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Dad inhales, long and slow, and I already know what’s coming next. “Don’t let a girl distract you from—”
I rub at my eyes, frustrated, cutting him off.
“Connor, this is serious,” he says.
“I know, Dad. I know how serious this is. I’m the one who feels the pressure of it,” I rush out, then take a calming breath and regroup my thoughts. “But you want to sit here and have a non-mundane conversation with me; this is what I want to talk about. This is what’s happening in my life right now. This is what I want to tell my dad. I’m seventeen, and I’m interested in a girl. And I’m allowed to be. But my wanting to spend time with someone doesn’t take away from my other priorities. I know how important the end game is. For both of us.”
Dad’s silent a moment, his heavy breaths filling the small room. Finally, he nods, his eyes locked on mine. “You’re right,” he sighs out.
And I exhale, relieved.
“You’re absolutely right, Connor, and I’m sorry I haven’t been what you needed me to be.” The corner of his lips lift. “So, this girl… her name?”
“Ava.”
He smiles. “That’s a pretty name.”
I relax in my seat, let the words flow through me. “She’s a pretty girl.”
“I bet. Does she go to your school?”
“Yeah. Well, we met at school.”
“Psych paper, right?”
I nod, shocked that he remembers. “Turns out she lives next door.”
“No way!” he says, his enthusiasm genuine. “So, have you been hanging out outside of school?”
“Not really, I mean not yet. But she’s a cool girl. Remember that Trevor guy who helped me move in all the furniture?”
“Of course, yeah.”
“She’s his stepsister.”
“Ah, I see.” Then his face falls as if his mind suddenly became consumed by something else.
“Dad?”
“Which uh… which house? I mean, which side does she live on?”
I point in the general direction of Ava’s house.
“I see,” Dad mumbles, his gaze distant.
“What just happened right now?” I ask.
He gets up, picking up his half-eaten meal. “What do you mean?”
“It’s like something triggered you about her house. What... what do you know?”
Dad empties his plate in the trash, then dumps it in the sink. With his hands gripped to the edge of the counter, facing away from me, he says, “I’ve just heard things…”
“What things?”
He huffs out a breath but stays quiet.
“What things, Dad?”
