Henry was pissed. More pissed than he'd been in a long time. It was three am on a Saturday night. Ordinarily, most teenagers would like to be out late on the weekend, but three am was a little excessive. And seriously, he'd been up at six this morning taking the SAT. And before he'd dated Natalie, he'd liked to have some nights at home, watching tv or youtube videos. Practice guitar or piano, maybe playing video games. Lately, there had been zero WoW time.
And at first it was ok, all this time with her- hanging out with her was so awesome for awhile. But now, it was starting to suck. Following her around at clubs, watching her destroy her body with drugs and get into dangerous situations with the people dancing. Plus, after he'd spent his entire evening following her around making sure she didn't OD or get raped, he was stuck with a wasted girlfriend who couldn't even close her own car door.
"God, why do u always have to follow me?" she'd say when she was less far gone. Just far enough to be pissed that he was watching her drug intake. "You're such a buzzkill."
"I'm trying to keep you alive," he'd say, and she'd roll her eyes.
"I wish you'd find something else to do. You don't want to be here- fine. Find something you want to do, I'll be fine without you."
She didn't even want him there anymore. Did she even want to be his girlfriend? Did she even care about him? When he took a step back from the situation, he realized she was a complete psychobitch to him. But he couldn't bring himself to be angry with her about it. She was going through so much, her life was hard, and after all- he'd been the one to suggest the drugs. So it was his fault. He should help her out of it.
He was exhausted, had a splitting headache, and was sick of watching that guy eye Natalie like she was a piece of meat. So he stood up and walked out onto the dance floor, dizzy from the flashing lights, and put a hand on her arm. "We're going home," he said simply. He ignored when she argued, just escorted her right out of the nightclub and started driving her home.
That Same Night
Diana was laughing- Dan loved to watch her laugh. They were walking on a street alone, and he was so overcome by how much he loved being with her. Her presence was beautiful, so infectious. They were joking and talking, and her smile was so bright.
"I love you, Di," he said. She just kept smiling. Her smile was bright now- too bright. Her teeth shone, there was something electrical about her.
She started to shake, but continued to smile as she let out a high, keening screech of pain. She was shaking violently now, and sparks were flying. She was short circuiting. There was buzzing, and the sound of power being blown.
"Di?" he cried, but the electric shock had killed her.
Dan woke sharply, covered in sweat.
It was only a dream, he tried to tell himself. The procedure is really very safe.
He tried to shake off his fear, but it lingered. He turned on a light, glad to see the room flooded with color. His breathing eased. He'd been having dreams like this almost every night, and usually just turned over and went back to sleep. Tonight, though, he couldn't quite calm his heart down. He knew he'd need something to help him sleep.
He decided to go downstairs and get some water, thinking a walk through the calm quiet house was put him at ease. He didn't flip on the light in the kitchen, just felt his way through the familiar rooms and filled a cup with water. Then he made his way into the living room, sitting quietly on the couch and peering out through the curtains. The moon was out tonight, and the weather was calm. They lived in a very populated area, so the stars were never very bright, but the moon was shining brilliantly enough to make up for it. He smiled, overcome by a feeling of calmness. Di was going to be alright- this treatment was the best there is. She was getting the help she needed, and in a week she'd be home again. Natalie was calmly asleep upstairs, and soon their family would be together again.
The three of them. Just the three of them.
He sat back in the chair and closed his eyes, feeling fatigue once more. He was about to go upstairs to sleep when headlights flooded into the room. At first he thoughts it was someone just coming down their street, but then the car pulled into their driveway and parked.
Who could be here at three in the morning? What could they want? A bad feeling seeped through Dan's stomach. He stood up, looking out into the yard as he heard car doors slam. But the headlights had temporarily blinded him, and he couldn't see the outside. The window was just black.
Then he heard a key scrape in the lock, and voices.
"Shut up!" came a whisper from a voice he knew well. "He's gonna hear me."
"I said promise me," came another voice.
"Sure."
"Sure what?" the voice said.
"Sure, I won't do this again tomorrow. Whatever."
"Do what?" Dan said, flipping on the hall light and turning to look at his daughter and her boyfriend. Dan was livid. He glared at them, shocked that he was watching Natalie sneak into the house with this good-for-nothing kid. Natalie! He'd never imagine she would sneak out, but lately she was acting up. Giving him a lot of trouble with language, arguing more... it seemed to happen ever since she started hanging out with the kid.
He took in the scene more, and then narrow his eyes.
"Natalie. What are you wearing?"
She looked down at herself questioningly. What she was wearing was a short black skirt that clung to her and a skimpy top without sleeves- covered by this Henry's jacket. Something he would never let her out in. The clothes, not the coat. He wondered protectively how Natalie had come to be wearing Henry's jacket, though.
"Where were you?" he growled. Natalie shook her head, and he noticed her expression. It was cloudy, not coherent, and she wasn't looking at him. She took a step and stumbled, and Henry grabbed her arm before she fell.
"Dad," she said, and sighed.
"Are you drunk?" Dan exploded. "Close the door," he ordered to Henry, who obeyed, looking like a deer in headlights.
She was shaking, her eyes darting, her hands unsteady and she was still unable to stand properly without leaning on Henry.
"Are you high?" Dan amended.
"Fuck..." she said under her breath. Her head hurt, she didn't want her dad screaming at her, this wasn't what her family needed right now, and it was all Henry's fault. She just knew it was his fault. And why was her dad awake anyway?
"Mr. Goodman, it's my fault," Henry said, and she looked at him like he was crazy. How did he know that's what she was thinking? "I.." He didn't know how to finish. He didn't want to say 'I gave her the drugs,' because, well... he didn't want Mr. Goodman to like turn him into the police or think he was a dealer or something. But what else could he say? "I dragged her out with me tonight."
"Really?" Dan said, already doubtful. "This was your idea, to get high?"
"Yessir," Henry said, steadying Nat, who swayed dangerously.
"You wanted to get my daughter completely wasted, and stay totally sober yourself?" Dan said. It was obvious the kid wasn't on anything. He was looking him in the eye, standing straight... he wasn't messed up tonight, at least. "You wanted to go have some fun, and just watch someone else get high?"
"I... I, um..."
"You're lying, that's what," Dan said. "I want one of you to tell me the truth right this minute. Sit down."
He led them inside, and Henry helped Nat into a chair. Dan looked at her, and quickly gathered she wasn't in any shape to talk tonight. It twisted his stomach, watching her completely gone this way. She was drowsy and out of it and not anything like the daughter he knew.
"Wait here," he said, looking at Henry warningly. "I'm going to bring her upstairs. I still want to talk to you, though."
Dan helped Nat up the stairs and into her room, where he glared at her as she slipped her shoes off.
"Look, Dad," she slurred, and he just shook his head. She flopped right down onto the bed in her clothes, and then he left, still shaking his head.
Back downstairs, Dan entered the living room massaging his temples.
"Look, kid," he said. "I'm tired. My wife is- well, I'm sure you know what's going on. I can't sleep. And then I come downstairs to find you towing in my daughter, who's completely fucked her brain up," he said, not bothering to mind his language. "Not to mention she's been God-knows-where for God-knows-how-many nights this week. Just explain it to me- anything, so I can go to sleep."
Henry took his head in his hands. He wasn't going to rat Nat out to her dad, not completely. She was busted for tonight, that's for sure, but he sure as well wasn't going to tell him how long this had been going on. "She's been really stressed, that's all. And so tonight she finally caved and wanted to have some relief from all the pressure. She wanted to go out somewhere and just forget everything, party. I didn't think it was a good idea, but I went along anyway to make sure nothing bad happened. Things got out of hand, so we left. Neither of us knew how those clubs work or anything- she's never done anything like this before. That's all." It was almost true. A month ago, she'd never done anything like this before. And everything else was true. She was stressed and did want to relieve the pressure.
Dan didn't answer, just sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time. Henry was wondering if he was going to get a neck ache from all the head-shaking he was doing.
"I can't deal with this now," Dan said, thinking of everything that was happening with Diana. Why did Natalie have to mess herself up now? He had so many other things on his mind, urgent things that could not be put aside. "Just.."
"It won't happen again," Henry said, hoping to God it was true. Dan stood, nodding. He felt guilty about it, but he was sort of relying on this kid to make sure nothing happened to Nat, because he knew that he wasn't capable. Not now, anyway.
"I'm going to bed. I'm just glad she's home safe."
"She's always safe with me," Henry said sincerely. Dan shook his head again, really not able to take any more of this teen angst.
"Fine."
In the morning, Natalie fully expected a lecture and a punishment. Her head felt like it had been split in two, she had about a hundred texts from Henry waiting to be read, and she did not want to deal with her dad yet. But her headache won the battle, and she needed to go into the kitchen for some advil.
Her dad sat at the table reading the newspaper. Or pretending to. When he said nothing, she kept her silence too. She felt her father's eyes on her when she opened the medicine cabinet, and rolled her eyes. Did he seriously think she'd go popping the pills the very next morning, right in front of him? She conspicuously took advil, turning the bottle so her could read the label from where he was sitting. But still, he didn't say anything.
After she drank some water to down the pills with, she turned and looked at him. He looked up, nodded, and then went right back to reading. Nothing. He said nothing.
Though she didn't want any punishment, she was kinda pissed that her dad didn't care. Nat stormed upstairs, slamming her bedroom door and regretting it instantly when her head throbbed. Her dad still didn't care. He was probably already thinking about her mom, her problems already forgotten.
"We're going out 2nite," she texted Henry.
"No," she got back quickly.
"Well then I'm going w/out u."
Henry groaned, rolling back over in bed and turning his phone off. He tried to convince himself that he wouldn't go after her, that he'd just let her go alone. But it didn't work.
He could really hate her sometimes.
Please write a review if you liked this, or if you didn't! I haven't heard much from the recent chapters that I published and I'd love to know what you thought of any of them. Let me know, and also tell me if there's anything you want to read about! Thanks so much!