Managing Boys

Managing Boys (29)

On Sunday afternoon, I was the only one downstairs. Sophie was up in her room, and I was pretty sure my dad was upstairs as well, though he could have also been out. I wasn’t sure. I didn’t pay much attention to him anymore, and it was the same the other way around.

There was nothing on TV, so I continued to flip through the channels, hoping that something interesting would be on. I had already finished all of my weekend homework so I had the rest of the day to waste away.

When I heard footsteps, I hoped more than anything that they were Sophie’s. But I soon realized that they weren’t, because they were way too heavy to be my dainty little sister.

“Could you maybe tidy the place up a little bit, Aria?” my father asked as he walked down the stairs. “Annabelle’s coming over and I don’t want the house to be a complete mess.”

I let out a sigh, continuing to flip through the different channels. “Of course she’s coming over.”

My father stopped dead in his tracks. “Excuse me?”

“Nothing,” I excused, only shaking my head. I was not in the mood to get into a fight with him.

I hadn't even meant to say it. It was just a stupid comment and my dad shouldn't have even cared that I had said something. He didn't seem to care about anything else about me.

“No, Aria,” he glared, and I knew there was no way I was getting out of this conversation. “I’d like to know what you meant by that.”

“I meant that I don’t want Annabelle coming over here,” I informed him simply, not even looking away from the television. “Especially when I’m here. I don’t want to see her.”

My father let out a short breath. “That’s just too bad. I didn’t think you’d be the type of person to be so unreasonable about this.” My father sighed, exasperated.

“And I can’t believe that you’re the type of man that would choose a woman over his own daughter!” I screamed, my eyes suddenly filling with tears as I jumped up from the couch. I hadn’t ever really thought about it this way, but it was the truth. He had picked Annabelle over me. “You know she can’t stand me and you picked her!”

My father sighed. “The only reason she doesn’t like you, Aria, is because you’re dating Grim.”

“It’s not like Grim and I decided to date just to get back at you and Annabelle!” I couldn’t believe I was actually having this discussion with him. “We started dating a long time before you and Annabelle did!”

This wasn’t true, but my father didn’t know that. He didn’t know that I was actually dating Ash, and he didn’t know that Grim actually did want to date me. He didn’t know what had happened with Parker and Zoey, or what was going on with Ian. My father had no idea about any of the problems I was facing because he was too busy worrying about Annabelle.

“Do you love him?” my father asked me now.

My breath caught in my throat. “Why does that matter?”

He frowned. “Because I love Annabelle.”

“Yeah, I understand that,” I muttered. “You’re getting married to her. You’re supposed to love someone if you’re getting married to them.”

I didn’t want to think about it; about them getting married. I didn’t want them together, and not just because Annabelle didn’t like me. But also because of how Grim felt about me! We hadn’t talked for weeks. I had lost my best friend. How could we act like nothing was wrong?

I hated this. I hated this so much. I hated Annabelle. I hated my father. I hated myself for having all these problems. My life was so much easier before I met Hello Aria. I might have still had to deal with Ian, but it would have be easier if I didn’t have anything else to worry about.