Disclaimer- I don't own the Clique.
Julia
This all still seemed so strange.
It was eight in the morning and here she was standing in her father's kitchen. She slept on the couch last night, even though Derrick had offered to let her sleep in his bed while he slept on the couch. Julia didn't want to make him sleep on the couch in his own house, especially since she is the one who dropped by unexpectedly.
Last night, Derrick came back in after talking to her mom and told her that she was allowed to stay. He didn't tell her what her mom said and Julia didn't ask. All she cared about was having some time to get to know her dad. She knew her mom probably freaked out, which is why she hasn't called her mother yet. She will handle that later.
After Derrick had shared the news that Julia is allowed to stay, he told her that they could order a pizza and hang out at home because he had no other plans. Julia knew that was a lie. She heard him talking on the phone to a woman named Vicki telling her that he was sick and couldn't make it to dinner.
Julia wasn't mad that he lied to this woman. She knew that telling this woman -who was probably his date for the night- that his daughter he didn't know he had showed up at his door. It wasn't something you share over the phone and Julia understood that. She thought it was kind of him to cancel his plans to stay with her.
So instead of hanging out with this Vicki woman, Derrick stayed with her and ate pizza while trying to make conversation. They mostly talked about how she found him and then she asked him about his career. Mostly, it was small talk but it was defiantly a start.
Since Derrick was still sleeping, Julia thought she should call her mom but she didn't want too. Her mom was probably waiting by the phone all night for her call. She should care that her mom was worried about her but she didn't. She was the one who kept her dad away from her for all these years. She should have expected this.
When Julia was little, she dreamed about meeting her dad. In her dreams, he was superman and he had to save people's lives all over the world, which is why he never came to see her. She used to tell that to her friends at school when they would ask about her dad. None of the kids at school believed it but Julia didn't care because she believed. She believed that he loved her.
Now she was older and Derrick is no superman. He didn't even know about her, her mother didn't tell him that she was pregnant sixteen years ago. For over half of her childhood, her own father had no clue she existed. She came to find her father to find out answers of whom he was and why he didn't stay. When actually he didn't have any of the answers, only her mother did.
Suddenly the phone started to ring. Julia wasn't sure whether or not she should answer so she let it ring. She took a seat at the table and listened to the phone ring over and over again. It didn't seem like Derrick was getting up to get the phone. Finally, it stopped ringing and a woman's voice was on the answering machine.
"Good morning Derrick, this is your mother. I am not sure, why you are not awake, but don't forget about the family picnic this afternoon. Remember your bringing dessert and Vicki and Holly are welcome to come. Call me back, love you, bye."
Just as she, finished Derrick came downstairs dressed in a collared shirt and jeans. Julia mentally scolded herself for not being ready, she was still is her pajamas. She has been up since seven and for the past hour, all she has been doing was snooping around his house.
"I totally forgot about that." Derrick sighed. He must have been listening to the message too.
"I'd like to go." Julia blurted out.
"What?" Derrick noticed her sitting at the kitchen table.
It seemed like he was still getting used to having a daughter in the house. He must have forgotten she was staying here because he had a confused look on his face. Maybe he thought it was all a dream.
"To the family picnic, I would like to go." Julia explained.
"Yeah of course we can go I'm sure they would all like to meet you." Derrick smiled nervously. "I just have to figure out something to make for dessert."
"Don't worry, my grandma taught me how to make awesome chocolate chip cookies." Julia smiled.
Derrick
The truth is, Derrick wasn't worried about the dessert. He was worried about what his family was going to think when he showed up with Julia. His daughter that he didn't know he had.
Although he did have a pretty good idea of what would happen. His mother would probably start to cry, Sammy would stand there in shock, and his dad would be disappointed. They would probably think she is the daughter of one of his one-night stands in college. Once they find out, she is Massie's daughter, who knows what they will do.
Besides his new fiancée Vicki, Massie was the only girl he has ever loved. She was his first love and until she disappeared, Derrick thought she would be with him forever.
As much as he didn't want to admit it, Massie's sudden disappearance ruined him. He spent most of his senior year thinking of what he did wrong. No girls wanted anything to do with him. They knew he wasn't over the famous Massie Block and no one wanted to be her replacement. Chris Polvert tried setting him up with the catholic school girls that he went out with when he was getting over Dylan but that didn't work. His date showed up in a purple shirt (Massie's favorite color) and ordered strawberry ice cream (Massie's favorite dessert). Everything reminded him of Massie.
It wasn't until his freshman year of college that things started to get better. He left for Brown University and got a fresh start. No one knew him or Massie. Life was perfect.
Now, he is walking through the supermarket with his daughter. Since he had no food or ingredients for cookies, he suggested that they go to the store to buy what they need. Things in his life were already changing. Derrick never cooked, he usually just went out to eat with Vicki, or he goes to his mom's house to eat. I guess that will have to change.
"Mom and I go grocery shopping every Sunday." Julia put a bag of flour in the cart. This is the first time she brought up her mother.
"Oh," Derrick said. It was all he could think of to say.
There was a silence as Derrick pushed the shopping cart down the aisle, following Julia as she scanned the aisle for food. Suddenly, they came across Dylan Marvil and Chris Polvert coming up the same aisle as them.
"Hey Derrick," Chris waved.
Derrick got a nervous feeling in his stomach. "Hey guys, what's going on?"
Julia picked up a bag of chips from the shelf. "Is okay if we buy these? There my favorite."
"Sure," Derrick smiled uneasily.
Chris and Dylan exchanged looks. They must be thinking that Julia is too young for him to be dating. Derrick wondered if he should introduce them.
"I'm Julia," Julia introduced herself.
"Hi, I'm Dylan." Dylan smiled politely.
"How old are you?" Chris came right out and said it. He winced when Dylan elbowed him in the ribs.
Derrick covered his face with his hands. He had no idea how to explain this. Telling everyone that she was his long lost daughter he had with Massie during their senior year, was not something he wanted to do.
Completely oblivious Julia answered, "I just turned sixteen."
"Wow," Chris responded.
"Well we better get going, come on Julia." Derrick quickly continued down the aisle.
"Bye Dylan, Bye Chris!" Julia called to them.
Derrick couldn't believe what had just happened. Maybe he wasn't as ready for this as he thought.
XoXoX
Julia was quiet after they had seen Dylan and Chris. Derrick didn't say anything about it. He was still recovering from that embarrassing moment.
He sat at the kitchen table working on his lab top while Julia made the cookies for the picnic. They had to leave in an hour but she was sure that she had time to finish them.
Julia put a pan of cookies in the oven and sighed. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure," Derrick didn't look up from his computer.
"Are you ashamed of me?"
Derrick looked up from his computer. Julia had tears built up in her amber eyes. He didn't know how to answer, but the tears made his heart break. Was he ashamed of her? Is that why he didn't want Vicki, his family or his friends to know who she was? He didn't even realize how much he was hurting her feelings.
Derrick cleared his throat. "Of course not, how could you think that?"
"You didn't tell Chris and Dylan that I was your daughter and it seems like you don't want me going to your family picnic." Tears started to fall from her eyes. "If I'm ruining things for you, I will leave before I make them worse. I'm sorry I came, but you have to understand that I didn't want to wonder who you were all my life."
Derrick closed his laptop. "I'm sorry that I made you feel that way because I didn't mean too. You're my daughter and I want you here. I promise that from now on I will tell the whole world."
Julia laughed softly. "Maybe not the whole world."
"Alright we will start with my family."
"That sounds good."
"Alright then, let's get these delicious cookies done and meet the family." Derrick got up from seat and looked around the kitchen. "Tell me what I should do."
Julia smiled which made Derrick feel better that the tears were gone. Things were going to have to change, but they might change for the better. His daughter just might be exactly what he needs to shake up his too perfect world.
Authors note-
Since everyone seems to be enjoying this story, I will be updating this story and working on my new story called A New Beginning.
This chapter took me a long time because I kept running out of ideas. I finally figured it all out.
I hope you like the new chapter!
