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Chapter Four

The sun shone through my window, blinding me. I shot up in my bed and reached over to grab my phone.

10:30AM

"Oh shit!" I jumped out of my bed, tossing my blankets to the side. I rushed out the door and down the stairs. "Shit, shit, shit, SHIT!" Mumbling to myself, I raced into the kitchen panting and looking around for my dad. My dad sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen. He looked up at me trying to catch my breath.

"Whoa there sport, what's got you all worked up?"

"Where. Is. Celest?" I breathed, bent over trying to catch my breath. I placed my hands on my knees, focusing on my breathing.

"Celest went out for a bit. I gave her some errands that needed to be ran. I have the event people outside working on getting the backyard fixed up." My dad went back to his newspaper. "You must have been having a really good dream. Neither one of us could wake you up. So I told Celest to go ahead without you. I could use your help here anyway." He sighed.

"What do you need my help with?" I whined.

He side-eyed me a look that my mom used to give us when she didn't want to hear us complain. "You're going to help me find clothes to wear for tonight. You saw what she picked out to wear, so I want to match. Also," he put the newspaper down, " I need you to go to the square in town after a couple hours. I took today and tomorrow off, so I need you to keep Celestial occupied so she doesn't go out back. I want this to be a surprise for her. I-"

"Oh, what did I just walk into?" Celestial's hands were filled with bags as she walked into the kitchen. "Please tell me you two weren't arguing again?" Her face looked cross and her eyes narrowed to slits at the both of us.

"No!" My dad and I said in unison. We jumped to help Celestial with the bags, setting them down on the counter to unbag each item. My dad nudged me, pointing with his head towards Celestial.

"I'll handle putting the groceries away ladies." He smiled at the both of us, pushing me with his hip. I stuck my tongue out at him, rolling my eyes.

"Hey Celestial, would you mind taking me to the square? I kind of want to get Starbucks before we have to get ready."

"Are you two planning something that I don't know about?" Celestial was the one to prop her hand on her hip. Both dad and I literally gulped.

"W-wh-what makes you say that dear?" My dad gave his crooked smile to her, feigning innocence in his eyes.

Her eyes narrowed at him, a grim, tight line forming on her lips. "You both are being extremely weird and are whispering to each other more than you should be." She folded her arms over her chest.

"No, it's nothing like that dear." My dad smoothed his way over, wrapping his arms around her waist. He kissed her cheek and smiled. "We're just trying to keep you from stressing over the Big Wigs coming tonight. I'd rather take care of all the stressful details and make sure you relax. You're always the one stressing when things like this happen, so I wanted to do it this time. I'm, I mean, we're not hiding anything from you."

"Good one dad." I thought, trying to keep the forced smile on my face and hide my racing heartbeat. "I can't believe she almost caught us."

"Hmmm.." She put her hand on her face, "now why don't I believe that." She raised a brow at him. He feigned being offended all over his face.

"Now why would I lie to you?!" He placed his hand over his heart, faking hurting. "I promise, I'm not lying." He kissed her again, showing off his puppy dog eyes.

I was half-temped to clap outloud at his performance. Now I know where I got my acting skills from. Dad was always the life of the party. His acting skills were always on point with everyone he encountered, even those he didn't like. The fakest of smiles formed on his face when someone uninteresting and annoying crossed my dads path. Regardless of him being a fantastic actor, he was still very polite. I envied him a little; the resting bitch face I received from my mother and it told everyone to piss off when I was annoyed.

She sighed. "Okay," she shook her head at him. Her smile slowly coming back to her face. "Morgan, go pick your fathers clothes out for tonight, and then we'll leave." She raised her eyebrow at him again. "And you, dear sir," she poked him in the arm, "don't you dare use those puppy dog eyes on me again. I know that there is something going on, but I'll play along, FOR NOW." She emphasized to him. He grabbed her hand and kissed it, playing off his most pleasing smile. She shook her head again, kissing his cheek, before walking out of the kitchen.

Slow Clap

"Impressive," I stated quietly, slow clapping my hands three times. I shook my head, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Now I know where I get my acting."

"And, now you know why it doesn't work on me." He smiled, pushing me out of the kitchen. "Now do what Celest said, go pick my clothes out to match her outfit and go to Starbucks." He winked at me. I paused, holding my hand out to him. He looked down and raised his eyebrow. "What?"

"Um, your card dad. I kind of need money to get Starbucks, and Celest is NOT buying today." I said showing my devilish grin.

My dad rolled his eyes at me. "You're going to be the death of me and the reason I go broke." He gave me a death glare before handing me his credit card.

"Well give me an allowance or let me get a job." I shrugged at him. I snatched up the card and bolted to his room. I knocked on the door to see if Celestial was in there.

"Celestial? Are you in here?" I heard a noise coming from the bathroom. I slowly walked over to the door and leaned my ear against it. Was she crying? "Celestial?" I slowly pushed the door open. Celest looked at me as I entered the bathroom. Her eyes red and puffy.

"Oh, Morgan." She sniffled, clearing the tears from her eyes. "I didn't hear you walk in. Do you need help picking an outfit out for your dad?" It wasn't more than a whisper.

"Celest? What's wrong? Why are you crying?" I inched closer to her, putting my hand to her back and gently rubbing up and down.

"Oh, it's nothing. Don't worry about it." She waved her hand around. "Come, lets go pick an outfit out for your father." She moved past me into the bedroom. I leaned against the doorframe to the bathroom. I watched her open the closet door and pick out a green, long sleeved, buttoned down dress shirt and a pair of black slacks. She gently laid them on the bed with a pair of grey socks and his black dress shoes.

"I hope she doesn't think that dad is going to break up with her, or something. I know how much she hates being out of the loop on things, but dad is really excited for tonight." I thought to myself. My brow furrowed, getting slightly upset at the thought.

"Celestial, I hope you know dad loves you." I said quietly. She paused and looked up at me. A small smile formed on her face.

"Oh I know he does. I'm just being emotional for no reason." She sat down on the bed and looked at her hands. Her hands forming into fists in front of her. She looked at me. "I just hate being left out of things. It's hard having your dad take over the things I normally do when it comes to having company."

I walked over to her and sat next to her, putting my hands on hers. "Oh, dad can totally be a control freak sometimes, I get it. But I promise, this will be a night to remember." I smiled real big at her, standing up and pulling her up with me. "So lets go get some Starbucks and come back to get all dolled up for him tonight!" Her smile grew bigger.

"Okay! Lets go." She grabbed the car keys from the dresser and waltzed out the door.

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