Chain Reaction 2.55: You're Crazy

     Alex and I have been dating for a few weeks. I've had to come up with some clever excuses in order to keep Dad from getting suspicious. Dad still doesn't know.

     "What if I create a company and put you on the payroll?" Alex asks me on the other end of the line. "Then you could say that you're going to work."

     "Oh yeah? Who's my boss?"

     I can hear the playful smirk in his voice as he answers, "Me."

     My heart rate jumps around from the way he said it. Still, I pretend to play it cool even if I want to lie down on the bed, ball my fists up in the comforter, and moan before making my bed go into complete disarray.

     I force out a laugh. "I don't think that'll work at all."

     There's that timbre to his voice again that makes my knees shake: "Oh really? Why not?"

     How does he take a simple conversation and do this to me? "Well, think of your track record."

     I imagine his eyebrow raised. "And just what are you implying, Miss Taylor?"

     I try not to focus on how he addressed me just now. However, it doesn't work. I suddenly picture myself with him as my boss and have to force myself to take a deep breath. That doesn't slow down my heart, though. "You, um, well, previous assistants..." I can't finish.

     He catches on anyway. "And that's a problem because...?"

     I have to go sit on my bed. Alex and I have made out on his couch several times, and I could tell each time he was barely able to control himself. As for me, I can't...believe it can be like this. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that hacking isn't Alex's only talent.

     Since I haven't answered due to my wandering mind, he says, "It's just an idea."

     Another deep breath.

     He continues, "My point being that I don't like sneaking around."

     "It's safer," I reply in a small voice.

     "Is it?" He doesn't sound convinced at all. "None of our ideas would really work any better or worse than just flat out telling him." He pauses. "Emily, tonight. I'm tired of hiding."

     "I don't know..."

     "Will you ever? I don't mean to sound rude or condescending. I just want you to think about if that day will ever come when telling him would be an easy thing."

     "I'm scared."

     The sound of him shuffling around comes through the phone. "I'm coming over. I want to see you."

     "Wait. What?" I ask quickly.

     "Hearing your lovely voice on the phone only makes me want to see you all the more. Meet me next to the park behind your house...or I could just waltz right up and knock on the front door." Again, the smirk. Then, he hangs up before I can say anything.

     My eyes wide, I dash out to meet him.

     "Hi," he says, so simple and happy. His face matches the happiness in his voice.

     "Alex, this is a-"

     "Sh*t, you're beautiful. Is this new?" He backs up and looks at my outfit.

     "What? Oh. Yes, it is, but-"

     "Turn around. Let me see the whole thing!" he says excitedly, interrupting me again.

     "No." I shake my head, trying to be serious. "This isn't a good time."

     "It'll never be a good time, Emily. Right now, I feel so buoyant that I don't care if he pounds me into the dirt." He grins.

      I pout, realizing what he said might actually come to pass. "I do."

     "Don't worry about me, Emily my love." He kisses me several times gently on the cheek. I appreciate him keeping it simple for being out in public. "I'm tired of him standing in the way of our happiness." Another sweet kiss. "Is he home?"

     "Yes. He's using up his vacation before he retires." I take a breath. "Alex, give me a couple of weeks."

     "You're a grown woman. You can't let him run your life for you. I want to go in there and leave no doubt in his mind that I've fallen hopelessly in love with his daughter."

     My heart skips three or four beats. Did he really just say that?

     "I'm giving you ten. minutes," he says a little too seriously.

     I pull back and look at him in alarm.

     He continues, "After that, I may not even knock." He gestures with his eyes that I need to get moving. "Well?"

     "You're crazy."

     "And you're beautiful. And wasting valuable time." He checks the time on his phone. Since I haven't moved, his eyes cut over to me. "Are you calling my bluff, Emily?"

     "Give me twenty minutes." I seriously am going to need time to carefully build Dad up to this.

     "Fifteen," he counters.

     "Eighteen."

     "Only if I get to do things to you that would embarrass you to have an audience."

     I blush like mad, probably matching my top.

     "My previous offer of fifteen stands for five, four, three-"

     "Okay! Fifteen. I should know better than to think I can out-negotiate you."

     His eyebrow raises as he goes to sit on the wall, looking at his phone. "You got me to give you five extra minutes, which are ticking along, by the way."

     "Like I said, you're crazy," I tell him as I start walking back to the house.

     "Only because I'm in love," he replies, and I stop and turn around. He grins and points to his phone as he mouths the word 'time.'

     I find Dad alone in the living room, and I have the strangest feeling like I wish Ethan were here. Maybe it's the picture on the wall. Ethan could do this right. I don't think I can.

     Dad looks lost in thought. He's been a little cranky lately not working. I'm not even sure why he wants to retire. When I've asked him, he's just replied, "Because it's time to."

     "Dad?" I ask, feeling as small as the other picture on the wall.

     He starts a tiny bit like he's coming back to the here and now. "What is it? Is everything okay?"

     Worried and not hiding it, I go have a seat next to him.

     "You... You want me to be happy, right?" This is going to kill him.

     "Of course I do. What a strange question to ask."

     I look at my hands. "What if my being happy means something happens that you don't want?" I wince. That was awful, probably the worst way possible to do it.

     "It's Drake, isn't it? He came by the other day, but I told him to beat it."

     I blink several times at this news. "He did?"

     "Yeah. He looked like he had something he wanted to tell me, but he got the message that I wasn't interested in hearing it. Looks like my assumption was correct. Is this who you've been sneaking off to go see?" He watches me much too closely.

     Oh plum. If he's this worked up thinking it's Drake...

     "No, Dad. I've been sneaking off--I've been dating someone else."

     "Been dating?" He sounds surprised.

     "You acted like you already knew." Didn't he?

     "I'd hoped I was wrong. Who is this lout you've been dating who hasn't come up to talk to me about it first?"

      He's so old fashioned! Then, it hits me: I may have found a common ground!

     "He's wanted to come to talk to you about it. It's me that's held him back," I quickly explain, hoping I can use this to break it to him more easily.

     "Well, why? If that's the case, he sounds like a decent guy if he wants to do it right and talk to me about it."

     I almost sigh with relief. If I can just paint Alex as having some of the same values as Dad then I stand a chance here. "I was worried you'd be how you were with Drake."

     He actually smiles! "Emily, just because you're dating someone doesn't mean I'm going to turn into the big, bad papa bear. I knew this day would come, and although I'm nostalgically sad, I do want you to be happy."

     I want to cry! How can I be about to do this to him? For just a moment, I consider breaking it off with Alex. But then, I picture him how he was a few minutes ago, smiling at me and watching the time on his phone, and my heart does a flip-flop. It would kill me to never see Alex again.

     "So what's his name?" Dad asks. He's gone completely into the 'supportive dad mode.' "Is it someone we know?"

     I swallow. "Yes. It's someone you know."

     "Good evening, Graham. It's been a while." Alex has walked into the house!

     I leap off the couch to intercept him. "You said fifteen minutes!" That was probably about eight. At least, I feel like I haven't had enough time.

     "I'm sorry. But after thirteen minutes, I thought I couldn't possibly get a better introduction than that." He does look apologetic when he sees my expression.

     A voice from the couch snarls, "I'm not seeing this."

     I close my eyes. I could've used those two minutes! I almost had him!

     Alex more quietly says, "Emily, I'm so sorry. I thought I'd... Well, I thought I'd..."

     Dad growls, "Don't think; just leave."

     YOU deal with him! I think loudly to Alex. I go have a seat on the sofa.

     Dad gets up and walks over to my boyfriend.

      "Listen, Graham, I wanted to have a peaceful conversation," Alex begins.

      "It's never 'peaceful' when it involves the two of us." Dad's fists clench.

      "I know. I was hoping we could change that, leave all that stuff in the past."

      "So that you can come in and move on to my daughter?"

      Alex pretends not to know what Dad means even though I know he does. "Move on to? What are you talking about?"

     "Goth, if you think for one minute that I'm going to let you subject my Emily to some displaced affection-"

     "Excuse me?! Graham, you are way off here. This has nothing to do-" Alex doesn't get to finish his statement because Dad jerks his shirt and pushes him in the direction of the door.

     "Daddy!" I get up.

     "Ever the bully, aren't you, Graham?"

     "Shut the plum up, Alex! I put up with your crap for years, all the while you insisting you and Brielle were 'just friends.'" Dad does the air quotes. "I was right all that time and I'm right now. You don't love Emily."

     "Oh, come off it, would you! Emily warned me you'd use this argument. In case you haven't noticed, your daughter looks like you. If that isn't a joke on me from the universe, I don't know what is: for me to fall in love with the female version of my most hated enemy!"

     "She is my daughter! Now who's the 'old man,' huh?"

     "I would've called you anything just to piss you off," Alex retorts. It's my guess Alex teased Dad about his and Mom's age difference.

     I get a word in. "It doesn't matter!"

     Dad ignores me, instead walking over to my childhood portrait. Gesturing to it, he looks at Alex and says, "This! Her! Here is Emily, Alex! A child!"

     What about all that talk earlier about him knowing I'm an adult?

     Alex gestures to me where I stand here mutely. "No, Graham. Look." He grabs my shoulders and gently turns me to face my father. "Here is Emily!"

     My breathing shakes as I fight tears, and a voice comes from the kitchen. "What's going on?"

     Mom walks in. She's been at work the entire time or I would've included her in my impromptu discussion with Dad. 

     "Alex?" she questions, her voice cracking.

     I watch him closely. He hasn't seen her in years. This is the first true test to see whether or not he's really over her. He stands rigidly and stares at nothing while Dad sneers in a kind of triumphant way.

     "Your old friend here has come to ask for our blessing to date our daughter." Dad's tone heavily implies that he knows Mom is thinking the same thing he is.

     Mom still just talks to Alex. "Is this true?"

     My gaze shifts to Mom. She believes Dad! She thinks this is all about her!

     Well, what if it really is? I hate my self-doubt, but I won't deny it. If this does turn out to be a thing centering around Mom, Dad won't have to attack Alex. I'll claw his face off.

     I wait. Alex's jaw clenches, and his eyes narrow. He looks over at me, sees my expression, and gets even more mad.

     He rounds on my mother. "Other than you being Emily's mom, this has nothing to do with you, Brielle."

     "I never said it did," Mom insists in an innocent manner.

     "Maybe not out loud." Loathing fills his eyes.

     "Why are you getting so defensive about this?"

     "Defensive? That's not the word. Livid is the word! You very nearly ruined my entire life! I have never known a more selfish, self-centered person in existence! And that's really saying something."

     Mom starts crying, and Dad's voice takes on a deadly tone. "Get out of my house, Alex."
     "You used me," Alex continues berating my mother. She walks away.
     "I'm not going to give you the benefit of telling you again, Goth!" Dad growls as he walks to stand in front of my boyfriend.

     I sit down, listening to a fight that's even older than me.
     Mom spins around. "Before you do that, Graham, I have something to say."
     Dad glares in her direction, his fists clenched. Alex watches Dad's fists.
     Mom continues, "Alex, I am very sorry you feel used. That was never my intention. I was in a horrible time in my life, and I had no idea how to express that I wasn't interested."
     Dad cuts in. "It doesn't matter what you say, Brielle. You may as well be apologizing to a brick wall for all he listens to reason."
     Out of my peripheral vision, I see Alex watching me. I don't know if he's expecting me to do anything right now. I honestly have no idea.
     "Would you two stop it?!" Alex snaps. Turning to Mom, he says, "Brielle, okay. Fine. I've said my peace. Believe me, I've done my best to understand, but it doesn't matter anymore." He swallows, looks at me, and his voice shakes. "I don't know how you two have done it, but you've parented the most wonderful person to walk the planet. Look at her! Can't we just...get along for her sake?"
     Mom comes to sit next to me, looking like she agrees with Alex.

     Dad, however, doesn't. "Never with you. Never. I will never forget the rotten piece of slime your father was."
     Alex is pissed. "My father? My father isn't me, Graham! Don't use his business practices against me! Is that what you've been thinking all this time? That I'm just like Dad? You're crazy if you think that."
     I am totally lost. Dad has serious issues that he's kept buried for a long time, that much I can tell, but I have no idea what Alex's dad did that was so awful.
     "Your minds work the same way, and I don't want Emily part of it, part of the sick, twisted perversion of how you think. I don't know what you did to pull her into it, but if you have any shred of decency inside you, you'll back off!"
     "Dad!" I shout. He's gone too far. He can't choose for me what I should and shouldn't do. I move to stand up, but Mom tightly grabs my hand and pulls me down again. Curious as to why, I wait.
     Looking closely, I can tell Alex is terrified of Dad, but he fights on anyway.
     "This is something you're going to have to find a way to come to terms with, Graham: I. Love. Emily. I had no idea how far you demonized me over the years, but you have to make that stop if you want to hang onto any kind of relationship with your daughter. If you don't, you will lose her completely!"

     Alex swings his hands wide as a physical representation of his point, each finger symbolizing Dad and me. Alex...cares...that I don't lose my relationship with my father. He's not above tearing me away from him if that's the only way, but he would prefer it if we could try to at least coexist.
     He's a wonderful man trying to make peace with someone he hates for someone he loves. ...who loves him back.
     "I can't let you, Alex. I just can't bring myself to do it." Dad holds his hands up in a defeated gesture, knowing that Alex's attempt at peace is the better thing to do yet unable to find it within himself to let it happen. He's hated him for too long.
     I stand up.

     "Daddy?"
     "No, Emily. Don't say it!" Dad collapses into his hands. Alex still stands in front of him, looking furious. "Please, just don't tell me. I can't bear to hear it."
     Tears well up in my eyes. Mom stands up and turns him around before he curls into her smaller frame, crying.
     Alex looks at me, not looking happy with the results of the argument. In a hoarse voice, he says, "I think I should go." He waits for my response.
     I nod and whisper, "Okay."
     He suddenly takes a step back with an expression like I'd just slapped him. I don't understand why. Then, he brushes past me on his way to the side exit.

---------------------------------
Real random place to put this, but I thought I'd include a pic of Kenneth just for a mental picture whenever I mention him:

I didn't say it was a very good pic, however.

And Graham aged to elder! No!
I went in and changed it but did things to make him look older.

Just not this old!
Still cute, though.

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