Brielle's P.O.V.

Now, I've only known my father for a month and a half. Exactly. That's when I met him, in that café. God that seemed so long ago. I remember when he wasn't in my life. Well, considering that I went twenty years without him, it's not that long, but it felt like I'd known him forever.

Today wasn't the only anniversary. Two months ago, I was arrested. One month ago, I became a free human being again. It's now May 9th. The year seemed to go by so fast.

But anyway, I knew my father, despite knowing him for so little time. And he'd been acting weird. Like, not just weird, like, strange. In the beginning, he always wanted to be around me. He'd come to my gigs, was always at my trial, while it was still going on, and he'd call me every day. He was kind of clingy, to be honest. But now, he was begging off, taking rain checks on our plans for dinner and I hardly ever saw him anymore. When I did talk to him, it was always over the phone and they were short rushed conversations.

Truth be told, I was wondering what I'd done wrong. It was like I was a teenage girl again, going over why my first boyfriend had broken up with me.

"Niall?" I asked, coming into the room where he was plucking at his guitar.

"Hm?" he glanced up, still strumming.

"Have you heard from my dad recently?" I asked.

"No," he said, now strumming something that sounded like Ed Sheeran. "Didn't he call you?"

I shook my head. "No, he didn't."

"Don't you guys always talk at like noon every day?" Niall questioned.

"Well, we used to," I said, and was upset to find myself sniffling.

Niall looked concerned and put down his guitar. "You alright babe?"

"No," I said like a small child. "I haven't seen him in ages."

God I was pathetic.

Niall got up and wrapped me in a hug and I buried my face in his chest. I missed my dad more than ever, even when I was in fifth grade and I had to do a project on my family tree and I realized that I was missing half the branch that made up me.

"It's so pathetic," I sniffled.

"What is?" Niall asked quietly, rubbing my back.

"That I miss him so much, and I miss him even more than I did when I didn't have a father," I said.

"Well, back then, you didn't know what you were missing," Niall reasoned. "Now you know what having a dad is like."

I looked up at him. "I really hate it when you're right," I muttered.

"What was that?" Niall asked cheerfully.

"You were right," I said, still under my breath.

"Can't hear you!" Niall sang.

I laughed. "You sound like the SpongeBob theme song."

Niall grinned and I smiled at him, shaking my head. It's strange that this boy can make me go from crying to laughing at his idiocy in less than five minutes. It's a gift, surely.

"Why don't you just call him?" Niall suggested, handing me my phone.

I took it reluctantly. "But what if he's mad at me?" I shuffled my feet.

"Why would he be mad at you?" Niall asked, entirely nonplussed.

"I don't know, maybe I did something wrong!" I exclaimed, waving my phone back and forth.

Niall shook his head. "You're fine, now call."

I sighed and went to contacts and dialed my dad's number. I held the phone to my ear and counted the rings. On the fourth one, he answered.

"Hello?" he sounded stressed.

"Hey Dad," I said timidly. "It's Brielle."

"Oh hey Bri," he said, tone warming considerably. "What's up?"

"I was just calling, because you know, you didn't call earlier," I said, switching my phone to the other ear.

"I didn't?" he sounded surprised. "Wait, what time is it?"

"It's almost two," I said, fidgeting.

"It is?" Dad sounded surprised. "I'm sorry, Bri, time got away from me."

"I know, it happens," I said, easily forgiving him. "So are we still on for tonight?"

"What's tonight?" Dad asked, sounding completely clueless.

"You and me and Niall are going out for dinner together," I said slowly. "We planned this last week."

"Oh," there was something in his tone that made my stomach curl. "Honey, that was tonight? I'm sorry, I have plans for tonight."

"You do?" I asked, hating how hurt I sounded. "Since when?"

"Since about three hours ago," Dad replied. "They were kind of last minute."

"If they were last minute, can you cancel?" I asked hopefully.

"No, Bri," Dad said, sounding a little bit angry. "I made plans."

"Yeah, and I made plans with you to go out for dinner tonight, and you're standing me up!" I said, getting frustrated. "What's the difference?"

"I am an adult," he began, already going into his lecture tone, which I had quickly learned to recognize.

"So am I," I said, and waited for his response.

"Honey, I think my plans are a little more important than yours," Dad began, but I cut him off.

"Really? Your plans are more important than mine? Why? Because you're an adult? And you made them three hours ago? Well, we made plans together last week, and I'm expecting you to commit to them. I don't care if you have plans; you should know better. And I think you can spare a few hours of your life to spend in mine considering you missed the first twenty years of my life!" I said, almost yelling.

Click. I looked at my phone in disbelief. He hung up on me. Niall looked at me.

"Not good, huh?" he asked.

"No," I said. "He made plans today, when we had plans for dinner since last week. That is just not cool."

"Wait, no dinner tonight?" Niall sounded disappointed.

I laughed. I'd promised him good food if he came along to meet my dad. It was the only part of the evening he was looking forward to, as he hadn't made a good first impression with my father.

"I'll make dinner," I promised.

Niall's smile lit up the room and my phone screen. I squinted at the caller ID.

"It's my mum," I said, a little surprised. "Why is she calling me?" I answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Brielle?" Mum asked.

"Yes," I said. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to congratulate you on your trial," she said stiffly. "I'm happy for you."

"Thank you," I said, even though she was about a month late.

There was a slightly awkward pause.

"So, how is your father?" Mum asked.

I debated telling her everything was perfect, but decided against it. I was talking to the one person I knew who knew him best, even if it was years ago. She'd know why he was acting the way he was.

So I told her everything, starting from the beginning and ending with the phone call we just had. After I finished speaking, she only had a few words of wisdom for me.

"This is what happened with me and him," she said. "At first he was loving and always around. Then, he started to stop coming home and talking to me and James, always making excuses. The next step was him leaving and not coming back. It doesn't sound like he's changed, Brielle. You might want to brace yourself for the thought that he might leave."

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Here ya go, new chappy as promised :) I hope you guys like it...... ummmm yeah it's nearing the end I just have to figure out how to draw out the suspense. Continuing that note, I'm putting my other stories on hold for a little bit , at least until I finish this one. I'll probably write CD Girl next, or at least another chapter, then I'll finish Waiting for Superman. I also got some new ideas for stories :) But I'm not starting any time soon. Soooooo this one is suspicious, is it not? Who's the killer? IDK actually, I do know but you guys probably will in like two chapters...... anyway, I hope you like this one, please vote and comment, I really appreciate it. Byeeeeeeee!

Love ya!

-11tay99