After tucking his daughter under the blanket, John walked down the stairs, out to the backdoor where he had told the boy to wait. Standing at the door of a girl who was in the state to mistook a fly to be an elephant, instructed by her dad to not leave as he would like to have some words with him, Edric wondered how did the situation come upon him?
Perhaps if he had driven off right after dropping the girl or left her at the door to be collected by her parents whatever time they would check the back door, he would've prevented this unforeseen summon. He could also feel his cozy mattress, watching the girl acting in whatever way she would feel at the moment in his room or if he had a chance, he could also rip- -
"Sorry for not inviting you in. If my wife would wake up and see Scarlett in that condition, who knows how long the grounding would last this time", the man tittered, shutting the door close.
"Grounding? Is she a teen to be grounded by her mom for coming home drunk?", the boy thought, following the man to the front side of the house, at the main door.
"Don't take my wife a typical type of woman. She only trusts our baby getting drunk with Dylan", the boy was taken back when John spoke. Not because of how the man had read his thoughts, but the nickname he used to refer to Scarlett.
"Baby? Is this how the feisty kitten is being treated at home? Pampered and looked after by her parents?", Edric knew that the professor was the youngest among all of them, he just didn't think of a snappy girl being cosseted and coddled by her family.
"Oh, please, don't tell my daughter that I called her baby in front of you", how did the man was getting to his thoughts? He wasn't saying them out loud. Was he a mind reader?
"I won't", Edric spoke in a tight-lipped smile. This time, the boy did his damnedest to not think about anything obvious that would have to voice out by the man.
"You're the first person after Dylan driving her home through the dark", John's stare turned sharp, as if peeling off the layers to look beyond the skin into the mind of the boy who had brought his daughter home at that time of the night, in that state.
She had come home drunk too many times to count by now, never had she been too drunk to not walk herself. However, she wasn't drunk. When John was laying her in the bed, he didn't smell alcohol in her breath.
"Uhh...she had weed brownies", Edric spoke shortly after the man. Being accused of something he had not done was the farthest he wanted to be held at the door of a girl for. Although little did he had wished to do that, the girl didn't give him a lead he would follow and take things ahead from there.
"Nine pieces", albeit Scarlett had pleaded him not to tell her mom, the boy couldn't form a lie on such short notice in the situation the girl had put him in. Also, she refrained him from telling this to her mom not dad.
"I see. She must have gone giddy seeing the dessert", the man smiled inwardly, the memory of old days flashing into his mind.
"Well, thanks a lot that she was found by a gentleman name- -?", reviewing the recollection of days when he would sneak his piece into the hand of the little girl in his mind, he looked at the boy.
"Edric", he looked reverently at the man. Now that he was clear of all the charges that could be put on him, he noticed that Scarlett got her hazel brown eyes from her dad. He presumed the man to be in his late forties or early fifties but he was remarkably fit for a man of his age.
"Thank you for driving my daughter home safe, Edric", the boy gave an acknowledged smile, wondering how the girl had a savage personality while her dad appeared polar opposite to her, gentle and nice.
He perceived the man as a thoughtful person, unlike his daughter who was purely driven by her impulses. He hadn't forgotten how he knocked off a pebble at Micheal. It wasn't her fight but she was tempted to meddle in someone else's matter only to run later.
"I must be off now", he hoped that the party would've been over by now for him to could call it a day.
"Sure. And Edric?", before the boy could turn around, John's voice stopped him.
"If you are looking for a chance with Scarlett, love her like a princess", contemplating whether to say the next part or not, the man paused in the midway of his sentence, resuming with a thought that that was how his daughter wanted the love to be for her.
"But treat her as if she's bad bitch", winking at the baffled boy, he locked the door, and in no time he was inside the house, leaving Edric digesting his words.
"What a weirdo family. The daughter goes around throwing stones at people while the dad advises a boy to treat his daughter like a bad bitch", sighing in utter disbelief, Edric drove back to his house, putting a stop to all the thoughts.
The next morning, Scarlett woke up with a heavy head. She tried to recall last night only to have a throbbing pain banging against the walls of her mind.
"Ahh, my head f*cking hurts. How much did I drink last night? F*ck, I don't even remember getting drunk", cradling the head in her hands, she reclined herself against the headboard of the bed.
"Because you weren't, princess", John entered the room with a hangover soup, a painkiller, and a glass of water in the tray.
"High on brownies", placing the tray on the side table, the man sat on the edge of the bed, his hand hovered over her covered legs, palm meeting the warm material underneath.
"High on brownies?", a perplexed look laying on her morning face, she watched her dad leaning forward and grabbing the bowl of soup from the tray he had placed on the table.
"Yeah, princess. Weed brownies", after stirring the spoon in the soup for a few seconds, he brought a spoonful of it near to Scarlett's mouth after blowing off at it.
"Weed bro--hold up, how do you know that I ate brownies?", she asked before opening her mouth to take the spoonful.
"Edric told me", bringing the spoon back in the bowl and filling it up with the soup, he held it before the girl's lips but she didn't crane her head to eat from it this time.
"He dropped me back?", from where did he pop up into the picture now! She didn't even remember seeing the boy after entering his house. How her mind could be totally blank! Did they have ---no, she wasn't feeling any pain. Considering it was her first time, her lower would be burning.
"Stop picking up on the poor skin", John used his hand to pull the lip out of his daughter's teeth who was chewing on it.
"He's a nice man. I also gave him a bit of advice on how to win your heart", he brought the spoon to her mouth again.
"Can I ask what kind of advice, dad?", her left brow rode up, teeth biting on the inside of the same side cheek which resulted in her lips turning into a pout but not a sweet, cute pout. It was more of a demanding, not-pleased-with-what-was-coming-next sulky expression, however, still found endearing by her dad.
"That if he's trying to win over you, better treat you with that dual princess, bitchy attitude", he explained, not taking the widened eyes of his daughter that looked seconds away from popping out of their sockets.
"Don't keep Daddy waiting. Open your mouth now, Aaah", the man's hand was still in the air, holding the spoon.
"YOU DID WHAT!"