"So uhm.. you alright, sweetie?" asked Pete.
"Yeah?" said Lizzy.
"You uhm, got everything for school?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"Got your school lunch?"
Lizzy frowned. She turned her head to look at Pete. "Yeah!"
"Alright, alright, just making sure," said Pete.
Father and Daughter were on Pete's truck, on the way to Lizzy's high school. He had insisted on driving her this morning.
"Not feeling too tired?" he asked.
Lizzy shot him a puzzling look again. "I'm alright," she said.
"Are you sure?" Pete insisted.
"Yes! What's going on?" she asked. "Wait, where are we going?"
She noticed Pete had taken a wrong turn and they were heading a different way.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
Pete drove through an unknown residential road for a while. When he found an empty spot near a tree, he parked the car and killed the engine. Lizzy was very confused.
Pete took a deep breath.
"Lizzy, you know I'm here for you, right?"
Lizzy scouted her surroundings trying to make sense of where they were. "What are we doing here?" she asked.
"If you ever need to get out the house, all you need to do is tell me," said Pete.
"Where's the school?" Lizzy asked.
"We can go out, go to the building site, break some things, get ice cream or something…" he continued.
"Where are we?"
"We can even just go out for a ride…"
"Where's the main road?" asked Lizzy, looking all around her.
"Lizzy—"
"Is this a new shortcut?"
"Lizzy—"
"I'm going to be late!"
"Lizzy!" Pete begged.
"What!?" she snapped.
Pete looked straight at her. "Your mom told me about last night," he sighed.
Lizzy froze. Her gaze dropped. Silence filled the car for a few of seconds.
"You know what?" said Lizzy, unbuckling her seat belt, "I think I know where we are. I'll just walk the rest of the way."
"Lizzy—"
She tried to open the car doors, but they were locked.
"Are you serious right now?" she asked Pete.
"Lizzy wait –"
"Let me out!" she cried.
"Hey!" shouted Pete. "If you think you can avoid having this conversation with me, you're wrong, sweetheart. I'm gonna keep pestering you until we talk about it, whether that's right now, or after school, or before school, or at the weekends. Wanna take your pick or you wanna do it now?"
Lizzy sighed.
"Lizzy, I know what you're thinking," continued Pete, "but you can't keep shutting us out, sweetie. You're stuck with us, and we're always gonna be here for you."
The teenager closed her eyes for a moment. She'd had a rough night and this was becoming more than she could handle at the moment.
"Being pissed and breaking shit, that's one thing. But harming yourself, that's completely different."
Lizzy rolled her eyes. "I don't need you to lecture me right now, okay?" she said.
"No, I'm not about to lecture you," said Pete. He took another deep breath. "Look, I'm not saying harming yourself is something that you should be ashamed about... or.. or the worst coping strategy in the world -I mean at the end of the day is a coping strategy and we all need one of those."
Lizzy turned her head to look at him again, a frown on her face.
"I'm just saying… if you're doing it because you think that you're damaged goods… or because you think at any point we're gonna stop loving you, you're wrong."
Lizzy didn't know what to say. After a moment, she felt tears threatening to come out. She looked out the car window.
"You know, when I grew up, I also thought I was damaged goods," said Pete. "Everyone around my neighborhood thought so too. I felt like my past marked me out and destined me for trouble. I acted up a lot. Got in fights, broke shit, caused a lot of damage," he let out a sigh. "It took 13 stitches in my head and my mom crying her eyes out in the hospital for me to realize how wrong that was. Your past doesn't predestine you for anything. You're the one that chooses if and how to move forward."
Lizzy closed her eyes and dropped her head.
"Sweetheart," said Pete. "I just want you to know that we're going to be here, helping you to move forward, no matter what. You're great and we love you. I wouldn't want you to keep hurting yourself because you think otherwise."
A few minutes passed in silence while Lizzy tried to keep herself together.
"And I want you to know that if at any point you feel like you need to get out, or just need to blow off some steam, you just tell me, we get on the car and we go to the building site to break shit, how does that sound, huh?" he fake-punched her in the arm.
Lizzy cracked a small smile.
"Even at three in the morning?" she asked, looking up at him.
"Yes! Wait, 3AM?" he asked.
Lizzy's smile grew wider.
"Well honey, you'll have to drag me out of bed, but you know what? Sure. Why not," he said.
The teenager laughed.
"Come here," said Pete, pulling Lizzy into a hug.
Lizzy lingered there for a few seconds.
When they pulled away, she looked up at him and smiled.
Pete winked at her. "C'mon, let's get you to school before you're late," he said.