Pumpkin

There's a law that states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction and never has this bothered me before, I've never really done anything to affect me or anything around me up until this point. That bet I won? I gained acceptance, great, fantastic, but there's the opposite side to that. Never in my life have I been drunk. That night I came home slurring my words and puking in the sink all over the dirty dishes I was supposed to clean. I've never felt so good yet sick at the same time and my parents have never been angrier. If I was a couple years younger they would have bent me over and spanked me with a leather belt. Instead I got screamed at by my usually unnervingly calm mother while washing the dishes.

Was it worth it? Bonnie refused to speak to me for the next week unless it was to bring up the dishes. Hell, I was grounded. A nineteen year old girl and I'm grounded. Thing is, there is a plus. My dad was incredibly upset at first but sensed my distress. After I had sobered up he asked me to tell him what happened.

After months of not even being able to look at my dad without thinking about the pictures I had seen I was able to look at him, like really look at him. His face was worn with age and work. Stress, too, I bet. He looked concerned and a bit scared. He wanted to make sure his only child was alright.

"I am now," I said with a weak smile. "Better than I've been in ages."

Things were so much better between the two of us after we talked. Turns out that he did plenty of challenges like that when he was my age.

"Did you give the bloke a run for his money?" He asked, a big smile on his face.

I teared up when I saw his smile. God, it has been so long since I've seen that smile. It was genuine and honest, something that's been missing in this family for far too long. That feeling from when I was a little girl came back and I just felt happy, I was over the moon.

"No," I said while blinking back tears. "He was way ahead of me... But I didn't give up."

He nodded a bit, "That's why they accepted you," he said with a serious look. "No one likes a quitter. Annie, I'm glad that you had a good time and all, really I am, but please don't do it again."

We laughed a bit, something else we hadn't done in a while, and he gave me a hug. For a moment I froze but his embrace was so warm that I couldn't help but hug back. I held onto him tightly and buried my face in his shirt, tearing up once again. "I love you, dad."

A soft sigh came from his lips, he physically relaxed and rubbed my back soothingly. "Love you too, Pumpkin."