Full Summary:
"You want me to come with you on your business trip?"
Jack really hadn't thought anything of it. It was just another out of the country business trips his dad had to take. Sure, it'd be his first that he'd tagged along on, but what's the downside to staying in a hotel on the company's credit card?
He didn't know that when he got there, there would be a boy that Jack would soon be falling fast for. And maybe he's gone crazy, but the feelings seemed to be mutual.
There was just this one little obstacle...
This boy was his father's strict boss's son.
"Jack, can you come down here?" I heard my father yell from downstairs.
"Coming dad!" I paused the game on my laptop, and set my computer aside. I hopped off my bed, and headed for my already opened door. My feet slapped the wooden floor as I decended down the stairs. My father was standing in the kitchen, in front of the island. I walked up to him.
"What's up?" I asked, adjusting my t-shirt.
One look from my father told me exactly what was "up". He gave me the same look every month. But he forced a smile, surprising me.
"Dinner's ready." He said, gesturing to our breakfast bar that had two plates of speghetti and meatballs on it.
Well that's new.
I gave him a weird look while grabbing the two plates, and setting them down on the actual dining table. I walked over to the cabinet, pulling out two blue glasses., and filled them with red kool aid from the fridge. My father was already sat down on one side of the table, staring down at his food. I sat on the other side.
It was a couple minuets of painfully awkward silence, and more playing with our food than actually eating it.
It wasn't that my dad never made dinner, it's just that he hasn't...gotten to recently. And he didn't need to be cooking right now with everything going on; with work, and the divorce...
"So what's the special occasion?" I asked as casually, and as peppy as I could, shoving a forkfull of speghetti in my mouth and chewing. I was met with another moment of silence.
"Well, I just thought it'd be nice to have dinner together. Something wrong with that?" My father asked. I was aback by his answer. I didn't mean to offend him. He is going through so much right now, the last thing he needs is me being a dick to him.
"No! I'm just...not used to it, I guess." I defended myself. "We haven't had dinner together for a long time, now. You just looked like you had something to say."
Another look from my dad said that I was right. He did have something to say. And I knew exactly what it was.
He's been on a million business trips before, what makes this one so different?
"Well...there is something." He began to explain. "Um, there's this business trip I have to go on." He paused, so I nodded, confused why this was such a big deal. He goes on these every month for days, and weeks at a time; what's going on?
"It's to America; Ohio, actually." He tried to make it sound like this was a casual discussion. Don't get me wrong, me and my dad are very close, and we talked al the time. He isn't one of those dads who buries himself in work and then has no time for his family.
Well, he does bury himself in work, but that's only because his job is so demanding. He always finds time to talk to me, ask me how my day was, tell me how his was, etc. I know his job needs him just as much as I do, and I try to support that. Was he thinking I'd be mad, or something?
"Um, I'm going to be gone for a whole month, if not longer." He continued. I nodded along in acknowledgment, staring at my clearly anxious father. He didn't seem to know what to say next.
"Dad, what ever this news is, you can just tell me. You go on business trips all the time." I tried, sipping my drink. He sighed after a moment.
"I want you to come with me." He finally said. I spit my drink back into the cup, choking slightly. I coughed before calming down, and giving dad a confused look.
"You want me to come with you on your business trip?" I asked. He nodded. "Why?" I furrowed my eyebrows even tighter.
"Well, it's just that, I don't want you to be alone for that long. And you just graduated high school, so I don't want no parties happening in my house." He gave excuse after excuse. I rolled my eyes. He's left for far longer periods of time, and he knows I'm not a party person. That I had proven to myself when I went to a birthday party for a person in my year I didn't even know. I was offered a drink by some other girl I didn't know, and proceeded to throw up on her minutes later. I was so humiliated I immediatley left, and vowed to never talk about it ever again. Thank god I never gave her my name, or that she didn't go to my school.
"And I know things haven't been the best, or the easiest for us," He kept on. I'll give him that one; things were different now that mom was gone. Dad was depressed, and I made it my mission to make sure that he feels as comfortable as possible. I can't imagine what he's going through. The divorce was the one thing neither of my parents would talk to me about. I hated it. I hated everything about this situation.
"And...I would just love to spend some time with my son." He concluded. I looked up at him. The blue eyes I'd inherited stared back at me hopefully.
Weeelll...what's the worst that could happen?
I sighed.
"Ok." I said. I twirled more spaghetti on my fork, and took a bite.
"What?" I heard my father ask. I looked up at him, and he looked shocked. I gave him a funny look. Had he expected me to say no?
"I said I'll go with you." I repeated. He smiled so big that it caused me to smile back. I went back to eating my food, and so did he, and this time we actually ate. "So when are we leaving?" I asked.
"In two days." I chocked on my food again.
"Two days?! That's not much time to pack for leaving the country!" I said. My father laughed at my reaction.
"Relax, it's not like we're moving. We're going to stay at a very nice hotel there. The office booked everyone going the whole floor, so we'll be able to have meetings in a board room they have there. I know you've never been on a business trip with me before, but it really isn't going to be much different. We'll have on giant room with two seperate bedrooms; so it won't be much different from home. You can bring whatever you want, like that computer of yours, all the games you want. They'll have an indoor pool, and all that jazz." He described to me what it would be like.
It probably wouldn't be half bad, living in a hotel for a month. Room service would bring us food, clean the room, etc. We'd get all the channels, and free internet.
"And when we come home we'll have a ton new towels, and travel-sized soaps." We laughed.
I mean, who goes to a hotel and doesn't steal the toiletries? Crazy people, that's who.
After dinner, my dad put the dishes in the sink to clean later. I'd have to do that for him. I took the steps two at a time up to my room. I closed the door behind me, and started looking through my closet for some kind of bag. Anything really. It's not like I traveled all that much. A sleepover at a friends' house was the farthest I've ever needed to travel. I've never actually left Ireland. I was both excited, and nervous.
I gave up on the search for anything to put my belongings in - only coming across old backpacks - and just stood up to go through my clothes. I should probably bring my best clothes; these were my dad's big, and imprtant co-workers. And his boss.
Oh god his boss.
I'd heard the many horror stories from my father, the few times my dad and his co-workers would get together for an office barbecue, and the one time my mother came home from having dinner with his boss and his wife. Nobody seemed to have anything nice to say about him, but at the same time they seemed too scared to say anything bad.
He was strict, completely overworked his employees, and could be very rude according to my mother. I remember her saying he showed no emotion over dinner . My father stood up for him, saying he was just trying to look professional in front of new people. She didn't buy it for a second.
I've never met the man myself, but from what I've heard, he is not to be fucked with. He's not someone I can meet for the first time in my pajamas and severe bed-head as a lady in a hotel staff uniforn brought me my morning eggs. I can't do that to my dad; make him look bad.
And that's when I started tearing apart my closet. I went through every artical of clothing I had. I left everything I knew I absoulutely was not bringing on the hangers in the closet, and started making two piles on the floor. One I mentally labled 'maybe', the other 'yes'.
How much should I even bring? It's not like I need my whole closet, but it's also not like I can wear the same shirt twice while I'm there. I have to act proper. For my dad. He doesn't need to be regretting taking me with him by just the second day of us being there.
I packed all of my fancy button ups that I only usually wear to fancy occasions like Christmas dinner. I should probably also bring some nice pants. But it's also not like I'm going to be standing by my dads' side 24/7. I'd probably stay in the room for the majority of the trip. I'll bring a few pairs of jeans, and and some t-shirts as well. Might as well be comfortable, right?
Pajamas. Pajamas are next. Pants, shirts, should I bring basketball shorts? Why not? Better safe than sorry. I'll also need underwear. Socks! I'll need those too. God, how does dad do this all the time? I feel like we actually are moving with all the stuff I'm bringing. I'll have to get all my laptops' stuff done last minute. At least I have a professional bag for that, and all it's chords and accessories. Plus, it wasn't like I was gonna pack my desktop in a box and take it with me. Should I bring my consoles?
It was that question that made me actually look around my room and see what a mess I've made. Cloths were scattered all over the floor, my bed had all of my underwear and socks on it, along with my laptop that was now shut but would still open up to my paused game from earlier. I'd taken my tooth brush, tooth paste, shampoo, conditioner, hairbrush, and a shit ton of other bathroom products out from the bathroom connected to my room and neatly ordered them on my desk like they were blocks from tetris. I also had picked out some of my favorite video games I knew I wouldn't last a month without that I'd taken from my video game shelf, and had them stacked on my desk.
It looks like a fucking twister hit this place.
I looked over at the clock; 3:17 A.M.
How have I not woken my dad up yet?!
I looked around my room again, contemplating on whether or not I should just go to bed, and deal with this tomorrow. I probably should, but I can't leave my room like this. Don't get me wrong, I can be messy, disorganized, and not know where a single thing was, but this was new level of messy.
...
...
...
...Shoes.
I'm going to need shoes.
I threw the shirts I was gripping onto tighting into the maybe pile, and started walking for my door. As I opened it, I noticed the hallway light was still on. I walked towards my father's room, shutting my door behind me. As I slowly opened his door, trying not to wake him with the noise of the hinges, I soon found that he wasn't there. His bed was untouched, and the lights were off. I closed the door.
Only one place left he could be.
I headed for the study. It's where my dad did all his at-home work. His office away from the office.
I opened the door, just as quietly, and hesitantly as before. I peeked my head in to find my dad half asleep looking over papers, as he held onto other ones. His head was in his hand, and his glasses were perched on his nose; he hadn't changed out of his work clothes. He noticed me when he heard the door open.
"Need something Jack?" He asked. I still only held my head in the doorway.
"Um, just...what kind of stuff do I use for luggage? I don't have any actual suitcases; just backpacks." I asked. He laughed, and it made me smile. I miss when he's happy.
"I have some in the back of my closet I've never used before. You can used those. I'll get them out for you tomorrow." He said, looking back down at his paperwork.
"Oh, no need. I'll get them now." I said, and made my way to close the door before I stopped midway. I stepping one foot inside, giving my father a concerned look. "Um, dad?" He looked up at me. I rubbed the back of my neck, my gaze flickering back and forth between him and anything else. "You should probably get some sleep." He stared at me a moment before laughing.
"I suppose I should. But I have a lot to go through before we leave, and plus, you're not one to talk." He said, setting his papers down, and pointing an accusing finger my way; a playful smile on his face, and in his eyes. I laughed. He was right.
"I know. Just, trying to not leave everything to the last minute." I explained vaguely, still rubbing my neck. He didn't need to know that my room looked like a bomb site right now. "I'll see you in the morning." I said, going to leave.
"Goodnight Jack."
"Night dad." And with that, I shut the door, and hurried to my dads' room to go find those spare suitcases.
Hello people! This is just an idea I thought up in the car on my to my grandparents' house. I'm not exactly too sure yet how seriously I'm going to take this, but I've been wanting to write a Septiplier story for ages now! I made a cheap one-shot, but it's awful, and needs a lot of editing. So, until then, here is this story, that I hope I will at least try to update when I can. Please bear with me, I'm horrible at updating.
But please tell me what you thought of the first chapter, constructive criticism is absolutely welcome! And don't forget to vote! But I honestly appreciate comments even more. I love talking with fellow readers and writers.
Enough of my rambling. I hope you enjoyed!