Chapter 215

Tessa’s POV

Ruby came with me back to my apartment; by the time we returned, it was mid-afternoon, and my dad and Penny were curled up on the couch together speaking in hushed whispers. They stopped when the front door shut, and Ruby and I stood before them.

“Are you guys hungry? We could go into the city for dinner,” I said, walking toward my bedroom so I could change. I felt disgusting and was desperate for a shower.

“That sounds great,” Penny answered for them both. “Will you be joining us for dinner, Ruby?” I heard her asking as I disappeared into my room.

I didn’t hear Ruby’s answer, but I would make her come with us anyway. I needed my friend with me. I wasn’t ready to be left alone with them just yet especially considering everything I knew about myself and my mother. The fact that my father kept this secret from me and even went as far as trying to get rid of my powers before even telling me about them, didn’t sit right with me.

I wasn’t sure if I could truly trust him.

I grabbed a new pair of clothes before glancing at my phone. My heart fell in my stomach when I saw that Joseph hadn’t responded back, or even called. I pressed my lips in a thin line, trying not to overthink things.

He was okay, I kept telling myself. He was fine.

So, why was I getting a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach?

I sighed and went into the bathroom.

After I took a quick shower and got dressed, I joined everybody in the living room. They had moved on to talk about graduation and Ruby was telling them her plans for after graduation. She wants to open her own fashion line in New York City. I had always dreamt of going to New York City for their opportunities alone.

A lot of major writing corporations, including Fable Magazine, are stationed in New York. But I knew something like that probably wasn’t in the cards for me considering I’m planning on going back to the mountains with Joseph.

If he wants me to at least.

I felt uneasy thinking about him not wanting me to go with him.

“Tess? Everything okay?” Ruby asked, putting her hand on my shoulder.

I blinked a few times, realizing I completely zoned out.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry,” I said, shaking my head and my thoughts along with it. “Just a bit tired after a long day. Are we going to dinner?”

“That’s the plan,” Ruby said with a frown. “I know a great place. We can take my car. There’s plenty of room.”

“If it’s not too much trouble. We would love to ride with you,” Penny said with a fond smile.

I don’t know why I was getting such a bad feeling, but I couldn’t help it. I wasn’t trying to be hostile toward anybody, but something inside of me was screaming to be wary.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and followed my best friend out of my apartment.

Penny followed closely behind me, and my father trailed at a distance behind her.

It only took a few minutes to get to the restaurant Ruby had suggested. It was a pub-style restaurant in the strip of the small city we lived in. It was a popular place that I’ve only been to a few times, but Ruby practically eats here 5 days a week. She usually gets food to go and brings it home.

“Hey there, Ruby,” the waitress said as she walked by carrying a couple of trays of food. The restaurant was fairly busy, but there were a few open tables.

“Hey, Emma,” Ruby said with a half-wave.

“I don’t remember seeing an order from you today,” Emma said over her shoulder as she placed the food on someone’s table.

“Dining in today,” Ruby explained, glancing at my father and Penny sheepishly. Her cheeks grew even more pink.

I just grinned at her; I loved that my best friend was a regular and that she was clearly embarrassed about it.

“I’ll be right with you, then,” Emma said as she went around the table placing more food in front of people.

We waited awkwardly and silently for another moment before she motioned for us to follow her.

“Only 4 of you?” She asked, grabbing some menus.

“Yes, thank you,” Ruby said and then we followed Emma until we reached a booth towards the back of the restaurant.

We thanked her as we took our seats, and she hurried off to help with some more tables while we looked over the menu.

I’m not going to lie; it was awkward. My father hardly said two words to us. He buried his face in his menu and kept his eyes from shifting in my direction. Penny and Ruby mainly held up a conversation, but it was mainly with each other. Occasionally, Ruby would try to include me in the conversation, but I wasn’t really feeling it. My mind was bouncing between my father’s betrayal and Joseph’s distance.

Joseph still hadn’t called me, and I was starting to get even more worried. Maybe Bernard finally got through to him, and he decided he was done with me. Worry started to consume me, and I bit my lower lip to keep myself distracted. I tasted the metallic flavor of my blood as I continued to chew on my lip.

Relax, Tessa. It’s only been a little over 24 hours. He’s busy. That’s all it is.

Emma returned a few minutes later to take our drink orders.

“Beer,” my father said without even looking at her.

I grimaced but Emma didn’t seem to notice; or if she did, she didn’t care. She wrote it down on her notepad and then glanced at Penny.

“I’ll just take an ice water with lemon,” she said.

Ruby and I both ordered a Diet Coke and after she returned with our drinks, we each ordered our meals.

I ordered a meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and steamed carrots. Ruby ordered a bacon burger and fries. Penny ordered a cobb salad, and my father ordered a steak cooked medium rare, mashed potatoes, and broccoli.

When we finished eating, we went for a walk around the city. It was beautiful at night with all the lights and music playing around the streets. Even my father seemed interested; the sour look he had during dinner seemed to have melted away.

“Do you mind if we run into this boutique?” Ruby asked. Her eyes were sparkling from the pretty dress hanging in the window. “Tessa, we need to get the perfect outfit for graduation.”

“Oh! Let’s have a mini fashion show!” Penny said, clapping her hands. “You can model outfits and I’ll tell you if I like them or not. It’ll be fun!”

“I’m so in,” Ruby said, just as excitedly.

“Aren’t they closing soon? It’s pretty late,” my father grumbled, looking at his watch.

“Actually, most stores are open until at least 2 am,” Ruby explained to him. “They open later in the day because most in the city are night owls.”

My father didn’t look pleased with that answer; I knew he hated shopping, and he hated being dragged around stores. I was kind of the same way; I wasn’t a fan of shopping either. But Ruby loved it.

“Let’s go,” Ruby said, grabbing my arm and pulling me into the boutique.

She went right over to the store clerk and inquired about the dress in the window. While she spoke to the clerk, I browsed around the store with Penny. My father found a cushioned seat near the shoe section and made himself comfortable while we shopped.

Penny picked outfits for me that I tried on. I didn’t like any of them, so we continued shopping. We have very different tastes and styles.

After what felt like an eternity, I ended up finding a cute dress that Penny cooed about when I tried it on. With Ruby and Penny’s approval, I made the purchase.

We thanked the clerk, and we left the store with new graduation outfits. Ruby looped her arm through mine, and we made it back to the apartment where she dropped us off and said goodbye.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Tess,” she said, waving through her window.

“What’s tomorrow?” Penny asked.

“We have to finish getting the auditorium ready for graduation preparation. It’s the final day to get everything prepared,” I told her.

“Oh, right! We’d love to see your school,” Penny said with a widening grin. “Maybe your father and I could tag along?”

My heart fell into my stomach as I looked between the two.

“Yeah, that’ll be great,” I lied.

Penny clapped happily.

We didn’t really talk much the rest of the night; Penny and my father called it an early night and I spent a few hours working on my next story for Fable Magazine and updating my blog. I curled up in bed with my laptop on my lap and my earbuds in my ears. I tapped my foot along with the music as I worked.

I was trying to distract myself from the lack of communication on Joseph’s part. I called him this morning, but it went straight to voicemail. This would be the 10(th) time I’d called him; I hadn’t seen him in almost 2 days and my stomach was feeling all sorts of sour because of it.

When I was done with my story it was about 1 am.

I grabbed my phone off the nightstand. I brought up Joseph’s name and pressed the “call” button.

It went straight to voicemail. Again.

I groaned and hung it up, bringing up our text thread.

Me: You better be dead, Joseph.

Me: Seriously, where are you?

Me: Call me back.

Groaning, I threw my phone at the end of my bed and closed my eyes tightly, trying to take steady deep breaths to calm my rapid heartbeat.

I did that enough times that I didn’t even realize I fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning, it felt like a blanket of warmth and comfort had been placed around me and I was snuggling close. I had never felt safer and more protected in my entire life. It was a strange feeling because I went to bed feeling so crappy, but now it was like it’s all been taken away.

For a second, I thought I was dreaming. If this was a dream, I didn’t want to wake up.

I wiggled in bed and reluctantly opened my eyes, and then a voice purred in my ear.

“Good morning.”