BAD REP(104)

My dad nodded his head as we pulled into one of the parking lots on campus.  “Yes, I'd like to see what my daughter wastes her money on every month.  Should be an eye opening experience,” he bit out dryly.

Okay.  I was done with this already.  “Dad.  Please just go in there with an open mind.  I like being a sister.  It's important to me.  So just don't ruin this for me.” I begged.  My voice had gotten high and I hated how much I sounded like a little girl.

But I was relieved to see a momentary softening in my dad's features.  He let out a deep breath and met my eyes in the rear view mirror.  “Fine, Maysie.  I'll have an open mind.”  He conceded and my heart did a little tap dance.  That was the closest to compromise I had experienced from my father in a long ass time.

And then I remembered I had yet to broach the topic of Jordan with either of them.  They had no idea who he was and that he'd be joining us for lunch.  Maybe while my dad was being semi agreeable, I should let them know I had a) a boyfriend and b) he was crashing our lunch date.

“So, guys.  I wanted to let you know that we would be having company for lunch,” I said lightly as we started heading toward the Administrative building to meet our tour group.

“Oh, is Riley joining us?  I really like that girl.  Good head on her shoulders,” my dad said gruffly.

I looked at my mom, hoping to get some help from that corner.  “Well, no.  Riley's meeting up with her mom and dad downtown.  Actually, a friend of mine, Jordan Levitt, is coming with us,” I said, then watched my mom and dad process that tidbit of information.

“Jordan Levitt?  I've never heard you mention him.” My mom remarked.  Well, no duh.  I didn't need my relationship picked over the way they picked over everything.  Pardon me for wanting to keep something of mine out of their controlling grasp..

“Yeah.  We worked together this summer, at Barton's.” I started but my dad interrupted.

“That bar?” he asked sharply.  Oh crap.  I forgot the bullshit I went through when they found out I was waitressing at a bar.  My dad had given me so much grief about that.  It didn't matter that I was trying to do the responsible thing.  Nope.  All my dad had heard was that I working at a bar.  And of course, that had just been another example of how I was screwing up my life.

“Uh, yeah.  But anyway.  He's a senior and we've been seeing each other for a little while.”  My dad's jaw tightened.  My mom's eyes got wide again.  She did that a lot.

“Is he your boyfriend, Maysie?” she asked.  I coughed and nodded.

“Oh,” my mom said quietly.  I peeked up at my dad.  His shoulders were tense but he wasn't yelling at me.  So that was a good sign.

“Is that okay?  He's really nice and really wants to meet you.” I said quickly.  My mom nodded.  My dad didn't say anything for a moment and when he decided to speak it was less than heartwarming.

“It would have been nice to have a little warning that we were going to be meeting the young man you're dating,” my dad said coldly.

“I'm sorry, Dad,” was all I could say.  My dad gave a curt nod and nothing more was said about the matter.  We joined our group and headed out for the tour.  The same tour I took as a prospective student.  The same tour I took my first week as a freshman.  The same damn tour I took every flipping year with my parents.  It's not like the campus had changed that much.

I was suddenly very resentful of having to suffer through the mind numbing boredom of that god damn college tour.  I'm sure it had everything to do with my mixed up feelings about the two people walking in front of me.

Why couldn't I ever be enough? Do enough?  Growing up, my dad never seemed particularly interested in me.  You'd think as a teacher, he'd understand how important parental involvement was.  But he just never took the time to get to know me.

One of my earliest memories was at the age of five, asking my father to play a game of Candy Land.  Do you know what he did?  He told me he was disappointed that I wasn't playing with the chess set he had gotten me for my birthday.  Who gives their five year old daughter chess for their freaking birthday?  I wanted pink, sparkly unicorns and Barbie dolls.  Not chess!  But that's the sort of thing I came to expect from my dad.  He never got me something because I liked it.  It had to be educational and meant to make me a smarter, better and an all-around perfect person.  Too bad his money was spent in vain.