There's a Playground

I had to go to dinner with my dad in an hour. The first dinner with him in nine years. Well…technically ten, if you think about it. I mean, Dad wasn’t really around for that last year while the whole divorce bullshit was going on. I sighed, staring at my closet, tapping my chin with one set of fingers while the other tapped my hip. “Fuck…” I muttered to myself, feeling the nerves hit me like a brick wall…

Biting down on my lower lip, I tilted my head, my long black hair falling down my back and right arm. I took a deep breath, grumbling to myself as I tried to decide what to where. My mother appeared out of nowhere in my doorway and I jumped as she cleared her throat.

“Sorry, sweetie. Um…what are you doing?”

“Trying to decide what to wear for Dad…” I muttered, sighing in a frustrated manner as I turned back to my closet. I heard my mother laugh.

“You don’t have to dress up, you know.”

“I know…but…I don’t know…I just feel like I should, you know?”

“No, not really. But whatever. Just..wear jeans and a shirt or something. It’s your dad, Wednesday, not a date.”

“It’s been nine years though, Mom. I just…ugh. Fine. Go away now,” I said, turning back to my mother and shooing her away with my hands. She smirked at me and rolled her eyes, going along with my wanting her to leave me alone so that I could change. She left, closing my door behind me and I smiled as I turned and walked across my room to my dresser, turning on my speakers and hitting ‘play’ on my iPod. “Girlscout” by Jack Off Jill came one and I began singing along with it as I dug around in my drawers for another pair of jeans and another shirt.

I was bouncing on the balls of my feet, starting to pull my shirt off of my torso when a tapping at my open window caused me to jump and walk over there. I pulled back my curtains and stared at the boy standing there, glaring at me.

“What the fuck are you listening to?”

“Jack off Jill. Piss off, Max. I’m trying to get ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“Dinner with my dad.”

“Oh, right. Sorry. Can I come in?”

“Fuck no. I’m changing. Go away.” He pouted at me, sticking his bottom lip out in this really cute expression. I sighed and rolled my eyes. “No. Away. Now.”

“Aww…come on, Wendy. I’ve seen you…”

“Finish that sentence and I am castrating you with a fucking spoon. We were two. Now we’re seventeen and you can just shut the fuck up. Go away, please.”

“Can I come over when you get back?”

“If you aren’t high or drunk, I guess,” I said, tapping my foot impatiently. I wanted him to go away so that I could get ready. I only had something like forty-five minutes left and with all the indecisions I was going through right now, I needed all the damn time I could get. Max grinned at me in a really spastic manner, giving me a thumbs up and remaining to stand there.

Rolling my eyes, I dropped the curtains and waited until I heard Max’s footsteps on the sand walking away before I turned back to my dresser and the clothes that I had dropped on the floor. My eyes darted over to the clock on my bedside table and I frowned when I saw that I only had another half hour. Shit. I still had to get dressed, fix my hair, do my make up…

Yeah, I was totally screwed on time. Frowning to myself, I continued to grumble as my music changed to playing Paramore.

Okay, so I had music ADD. Can you blame me?

Sighing, I undressed and changed into a simple dark gray tank top and a pair of purple skinny jeans that almost seemed like they sparkled in certain lights. Sighing, I reached a hand to scratch at the back of my head, messing up my hair some more before I checked the clock again.

Twenty minutes and counting.

I sprayed myself with my Pomegranate body spray, smiling as the scent washed over me and settled onto my being. I loved the smell of that stuff…

I paused my music to have the sounds of a bass reach my ears. Blinking, I poked my head out of my curtains to see that Max was sitting in his room on his bed, plucking away at a bass guitar. I smirked and watched him for a bit longer than necessary before reminding myself that I had something to be doing other than watching my childhood best friend slash new neighbor mess around on an instrument.

I walked into the bathroom next to my room and began brushing through my hair, getting all the snares out that had wandered in there over the course of my being in school.

And just as a side note - the second day of school was really no better than the first. Except I kind of avoided Max and his slut all day and ended up hanging out with Craig and Skye instead. Which worked out for me, for the most part.

Back to getting ready…

I had just finished re-applying the rim of liner around my eyes when a tentative knock sounded at the front door and I froze. I swallowed hard, staring back at my reflection as I willed my racing heart to slow.

“Oh, hey Derek. It is you, cool. Come on in, Wednesday’s getting ready.” I heard my mother say and I swallowed the lump in my throat, feeling the panic rise in my chest. I heard footsteps go off into the living room and I shoved my head out into the hallway, waiting for my mother to show up again.

She did a few seconds later, smiling softly until she saw me. She looked back into the living room, at my father I assumed, before walking back to me. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t do this, Mom…” I whispered, urgency in my tone as she rolled her eyes.

“Nonsense. You’ll be fine. It’s just your father…”

“Mom! You said that already! And that’s exactly my problem! How am I supposed to have a conversation with someone that I hadn’t seen in or spoken to in nine years!?” I asked her. She just rolled her eyes and grabbed my wrist.

“Are you done yet?” When I nodded stiffly, she nodded and grinned at me. “Good, because your father is waiting for you.” And with that, she began dragging me out of the bathroom and down the hall towards the living room. Despite my protests and attempts to release her grip from my wrist. She stopped at the living room and smiled warmly over at my father as he stood.

He looked just like I remembered him. Just like he did in all the family photo albums from nine years back. Lanky, thin, slightly muscular. With a graying scruff of beard and black hair that was already going silver and receding. My heart continued to pound in my chest as I blinked at him. His green eyes stared back at my stormy green ones as he grinned from ear to ear. Crooked teeth filled his mouth.

“Sorry about the wait, Derek. She’s nervous,” Mother supplied and I just nodded wordlessly, wondering if his voice still sounded the same as I remembered it…

“Wednesday!? Is…is that really you?” Yeah, it did. Well that was a nice statement to answer my question with. I nodded, biting down on my lower lip nervously as I stared up at him. My mother dropped my wrist and I had the sudden urge to run back into my room and never leave it’s safety again.

But before I could do that, Derek came over to me and wrapped me up in his arms, squeezing tighter than I would have thought him capable of. He didn’t really look all that strong… “God it’s been so long! You’re seventeen now, yeah?” he asked, setting me down. I nodded, fighting the urge to run again. My mother smiled from the sidelines and I had the sudden urge to just punch her right now. Why did I have to be the one going to dinner with him? “Damn…” he muttered before he seemed to realize what he had just said. He looked frantically between Mother and I, apologizing as I shook my head, reaching a pale hand up to brush away the hair from my face.

“It’s fine, Der…Dad,” I said, editing my speech so that I didn’t have to hurt him or anything like that. I wouldn’t have done that, though, if I hadn’t seen his face fall the slightest fraction of an inch when I started saying “Derek.” But his face lit up once more as I called him Dad.

That word tasted strange in my mouth for some reason. I guess after nine years of not using it, it made a little sense why, but still…

“Ready to go, then?” He asked and I nodded, smiling nervously. He didn’t seem to note just how nervous I was, but that was probably because I had my hands stuffed into the pockets of my jeans because I didn’t want him to see how badly they were shaking. My mother patted my back comfortingly as I followed Derek out of the house and out to his car.

“Wendy!” Oh fuck. Please, no. Not now. Why did my life have to suck so fucking much?

“Yeah, Ronnie?” I replied, pausing in following Dad out to his car to turn to the boy walking up my sidewalk.

“Where’re…oh! You have dinner with your old man, right?” I nodded. Ronnie turned to look at my father and then grinned. “Derek!? You’re her dad!? No fucking way!”

You have got to be kidding me…

How the fuck did Ronnie Radke know my father? How was this possible?

Well, I suppose that it is Vegas. And damned near anything is possible in Vegas. I stared in disbelief as my father and my friend’s best friend began talking on my porch.

Oh. Em. Gee…