy that bothered you at the bookstore! He’s a heart breaker, Jackie. Don’t bite off more then you can chew!”
My bedroom door muffled the sound of his overly panicked voice. Who said I was biting? In fact, what I was dong was a mere nibble. There was nothing wrong with accepting a ride. I was home safe and sound in one piece, wasn’t I?
My thoughts ran vividly. There was no use for me to hate Lowlii. Coming to false assumptions and materializing flaws would be of help to no one. But how was I going to meet him again?
With Amber and Kindle forming the Anti-Jackie cult, there weren’t many options to choose from. Amber wasn’t hard to please, the only reason she bestowed upon me the oh-so-innocent-death glares was because she saw me as a threat. If I were nothing but an insignificant friend to Lowlii, Amber would be back by my side bringing along Kindle.
Besides, there was someone more important to impress.
I heard my dad’s feet shuffle across the carpet by my door. I could see his expressionless face in my mind. Arguing with himself to come in, or to confront me about whatever he wanted to in the morning. Then, the shuffling had stopped.
The only reason my dad would stop dead in his tracks was when he had a plan that would turn my whole life inside out. He was always the spontaneous one of the family. A lot of children would love to have him as a parent, but my mom knew that was the one and only thing that would end their marriage.
My dad never seemed to care much about life before he met my mom. Knowing this from my mom’s discussions, as she sobbed while signing the divorce papers. He didn’t care for much responsibility and seeing how I was nine, and now fatherless, it didn’t seem as if I was a good enough reason for him to stay.
The first couple of months of the divorce were ones that I would never forget. After the signing of the divorce papers, and my dad running off with some brunette; petite with blue eyes and a warm smile, she was his joy. My mom would pick me up, everyday after school and on the way home she would make me tell her about my day. Who I talked to, if I had met any boys, if any of them bothered me. As soon as we would be home, the textbooks were out, and math problems had to be done two hours before dinner. As clueless as I was at the time, she was controlling my life; every aspect, ever fiber of what I had left.
It was always about us. The problem was, this “us”, didn’t include me.
Upon blowing the candles out on my 16th birthday cake, I had seen a man resembling my dad. Only it wasn’t him, someone else younger, more confident with his look. He promised, through his phony Italian accent, to give my mom and I the world. Only catch was, moving to Italy.
You would think that a 16-year-old teenage girl would be up for anything, new, extreme, and daring. And to their fortunate turn of events, I was.
Seeing as how my mom had already packed my bags and bought a plane ticket; I decided to run away. Run far enough where she would need a helicopter to find me. Only, her stupid boyfriend was smarter then he seemed. Talking to Carmine, she spilled her guts like she was confessing her burning never ending love for him, and led my mom’s boyfriend to the attic where 16-year-old me, was staying. One thing moved to another and everyone had heard about my “episode.” Family from across town came to see if I was all right, showering me with hugs, kisses, and blessings.
You would think that a mother who had lost her daughter would stop the world just to find her again. Welcoming her with a smile and loving arms. With tears of regret streaming down her face, she would embrace the daughter, whispering that she never wanted to loose her again.
My mom did anything but.
Regardless of my feelings, or the fact that I would forever more be her daughter no matter how many miles she set between us, the nanny she had hired a few weeks before I came here was happy to take her place.
The house was full of nothing but the absence of my family. It had fallen into nothing but broken puzzle pieces. Only, a puzzle was less complex.
Normal puzzle pieces have the ability to be picked up, spun around, and turned over. This puzzle was one that was never supposed to be put together. It was the remains of old puzzle pieces abandoned in life; shipped carelessly to an unsuspecting person, in a tattered box marked fragile yet was intentionally overlooked. With a flick of the hand, the puzzle fell into the fire, burning and defacing the pieces until they were nothing but blackened matter.
A memory of what once was.
Birds chirped simultaneously as a slit of silver found its way in between the morning dewdrops on my window. The shuffling of my dad’s house slippers continued faintly as the telephone rang.
“Hey.” My dad seemed to hint a tone of recognition. I rolled my eyes turning over in my bed. He spent all day with Bird yet still had the time to pick up his calls.
“Yea.” He hesitated, “she got home in one piece.”
Silence froze the air for a moment. Than my dad’s sarcastic voice followed, “lucky your son brought her home. I didn’t want to ground her.”
His feet shuffled around again and my ears found it impossible to eavesdrop on his lively conversation any longer. My mind aimlessly wandered, mapping out the events of how this day would unfold. He would wait until one in the afternoon to drive down to the bookstore, taking me along for the ride, we would argue on how much junk food a growing teen needs in her daily diet to be considered exceptionally healthy, then he would drop me off in town near the supermarket. I would wander restlessly until night decided to fall over, blanketing the earth with a light coat of sheer inevitable cold.
My body shifted itself restlessly out of bed, overlooking the urge to primp up for another spectacular day; I decided to nip the problem right in the bud. I would make my dad do something daring, something out of the ordinary.
“Hey honey!” my dad’s voice was soft, as I climbed down the stairs to the kitchen. Suddenly attacked by a whiff of pancake batter mix, I scrunched my face. “Cooking?”
He swallowed nervously as he poured a small amount of batter on the now sizzling pan. “Well, I decided to do something different today.”
I raised a brow; this was not what I signed up for. I was supposed to urge him to do something out of the ordinary. He took the spatula and flipped the half burnt pancake over; pointing to a chair, “sit.” It was only then when I noticed that he was wearing a light sweater, something you would wear a raincoat under. My eyes traced the outline of the chair, looking for something out of the ordinary.
“Pass.” I dared to say.
He didn’t seem humored, picking up a plate he restated his statement, “Sit now.”
My eyes beamed a coat of desperation as I took my seat. He set the plate of pancakes down and sat in the chair facing me.
“I was thinking…”
Great, he was thinking.
“Thinking is good. I tend to do that sometimes. I was actually going to plan something for us.” His eyes seemed to be surprised, “really? I was planning something for us too.”
I couldn’t read the expression on his face; I wanted so much to know what he was up to.
“You spent all day with your friends yesterday and I would much like to wish that would be different during the next school year…”
I rolled my eyes, “please don’t tell me that you’ve decided to revisit your teaching career.”
He seemed to let his mind wonder, “actually, that was exactly what I was going to talk to you about.”
Oh no. He was going to home school me. Maybe he thought I wasn’t ready to go back into that life cycle without mom.
I poked at the stack of pancakes he had put down, not wanting to make eye contact.
“And I know how it’s like to be in a new town, wanting to make new friends…”
I sighed hopelessly wishing I were back in bed staring blankly at the ceiling. He was going to lock me up and throw away the key.
“So, I’ve decided to take you fishing.”
My head darted up in surprise, “what?”
“Yeah,” he shrugged, “I came to the fact that there was no way to trap you in the house and figured that we could spend quality time together as long as we had the chance.”
I nodded slightly, biting my lip. There is no father on earth who would willingly spend time with their hormonal teenage daughter just on a whim, especially ones that hadn’t seen their daughter in at least a month.
“What was your plan, sweetie?” he looked at me thoughtfully. For a second I saw happiness. There was no way I could ruin that, especially when I was on a mission to preserve that happiness.
I swallowed my pride and smiled, “doesn’t beat your plan dad.”
He smiled gladly, “I just never had a chance to teach you and seeing as how we never had the time...” I raised my hand before he can go any further. Realizing that he was trying to pick up where we left off, the guilt already swept over me. He was trying to move on, taking me along for the ride
“Nuff said. I’ll be ready in half an hour.”
I couldn’t believe what I dumbly propelled myself in to. I hated fishing; even as a child I dreaded it. Staring at my almost empty closet, I began to feel regret. Maybe I could fake an ailment? Cough a little more then usual?
My dad, hopefully past the stage of cluelessness, would notice and change his plans. I would pick up the phone urging him to call Bird once again. But what if Bird couldn’t make it? That would leave my dad to sulk in loneliness as I curled myself into a ball under the blankets trying to hide from God’s thunderbolts.
I sorted through the hangers picking up a heavy red pull over. If I was going to fall into something I wasn’t prepared for, the least I could do was stay warm.

“Don’t you think that’s a little too much? It’s only going to drizzle.” My dad eyed the abnormally large blanket as I tried to shift myself into the passenger seat of the car. I looked down coming into the conclusion that I was reaching the peak of exaggeration.
“Did you pack food?” I tried to speak over the insanely loud truck engine.
My dad directed his voice towards me, keeping his eyes pinned to the road, “ I didn’t think we’d get hungry.”
I raised a brow, “speak for yourself. Growing teenager here.”
He shifted his eyes back and fourth, “how about a quick stop at the café while I run to the supermarket?”
“Nice idea dad. I couldn’t agree more.” My dad turned on the clicker signaling that we were going to make a turn.
The café was abnormally quiet and still as I stepped foot in. I looked around with a sudden chill running down my spine, granted that this was only my second time, the café had a sudden edge in the air I hadn’t noticed last time. I stepped back slowly with intentions of walking out the door,
“I’m sorry. We’re still closed.” A silky voice emerged from behind me. I turned my head only to be stopped in my tracks.
His golden brown eyes burned through my gaze.
“I er sorry.” Looking back down I suddenly forgot where the exit was.
He was more perfect then I remembered.
“The coffee machine will be ready in five minutes,” he weighed his words slowly, “if a girl like you has the time to wait, it shouldn’t be long.” The way he carried his voice seemed to turn my mind into mush,
“I just want hot chocolate.” I looked up through my eyelashes.
He seemed to be a safe distance away, far enough so that I could move, but close enough to keep my mind self-conscious. His lip quivered into a smirk, “right away than.”
With the slightest of ease, he maneuvered his body around the empty chairs and tables, if I didn’t know any better it was as if he was gliding. Inches off the ground. Which only seemed to make sense, for a person as astonishing as he was. Moving his hands dexterously through the cabinet, slightly grazing the various jars of beans and powder mixes, he confidently sighed. Picking up the jar of coco powder he flipped it in the air as he inched a drawer open at foot level. My eyes didn’t want to blink; they didn’t have the ability to blink. Catching my action, he glanced at me slightly with a smirk. A smirk that seemed to be accompanied by gentle orb, surrounding his body.
I gazed away; silently wishing my dad would honk his horn impatiently.
“How much sugar do you like?” his voice was soothing as he looked up at me, quietly stirring the solution of powder and hot water.
I smiled nervously, “how much sugar do you have?”
He didn’t seem to be amused, if anything he chuckled unenthusiastically. “I doubt that you can handle sugar efficiently.” I crossed my arms over my chest and looked down, not denying him of anything. He was completely right; I would be hyper and jittery only to crash in my dad’s car soon after.
He gazed over to me once again realizing his word choice, the tone of his voice changed to a gentle hum, “not that I could stop you.” he quickly snapped on the cap belonging to the cup. Picking it up, he glided back to me, stopping at a safe distance he raised the cup, “here you go.”
I permitted my eyes to meet his. They were just as vivid and inviting. But instead of feeling mysterious warmth, like with Lowlii, I felt a sense of relief. A sense of being whole and acquaintance. I couldn’t believe I was in the presence of a god.
My hand darted forward to grab the cup, only to have our fingers touch.
At first, my blood seemed to run fast through my veins, boiling warmer then it should have been. Our eyes locked and my body began to feel numb There seemed to be something running through us, something stimulating my nerves. We were nowhere near each other but somehow, in some way we were connected, as if we shared one pulse.
An electric pulse.
As soon as I realized what it was, my blood seemed to slow down more then it should have, making me feel numb. I had to fight myself from blinking. Fearing that it I would faint, my hand pulled back nervously, the electric pulse seemed to grow stronger.
The cup started to descend in the air, before it could fall to it’s demise, he caught it.
“I’m sorry, Alec.” I blurted, overlooking the fact that we had never formally met.
He placed the cup down, furthering himself away from me; he took a cautious step back.
Stupid, stupid move! My mind yelled. It was obvious that he didn’t like me already. I shook my head in disbelief, this type of stuff just didn’t occur in life.
Alec seemed to fumble with his hand, looking at the finger I accidentally brushed against.
I knew for a fact that I wasn’t the only person feeling the pulse.
“So who do I give the money to?” stepping forward I tried to smile naturally.
Alec’s jaw clenched as he stepped back once more, as if he was in pain, “it’s on the house.”
I felt the need to apologize, to cower in the corner.
He shuffled his feet impatiently, “is there anything else?”
I exhaled a wary breath, and he lifted his head. Breathing heavily he made eye contact once again. Only this time, he looked as if he was angered. My eyes curved down to his hands, seeing how they were curled into tight fists I urged myself not to continue. If I had, there was no way he could contain his anger.
Was there something wrong with me?
“Come on Jackie!” my dad’s voice boomed over the sound of his deafening truck.
“You should go.” His voice was nothing but a lustrous buzz.
I turned back to Alec to ask him what was wrong. What I had done for him to suddenly hate me. Instead my body caught a cold breeze of his absence.
He was gone and the pulse had withered away.