Happy Monday, my lovelies! I hope you've all had a better day than I have. My internet's been out all day, which meant that I had to own up to the fact that I'm terrible at video games. Like, I'm terrible at them and I don't want to touch one for a few weeks now. But my internet is back now, which is how I'm bringing you this chapter. Hopefully you lovely people enjoy it despite how short it is. Darcy's temper literally cut the chapter short. ~Shaymie

"It's nice to see you again, Darcelle. I see you've stopped caking your face in that disgusting makeup."

I gripped my fork tightly and glared at the table. I'd spent about an hour trying to decide if I should wear makeup or not to meet up with my father (he'd made reservations for us and John at a fancy restaurant downtown) and decided it was better to just go bare. Besides, I was proud of my freckles now. Demi Lovato had freckles, and she was my role model. If she was confident with her freckles, then I should be confident, too. She had a whole song about confidence.

We had been eating dinner quietly, not really knowing how to break the ice. My father was the first one to break the awkward silence that had fallen over the table, and that was the first thing he could think to say? I almost wanted to leave right now. If he couldn't even make an effort to compliment me or wish me happy birthday, then I was just wasting my time trying to patch things up with him. I knew that Lori would want me to give him more of a chance, but I wasn't like her. I wasn't the forgive and forget type of person. I had some choice words to throw in my father's face-

"Nice to see you again too, Father," I hissed through my teeth when John kicked my ankle. He had told me earlier to play nice and hopefully Dad would leave and we could go back to worrying about more important things. "I thought you were going to be here for my birthday. It's February 22, Dad. The day after my birthday."

"I'm sorry, Darcelle. Things got hectic at work and I ended up coming later than I expected." He cleared his throat and looked between me and John, his gaze falling onto our intertwined hands. I frowned. Was work so important to him that he couldn't have been bothered to take some time off? I was his only daughter, who he hadn't seen for months. Surely I was more important to him than a paycheck.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe I've introduced myself. I'm Robert. Darcelle's father." I tried my best to keep my face neutral as they shook hands and John introduced himself. I didn't know why I was so anxious about having my father's approval. I'd date John even if he didn't approve of the relationship. I was an adult. I could do what I wanted. I didn't live with him anymore, and I never would. I refused to go back to that toxic household.

"So, Darcelle." I looked up as my father addressed me and frowned at the cold look in his eyes. Lori was wrong. He hadn't missed me. Not one bit. He only missed having authority over me. "I see you're over your ridiculous rebellious phase."

"What do you mean?"

"You've stopped dating females. I knew you would come to your senses eventually." Dad smiled at me and took a sip of wine. "No daughter of mine is going to be gallivanting around like some kind of dyke."

"What is it going to take for you to accept me, Dad? There's a reason I left home. You and your fiancee and everyone else in that stupid town treated me like a freak! I'm bisexual, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Why is it your business whether I date a guy or a girl?" I stood up from the table and glared at my father, not caring how much attention I drew to myself. I shouldn't have agreed to come to this stupid restaurant. John stood up with me and tried to calm me down, quietly telling me to not make a scene. I didn't care. I was sick and tired of my father's ignorance.

"I don't want you to bring disgrace to the family name." Dad stood up too, glaring down at me. I scoffed. All he cared about was appearances. The only reason he even wanted to see me was probably because having a runaway daughter made him look bad.

"'Family name'? I have my mother's last name, and she's far more accepting than you will ever be, father." I opened my purse and paid for John and I's part of dinner, slamming the money on the table with far more force than necessary. My hand was stinging as I grabbed onto John. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'll go spend my time with someone who isn't a homophobic bigot."

"You don't want to walk out on me, Darcelle." Dad's voice was dangerously low as I turned around, preparing to leave. It was enough to stop me in my tracks. I'd heard that tone of voice before, when he came home drunk and would yell at me or Veronica, his girlfriend. I looked back at him. "Who's going to pay your tuition?"

"I'll get a scholarship or two. And if not, I'll pay for it myself. I don't need your negativity in my life, Dad. You won't accept me for who I am. You won't listen to me. You insist on calling me Darcelle, you treat my sister like an invalid who can't speak English, and you… you're just a straight up bully. I'm tired of it, Dad. I just want a father who loves me."

I managed to hold my tears in until we got to the car, where the floodgates opened. My body shook with my sobs as John helped me into the car, buckling me in and planting a gentle kiss to my forehead. I let out all the tears I had been holding in for the past week. I wasn't just crying because of my wrecked relationship with my father. I was crying for Lori, for all the shit she had to go through. Even when she woke up, she wouldn't be in the clear quite yet. There would be therapies and medicine and I just knew that she'd hate all of it. She hated being taken care of.

John rubbed my back soothingly as I let all my tears out. My phone was pinging with texts from Dad, but I ignored them. I didn't care about what he had to say. I was tired of him trying to make me into something I'm not. I didn't have to deal with it anymore. I was an adult, which meant that legally, there was nothing he could do to make me go back home with him. I was free from him, so why did I feel so empty inside?

"I'm sorry for breaking down like this," I muttered apologetically. I wiped at my eyes with some tissue that I found in the glove compartment. "I'm just tired of… him. My whole life, I've never been good enough for him. Even when I got perfect grades and made the honor roll, I was practically invisible to him. The only time he's ever noticed me is when I came out. I knew it was a bad idea, but I did it anyway. Some of my friends came out and they didn't get yelled at. I assumed my dad would be like theirs."

"Let's just forget about him for now. My dad should be out of town for the rest of the weekend, so how about we go to my house and have a repeat of last night?" John grabbed my hands and kissed my cheek. I flushed. Last night had been amazing. We didn't get any sleep. John made sure to kiss every part of me as a birthday gift. I'd never been so pampered in my life.

"I'd like that very much."