Chapter 9

It takes me a moment to realize that Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I have yet to ask my mom if she'll be able to pick me up so I can go home to visit, so when I get home on Monday evening from job hunting seeing as we we're on vacation, I dial her number. "Hey, mom?" I prompt the conversation.

"Hey, Liv, how's everything?" she asks me. We've been talking every so often, typically through text. Conversations don't last long, but they never really did. I'm more of a daddy's girl, so being away from home and only being able to learn about the family through my mother isn't doing me much good. Don't get me wrong; I love my mother. I just have more in common with my father, despite the fact that he's the one who came up with the idea to send me here.

"It's good," I tell her. "Do you think I'll be able to visit you guys on Thanksgiving?"

"Actually, we're heading up there," my mother responds as if revealing a surprise.

"'We?'" I ask her.

"Yes, me, Dylan, Charlie, and your father," my mom spoke. Even my older brother's coming? I thought he'd rather stay home during his break, but I guess not.

I grin widely at the news. "Oh, okay. I guess I'll see you on Thursday. Tell everyone I love them."

"I will," she responds. "I love you, Liv."

"I love you too, mom," I reply, preparing to hang up the phone.

"Wait, how's Maddox?" she blurts. I sigh and roll my eyes. Last time we talked was when I convinced her to give Charlie his candy back; however he hadn't done a very good job at convincing her that Maddox wasn't my boyfriend and I wasn't his girlfriend.

"He's fine, just like all of my other friends," I stress the last word.

"Just wondering," she laughs. "I'll see you Thursday."

+ + +

I'm anticipating Thursday very much, so when it comes, I wake up happy. My family, who set out at six in the morning in order to get here to help my aunt cook, should be arriving at around noon, considering the fact that they probably stopped for breakfast. I get ready and am already downstairs in the living room when they walk inside.

I greet my little brother with a hug. I also hug Dylan, my older brother, who I rarely see now because he's in college. I then hug my mother, who kisses my cheek. I hug my father once he returns from the kitchen, where he had to put the bowls of food he and my mother made, and he surprisingly hugs me back. I don't know what I expected, but I didn't think he'd be so happy to see me. They enter the house and I close the door, feeling odd at the fact that they're now standing in the house in which I live. I wonder if this is what it feels like to live in your own apartment.

My mother sparks up a conversation with my aunt while Dylan and Charlie talk about the food we'll be eating shortly. Vivica is still asleep and probably won't leave her room until the food is ready. I join my father on the couch, hoping I can spark up some conversation. "Since you two are just standing around, would you mind running to the store to get a few things?" my aunt asks me and my dad.

I look at my father and he nods at my aunt. "What do you need?" he wonders. I have my hands tucked in my pockets as I wait for him at the front door. When he finally meets me, he walks to the car, which is parked in the front of the house. I get in the passenger's seat, sitting in silence as he starts the car. After putting the stores address into the GPS, we set off.

"So, your mother tells me you have a boyfriend?" my dad starts a conversation and my eyebrows shoot up. Why is he so calm? 

"No, no, no, she thinks I have a boyfriend," I correct him with a strong shake of my head. "He's just my friend." Again, I don't think I'd even go as far as to call him that but for clarifications sake.

"And does this friend know that I'm a cop?" my father wonders, which makes me roll my eyes.

"He's just my friend dad, just like the rest of my friends," I remind him.

"What's his name?" my dad continues to question me.

"It doesn't matter," I dismiss with a wave of my hand.

"Why are you dodging the question?" my father asks with a tilted head.

"His name is Maddox," I inform him to avoid backlash.

"And how old is this Max?" my dad questions me.

"Maddox, and he's seventeen, dad, just like almost every other junior in my school," I grunt.

"And is this Maddox—?" my dad attempts to question me.

"Dad!" I sigh noisily. "He's my friend. I don't like him, and he doesn't like me. In fact, he already has a girlfriend." Lying, I know, but it's the only way my dad will leave me alone. But then again, maybe Maddox fixed everything with Raven and they decided to mend their relationship. I'm not going to be the one asking about it, though. It's none of my business.

"Do you guys hang out outside of school?" my dad questions me.

I wonder how I should answer this. Only in groups? Only for school related activities? I opt for the latter, knowing that he'll be happy I'm taking school seriously. "Only to work on projects, and Maddox's parents are always there."

"Any other guys I should be worried about?" my father asks me. I confidently shake my head, knowing that this one is true.

"No, Maddox is my only male friend, I promise," I inform my father. "The only thing you should be worried about is my lack of money. There are barely any jobs in this town."

"That sounds like a personal problem," my father determines with a shrug.

"Dad!" I laugh. "How am I going to hang out with my friends if I don't have money?"

"That also sounds like a personal problem," my father repeats, which gives me a familiar sense of deja vu.

I laugh loudly again. "Seriously!"

"Look harder. There have to be some jobs somewhere," my father shrugs as we pulled into the lot of the grocery store. We get out of the car and my father leads the way in and I follow slowly.

"Do you know where they keep the oregano?" he questions me as he examines the list my Aunt gave him.

"That sounds like a personal problem," I retort jokingly.

He scoffs and rolls his eyes. "You didn't even use it right. You have to use it when someone's complaining. For example, if I said that my daughter's terrible at jokes, then you'd tell me that it sounds like a personal problem," he informs me.

I laugh at my dad before driving the carriage towards the spice aisle. My father jumps ahead of me and scours the spices for oregano. I speed up the carriage, accidentally clipping his ankles. He swears loudly and points at me. "Watch where you're wheeling that thing!" he threatens me.

"Sorry dad," I chuckle at him as he grabs the oregano and tosses it into the carriage.

"You want to play that game?" he asks me as he grabs a random carriage abandoned at the side of the aisle.

He zooms up behind me so I begin to speed walk with mine, struggling to keep out of his reach, which is easier said than done. Soon enough, I'm running and trying to avoid the occasional customer. Thankfully it's dead because everyone's home cooking. I swing around a corner and come into the fruit aisle. I nearly slam into someone but I manage to stop just in time. They slip on a plastic bag that was taken from a dispenser and let out a loud groan as they fall to the ground. He swears and I immediately recognize his voice. My blood turns cold as I look down at him.

"Maddox?" I hiss in surprise. I have to get out of here. Just as I'm about to leave him laying on the ground, my father comes swinging around the corner before stopping beside me. I want to swear. Could this situation get any worse?

"Did you hit him?" my father asks when he sees Maddox getting up.

"No, he slipped on a bag," I mutter as I watch him rub his back. "Are you okay, stranger?"

"Stranger?" Maddox asks as he stretches out, narrowing his eyes at me. "You almost hit me, Olive."

"Olive?" my father asks in surprise.

"It's Olivia," I correct, trying to make it seem like Maddox doesn't call me this on a daily basis. "Sorry, dad, some students just can't get my name right. Oliver, Olive, Olly- I'm called everything but Olivia." My father doesn't seem to buy it as he eyes Maddox, who is glaring at the ripped bag on the floor.

"What's your name?" my father questions Maddox. It takes a second for it to register in Maddox's mind that he's meeting my father. He stands up a little straighter and his gaze shifts awkwardly.

"Maddox," he replies. I press my palm to my forehead and my father looks at me in slight surprise.

"So this is the Maddox I've been hearing about for the past month?" my dad asks me curiously. Maddox's eyebrows shoot up as he looks from me to my father. With wide eyes, I shake my head. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Mr. Ortega, Liv's father."

"What a great introduction this was! It's so sad that we have to cut this short. Father, don't we have to go get some ground beef?" I inquire as I tried to wheel my carriage away. However, my father simply grabs it and pushes it backwards, so I walk back to my original spot full of shame and embarrassment.

"Like I was saying, I've heard a lot about you, Maddox," my father informs him. "My daughter and my wife won't stop talking about you."

"He's lying, Maddox, I swear," I attempt but my father cuts me off.

"Are you calling me a liar, Olivia?" he asks and I quickly shake my head.

"Whaaaat?" I drawl. "Me? Calling you a liar? No way." I look at Maddox and I nod vigorously before turning to my father and smiling. "Now if you'll excuse us Maddox, we'll be making our way to any part of the store where you're not."

"Olivia, don't be rude. Maddox is your friend, right?" my father presses. I swear Maddox snorts when he hears my father mention the word 'friend' and us in the same sentence. The worst thing is that my father interprets that as a 'we're more than friends' scoff. My dad tilts his head at Maddox and I can tell that things are about to get really bad, really fast.

"I don't recall saying that," I respond with another vigorous head shake. I give my father a sharp look but he simply shrugs me off.

"Maddox, what are you doing?" Abel's voice travels down the aisle as he appears around the corner. He sees apple holding Maddox standing before my evil grin wearing father and I. "Oh, hey, Olivia!"

"Yet another boy who happens to know my daughter. What's your name?" my father asks Abel and I sigh with closed eyes.

"I'm Abel," Abel greets, holding a hand out to my father, who takes it in his own. I can tell my dad appreciates that gesture.

"And how do you know my daughter? Do you go to school with her, too?" my father wonders.

"Oh no, I met her at my house when she was with Maddox," Abel explains and my father's eyes broaden as he looks at me. I inhale quickly and widen my eyes at Abel, who seems completely unaware of the havoc he's wreaking on my life.

"Dad, I know it sounds bad but just let me explain—," I begin as I wave my hand to gain his attention.

"Surely there were adults there," my father attempts to clarify the situation but Abel scoffs.

"Nope, just me! I mean, I'm legally an adult, but who trusts a nineteen year old?" Abel responds with a shrug.

"Who trusts a nineteen year old? You're right," my father says, and as if testing the waters in which my lies waded in, he continues to speak in that dangerously curious tone of his. "Surely Maddox's girlfriend was there."

"Girlfriend?" Abel snorts. "Maddox doesn't have a girlfriend!"

I placed my face in my hands as I looked up at the ceiling. "Abel! Stop talking!" I snap. He's digging me into a deeper hole and he's uncovering all of my lies as he's going.

"No, Abel, continue talking," my father encourages as he leans forward on his carriage. "What else has my daughter done that I should be aware of?"

"Dad, we really should get going," I attempt to tug my father's arm. He simply shrugs me off before turning to Maddox.

"Anything I should know?" he prompts the conversation.

Maddox, who has been bouncing back and forth between my father and Abel for the last five minutes, begins to stutter. "U-uh," he trails as he swings the bag of apples lightly.

"Let me tell you two something," my father starts and I can already sense the cop talk getting ready to escape from his lips. "I'm a cop, and I'm also a father. I know what it's like to be a teenage boy. I also know what it's like to have a teenage daughter. And if you so much as lay a hand on her whether she wants you to or not...consider yourself warned."

My face is bright red as I press it against a box a sweetener on the shelf beside me. Maddox and Abel look absolutely terrified. "Can we please go now dad?" I request quietly.

"Any other guys I should threaten?" my father asks me. I shake my head as I stared at the ground. "Back to shopping," he announces cheerfully before wheeling his carriage away. I look at Maddox and Abel, who are staring at me with shocked and scared looks on their faces. Bowing my head, I follow my father around the store, feeling more embarrassed than I've ever been.

+ + +

"You forgot to mention that Maddox is one of them," my father mutters as he loads the bags in the trunk of the car.

"One of them?" I inquire. This is the first word he's said to me since that uncomfortable run in a half hour ago. We nearly ran into them again at check out but Maddox practically drop kicked Abel back into the aisle to hide.

"A bad boy," my dad clarifies.

"Just because he wears a lot of black and looks mean doesn't mean he's a bad boy," I sigh, knowing that defending him won't do me any justice. But I don't need my dad thinking I'm hanging around the wrong crowd again.

"So he's a pretty boy?" my father asks with a knowing look on his face.

"No," I responds with a quick shake of my head. Maddox would kill me if he heard me call him a pretty boy. He'd probably take it as an insult and kick me in the face.

"Well, I don't care what he is. I don't like him," my father mutters. "And that boy Abel."

"Dad, they're my friends," I sigh noisily.

"They're guys. And I know your type, Liv. Remember Jacob?" he asks me. I immediately groan and look out of the window.

Jacob was my crush in the ninth grade. He was a senior and was friends with Dylan. He had a motorcycle and was suspended from school several times, not to mention he hosted at least twelve parties within the first two and a half months of school. My brother ended up overhearing a conversation I had with my best friend at the time about how cute Jacob was. Dylan told Jacob, who laughed about it and would jokingly wink at me whenever he saw me in the hallway. He made the mistake of doing that during a family dinner and my father choked on his steak and almost beat the life out of Jacob, who barely escaped my dad's wrath.

Of course nothing happened with Jacob, but my father has always had the idea of me liking bad boys on his mind since then. And every time there was a misbehaved boy that he had to bring down to the police station, he managed to make me steer clear of them with lies. He also never let my brother have friends over again, which caused my brother to get mad at me. That ruined whatever sibling based friendship we could've formed over the years. However, it's gotten better now that he sees the humor in the situation.

"I remember Jacob, dad," I recall him with a sigh.

My father shakes his head. "I bet he's in prison," he mutters.

"For winking at me?" I ask and my dad gives me a short glare. I can tell he wants to laugh.

"By the way, dad, I don't have a type," I mutter. "And trust me, if I did, Maddox would be the exclusion."

My father shakes his head. "What about that Abraham boy? The very honest one?"

"Abel," I correct him. "He's nineteen."

"And if he wasn't nineteen?" my father wonders with a quirked brow. I roll my eyes. Probably.

"It doesn't matter because he doesn't meet the criteria of my so-called type," I reply.

"So you would date him?" my father assumes with wide eyes.

"Dad," I reply, "I'm not going to date anyone."

"I know you're not- your time here in Harrington—," my father begins and I finish his sentence.

"—is not a vacation; It's a punishment," I sigh. "I know, dad."

"Good and I'm glad you made friends. But I'd prefer you to hang out with nerds," my father comments.

I roll my eyes and shake my head. "I wouldn't fit in with them, dad."

"And you fit in with the rebels?" he asks before scoffing. "Don't answer that."

+ + +

I managed to get my phone back, which my father confiscated once we got back to the house. He told me he'd take it so I wouldn't try and talk to my friends during family dinner, which took way too long. I guess that there was so much catching up to do that we ended up sitting at the table for two and a half hours just talking. My mother forced Vivica to talk about school and cheer-leading, which lasted for a good millisecond before she reverted back to silence. Her mother had taken her phone as well; in fact, everyone's phone was taken. Charlie seemed to have a good time, though.

When it's time for my family to leave, after we take a family picture, I'm sad to see them go. My mother hugs me and reminds me to call her for anything. Dylan hugs me and tells me that he made a new friend who can hot-wire a car and jokingly asks if I want his number. I grin and elbow him in the side. Charlie, who latches onto me and refuses to let go, is dragged out to the car by Dylan after I kiss his head and tell him I'll see him soon. My father hugs me, too, and tells me to steer clear of Maddox and Abel.

I simply roll my eyes. If only it were that easy.