Sweet Child O'Mine

His eyes widened “My daughter? I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about”

Everyone’s eyes kept going back between me and him as we each debated the truth. “Yes, I am”

He balled his hands into fists “Guys can you go inside while I handle this, please?” They all nodded and walked into the house. We were left in silence for about a minute until Brian spoke up. His eyes trailed the floor and then met his eyes with mine “Who sent you here?”

“My social worker” I whispered.

“Where’s your mother?”

My heart dropped when he asked that question. I swallowed in an attempt to choke back the tears but it didn’t work. “She’s in the hospital” I responded as tears were destroying my vision.

“Why is she there?”

I shut my eyes and that’s when I couldn’t help but let my tears fall. He hesitantly walked to me and sat next to where I was. “Sh-she’s in a coma b-because she overdosed on d-drugs” I answered as my chest heaved from the tears that were flowing.

“Drugs? How is she taking care of you?” he hugged me and then started rubbing my back.

I hugged him back tighter “She doesn’t; I take care of her”

“Jesus Christ” he mumbled under his breath “but why me? How do you know that I’m your dad?”

I wiped my wet face and then pulled away from his warm hug. I searched in my bag and pulled out the same envelope Linda gave me and handed it to him “She told me to give this to you”

He took it from my hands “What is it?”

I shrugged “I don’t know, she just told me your name was Brian and to give it to you when I meet you”

He kept it in his hands and then faced me “What’s your mom’s name?”

“Isabelle Stone”

His eyes grew cloudy with anger “Isabelle is your mother? That bitch is trying to pin you on me?”

“Don’t talk about her like that and if you don’t want me then just say so”

“Sorry” he sighed “what’s your name again?”

“Lillian Haner”

“Haner? Why do you have my last name?”

“I didn’t know that was your last name, it has been mine since I was a kid”

He silently nodded and then turned his attention to the envelope. He stared at it for a few seconds before taking a breath and managing to open it. He studied the paper intensely as if he didn’t want to miss any word of it or misunderstand anything. His eyes widened as he read down the paper and then faced me. I looked at him in confusion and tried to speak but something told me to stay quiet. Quickly looking down at my hands, that I have been fidgeting with impatiently, I closed my eyes hoping that he wouldn’t yell at me to leave. He broke the short silence as he exhaled deeply and started to speak.

“Okay, Lilly, You’re going to be living with me for a while. I’ll show you where you are going to sleep and give you a tour of the house if you want. Does that sound okay?”

I lifted my head and locked eyes with his. He had the look of sincerity on his face and it scared me because I couldn’t figure out what would become of this man. Would he try to hurt me? Abuse me like the other men that I know? My heart sank from the feeling of guilt, I was thinking such horrendous thoughts of a man that doesn’t know me but yet is giving me a place to live, but that could be another reason for me to be suspicious. Would this brown eyed man ever develop feelings for me to the point that he would accept me as his daughter? Would he show me affection and accept me as one of his own? The only answer that came to my head was- only time could tell. All I can do is wait and see what would be in store for me. I tried to hide my slight happiness as I responded, “Yeah, that sounds okay”

He gave me a weak smile and picked up my duffle bag and then looked at me “Is this the only thing you brought?”

Feeling my face turn red from the embarrassment due to the fact that I didn’t have much I nodded, “Um, it’s the only thing I have”

His face softened and made a silent “Oh” We reached the door and held it open for me as I walked it, to what it seemed to me a mansion. My eyes explored the wonders in front of me, his living room was huge with a plasma T.V and a beautiful couch set. I walked up to the pictures on the walls and noticed a family portrait. It consisted of a woman with medium length black hair and brown eyes, a boy that seemed to be close to my age and he looked like his father but had characteristics of his mother, and a little girl with long hair with light brown eyes that glowed from her joy. I smiled to myself sadly as I pictured myself being that little girl receiving love and having both parents loving each other and giving their kids a happy life. I turned my head into Brian’s direction as I heard him speak,

“That’s my wife Lyndsey, my son Aiden, and my daughter Laney” he smiled proudly. He then turned his attention to me “How are old are you?”

“16”

“My son is just a year older then you, he’s 17. I think you two will get along”

I heard laughter further down the hall and then turned my attention back to Brian, who was directing me up the stairs. I followed him silently and he stopped when he reached a closed door. He smiled at me “This is going to be your room” He slowly opened the door to reveal a room that made my old room like garbage. I walked in and found soft light blue carpet and the walls were painted purple with blue flames painted on the walls. There was one dresser and the room had its very own bathroom. I turned around and faced him with a huge smile on my face. “Sorry about the colors and stuff, Lyndsey wanted another baby girl but,” he smiled sadly “we lost it”

I returned his sad smile with a sympathetic one “Oh, I’m sorry”

He shook his head “Don’t be, I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. I know it’s a bit babyish but we can change it later on”

“Its fine, it has my favorite color so no need to worry”

He laughed lightly “That’s good to hear” and then placed my bag on my king size bed and then walked back to the entrance of my room “If you need anything I’ll be downstairs” I nodded and said thanks before he left. It felt good to be in a secure place with a whole bunch of good things but it just didn’t seem real yet. I felt like a burden and I wanted to get out of here before I caused any of these people more problems then the already have. I sighed and then laid on my back on the bed and just stared at the ceiling. I thought of how my mother was doing and wondered if she woke up yet. I quickly sat up and started putting my stuff away. I walked to the closet and my eyes widened as I realized the size of it, it was huge. After 20 minutes of unpacking I crawled on my bed and just laid there and hoped that everything would go by quick.

Brian’s POV

I closed the door behind me and sat on the peak of the stairwell. I rested my head on my arms as I thought about the possibilities that this girl was truly my daughter. It just… it didn’t seem real, how would Lyndsey take this? How would Aiden and Laney handle this? I exhaled deeply as I shook my head ridding my thoughts and stood up and walked down the stairs.

I walked into the game room where the guys where hanging out. They were all playing Halo and I saw Matt get up and start attacking Johnny, yelling that he was a cheater. I laughed quietly and rolled my eyes at the fact how dumb the acted but its not like I don’t have my moments. The room fell silent as all eyes fell on me as I walked up to the bar and grabbed myself a beer before sitting down on the couch. Everything was quiet until Jimmy opened his big ass mouth, “Brian?”

I looked at him, giving him a look stating that I didn’t want to be laughed at or teased at the fact that I had a daughter “Yes”

“Is that girl really your kid?”

“I don’t know, why?”

He quickly looked at Zack, who was sucking his own snake bites. He locked eyes with me “Because she looks a lot like you”

I quickly disagreed “Just because she looks like me doesn’t mean she’s mine. She’s Isabelle’s daughter and God knows how many people she slept with”

“Did you sleep with her?”Matt asked slowly.

Feeling complete guilt I nodded “Yeah, it was just once and I was drunk as fuck”

“So she is yours no doubt” Johnny blurted out.

“I don’t fucking know but I’m not going to treat her any different because I just… I don’t know. I don’t want to be…I don’t want to show her my mean side if she really is. I’m not going to be an asshole”

“I wonder how Lyndsey and the kids are going to handle this” Jimmy sighed “think she’ll freak?”

“Freak?” I scoffed “She’s going to kick my ass but I could be wrong”

Matt was about to answer but was interrupted as Lyndsey walked into the room and greeted us “Hey guys, what are you men up to?”

Everyone looked at me and I looked at her “Baby, I need to talk to you”

She nodded slowly unsure of what to do. We walked into the kitchen and she sat on the counter as I paced the room with my hands in my pockets. I stopped in my tracks and locked gazes with her “Lynds, there’s-” I was interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Sorry to bother you but-” Lilly froze in her path as she locked eyes with Lyndsey who was giving her a confused, distasteful look. She snapped her head at me and got off the counter.

“Who the fuck is this?”

I looked at Lilly who seemed to be a bit hurt and then back at Lyndsey “This is uh,” I laughed nervously “my possible daughter”

Her face turned angry and still confused “Daughter? When in the hell did you have a kid? I thought the family we had was the only on you had,” she folded her arms “what else are you hiding me from me Brian?”

I quickly shook my head “I’m not hiding anything from you and I didn’t even know that I had a daughter, baby”

Lyndsey snapped her head back to Lilly “I don’t know what the fuck you are trying to pull. I wont let you destroy my family, you understand me? I don’t who you are or maybe you really aren’t Brian’s daughter, hell I don’t even know why he let you stay.” She looked at Lilly form head to toe “By the looks of it, you like a damn hoodlum.”

Lilly’s eyes were glossy with tears as she quickly ran out of the kitchen. I looked at Lyndsey as if she was insane “What the hell was that, Lynds?”

She glared at me “Brian she might not even be yours-”

“Even though she looks a lot like me.” I huffed “I’m sorry if you feel hurt. I didn’t know that I had another kid until now can we just please just let her stay here for now?”

“Where’s her mom?”

“In the hospital in a damn coma”

She ran a hand through her hair and then started walking out of the kitchen “I’m going to go talk to her”

Lilly’s POV

I ran out the house, to the backyard and sat on the swing set. I cupped my face into my hands as my sobs came hard and my chest was causing pain from the hurt I was feeling. I was tired of feeling hated upon and always judged from how I look. As I heard the back door open, I looked up and found Lyndsey walking up to me with a look of regret mixed with sadness on her face. She sat on one of the swings next to me and I felt uneasy as a heavy blanket of silence fell over us.

“I’m sorry I said those things to you” she spoke softly. I nodded and she continued “Its just that I wasn’t expecting this and I just…I thought of bad things like Brian cheating on me. I shouldn’t have taken my feeling out on you.” I looked at her and gave her a weak smile.

“I’m sorry for causing such a burden”

She shook her head “Don’t worry about it hun, did you see your room?”

I nodded and smiled “Yeah, it’s beautiful. This whole house is; how do you pay for such things?”

“Well, Brian and the guys are in a band and that’s how they pay the bills. It makes them happy and it has been their dream ever since high school. I miss them when they are on tour but that comes with the whole thing with marrying a rock star” she chuckled.

“What does he do in the band?”

“He plays guitar, really good, I must add”

“How long have you been together?”

“Oh,” she looked down at her hands and started playing with her ring “ever since freshmen year of high school”

I nodded and then it became silent again. I was happy that we settled our “differences” but I just wanted to be alone. Although I did nothing so far in this day I felt exhausted and I just needed to get away from it all and I wasn’t prepared to meet anyone else that would express their distaste towards me. I stood up
“I’m going to go back to my room” She nodded in response,

“Lunch is going to be served in a little”

I nodded once again and quickly walked back to my room. I was stopped as I passed the room filled with guys. They called my name and I froze in my tracks as the fear swept through my body. I closed my eyes hoping they didn’t want to hurt me. I heard my name called again and I walked into the room and they all greeted me with smiles. Giving them nothing but a blank look they all looked at me with concern.