Roses For My Friend
Daniel walked from one side to the other outside the office where his dad was working. He was nervous, but he needed advice and it was finally the right time. His mom and his sister had gone to a spa day before the latter returned to Connecticut for college, so he and his father would have some boys' time alone too.
Daniel peeked out the door, his father was still working very concentrated on the computer. He knocked the door gently with the knuckle of his index finger. "Dad?"
Owen looked up and smiled when he saw his boy. "Hey, what's up?!"
Daniel came in the office, but stood leaning against the door. "Dad, can I ask you a question?"
"Of course! You know you can always come to me when you have any questions. Is it about school? Biology breaking your head again?"
He shook his head. "Well, maybe... more like chemistry, I think."
Owen looked at his boy frowning. It wasn't normal for him to get on all nervous with a question about school. "Son, is everything alright?"
Daniel walked to his father and sat on the desk facing him. "First... Could you lend me 50 bucks?"
"50 BUCKS?! What for? Also, remember that you are grounded for what you did the other day."
"Dad!" The boy complained. "It wasn't my intention. Besides, you never let me explain what really happened!"
"It doesn't matter, Daniel. Your mom was worried sick!"
The boy sighed in defeat. "Then forget it." Daniel jumped down from the desk, but Owen grabbed his arm.
"Tell me what you want money for. Maybe I can turn a blind eye, but only if you tell me what you want it for. More video games?" Daniel shook his head. "So?"
He growled in frustration, it was so embarrassing to talk about this with his father. "I..." But he said the last part so, so fast and between teeth that Owen couldn't understand it.
"What?!"
"I said... I want to buy flowers." Daniel muttered, looking down.
"Flowers?!" Owen frowned. "Your mom's birthday isn't until 5 months, and granny Evelyn's is in 6!"
"They are not for mom or granny... they are… they are for a friend."
Owen couldn't help smiling. He and Teddy had been suspecting for some months now that Daniel had something going on with his friend. From being messy and sometimes not change his clothes for three or four days, lately he showered each and every day. God forbid him to repeat clothes and had started to take his father's perfumes.
"So… flowers for a friend, huh? What about your weekly allowance? Isn't it enough with what your mom, me, grandma and your godfather Nathan give you?"
Daniel growled in frustration again. "I already spent it!"
"Then wait until you save enough money again. I am sure that with all the money we give you in one week you will have more than 50 bucks."
"Dad, that's not fair! You and mom have me grounded. Maybe only granny Evelyn and uncle Nathan give me something, if you haven't already turned them against me!" He crossed his arms over his chest really upset. Owen smiled again, he reminded him so much of himself when he was his age and wanted to show off with his girlfriend.
"It's what it is, Daniel. Deal with the consequences of your actions."
Daniel couldn't even see his father in the face, he was very upset. He really wanted to buy a gift for his girlfriend, Makayla. She was the most beautiful and funny girl he had ever known in his life.
"So... tell me something I can do to surprise her that it doesn't involve money... How did win mom over?"
Owen laughed loudly. "Honestly, I don't know. I don't know how a woman as amazing as your mom fell in love with me."
"Ewww, you two are so cheesy, you are too old for that!"
"Hey! There isn't age for love!" Owen took Daniel's hand. "You know that I love your mom like crazy, and I love you too and I love your sister, you are the most important thing in the entire world for me. And I want you to always know it, and always see it. Your mother and I have always wanted you and your sister to be loved and to see love in your lives."
"Yeah, but it's not cool to see how sometimes you have mom pinned against the wall, the sofa or the kitchen island. It's disgusting!" Daniel frowned in disgust and Owen laughed loudly again.
"Sorry, even after all these years your mom still has that effect on me."
"DAD!" Daniel shouted. "Don't be gross!" He shivered.
"Ok, ok, I'll shut up!" Owen gasped from laughing so much. Then his laughter became silent, reminiscing of all the things he had done to conquer Teddy. "One day... I brought snow to the desert." Owen said in a nostalgic voice.
"Snow to the desert?" Daniel frowned.
"As you know, your Mom is crazy about Christmas and snow… on our first tour together, we weren't as good friends yet, but she already had me head over heels, and then I knew she loved snow and Christmas. So I sent a fake snow machine from the USA to Iraq. At first I lied and said it was for all the soldiers... it wasn't until years later when I confessed that it had been for her. I made it snow for her."
Daniel smiled. Deep down he loved how much his parents loved each other, unlike the parents of many of his friends who were if not divorced, fighting all the time. But he was ashamed to admit it, so he once again put on his annoying teenage facade. "Yeah… I can't do that with 50 bucks! Besides, Makayla doesn't like snow. She loves summer and the beach, what am I supposed to give her? A bottle of sand?!"
Owen laughed again. "Well, that depends on your savings." He mocked him. "That, by the way, what did you do with all that money?! Daniel, it was a lot of money that you had saved."
"I took her to the fair the other day and… I bought her new cheerleading uniform, but she doesn't know it! Her parents are going through a rough patch and have no money for that. She wouldn't have accepted that gift from me, sometimes it bothers her that I buy expensive things for her, she says she doesn't want me to think she's with me for my money."
"Well, money-money you don't have." Owen mocked Daniel again.
"Dad! This is serious." He complained.
"OK sorry."
"Is seriously. Her father just lost his job, now they only have her mom's salary and a lot of debts. She is very sad lately so I wanted to give her a little gift to cheer her up."
Owen smiled broadly. Daniel so noble and worried about people in need, just like his mother.
"What was her dad working on?" Owen asked.
"He was chief of security staff in a factory."
"Ok I'll see what I can do. I don't promise you anything, but I'll talk to Jackson, maybe there's some security spot in the hospital or somewhere in the Fox Foundation."
"Would you really do that?!" Daniel exclaimed with a huge smile.
"Of course."
The boy threw himself into his father's arms. "Thanks Dad!"
"I can't promise anything, but I will try."
"Okay. And dad… about the other night, I want to give you an explanation."
"Well, I'm all ears."
"I was late because I was with Makayla… but it's not as you think. I always, every day I walk with her to her house... there is a group of boys who is always bothering her, they tell her awful things and one of them once spanked her in the cafeteria. They are terrible, dad! So I always walk with her to keep her from going home alone. That day there was no one in her house and she had forgotten her keys, those idiots were riding their bicycles in front of her house, so I stayed with her, sitting on the front porch until her big brother arrived. That's why I came back home late."
"And the bruised eye?" Owen questioned him.
"I might punched one of those assholes." Daniel shrugged with a shy smile.
"I hope he looks worse."
"Both eyes bruised and busted lip."
Owen sighed deeply looking at his boy. "Daniel... you know I don't approve of violence—"
"But he deserved it!"
"I don't approve of violence… but he deserved it. But, next time instead of punching them, talk to an adult, or to the police, are we?" Daniel nodded. "And son, don't worry about big and expensive gifts, sometimes, to impress a girl, big gestures are enough. Walk with her to her house, hold her hand, tell her how beautiful she looks, complement her hair. Believe me she will remember those little big details more than the biggest and most expensive gift."
"I always do that… she is the most beautiful girl, dad! She-she has this beautiful black curly hair, her brown eyes are huge and her eyelashes too, and she has this chocolate skin so, so soft and shiny, and-and-and…" Daniel sighed deeply. "She is so funny and intelligent and-and-and..."
"Oh son." Owen smiled.
"Boys, we're home" Teddy shouted from the front door.
"We brought pizza for dinner, and onion rings." Allison added.
"Onion rings." Owen pointed. "Nobody here loves onion rings more than you, maybe they are not so angry anymore."
Daniel smiled shyly. "Maybe. And thanks dad, for listening to me."
"I will always be here to listen to you, no matter what. And before I go to take down those onion rings…" Owen took a business card from the drawer and handed it to Daniel. "Go to this place, say I sent you, they already know me. Choose something nice for Makayla. The arrangements there are beautiful, it's where I always buy the flowers for your mom and grandma."
"Yeah, I am almost certain that they have nothing worth less than 50 bucks."
Owen laughed. "No, they don't. But you just choose something nice, that goes on me."
Daniel hugged his father again. "Thanks Dad!"
"Boys, we are home." Teddy peeked out the study's door. "Come to dinner. Dan, honey, go help your sister set the table, please."
"Yes mom!" Daniel ran to help his sister.
"What was happening?" Teddy asked Owen, going to him and sitting on his lap, giving him a soft, slow kiss.
"Oh nothing. Men stuff." Teddy looked at him questioningly. "Just get ready to have a romantic at home."
"So it's true. Daniel has a girlfriend." Owen nodded. "Well, if that serves to make him shower every day, I'm more than happy." Both laughed out loud.
Meanwhile, Daniel was already imagining how the flowers he would give his "friend" would be.
