Ray relinquishes them from his hold and Emmy cannot get away fast enough. “Your father’s going to be staying here for a few nights while he looks for a place.” Pam speaks.
“It’s only for a few nights, I have a place lined up not far from here.” Ray nods while smiling bashfully. It’s an awkward vibe in the room. “I’m really, really happy to be home. I missed you guys so much. We have a lot of catching up to do.” He speaks mainly to Emmy, who he loves dearly and was heartbroken that she never came to visit him.
“We missed you too, dad.” Danny smiles. Ray tussles his head and smiles down at him.
Emmy remains silent as she stands there, not knowing what to make of all this. She walks away to her room, giving Ray the cold shoulder. His head sinks, feeling awful. He and Danny continue to talk and play around. He looks down the hall to Emmy’s room and thinks about how he’s going to repair their relationship. Inside her room Emmy is freshening up and touching herself up in the mirror, making herself look prettier since she’s decided to go out to her friend’s sooner than later. She tries to not think about what just happened. Outside her door Ray stands there, taking a deep breath before knocking. “Can I come in?” He asks softly. Emmy groans, rolling her eyes. She reluctantly opens the door and goes back to the mirror and her phone, she can’t text her friend Kelly fast enough so she can come get her.
“Wow, cool room.” Ray looks around casually. Last time he saw Emmy she didn’t wear makeup and she didn’t look like this. She was his little girl and now she’s almost an adult woman. Emmy doesn’t respond, just coldly ignores him while she patiently waits for her friend Kelly to text her. “A lot nicer than my room in prison, ha ha.” Ray chuckles awkwardly, trying to break the tension.
“What is it that you want?” Her face turns to him with an angry expression.
“Listen, I know you’re mad at me, but can you please give me a chance to explain myself?” He pleads, a sorrowful look in his eyes. Emmy huffs, looking at the ground in front of her. “I know you’re angry and you have every right to be. I wasn’t lying when I said I had no idea how those drugs got in my car. Please believe me.” Ray pleads desperately and sincerely. “Things were good between us before I went away, remember?” He smiles as she folds her arms. “I missed you so much, all I did when I was inside was think about you and your brother.” Ray pleads further, wanting so badly to repair their relationship. “I know it must have been hard while I was away.” Emmy huffs again, shifting her face to her right side. “I love you so, so much baby. I can’t change what happened in the past but we can still make things right between us.”
“Don’t…” Emmy begins, feeling her emotion build. “Don’t you dare.” She looks up at him, right into his eyes as her lip starts quivering. “You promised you would never leave, remember? You promised you would change. And then you left.” Tears start to fill her eyes.
“Oh, honey.” Ray says softly as the guilt in his face really shows through. He approaches her. “Come here.” He says while going in to hug her.
She backs away swiftly. “Don’t!” She shouts. “You have no idea what we’ve been through!” She yells louder, her face getting red as her foot stomps on the ground. “You abandoned us because you’re a selfish fucking asshole and I hate you!” She screams out in pain, letting her frustration and anger out. Him leaving led to her being raped and seeking affection, validation and love from abusive men. He really fucked her up with daddy issues. Ray backs up away from her, crushed. “I wish you stayed in prison!” She yells at him while sobbing and grabbing her purse before storming out. Ray follows her out into the hall but doesn’t pursue, he just stands there feeling the most pain he’s ever felt. He watches her walk swiftly down the hall and notices the tramp stamp tattoo on her lower back. It’s of a drawing she made for him when she was around nine or ten, angel wings with a heart in the middle, except the heart is broken in two. He has a similar tattoo on his chest that he got of her drawing she made for him but the heart is in one piece, just like the original. Ray puts his head in his hands, feeling awful about their relationship. Emmy walks towards the door, sobbing, walking past a confused Danny and her mother who isn’t surprised.
Emmy leaves, walking hastily down the hall while sobbing. Keith comes out of his apartment just as she walks by because he heard the commotion. “What’s wrong with you, slut?” He paws at her body, touching her ass and grabbing at her chest as she squirms and sobs, just trying to get by him. He laughs as she grunts angrily. He just can’t leave her alone.
Ray joins Danny and Pam in the kitchen and a moment of uncomfortable silence passes. “She’ll come around.” Pam says.
“Yeah…” Ray replies.
“I don’t hate you.” Danny says.
“Thanks, buddy.” Ray smiles down at him, but nothing can change the sting of his daughter’s words. He can’t deny it, either. She told him the truth and he knows he screwed up their relationship.
Suddenly a loud knock is heard at the door. Pam immediately goes to open it. “Oh, Keith… Hi.” She says somewhat nervously as she looks up at him. “If this is about the noise I’m sorry.” She says casually.
“Yeah, just, uhh… Came to see what was up.” Keith sees Ray behind her in his view. Ray looks at him.
“Oh, umm… This is my husband, ex-husband I mean.” Pam smiles awkwardly while turning around.
Keith walks in. “Keith, I’m the manager of the building.” He smiles at Ray while extending his hand.
“Ray, the ex-husband and father.” He smiles back casually before shaking his hand.
“Nice to meet ya.” Keith smirks arrogantly after he shakes his hand, knowing he’s been fucking his ex-wife and his daughter in his absence. “So, you got out huh?” He asks boldly. Pam stands there feeling uncomfortable, knowing she started banging Keith soon after Ray went to prison.
“Ahh, yeah. Yeah.” Ray nods.
“Fine family you got here, make for some good neighbors. That little fella is quite the troublemaker, though.” He playfully add in Danny’s direction as he winks at him and Ray smiles back to his son.
“Yeah, just good to be home.” Ray folds his arms, not liking the vibe he’s getting from this guy.
“She’ll come around, don’t worry about it. Teenage girls are hard to handle.” Keith smirks and Pam smiles up at him casually.
“You got one?” Ray inquires.
“Well… Sort of, ha ha.” Keith chuckles, knowing he’s been abusing Ray’s daughter for the past few years. “Well, I’ll leave you guys alone.” Keith begins to head out, nodding goodbye to Ray.
“Bye.” Pam smiles up at him as he leaves. He smirks down at her, knowing that she knows what she’s done with him. Pam only became a depressed alcoholic mess in recent years. She became distraught after Keith started losing interest in her and she suspected Emmy of being his new toy. But she still wants Keith back and wants to please him. Like mother, like daughter.
Emmy waits impatiently outside, just wanting to leave and forget about everything. She folds her arms, leaning against the wall of the building. As she waits for her friend Kelly to come pick her up she receives a text. She sees that it’s from Keith. It reads “Just met your father. This is the guy you were so sad over leaving you? Ha ha. Stop by later if you need some comfort from your favorite daddy.” She rolls her eyes and puts her phone away.
Just then her friend Kelly drives up and Emmy gets in the car. Kelly is the same age as Emmy, and is pretty much the blonde version of her. She has a similar scene look but with a more innocent vibe rather than the more bad girl kind of look that Emmy has. “Are you okay?” Kelly asks while beginning to drive away.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just… My dad is home.” Emmy casually brushes it off as she looks into the mirror above her and fixes herself up.
“Oh my God, really?” Kelly asks.
“Yeah… But it’s whatever. I don’t care.” Emmy continues to look into the mirror. The rest of the ride is filled with nothing but inane teenage girl chatter and gossip. Soon after the girls arrive at Kelly’s house. They walk in just as Kelly’s parents are leaving for the night.
“Hey, Mr. Howard.” Emmy smiles up at Kelly’s dad as she walks in the door.
“Hey, Emmy.” He looks down at her, very happy to see her as he thinks she’s the hottest out of all the girls Kelly brings over. “How are you?”
“I’m good.” Emmy replies, tilting her head a little up at Mr. Howard. He’s a tall man.
“Well, you girls have fun, alright? Don’t stay up too late.” He says while heading out the door, he turns around quickly to catch another glance at Emmy before leaving. He slyly looks her up-and-down. She looks back, catching him and she smiles. It’s just her nature to be receptive to pretty much any older guy. She’s naturally flirtatious.
Later on the rest of them have arrived and it’s become a full-blown underage drinking party. Emmy is on the lap of some twenty-year-old guy who is looking to take advantage of a high schooler tonight. “You’re so fuckin’ hot. Here, drink this.” He says loudly so she can hear through the music.
“Okay.” She giggles with her arm around him and his hand on her leg. She takes the bottle, downs a swig and is one step closer from going tipsy to drunk. Emmy smiles once more before going into make-out with him a little bit. She takes another mouthful of the alcohol as he watches devilishly. “I want to have some fun.” She says in a bimbo-like tone while leaning into him and bouncing on his lap.
“Oh yeah?” He rubs her leg more, going further up to grab her ass. “What kind of fun?” He asks confidently into her eyes. She falls into his chest gleefully and whispers into his ear while giggling. His face turns to an expression of success and excitement. He takes no time in grabbing her leg and wrapping her around his torso as he stands up. She continues giggling while wrapping her arms around his neck and holding onto him. He carries her across the room and stumbles her up the stairs as they lock lips, his hands holding up her legs and her arms around his neck. They make-out sloppily while he carries her to a spare room.
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