Feeling something cold licking my cheek, I slowly opened my eyes to see Sandy. I groaned in disgust and pushed Sandy away. I tried lifting my head up, but I was hit with a headache I never experience. I groaned grabbing my forehead and cringing in pain.
“I was wondering if you were going to ever wake up,” Liz said, walking into the family room.
I draped my arm over my eyes to block out the sunlight coming through the windows. “What day is it?” I asked groggily.
“Tuesday. You must have been partying hard last night. What time did you get in?”
“I don’t know, around six? What time is it now?”
“Almost three o’clock in the afternoon.” Liz sat down on edge of the café table and handed me a glass of water and couple of aspirin. “So…do you want to tell me what happen yesterday? I have to say, you’ve turned into a totally different person since you gotten home.”
I slowly sat up. “There’s nothing to talk about. I just wanted to have some fun.”
“Well, I think you need to come up with a better story than that ‘cuz I don’t think your Dad will settle for you just wanting to have some fun. He found you past out this morning on the stairs.”
I took a deep breath and rested my forehead in my hands. “I don’t have to explain anything to him.” I stood up. “I’m an adult now.” I left the room.
“Adrienne!”
I stopped at the foot of the stairs hearing my Dad call my name. I turned to him, he was sitting in his studio, and his back was facing the open door. I paused for a moment, took a deep breath and let out slowly before walking to my Dad’s office. I stopped in the doorway and leaned against the frame. “You wanted to speak to me?”
He didn’t say anything at first but then looked at me and then moved his eyes to the tabloid magazine on the self. On the cover, a not-so-flattering picture of me leaving the night club last night, my name in bright red letters across my picture. The worst part...a picture of my sisters, Annie, Allison, Ashley and April partying, boozing months before next to mine to show it runs in the family.
“Dad-” I started to say, but he cut me short.
“I don’t want to hear it. I have enough to worry about. ”
I watched as my Dad turned his back to me, he began writing, working. I pressed my lips together tightly and took in a breath. “Daddy, I’m sorry, but I’m not a little girl anymore. I’m twenty-one and I can go to clubs and have a little fun.” I took another glanced at the magazine. “Maybe I partied a little too hard last night, but I do know I had a lot of emotions running through my head right now. I didn’t mean to hurt you or Mom, but…” My eyes began to burn as tears began to well up. My voice became shaky. “You and Mom hurt me too.” My Dad turned around to me. “Did you think I would just move and forget everything that happened? How did you think I felt when I found out you were letting Annie date someone older? You and Mom made such a big deal about me dating JC. Such a big deal it was best for me to leave home. You don’t understand how much it hurt me having to leave him.”
“I thought you wanted to leave?”
“You would think that, wouldn’t you, just to get me away from JC.”
“Sweetie, you should have told me.”
“You would have made me go anyway.”
He paused for a Moment and said, “You’re right, I would have. You’re home now though.”
Through misty eyes, I said, “Daddy, you just don’t get it.”
“Adrienne,” my Dad began to say, but stopped short when Alex, Amber and JC came up behind me.
“Sorry, are we interrupting something?” Alex said unsure, her eyes went back and forth between me and Dad.
I quickly wiped my tears and looked at my sisters and JC. I plastered a fake smile on my face. “No, I was just leaving. He’s all yours. Have fun.” I walked away.
“Whoa, is this Adrienne?” Alex said, seeing the tabloid magazine on the self and picking it up as she walked into her Dad’s studio.
“Where is Adrienne?” asked Amber. She pushed by JC into the studio and hurried over to her sister. “I want to see. Oh my God…”She glanced at her Dad. “Dad, have you seen this?”
“Yes, Amber I have.” He reached his hand out for the magazine. “Let me have the magazine girls.”
“Daddy,” Annie said, popping her head into the studio “Christian and I are-” She stopped mid sentence when her eyes caught sight of the magazine. Her jaw dropped as she walked over to her sisters. “Oh my God is that…”
Amber turned to her sister. She smirked. “Yeah.”
Annie snatched the magazine away from her sister wanting to look at the cover. She turned to her Dad. “You’re not going to let her get away this are you, Daddy?”
“Annie, not now, we’re trying to work.”
“But Daddy, you can’t let her get away with it and not let us! It’s not fair!”
Hector looked at his daughter. “Annie, Adrienne is an adult.”
She put her hands on her hips. “So are Ashley and April and you still punished them.”
“I punished your sisters because they acted irresponsible. They took their two underage sisters to a club and gave them alcohol and then turned around and lied about it. Adrienne is an adult, she’s twenty-one.”
“So that’s it? She’s not going to get punished?”
“Why should I punish her? She talked to me. She told me why she did it. Besides that, Adrienne doesn’t live here anymore. Until you and your sisters move out, you live under my roof and under my rules.”
“FINE!” Annie threw the magazine at her Dad.
“Young lady,” Hector said, raising his voice “you better adjust that attitude of yours and quick.”
Annie gave her Dad a dirty look and left the studio.