given me a chance to start my life again. I placed one of my shaking hands on her protruding stomach and smiled. I knew exactly why I was doing this. I had to do this.
“We can go whenever you want. You just hold my hand and pull me up and we are out of here. Whatever you want, we will do.” Sav rose on her tiptoes and brushed my lips with hers.
“Coffee for me. Hot chocolate for Sav.” My words showed little emotion as I spoke, not taking my eyes from Sav.
My father nodded and released a deep breath before taking off towards the counter to place our orders. Sav tugged on my hand and we weaved our way through the crowded café, taking a seat at a table in the dimly lit far corner. The sound of soft music hummed in the air mixed with the chatter of a full café, but that didn’t calm me as my nerves got the best of me. My hands gripped a napkin as they shredded it into a thousand pieces in a pathetic need to find a distraction, but the urge to look at him got the best of me and my gaze drifted to him waiting in line.
Twenty-three years it had been, and here we were in a coffee shop in Burbank having a fucking reunion. If I wasn’t in a frenzied ball of anxiety, I would have found it somewhat humorous. It was almost as if I were waiting for a camera crew to jump out from behind the fake plants and start filming us for some fucked-up reality show.
My attention fell to Sav as she sat beside me, hostilely flicking through her phone with the aggressive tap of her nail on the screen, a scowl plastered on her face.
“God, she is a fucking bitch!” she snarled. I didn’t even have to ask who she was talking about. Without thinking, I grabbed her phone from her hands and looked at the screen to find Facebook open and what looked like Chelsea’s profile displayed.
I never want to be that girl who purposely gets pregnant just to make someone stay with her. Can you get any more pathetic than that? What’s worse is the girl in question has a stupid English accent and struts around like she owns the place. Puhlease, everyone knows you are a fake.
“Howdare she say I’m English? I am Aussie through and through. Seriously, Tate, what were you thinking putting your dick anywhere near her?” Sav gritted through clenched teeth. “What a stupid whore!”
And there she was, my feisty, intense, don’t-give-a-shit Savannah looking like she could take on an army of men on her own accord.
“Coffee and hot chocolate have been ordered.” My father arrived and my smartass comment back to Sav was swallowed hard.
He pulled out the seat opposite me and slowly sat down, his eyes never leaving me. I felt uncomfortable under his gaze. Silence filled the table, and I knew I wouldn’t be the first to speak. My hand gripped Sav’s hard and rested on her thigh under the table. Her thumb calmingly swept over my knuckles as my fingertips stroked the bare skin above her knee. The feeling of my hand in hers and her words, “We can go whenever you want,” were the only things stopping me from turning into a raging bull and unleashing my wrath onto the world.
“How have you been, Tate? How are your sister and your mom?”
My eyes burned with fire as I stared at him. I felt the snap instantly. I felt the anger of twenty-three years volcano within me and the lava of my emotions erupted aggressively into the air. “You have no right to speak of them. I am not here to try and make happy families and I am not here to try and repair our relationship. I just need answers and I hope to Christ that after everything you have put me and my family through you will give me that.”
He nodded slowly, inhaling deeply in defeat. Did he really think this meeting would be all smiles and happy reunions? Fuck that. He put both palms on the table while I waited. A young girl walked to our table and placed my coffee and Sav’s hot chocolate on the table before scurrying off. The tension could be cut with a knife. “What do you want to know,
“We can go whenever you want. You just hold my hand and pull me up and we are out of here. Whatever you want, we will do.” Sav rose on her tiptoes and brushed my lips with hers.
“Coffee for me. Hot chocolate for Sav.” My words showed little emotion as I spoke, not taking my eyes from Sav.
My father nodded and released a deep breath before taking off towards the counter to place our orders. Sav tugged on my hand and we weaved our way through the crowded café, taking a seat at a table in the dimly lit far corner. The sound of soft music hummed in the air mixed with the chatter of a full café, but that didn’t calm me as my nerves got the best of me. My hands gripped a napkin as they shredded it into a thousand pieces in a pathetic need to find a distraction, but the urge to look at him got the best of me and my gaze drifted to him waiting in line.
Twenty-three years it had been, and here we were in a coffee shop in Burbank having a fucking reunion. If I wasn’t in a frenzied ball of anxiety, I would have found it somewhat humorous. It was almost as if I were waiting for a camera crew to jump out from behind the fake plants and start filming us for some fucked-up reality show.
My attention fell to Sav as she sat beside me, hostilely flicking through her phone with the aggressive tap of her nail on the screen, a scowl plastered on her face.
“God, she is a fucking bitch!” she snarled. I didn’t even have to ask who she was talking about. Without thinking, I grabbed her phone from her hands and looked at the screen to find Facebook open and what looked like Chelsea’s profile displayed.
I never want to be that girl who purposely gets pregnant just to make someone stay with her. Can you get any more pathetic than that? What’s worse is the girl in question has a stupid English accent and struts around like she owns the place. Puhlease, everyone knows you are a fake.
“Howdare she say I’m English? I am Aussie through and through. Seriously, Tate, what were you thinking putting your dick anywhere near her?” Sav gritted through clenched teeth. “What a stupid whore!”
And there she was, my feisty, intense, don’t-give-a-shit Savannah looking like she could take on an army of men on her own accord.
“Coffee and hot chocolate have been ordered.” My father arrived and my smartass comment back to Sav was swallowed hard.
He pulled out the seat opposite me and slowly sat down, his eyes never leaving me. I felt uncomfortable under his gaze. Silence filled the table, and I knew I wouldn’t be the first to speak. My hand gripped Sav’s hard and rested on her thigh under the table. Her thumb calmingly swept over my knuckles as my fingertips stroked the bare skin above her knee. The feeling of my hand in hers and her words, “We can go whenever you want,” were the only things stopping me from turning into a raging bull and unleashing my wrath onto the world.
“How have you been, Tate? How are your sister and your mom?”
My eyes burned with fire as I stared at him. I felt the snap instantly. I felt the anger of twenty-three years volcano within me and the lava of my emotions erupted aggressively into the air. “You have no right to speak of them. I am not here to try and make happy families and I am not here to try and repair our relationship. I just need answers and I hope to Christ that after everything you have put me and my family through you will give me that.”
He nodded slowly, inhaling deeply in defeat. Did he really think this meeting would be all smiles and happy reunions? Fuck that. He put both palms on the table while I waited. A young girl walked to our table and placed my coffee and Sav’s hot chocolate on the table before scurrying off. The tension could be cut with a knife. “What do you want to know,
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