No Time Like Now (Lesbian)

Chapter Seven

I hold onto the front door knob and hesitate. Now comes the regret for not taking advantage of the window in my room. If I haven't been so chickenshit with heights, I could have found an easy way to get to my room without having to go through the house. 

Well, this concludes that life sucks. Time to make it worse.

People nearby the door stop the middle of their conversation to locate the movement. Once they notice me, they return to their talking. A couple of them send a smile my way. Definitely not the first time I've met them, but like hell I'm going to be introducing myself to them anytime soon.

There aren't any decorations or theme to appreciate. Just a boring, grown-up party. Typical Mom and Dad style.

Out of nowhere, Dad appears. There's not much to describe him other than an average-looking Joe with nostalgic high school memories and is popular at his school reunions. While Mom has the tendency to interfere with my privacy, he has the annoying habit of grabbing me by the hand from whatever I'm doing so he can showcase me to whoever he's always talking to. The both of them put together creates a horrible disaster. Two of them actually, since I count as a disaster.

The first person he places me in front of is a rich-looking businessman. "Niamh! You remember Mr. Ashby, haven't you?" he says in a way it's not a question; it's a 'nod whatever I say to you' kind of statement.

In resign, I nod. Mr. Ashby doesn't seem pleased to be seeing a teenager in his precious presence. 

"I've been telling you about the various internships you can take to gain experience and make your college applications stand out," Dad goes on. "Mr. Ashby is currently looking for an intern in his department. It's alright if you stay here and listen to what he has to say about the position, isn't it?"

Now, someone seeing this interaction might come to the conclusion of Dad being manipulative and not giving me the option to make the decision. If he wasn't intentionally doing this, they would be right. I was always saying 'yes' to everything he suggests since I was a little kid. Even though I grew out of the phase, Dad sure didn't believe I truly stopped. Which causes events like now to unfold.

"Dad, I have some homework I need to do..." I attempt to excuse myself.

"Oh, you have the rest of the day to do it. You're such a bright woman you don't take more than two hours to complete all of your work." To Mr. Ashby, Dad summarizes, "My Niamh took several summer classes to earn more credits toward her graduation. Her mother and I kept telling her to relax, that she has plenty of time to achieve any goal she sets her mind to, but she just keeps on."

With a smile aiming my way, Dad adds, "Niamh will be a valuable asset to your company, I'm sure."

Mr. Ashby, after taking a good look at me, clearly doesn't think I can be a 'valuable asset'. Makes two of us.

"Really, I have homework," I push. "I'm not going to start failing because you told me to."

Dad reaches over as an attempt to keep me in place, but I'm long gone by then. I don't see his reaction to his vanishing kid as I weave through the other people to get to my room.

I keep the door closed, and then sit down with my back on it. Deep breaths, Niamh. No one's going to break down the door. 

They will send you a text, though.

"What do you want?" I whisper to my phone as it shows me who texted what. Fully expecting Jeremiah to be the culprit begging for an adventure, I'm instead surprised to see Ikra's picture next to her request for exploring a bar across town. 

I switch apps and call her.

Instantaneously she picks up. "Is the reason you're calling so you can ask questions on how we're going to pull it off?" Ikra's usually the calmer of the three, but I can tell by the pitch of excitement she's abandoning her role for the day.