You Stole My Heart

CHAPTER FOURTY TWO

I wake up in a haze the next morning, half asleep from the late call with Shane. Carley isn't awake and to avoid her wrath of destruction from waking her up, I creep downstairs.

Dad's sitting at the dining room table, typing on his laptop. I can't see what he's on but whatever it is, it has absorbed his attention completely.

"Hey dad." I call out the first time and as I thought, no reply. "Dad." I call louder; his head shoots up in surprise and turns to me.

"Oh. Morning Sarah. I didn't hear you come down." He says. "How did you sleep? Heard you and Carley last night. Sounds like you guys had fun."

"Yeah. It was pretty cool. I'm still so tired though." I say laughing softly to myself. This small talk with my dad is strange since he works until late with my mom and then is gone again . Don't get me wrong, we're fairly close but it'd be easier if we knew what this project was that he's been working on .

I walk to the kitchen and search the shelves for my vanilla coffee sachets and dad carries on his laptop. I can't help it but my curiosity gets the best of me.

There's a silence before I can't help but ask. "Hey dad... What are you actually working on? I know you've said before that it's a 'work project thing' but you just haven't spoken much and I don't know... I was just wondering."

He looks up at me and I don't understand his expression. An almost happy, thoughtful look but still at the same time trying to keep a straight face?

"Oh. Um don't worry about it honey. You'll all hear about it soon; and its something I don't think anyone's going to forget."

Before I can ask what that means, Carley slumps down the stairs, still half asleep, wrapped in a thick duvet. "Morning." She mumbles.

"Morning Carley." My dad says before shutting his laptop and taking a final gulp of coffee. "Well bye all. I will see you later. I may be late again tonight so if I'm not home for dinner, tell your mother you can start without me."

"Bye." Carley and I call out in unison.

The kettle boils and I grab another mug for the sleeping beauty next to me, already falling asleep on the kitchen counter. "How you feeling?" I ask her.

"Alright." She mumbles. "It's still to early to start thinking about anything so I'll let you know after I've had my coffee."

We sit in silence, sipping our mugs and listening to the soft hum of someone showering upstairs. Must me my mom getting ready to do whatever she does on a Saturday morning.

"So plans for today?" Carley asks, trying to wrap herself tighter in her blanket.

"I don't know." I reply before an idea pops into my head. "I was thinking why don't we go... seeking from prom dresses and then may-"

"Don't try and finish that sentence because obviously my best friend isn't implying that we go shopping for prom, a day after... Yesterday." Carley cuts in and looks at me in shock.

"Oh come on. Look we had planned to do this anyway, and I know somewhere deep down inside you were excited. Plus the 'seeking' implies that we aren't going to actually buy anything. Just look around and get a feel for what we like."

The blank stare on Carley's face still means she's not going anywhere near the stores for the time being, so I decide drop the subject. "Fine. Have it your way. Anything you want to do today?"

"Let's go see that new Liam Neeson movie. I was suppose to go and see it with Blake but..." Just like a trigger, Blake's name sends Carley into a ball of tears. She isn't a person to cry over nothing so this must really be hitting her hard. I hug her and we stand there for a moment, just letting her have her moment.