The car ride was silent as Alex fiddled with her hands. She looked out the corner of her eye at her dad who had a blank face, and totally focused on the road. She had never seen her dad like this, so expressionless and was trying to make sense of what it meant. Anger? worry? Alex was freaking over it.
"Dad" Alex breathed unable to take the silence. "Talk, speak- say something!"
He cast a look at her before shaking his head.
"I'm... I'm just disappointed..."
Alex felt her breath hitch in her throat as she turned her head the window. Her dad has never said anything like that to her before... it was heart-crushing.
It was quiet for the rest of the car ride.
Natasha watched concernedly over Alex who was in the process of doing her stretches. It was obvious there was something on the girl's mind other than the swan lake audition but Natasha couldn't figure it out and Alex was talking about it.
So obviously, it had to do with Seth. The only topic that Alex that never speaks of: boys but in this case, Seth. And being the good friend of Alex, Natasha decided to play it in her own hands.
"Hey Seth" Natasha greeted as Seth rushed in. Pausing in his step, he turned to Natasha.
"Hey" he replied with a short nod. He went to go find Alex when Natasha interrupted him.
"I don't mean to bother you or anything but I was wondering"
"About what?" Seth asked confused.
"What happened with you and Alex that day her dad barged in?" Seth felt the heat rushing up.
"Nothing much, just a moment" he answered shoving his hands in his pocket awkwardly. Natasha raised an eyebrow but didn't act on it as she crossed her arms.
"Well, this moment or whatever" Natasha responded. "It's distracting Alex, and not really in a good way"
"What?" Seth asked confused. "Is she okay?"
"Physically yes, but mentally… well something's messing her up- she's hardly been focused since that day" Natasha answered. "I don't know what it is, but I think it has something to do with you"
Seth didn't get to say another word as the door barged open and in came Quill and Claire.
"I thought I should mention it to you, you're not her boyfriend yet but you seem to care for her a lot and maybe she'll talk to you" Natasha stated before she left.
"Wait-"
"Seth, man I know your excited about coming up here and all but- " Quill paused seeing Seth's concerned look. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know" Seth answered running a hand through his hair. "But I'm going to find out"
"Hey," Alex chimed happily as she saw Seth. However paused seeing the blank expression lingering on his face. "Is something the matter?"
"No" he stated. "Is something the matter of you?"
"What?" Alex asked caught off guard by his serious expression that had guilt shimmering through.
"Is something wrong?"
"Of course not, why would you think so?" Alex answered confused. Seth felt Natasha's words ringing in his mind as he ran a hand through his hair.
"Am I bothering you when I come here?"
"No…" Alex answered.
"Well am I distracting you?"
"Not in a bad way" Alex answered with a bashful smile.
"Are you sure?"
"Seth what's wrong?" Alex asked confused. "Are you okay? Did you cat die?"
"I don't have a cat" Seth felt the corners of his lips twitch at the random question thrown in but it quickly slipped as he reminded himself why he was talking to her. "And I was talking with Natasha and she told me you've been off since I met your dad" Alex unconsciously flinched at the mention of her dad. Things were really heavy and awkward between the two and it was killing her. She kept things quiet, and prayed if they were, things were get better but it seemed to be the opposite.
"She really knows everything about me" Alex responded as she began to fiddle with her tutu, looking down at her ballet flats. Nothing could be hidden with herself. She sighed trying to think of an response, debating whether to lie but backed out as the truth came out. "I'll admit, I have been a bit off during practice and yes it started when you met my dad"
"Oh…"
"But it's not your fault, at all" Alex reassured. "My dad is just disappointed in me, and it's taking a bigger toll on me"
"Why is he disappointed in you?" Seth asked curiously.
"I don't know" Alex answered with a sigh as she put her hand to her forehead. "But I know he's never been disappointed in me before"
Seeing how upset she was, Seth took initiative, pulling her close into a warm and solid hug.
"Hey, it's going to be okay" he whispered as Alex clenched his t-shirt in comfort.
The door swung open, and out came Mr. Peters- Alex's dad. He blinked surprised at the arrival of a tall, tall man who easily towered over him. A twinge of familiarity nipped at him as he stared at the boy. Where had he seen him before?
"Hi, Mr. Peters" Seth greeted and it seemed to snap him out of his thoughts as he nodded, heavily confused. Who was this boy? And most importantly what was he doing here?
"Hey there," Mr. Peters greeted back.
"I'm Seth, Seth Clearwater- we met a couple of days ago"
"Oh right, of course" Mr. Peters remembered as he nodded his head again. "Alex isn't here at the moment"
"Oh I know" Seth replied, knowing she most likely is at the ballet studio. "I'm actually here to speak to you"
"Me?" he asked confused as he pointed to himself. "I mean, of course, come on in then"
Holding the door open, Seth took a couple of steps in surveying the nicely furnished condo. Right from where he stood, he could see the edge of a bar on the left and a red coach on the left, before it all went to a view on the glass window.
"Nice place you got here"
"I thought so" He responded with a grin. "Alex, however has many different opinions about this place"
"Like what?"
"I'm too old to have a cool place like this" He answered as Seth shot his eyebrows in surprise. He always knew that Alex would be different at home then when at the ballet studio or with him, but that took him off guard. Who knew the girl could be anywhere sarcastic? Well he was hoping that she was being sarcastic.
"Would you like a drink?" Mr. Peters asked snapping Seth's attention away from himself.
"Um, yeah" Seth agreed. "Water will do fine"
"One water coming up" Mr. Peters stated as he walked behind the bar. "Go ahead and take a seat, after all a friend of Alex's is a friend of mine- especially if he's a boy"
Seth sat down at the red couch, unsure of what to do. When he had planned to come to come here, he didn't know exactly what to expect out of the dad of the girl he was so nearly caught kissing but he certainly wasn't expecting this. Mr. Peter's soon emerged with a cup of some kind of alcohol and a water bottle.
"Hope you don't mind it that way" he stated throwing the water to Seth.
"This way's fine" Seth responded as he easily caught it. Mr. Peters took a seat diagonal from him placing his drink upon the table.
"So, why exactly are you here?" he asked confused. "And with me? I mean I know I'm deviously handsome and everything but I thought you make a better match with my daughter"
"Oh well…" Seth paused. He hadn't really thought of what to say, and more importantly he seemed too unsure to say anything. The longer he stayed with Mr. Peters, the more he saw a very laid-back and cool dad who looked anything but disappointed in his daughter. "I just wanted to ask a question about Alex-"
"Oh, of course" Mr. Peters stated with a nod. "Anything you want- favorite flower? Daisies. Favorite color? Anything pastel. Favorite genre of music? Classical. Favorite animal? Trick question, she loves them all. She loves to sing but in all honestly isn't the best at it and as you must know- dancing is her passion and it always has been-"
"Actually" Seth cut through the list of knowledge of Alex. He honestly wanted to keep on listening, this was all the facts about Alex but this wasn't what he had come for. "I wanted to know why you were disappointed in her"
"Who? Alex?" Mr. Peter asked confused and Seth nodded. "Why would I be disappointed in her?"
"She told me you told her that" Mr. Peters furrowed his eyebrows before it came to him.
"Oh, on the car trip home" he noted and Seth nodded, even though he had no idea what the man was saying. "Oh, well I wasn't disappointed in her"
"You weren't?" Seth asked confused.
"How can I?" Mr. Peters asked. "She's intelligent, talented and my little girl, I can never be disappointed in her"
"But… she thinks you are"
"Well that does explain her sudden silence" Mr. Peters noted in thought.
"So you aren't disappointed in her?"
"No, I was disappointed in the fact that she's growing up so fast" Mr. Peters answered. "I didn't even realize, one blink and I seemed to have missed it all"
"Oh… well I think you should tell her that" Seth advised. "She's was unfocused during rehearsal" Mr. Peters nodded as he took another sip of his drink.
"Wait" Mr. Peters stated realizing something. "Don't tell me you came all the way here just for this"
Seth shrugged taking a sip from his water bottle. Mr. Peters eyed him for a moment before smiling.
"Well it seems that I can rest in ease" Mr. Peters stated leaning back. Seth eyed him confused. What was he talking about? "Tell me Seth, do you plan on asking my daughter out anything soon?"
Seth chocked on the air in surprise.
"Or do you want to keep it a surprise? I mean I know I'm a pretty big blabber mouth" Seth coughed slightly, taking a large swing of his water. "Well answer me man"
"I've… I've already asked her out" he stammered as his chocking subsided. Now it was Mr. Peters to be surprised.
"And she rejected you?" Seth nodded. "That idiot" Mr. Peters sighed as he gave Seth a stern look. "Don't give up on her just yet- she's annoyingly slow but she'll come around if you pester her enough"
"I actually didn't want to keep pester her too much because then I'll feel as if I only got her on a date being she gave into annoyance" Seth stated. "I want her to give in to me because she wants too, not feeling somehow forced into it"
Mr. Peters eyed him a moment as Seth shifted uncomfortable under his stare. Was it right of him to admit something like so openly to the girl of his dreams father?
"Well don't worry then" Mr. Peters stated. "She'll come around soon and if she doesn't, well I'm sorry to say this but her loss"
Seth felt a flutter of his heart at Mr. Peters' words as he finished off the rest of his drink. The father liked him, which was a big accomplishment in his book. Now he didn't have to worry so much about it later on with Alex.
"Anyway, it's getting pretty late" Mr. Peters noted as he stood up. "And I've got to go pick up Alex- you've got a ride home?"
"Um, yeah of course" Seth answered as he stood up as well. "Thank you for having me over"
"No," Mr. Peters stated. "Thank you, for being there for my daughter"
They shook a firm handshake before Seth took his leave feeling a bubbly energy of happiness bubbling in him.
"Hey sweetheart" Mr. Peters greeted as Alex sat next to him.
"Hey dad" she stated, awkwardly as she moved her eyes downward as he began to drive off. He pondered on how to approach the situation.
"You're boyfriend visited me" Mr. Peters blurted out before he can even think about the consequences of saying that.
"Boyfriend?" Alex repeated. "I don't have a boyfriend"
Mr. Peters rolled his eyes.
"That Steve boy" Mr. Peters purposely misused the boy's name, anxiously awaiting for Alex's reaction as they came to a red-light.
"You mean Seth" Alex corrected, a bit of annoyance in her voice. She knew her father was forgetful but he didn't have to forget his name.
"Yeah him, he visited me today" Alex blinked surprised before furrowing her eyebrows.
"What for?"
"He wanted to know why I was so disappointed in you" Alex cast her eyes downward. "And then I told him I wasn't"
"But-"
"But instead I was disappointed that you already grown up and I didn't even notice" Mr. Peters cut off his daughter as he began to drive forward. "I still remember the first time you tried on a tutu- you wore it as a headband, remember"
"Yeah, I remember" Alex smiled softly at the memory. "So you're not disappointed in me?"
"Just in the fact that you're growing up too fast"
"I'll always be you're little girl"
"You better be" Mr. Peters stated as they shared a smile. "Oh, and by the way I approve"
"Approve?" Alex repeated confused. "Of what?"
"Seth Clearwater, he's a good guy" Mr. Peters stated. "Just next time he asks you out- don't reject him"
"Dad!"