He sighed slowly. “I knew this day would come,” he muttered.
Mom laughed next to me. “She took her time, hon.”
I kept my eyes pinned to Dad, never once tearing them away to glance at Aston. I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to know what his reaction was or whether he even had one. He probably didn’t even care.
“This is Patrick Hills, right?” Dad confirmed.
I nodded. “Yeah, Fred and Cora’s son. Someone you know.” Someone you won’t have a damn problem with, or need to do background checks of.
He nodded, considering. “Yes, I know about the boy, but…I don’t know much about him. How come you’re talking to him to begin with? Aren’t you working?”
I sighed. “Would I still have a job if I wasn’t?”
“Elise.”
“Of course I’m working. He just helps me out, and we’ve been talking a lot. I don’t see a problem. School’s out next Tuesday, so all my responsibilities are done.”
He made a grunting sound indicating he was not all that impressed before he turned his head to Aston. “What is he like? Good enough for our Elise?”
I held my breath and reluctantly turned my head to Aston. My heart squeezed when I found his eyes on mine. His entire face was blank, his lips in a tight line, and his green eyes…cold. Very cold, it was almost like looking into ice.
“No,” Aston responded calmly, looking back at Dad. “He’s not good enough. He’s a player.”
My jaw dropped. “What? No, no, no, he’s not, Dad!”
Dad frowned. “Are you sure?” he asked Aston solemnly.
Aston nodded straightaway. “I don’t trust him. It’s bad enough she works around him. He’s an asshole.”
“Language,” Mom quietly added in disapproval.
I ignored her. “This is bullshit! Patrick is like the poster child for good guys! He’s got nice manners, and he isn’t an asshole, Dad. I swear it.”
Aston didn’t look ruffled as he said, “Dad, what would she know except what he’s told her? I’m a guy. I know what guys are really like, not what they’re pretending to be just to impress a girl.”
“Then why hang out with him?” I angrily retorted, glaring at him.
Aston looked at me, his face still blank. “He’s a good friend. That doesn’t make him a good boyfriend.”
“That’s not true –”
“I’m just being honest.”
“That’s such bullshit and you know it –”
“Alright, calm down,” Dad interrupted in a loud voice, silencing me. “Just relax, alright?”
I didn’t relax. I glared daggers at Aston, wondering what the hell he was playing at. There was nothing remotely wrong with Patrick. He was a seriously decent guy, and I saw the way he was like with the other guys. He had never pretended to be someone else with me.
“Now, I don’t know much about this boy,” Dad explained sternly, “and I’d like to have a talk with him before you go out. Just to be sure.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re just going to intimidate him, Daddy, and he’ll be freaked out.”
“I don’t care how freaked out he is.” Ah, yes, the officer in him had surfaced. “What I care about is how he treats my daughter. There’s a lot of bad guys out there, Elise, and like Aston said, he may be one way with the girls, but he could be an entirely different way with everybody else. I need to be sure. Do you understand?”
I didn’t reply.
“Elise.”
I sighed and snapped, “Fine.”
“And work out whatever is going on between you two,” Dad added, staring at us grumpily. “I’m tired of you both fighting and giving each other the silent treatment. At the end of the day, when your mother and I are gone, all you’ll have is each other. For the love of god, grow up. You’re practically adults now.”
“Typical sibling stuff,” Mom assured him. “They’ll get over it. They always do.”
Sibling stuff. I didn’t hide the shudder I felt deep in my bones. Even my eye twitched.
“I just want us to be a happy family,” he replied to her. “It’s all I’ve ever cared about, that they’re happy. And this teenage shit is hard, especially from you, Elise.”
“Sorry for not being perfect,” I muttered defensively, “or like Aston. I don’t get the grades, and I can’t stay couped up in a bedroom, buried in a boring textbook. Forgive me for wanting to go out with a guy and enjoy myself for once –”
“That’s not what your father meant,” Mom cut in. “You’re being dramatic.”