Chapter 8
Next morning, I woke up feeling
vivacious. It must be saved from last night. We had a good breakfast and then
dad went out for some shopping. Being alone, Vanessa and i grabbed our coffees,
sat down on our bamboo couches in our backyard and chatted. I told her
everything about a night before. When i was finally done, she spoke:
“It’s so romantic...I mean, he’s a
great guy i think...even though i didn’t talk with him that much, he seemed
really nice and i’d noticed his looks to you.” She winked at me, i laughed. She
was really great to talk to. I had even told her about Zackary and our hard
relationship, she just listened carefully and said that i’d done a good job
with leaving him.
We continued chatting and giggling
until hearing front door’s slam. It was very fierce that windows trembled.
“Dad’s home i guess.” I said.
“Vanessa!” we heard his angry voice. I
looked at Vanessa’s confused face worriedly.
“We’re here outside!” she yelled back.
His footsteps came closer and closer,
and he finally appeared on the doorway. I noticed the same freezing look in his
blue eyes, i moved slightly in my chair, my sixth sense was telling me it was
something about me. He threw a tabloid magazine onto the table.
“What’s this all about?” he said
between his teeth pointing out the mag now laying right infront of my eyes.
‘Backstreet Daughter Skylar, dancing along with a Backstreet song with some guy
in a café.’ I read and i glanced the photo, a girl dressed in blues and a
brunette guy...
“I don’t know....” i said
uncomprehendingly.
“You sure know what it is!” he
shouted. It was me and Chris on the cover. How did they find us? The flash! I
remembered.
“Look Dad, I can explain it...” i
started.
“Explain what? I don’t wanna hear any
excuses! How could you dare to make out with whosoever in a club? You’re my
daughter, not a whore!”
“I’M NOT A WHORE!!!” i screamed, i
felt my lungs would jump out from my mouth. Tears had welled up my eyes also.
“Nick, why don’t you calm down a bit?”
Vanessa said meekly.
“Don’t interfere Vanessa!”
“No i will. How can you call your
daughter a whore?”
“I didn’t call her a whore! I warned
her not to be a one!” he yelled pointing me. I started crying, i couldn’t
handle my own father calling me a whore.
“Yes you did!” yelled Vanessa.
“I can’t believe you!” I shouted and
ran inside, throwing the mag towards him. I dumped into someone huge on my way
to upstairs, it was uncle Kevin.
“Skylar? Why are you crying?” he
asked, holding me from my arm.
“Ask him!” I said between sobs,
rescued my arm from Uncle Kevin but he caught me again. I wiggled but he
dragged me outside.
“I know what is going on and you can’t
solve any problem by running nor shouting. You have to sit down and talk ok?”
It wasn’t a question, it was a command. I scuffed and slumped back on my chair
next to Vanessa. She stroked my hand and squeezed it. I closed my eyes, letting
tears pour down. Even though there was still a huge tension in the air, i was
relieved that Uncle Kevin was there. He motioned my dad to sit down and he sat
down reluctantly right across to me.
“Now we all know the deal.” Uncle
Kevin started smoothly. It was a law court and he was the dominant. “And first
question: Nick, did you ask Skylar anything about this episode?”
“No I didn’t need it. I have eyes
Kevin and i can read so why do i need?”
“This is the problem Nick, you didn’t
need to ask anything to Skylar, why don’t you let her speak?”
“Look Kevin, here I AM the dad and
she’s my daughter so why don’t you let me solve the problem?” my dad retorted.
“If you could’ve succeed, I wouldn’t
interfere but Nick, you can’t do anything...”
“Let me do some fathering then. Just
back off Kevin!”
“You’re irreconcilable Nick, problem
is inside you!” Kevin yelled and walked inside as he added from kitchen. “But
now you’re alone with her, we’ll see if you can do it or not but Nick i hope
you can do it without insulting her.”
I hadn’t witnessed a fight between
Backstreets before, except some silly arguments, and this time two of them were
fighting over me. Vanessa glanced both of us and before following Kevin inside,
she mumbled something like “you better be alone.”
We watched her entering inside and
closing the sliding door behind her. After a few minuteds of silence, my dad
spoke.
“Skylar, do you want to tell me about
this episode?”
“If you’re not going to shout and call
me...” my voice cracked. “ a whore, i will.”
“Look, i didn’t want to insult you,
how can i do? I’m just overreacting. Can you imagine the shock i’ve faced when
i saw you kissing with some guy? And especially in a magazine?”
“But dad, he’s not some guy, he’s my
boyfriend.”
“Your boyfriend? But he’s not
Zackary...”
“Cos he’s Chris. Dad, he had dropped
me home last night and he’s also Littrell brothers’ bud, remember?”
He lowered his head. “I remember. But
you have to understand me. I was scared that you’d done something you’d regret
later...”
“Just like you?” i finished his
sentence.
“I thought that we’d closed this
subject.”
“You may did but i didn’t dad. And
don’t forget, I’ll never do that, besides, I wasn’t drunk. And even if i ever
did soemthing like that, I’d never forsake my child infront of his door just
with a note.” I said coherently.
His had raised, and he shot me a look,
a look between anger and sadness, a look between remorse and happiness.
“To add more, I love Chris, i know
it’s happening so fast but i felt something right when i was with him.”
He nodded, then stood up. Openning his
arms, he whispered “come here...”. I stood up leisurely and ran into his warm
arms and buried my head in his chest, as i let my warm tears wash my face and
soak his shirt. He hugged me tightly, stroking my head, whispering I Love Yous.
“How will we get rid of this?” I asked
between sobs.
“I will take care of it, if anybody from press asks you something
about it, just say them to come and ask to me, alright?”
“Yeah.” I sobbed again.
“But...” he held my chin and looked
into my eyes.
“Promise me not to do this again, it’s
not good even thoguh how much you love him. Be more careful when you go out.”
“Ok, i will.” I said and again hugged
him tightly.
Again, after all of this disorder, he
was right.
***
