Expect The Unexpected

Chapter 6

I hop up on one of the fences in the barn. Dad stands there awkwardly for a moment, just watching me.

"I'm gonna just...just go inside." He says.

"Okay."

"Are you okay?" he asks.

I nod.

He walks out.

I just sit there and stare at the barn wall, and suddenly, I feel so alone.

ALEX'S POV

Stephen comes back inside with a neutral expression.

"What's wrong, honey?" Odette asks him.

He sighs.

"I feel like she's a completely different person. She's grown up now. She doesn't need her father anymore."

"Bullshit." I say.

Everyone looks at me.

I mean, I know her best.

"She took weeks to let me in. She grew up alone, with nobody. She doesn't trust well."

"But she should trust me. I'm her father."

"She does, she's just weary. Give her time. She still needs you. Trust me."

"But-"

She walks into the door, and all of us fall silent and look at her.

She sorta hesitates in the entrance to the kitchen, and then she looks down at her hands, fiddling with her thumbs.

"What's the matter?" Odette asks.

"Nothing. I'm gonna go."

"Elizabeth." Stephen says.

ELIZABETH'S POV

"What's wrong?"

I don't know.

"Nothing." I say.

I can't let them in. I don't know how.

I turn around and walk out, rushing to the truck that I don't know how to drive, and then I stand there with my hand on the door handle, and for some reason, I start crying.

I'm overwhelmed. I don't know how to let anybody in, Ben is in my kitchen, his Dad, and both my parents, the truck is broken because I crashed it, and I don't know what the hell I'm doing in life anymore.

I stand with my right hand on the door and my left hand covering my mouth, my shoulders shaking as I cry.

"Lizzy?" Dad asks, worried.

I look up. He's alone. He looks really concerned.

"I-I'm trying." I mumble. "I don't know how to trust anybody anymore. I haven't had a friend since Ben when I was eight. I broke the truck, I feel terrible that you guys want to replace it! I feel like a total fuck up, Dad!"

He pulls me into his arms, running his fingers through my hair.

"Lizzy, you're not a fuck up. You've had a hard life. There's nothing wrong with having trouble trusting. So what if you crashed the truck? We're supposed to buy you a car anyways. As for the whole friend thing, you've still got Ben. You don't need tons of friends. Besides, I'd rather have only a few real friends than tons of backstabbing ones." He says. "And for the record, being in a bad situation is sort of good because it makes picking out the fake friends really easy. And even though he hasn't been with you, Ben had still stood by you. He still is, right now. He's worried, Lizzy. We all are."