Kissing Booth

Chapter XII

Olivia is currently in my bathroom vomiting her brains out.

I go in there after about 5 minutes, because I can't take all of the gagging and the lurching and the sick stuff that's going on with her right now.

I go on the floor with her and start to massage her back, gently.

She looks like she was malnourished and dehydrated.

Her skin was pale, the tips of her hair were wet from where she dipped her head in the toilet to throw up.

I guess she just doesn't really care about her hair going in to the place where humans put there bodily fluids and solids in...but whatever.

Her eyes were red from crying and her lip were chapped from all of the acid coming out of her mouth from the vomit.

She puts her head on the toilet seat and closes her eyes, breathing in deeply and tiny tears escaping from her eyes every few seconds.

I take her hand and she slowly opens up her bloodshot eyes.

"You have to calm down, Olivia."

Her breath becomes shaky and she quickly lifts her head up from the toilet seat and stands up.

I'm surprised that she doesn't fall.

"I can't calm down Cassie. I'm pregnant! I'm fucking pregnant!"

She starts to pull at her hair and hyperventilate.

I quickly get off of the floor and hug my sister.

"It's going to be okay."

She pushes away from me and heads towards my bed.

"What am I going to tell mom and dad when they start seeing the bump, Cass?"

I shake my head lightly and look at the ground.

That's a good questions actually. What was she going to do after the first trimester?

She was a Freshman in high school, and I can't even believe what kind of bullying she's going to go through when the word gets around that she has a baby.

I sit on my bed next to Olivia, and put my arm around her.

"I know it might seem like the world is crashing down on you right now, but just think about it,"

I tickle her stomach lightly and lets out a soft giggle before swatting my hand away.

"There is a little Olivia and a little Brian in there waiting to see his or her mommy and daddy for the first time."

She smiles and then it turns in to a frown.

"But what if Brian and I..."

I hold up my hand to stop her.

"Don't even think about that right now. People say that a child needs both her parents, but the truth is, they only need one that has enough love for both."

She nuzzles her head in to my shoulder and closes her eyes.

"Thanks Cass. Love you."

"I love you too."

She nods and settles down on my pillow.

"You need some rest right now okay?"

She nods as I tuck my blankets in around her, making sure that there were no open holes where cool air could get in.

"Goodnight."

She nods and turns hr head so that it's mushed on the pillow.

I leave her side and shut off the light, grabbing my phone and quietly closing the door so that Barbra and Fredick's soon to be yelling, won't wake her up.

~~~

"WHAT?!"

10 minutes after Olivia fell asleep, I snuck downstairs and cornered Barbra and Fredrick in the living room. telling them that it was important and for them not to yell and not to over react before we have a proper conversation with the person.

Obviously, they didn't listen.

"Barbra! You have to be quiet or Olivia is going to wake up and have another temper tantrum and freak out."

I put my hands up in front of her mouth so she would get the idea.

Her eyebrow raises and I take my hand away with a weakening smile.

"I'm sorry, but I want you to be quiet because she was the one that trusted me with this."

She nods and pretends to zip her lips.

I look over at Fredrick and I see that there are veins popping out of his neck and his face is as red as a tomato.

I put my hand on top of his and meet his gaze, telling him , mentally, that everything would be okay.

His face turns less red and the veins on his neck are not showing as much as they did 5 minutes ago.

I take my hand off of his and calmly cross my legs.

"I just wanted to tell you this, so that when she's ready to tell you, you won't freak out on her and make her more freaked out."

Barbra nods and starts to stand up.

"So how do you handle this?"

I smile and stand up with her.

Finally. She's treating me like an adult. Not a child. Maybe she can be trusted again.

"When she tells you, act excited, okay?" I look at both of them, making sure that they understand. "Only when she tells you."

I look at my mom directly.

"Not before!"

She puts her hands up in surrender and offers a weak smile.

"I promise. I don't want her to hurt as much as she has to."

I nod and turn to Fredrick.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

He nods and leads me to the kitchen where we can talk in private.

"Listen," I say once we're both safely in the containment of the kitchen. I edon't wnt mom eaves dropping on us or anything.

"I want to let you know that you will never be my real dad."

His face drops and his shoulders slump over.

And then it hits me.

Fredrick was never out to get me. He was never the bad guy in the picture. I was. I was the one trying to get in trouble so that he would yell at me and Barbra would divorce him for being mean to me.

She never did though. Because Fredrick was never being mean to me. He was just being a dad. And he was never hitting on me, he was just...loving me and showing me affection.

And that is when I hug him.

I know I caught him off guard because he stumbles a little before wrapping his arms around me.

I let go after a little and look straight in to his tearing eyes.

"I remember my dad as the reckless one who would always let me stay up late and do whatever I wanted, and I grew to get used to that life."

I look at the floor.

"And when he died and you came in to our lives, I was surprised about how much I had to do. How I had to go to bed early and I had to get chores done. I was scared of change and even more scared of letting my dad go."

My tears start to fall on the linoleum floor.

"But I'm starting to realize what makes a father. I'm not saying that my dad wasn't my father, he just wasn't a very good one I guess."

I look at Fredrick and see tears stains running down his cheeks.

"And you are. Thank you for that. Your a great dad and an even greater husband to my mom. Thank you for making her happy and thank you for taking care of me, Olivia, and Franny. Thank you..."

He holds both of my hands and smiles at me, more tears running down his cheeks.

"Thank you for making us happy, dad."