Misfortune by L.Bann (christmas read aloud TXT) 📖

you both doing in the woods, in the dark? Because if I should be concerned...” He said.
I didn’t let him finish the rest, “If you must know, we were only talking about school and crap like that”.
“OK, so do you like him?” He asked.
“Dad, let’s set things straight. I like him … as a friend” I said, adding a bit of sarcasm to the sentence.
“Well, just saying, if you do like him, I think he’s a good guy. He’s smart, he’s charming, he’s funny, and he’s got a good set of muscles” he listed.
“Ok, first of all, how do you even know that? And if you like him that much maybe you should date him!” I practically shouted. I didn’t mean to, I was just shocked that those hard shoulders had some other friends.
“If you must know, I was round their house and he came downstairs looking for a shirt” He explained.
“When was this?” I asked, more curious.
“’bout two months again” he replied.
I sat in quiet for a moment. “So, does he have, like, a six pack?” I asked, looking hopefully at my dad.
He just looked at me, eyebrow raised.
He turned into our drive and parked the car.
“I’m tired” He said between yawns.
I moaned in agreement. He opened to front door and we walked inside.
That’s when it hit me, being inside my house, where I was brought up with my mum, is where all my feelings for her were. It made me depressed to think about it, so I went to bed straight away.
“Night” my dad shouted to me from down the hall.
I changed into my pyjamas and got into bed. I didn’t fall asleep straight away. I usually thought about my life, while snuggled up in the warmth of my bed, and that’s what I did that night. I thought about Ben, and what my dad said. Maybe Ben and I could go out. I bet Ben gives the best and warmest hugs with his tanned muscly arms. Then I drifted off thinking about Ben, the best way to fall to sleep.


4

I woke with a start and I had ended up on the other side of my bed from when I originally got into it. I hate when that happens. And my leg was hanging off.
I read the clock on my bedside table and it said 4:58. Surprisingly, I found it quite hard to get back to sleep. Maybe I had dreamed all I could from that night.
It was starting to get light outside, but I turned my lamp on anyway.
I led in bed for about 5 minutes then I got up to use the toilet and I made my way back to my bed I went over to the big window and sat at my window seat for a bit.
Then I decided I would put on my black daps and go outside and sit on the lake deck. I wouldn’t go out by the door since my dad’s a pretty light sleeper. He said that even though I didn’t cry as a baby, he would always be cautious and stay on guard since my mum used to get grumpy when she didn’t sleep enough.
I contemplated whether on if I should put a jacket on, so I opened my window and huge breeze came in and I instantly got goose bumps so I threw on a jacket and climbed out of my window, trying to be quiet for my dad.
I jumped down and closed it carefully and walked from my bedroom window to the lake deck and started to walk up it. The sun was just about to rise, since I saw the red light in the clouds. I sat crossed legged, at the end and watched the sun rise. It took longer than I thought, but it was still refreshing to be up this early and watch something as amazing as it was.
The sun had fully risen and I still was outside on the lake deck. I had thought more about Ben and how my mum would react to him. She would always try to act ‘in the crowd’ and say stuff that teenagers never said anymore. She learned from me, when I entered my teenage stage, that I always pointed out to myself or noticed some good looking guy I would always tell my mum when they walked past, and when she ever saw a fit guy she’d say it as well. It got kinda weird after a while since she was married.
“Daisy!” I heard my dad shout from inside the house. I didn’t move, he would have found me.
“Daisy!” I heard him again. I looked round and saw him coming out of the house and looking around. He spotted me on the deck and was starting to walk towards were I was. I look away, and eventually, I heard the creaking of the deck underneath my dad’s feet.
“What are you doing out here?” my dad asked.
I looked up at my dad. He was dressed in jeans, a black t-shirt and converse. I looked at I was wearing, black daps and my David & Goliath Sushi Pyjamas. “I just came come here to think” was my reply.
“How long you been out here?” he asked, now sitting down behind me.
I turned my head sideways, not looking at him directly. “Well, the last time I looked at a clock it said 5 so, what time is it now?”
“About 7:30” he replied.
I looked away, out at the lake.
“Daisy, I have something I want to ask you” my dad started.
I didn’t say anything; I didn’t really want to know what it was.
“If you want to talk to somebody after what happened, you know you can talk to me” he said quietly.
“I don’t want to talk to you dad. It would be harder than it sounds right now” I said back to him. I looked down and started picking at my scuffed shoes.
“I know, sweetie, so I did some thinking, and talked to a friend and your aunt and I think I should call for some help” he said, and he said wary, not knowing what my reaction would be.
I turned my whole body to the side. “Do you mean like, a shrink?”
“A professional who you could talk to, it would be completely confidential, and maybe someone I could talk to as well. It seems like your bottling it up and I don’t want you to be silent about this for the rest of your life”
“Can I think about it?” I asked, looking at him directly.
“Of course” he smiled. “I didn’t think I would have had to of ask you now Ben’s in the picture”
“Change the subject much” I grinned, putting my head in my hand, which rested on my knee.
“Do you think you would talk to him about this?” he asked. “He does seems concerned”
“I don’t know him well enough”
“You knew him well enough to run off to the woods with him” I just looked down, kind of guilty. I didn’t mean to scare him but I just wanted to have a civilised conversation with Ben without Harry butting in.
“Come on” he said, standing up. “I’ll make you breakfast”
“Thanks, I’m starving” I said, getting up too. We started walking back to the house, arms around each back, knowing that the happiest moment together after the funeral wouldn’t last forever. Then, we saw someone walking up our drive.
“Daisy, is that you?” he shouted, and then he came into view.
“Ben?” I said looking under a branch. I saw the person come towards me. He pushed the branch out of the way and then Ben came into view with a worried look on his face. He looked kind of tired and sweaty.
I looked round to see if there was a car behind, but there wasn’t.
“Ben, did you walk here?” I asked. My dad had already gone inside, obviously to leave us to alone.
“Yeah, I was worried and I wanted to see if you were OK, you know, last night” he replied.
“What, you’re telling me you walked ten miles, for me, what time did you leave?” I asked, as he panted. I didn’t mean to make the question about me so I tried to save it with asking another question.
“About quarter to seven, I ran a bit though. And it’s not ten miles, more like three and a half, give or take” he panted some more, with a smile on his face.
“OK, would you like some breakfast?” I offered gesturing inside.
“Yeah, thanks” he smiled, and we both walk into the house were my dad was starting to make pancakes.
“Morning Ben, what are you doing here so early?” my dad asked.
“I came to see Daisy” He replied looking at me. I looked at him, and then my dad and he gave me a raised eyebrow look, as if to say ‘I told you so, he does care’, so I just looked down at my plate.
I felt Ben looking at me so deeply, it made me blush. I think he noticed, because I saw him smile as my dad put a pancake on his plate.
“Thank you, Mr Cooper” he said politely. I couldn’t believe the manners he had. In the movies the jock/hottie comes off as an arrogant douchebag, but I’m guessing, since we aren’t in a movie, though Ben is a hottie, it doesn’t really count. Thank God for reality.
“Ben, call me Jason, it’s weird when you call me that” my dad smiled, putting a pancake on my plate.
He smiled and put syrup on his pancake, and I put sugar on mine.
Ben and my dad were talking all through breakfast while I just listened. I kept looking at Ben and he kept looking at me and smiling.
When I had finished I went to have a shower and I put on my grey skinny jeans and my ‘I Love Nerds’ top by David & Goliath. I love David & Goliath. I also put on my new Rocket Dog shoes on. I went out to the kitchen and Ben and my dad were still talking.
“Hey, I like you shoes” Ben smiled, looking down at my shoes.
“Thanks” I grinned.
“Are you two going out?” my dad asked, he started to wash the dishes.
“Um, we could go out, in town, do you want to?” I asked Ben.
“Yeah, do you want to go now” he said, standing up and putting his plate by the sink.
“If you’re going out, put a jacket on, you know it’s cold outside” my dad said.
I grabbed my pale red jacket from the back of a chair and got my wallet from my bedroom. I checked to see how much I had. 50 dollars. Sure that would be enough. I didn’t think I would need too much money since we were only going into town. Coffee doesn’t cost $20 a cup, thank God.
Me and Ben walked up my drive and out onto the road and turned left to go into town. We talked the whole time.
We went into the coffee shop and went to the local park. It was pretty much empty so we sat on the swings and drank our coffee. We’d just put the cups in the bin and then it started raining. We were too far away from any building so we had to make do under a huge willow tree.
We climbed the tree to get out of the rain and practically spent most of the day there. We sat on the same branch, me against the tree trunk and Ben in front of me. Even when the