Emily crossed her arms firmly over her chest, positively glowering as she stared out the passenger side window. She hadn't spoken a single word since they'd gotten into the car four hours ago. She could feel her father's gaze landing on her every few minutes and each time, she felt her blood boiling higher and higher until finally, she snapped, "Stop staring at me!"
Erik rolled his eyes at the teenage histrionics. "You know I'm not exactly thrilled about this either, Emmeline," he said.
"Don't call me that!" she snapped. "I hate that name."
"Fine," Erik said on a sigh, "What would you prefer to be called?"
She shot him an annoyed look. "Emily," she said. "At least, until I can legally change it. But then I won't be your problem anymore..."
Erik quite obviously wanted to make some kind of snarky comment, but didn't have time before she'd put in her headphones and turned the volume all the way up.
Thankfully, he only had to endure her aura of teenaged angst another twenty minutes before they turned into the cul-de-sac and into the driveway.
As soon as the engine turned off, the front door flung open and a German short-haired pointer came bounding towards them. "Felix!" Erik exclaimed, dropping to his knees so the dog could body slam into him at high speed in search of cuddles.
Shortly after the dog had rocketed out of the house, a teenager about Emily's age followed. "Hi, Mr. Lensherr," she greeted.
"Hello, Alex," Erik said, doing his best to prevent the dog from licking his face. "How was Felix?"
Alex grinned at the joyful reunion of man and dog. "An angel, as always," she said, "A big, dumb angel."
With a laugh, Erik stood, dusting grass from the knees of his jeans. "Yeah, there's nothing in his skull but air," he agreed, scratching between the dog's ears. He glanced over his shoulder at Emily. "Emily, come say hello." He dragged her forwards with a hand on her shoulder. "Emily, this is Alex MacTaggert," he introduced, "She lives across the cul-de-sac. Alex, this is Emily, my daughter."
Emily raised her hand in an awkward half-wave. "Hey," she said unenthusiastically. Her phone pinged and her attention was instantly on her screen as she typed furiously with her thumbs.
Erik rolled his eyes, turned to Alex and said, "I'm sorry my daughter is so rude, Alex. Thank you for looking after Felix for me. How much do I owe you?"
Alex raised a hand in refusal. "No charge, Mr. Lensherr. I'm happy to watch Felix for you."
"Please, call me Erik," he insisted. "You're like a daughter to me."
Emily gave a derisive snort at that.
If Alex had noticed, she didn't comment on it, for which Erik was grateful. "Anyway, I've got to go home and finish up some homework. I'll see you later." She jogged across the cul-de-sac and up the few steps to her door.
"Alex, is that you?" her mother's voice rang out as she slammed the door behind her.
"No, Mom," Alex scoffed, "It's the mailman."
"Attitude," Moira chided, coming down the stairs and into the foyer. "Did you just get home? I thought Erik was going to be back before noon..."
Alex dropped her overnight bag on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, then moved to the kitchen in search of something to eat. "Mom, I'm sixteen, I'm not a child anymore. You can land the helicopter."
"I know you're not a child," Moira insisted, "But I worry about what kind of influence Erik is having on you..."
Alex groaned dramatically. "God, Mom. I'm just dogsitting, he's not brainwashing me. Why can't you just chill out a little?"
"Alexandra," Moira scolded, "Mind your manners, please."
She heaved a dramatic sigh. "Mom, I have homework, can you be pissy about this later?"
"We'll talk about this when your father gets home..."
