Chapter Five

That day started out horribly. She woke up with a sore neck from having slept in the wrong position the entire night and received a text from Leonard asking her to meet him at his nearest Starbucks in 30 minutes. She had to fly to the bathroom to wash up as quickly as she could, but the faucet decided to malfunction and spray water in every direction. Her hands connected with it to stop the spraying, and the entire knob exploded backwards and bored a hole into the wooden cabinet hanging there. Several items fell to the ground and hit her in the head and that was when her father burst into the bathroom to see if she was okay.

She reassured him everything was fine and they got around to putting everything back where it belonged. By the time she was ready, it was already an hour past the time she was supposed to meet Leonard. She arrived at the cafe and texted Leonard that she had arrived, which was when she got a message from him saying that he was still preparing.

She found a seat at Starbucks and ordered a hot drink. 15 minutes passed and it turned to an hour before it became two hours. She arrived late, but Leonard was still nowhere to be seen so many hours after she had arrived. Worried, she picked up her phone to ring him.

He didn't pick up the first time. But the second time she rang him, he picked up. "Yeah?"

"Where are you?" Alice asked. "I'm at Starbucks. And it's already hours since the time we were supposed to meet."

He gasped aloud. "Fuck! I forgot about that! Crap, crap."

"What? What are you doing now?"

"My friend came over to return something and we ended up playing some video games on the TV."

"Well, come over now. I'll wait for you."

"Hey, fucker," Leonard said and Alice's jaw dropped. "I'm dying here! Medic me already!" She heard some muffled replies over the phone and let out a sigh of relief. He was talking to his friend.

"Leonard?"

"What? Yeah? You were saying?"

"Are you coming over now?"

"Uhh, I'm sorry, Alice, but can we cancel? I'm busy."

"But you arranged to meet me first," she protested.

"I completely forgot, okay? I'm so sorry," he said. "Okay! Okay! I'm coming over to save you. Wait for me."

Couldn't he put down the game for a while? "Leonard, come on."

"Sorry," he said and hung up. She gawked at her phone, stunned that he had brushed her off like that. Her head fell towards the table with a loud bang and she groaned aloud. How frustrating! She got up from her seat and went home immediately after, hoping the day would turn out better.

Tough luck.

When she came home, Mike was reading a book on the couch and she decided to take a shower before she came out to join him with her e-reader. She made herself comfortable with cushions all around her and a mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows, her arms in warmers that took the shivers from her body.

"Alice," Mike said.

She looked up from her e-reader curiously. "Yeah, dad?"

"I have something to say to you," he said. "Just a small chat. Nothing too long."

"I don't mind having long chats with you, silly," she said with a bright smile. "What is it about?"

"I've been worried lately and something has been on my mind. Before I say anything, please don't get mad. Promise me that."

"Sure, I promise." How hard could it be to not get mad?

"It's about Leonard."

She raised a brow. "What about him?"

"Do you remember how Leonard promised to get you tickets for Taylor Swift and ended up oversleeping instead? And how he once almost got you arrested for those fake IDs you guys made to be able to watch some rated horror films at the cinema?"

"Yeah, so?" She didn't like where this was going.

"Don't you think Leonard is someone who is fine with overlooking your desires and making you do things you'd regret later in life?"

"So what are you saying?"

"Leonard is not a good fit for you, Alice. I know you love him and I know he put in a lot of effort to win your heart, but that was only in the beginning. You're a beautiful girl and I know he felt like he had struck gold when you agreed to go out with him, but it's clear now that he has forgotten about that and is now failing to cherish you like he should."

She frowned. "Leonard is not as bad as you think, come on."

"Well, then when you met him today, how did he react to you being late?"

She stayed silent.

"Alice?"

"He didn't show up. He forgot about me and ended up cancelling because he was playing games with his friend."

"For real? If that's not obvious enough for you that he doesn't truly care about you, that I don't know what will convince you."

Heat rose to her chest and her arms trembled as she gritted her teeth. Her mind raced and her mouth opened to retort but there were so many words she wanted to say that they failed to come out. She breathed in deeply to calm herself down before she tried again. "Look, it's my life, okay? I only tell you about the bad things Leonard does to me because I complain more than I should. But he's nice to me most of the time and you don't know about the good times, so you should just stay out of it."

"I just want what's best for you - "

"God! Why do you have to be like my friends! They're always going on about how Leonard is not good, how I could do better!"

"Isn't it enough of a sign that even your friends think the same way I do?"

"I think I'm very lucky to be with him too, so drop it already!"

Mike paused for a moment as her chest heaved in indignance. "Are you done with the outburst?"

"I wasn't - It wasn't even an outburst. I just want to make it clear that I'm basically an adult now and can make my own decisions, so if you don't mind, stay out of my life. You don't have the right to make decisions for me anymore, especially not who I hang out with! How old do you think I am? I'm not a kid anymore, dad."

"I know that - "

She exhaled sharply before inhaling again. "You know what? I think I'm going to go to Leonard's now. I'll talk to him about it and when I get back, I'll tell you about how he plans to make up for what happened today."

"Alice, wait," Mike said as she got up. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

She frowned, fury still rushing through her system. "No, I'm also sorry for being rude to you. I don't know why but I just felt the need to protect him. He means a lot to me, and I feel like I was being attacked or something. I'm sorry."

"Could you stay at home? Let's talk it out."

"No, I have decided to meet him and talk to him about it. I want to know what he thinks about what you guys are saying." she said firmly. And then turned on her heels to leave the house for Leonard's.