Note: NSFW for nudity

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For how little she had slept the night before, Emberlynn was able to pull herself out of bed fairly easily the next morning. She knew that it was largely due to the adrenaline still coursing through her veins from her date with Trent.

It all still felt almost too good to be true, but when Emberlynn checked her phone that morning and saw the texts from the night before, she was reminded that, somehow, it had not been a dream. A smile spread quickly across her face as the memories came rushing back to her.

Part of her almost wanted to send Trent some kind of cutesy “good morning” text, but she resisted the urge. If she came on too strong, he’d probably think she was a psycho or something. So instead she went to her computer, where she was happy to find messages waiting for her from both GeekWithAGuitar (who was totally onboard with her suggestion that he start incorporating some cosplay into his future videos, and already asking for ideas) and Mason (who vented to her about the awful date he’d gone on the night before. And though she felt bad for him, Emberlynn was extremely relieved that she couldn’t relate).

Emberlynn was so distracted by her thoughts of Trent and messages from her friends that she’d almost forgotten about the plans she and her father had for that afternoon. It wasn’t until she’d already showered, dressed, and gone downstairs that she realized.

“So…” Phoenix greeted his daughter with a smile as she entered the kitchen. “Ready to make some bets on how badly they mess this one up?”

It took a moment for his words to fully register. What the heck is he… Wait. Oh! Emberlynn’s eyes finally lit up in understanding.

Today was the day she and her father had plans to see the next installment of the Space Dementia trilogy — a rebooted movie adaptation of one of Phoenix’s favorite old game series. Somehow, Emberlynn had let herself completely forget up until that moment.

Little did Phoenix know that his daughter had already seen the film without him. She felt a slight wave of guilt at the realization that Space Dementia 2 was the movie that Trent had taken her to the afternoon before. ‘You like this weird sci-fi stuff, right?’ He’d asked her. Emberlynn had been so excited at the fact that he’d paid attention to her interests that she hadn’t even thought of the plans she’d made to see it with her father.

Oh well… Emberlynn quickly chased all guilt from her mind. She’d been much too busy making out with Trent to pay attention to the plot anyway. So it would BASICALLY be like seeing it for the first time, wouldn’t it? There was no reason to let her guilt ruin her and Phoenix’s fun. As much as she liked trying to pretend otherwise, Emberlynn loved spending time with her father… As long as he wasn’t being annoying and totally lame, that is. Why did parents always like to ruin things by being like that?

“Yeah, dragging it out into a trilogy is like, the the stupidest thing ever.” Emberlynn smiled widely at her father as she spoke, finally pulling herself back to the present. “They could’ve easily done it in two.”

“True… But I guess they know what they’re doing, don’t they?” Her father laughed. “Dumb shmucks like us keep coming back for more, even when we know it’s gonna be garbage.”

Emberlynn and her father sat together for several minutes, trying to predict what new ways the writers would find to butcher the story (Emberlynn had, unfortunately, been paying enough attention to know that most of her father’s theories were wildly inaccurate, but she kept the best poker face she could manage).

After that, Phoenix retreated downstairs to the computer room to check a few emails before they left. Unfortunately ‘check a few emails’ ended up turning into ‘get into a screaming match with Gigi’, and by the time he and Emberlynn headed out the door thirty minutes later, he looked more eager to leave the house than ever, though his mood was noticeably less cheery than it had been before.

They’d decided to stop for some brunch together before the movie, and when the two of them were finally seated at the table, Emberlynn was relieved to see that her father seemed back to his usual self. It finally felt safe enough to broach the subject she had been avoiding the entire car ride to the restaurant.

“So…” Emberlynn began with a small sigh. “What were you and Mama fighting about THIS time?”

To her surprise, Phoenix chose to answer her, rather than dodge the question, as he so often did. “The restaurant again.” He explained, the annoyance apparent in his voice.

“Figured.” She shook her head as she spoke. Ever since Harper had handed ownership of her father’s restaurant over to Phoenix a few months ago, Gigi had been growing increasingly annoyed with all the time and energy it required.“She still wants you to sell it?”

Phoenix nodded. “But my Opa would probably roll over in his grave if I did. I could never do that to him.”

“I know. I just wish you and Mama didn’t have to keep screaming about it.” Emberlynn admitted with a shrug.

Her father let out a sigh. “I know, honey. And I’m sorry. But your Mama and I…”

“Yeah, I know.” She cut her father off before he could dive into his usual speech about how ‘marriage is complicated’ and ‘sometimes they don’t see eye to eye’ and all that crap. She’d already heard it a million times growing up.

“Hey, but enough about me…” The smile had slowly returned to her father’s face. “So… You and Jace, huh?” He asked teasingly.

Emberlynn rolled her eyes, suddenly embarrassed. “Oh my GOD, Papa!”

“I’m just teasing!” He assured her, putting up both hands almost defensively. “I’m glad you had such a good time.”

“Thanks.” She replied, a bit of the warmth finally receding from her face. “And, um… It’s… It’s Trent, actually.” Emberlynn corrected him softly, tired of letting her parents believe the lie she’d told them. “The guy I went out with yesterday.”

Her father raised an eyebrow curiously. “Oh.” There was a brief flash in his eyes for a moment that Emberlynn was unable to name.

“Yeah… I know I shouldn’t have lied, but I knew it’d be better if you and Mama thought it was somebody you already met. I just didn’t want you guys flipping out on me or something.”

Phoenix shook his head. “Neither of us would’ve flipped.” He assured her. “But I do think your mother and I would appreciate meeting this Trent before the next date.”

Emberlynn sighed, knowing it was pointless to argue. “Fine.”

“And…” Phoenix seemed to hesitate for a moment. “Alright, Emberlynn. Give me just two minutes to go into super-lame-parent mode, okay?”

“Oh God… what is it now?” She asked, not even bothering to try to hide her irritation. Their waiter, who had just placed their food on the table in front of them, quickly scurried away at the outburst.

“It’s nothing bad.” Phoenix promised. “I’ve just been thinking… It seems like you’ve had a lot of guys showing, um… interest lately.” He seemed to be choosing his words very carefully.

Emberlynn’s brow furrowed in annoyance. “Yeah, so what?”

“I just want you to promise me you’re being careful.”

“OH MY GOD, this again?!” A few diners at the other tables actually glanced over at them at Emberlynn’s outburst.

“Not THAT kind of careful.” For a moment, Phoenix looked almost as embarrassed as she did. “Well, I DO want you to be, obviously. But I know you don’t need to hear it again. We’ve had that talk plenty of times.”

Yeah… Too many. Emberlynn thought, still mortified.

Her father paused before continuing. “I just mean to be careful with your heart.” He said at last.

Emberlynn eyed her father curiously. “Papa, what are you talking about?”

“I know how teenagers can be… And not just from working with them all the time. I used to be one, if you can believe it.” Phoenix let out a soft chuckle. “And sometimes, guys might say things or do things they normally wouldn’t do because they think it’s what a girl wants to hear. Girls do it too, of course.” He added. “But uh, I have a bit more experience with the guy side…”

For a moment, Emberlynn was reminded of some of things she’d said to try and impress Trent… Things she didn’t really believe, but thought would impress him. But was that really so terrible to do? It had worked, hadn’t it?

“What are you trying to say?” She asked at last.

“Emberlynn, you are a smart, funny, beautiful girl… All thanks to your mother, of course.” Phoenix added with a small smile. “And I know that the boys at school are starting to see that. And I just want to promise me that you’ll be careful about trusting some of these guys, okay? Make sure they’re being honest with you — showing you who they really are.” Phoenix paused. “And make sure they really like you for YOU and not, um… other… reasons…” His voice trailed off very awkwardly. “Do you know what I mean?”

Emberlynn had a feeling that the redness on her cheeks would be answer enough. UGH why is he being like this?! I can take care of myself! “Look, can we just change the subject to something else? Like, ANYTHING else?”

Phoenix sighed in defeat. “Alright, I’ve said my piece. Just think about it, okay?”

Her reply was a shrug.

“Alright, switching back to cool-Papa mode now.” He continued with a smile.

Despite her annoyance, Emberlynn could not hold back her laughter at his words. “Um, I’m pretty sure ‘cool-Papa mode’ has to be the lamest thing I’ve ever heard. Sorry. Nice try though?”

Phoenix quickly joined in his daughter’s laugher. “Okay, yeah, that was pretty bad.”

“It’s okay.” She shrugged slightly, but still smiled. “It’s your job to be lame.” Emberlynn was thoughtful for a moment. “But uh, I’ve gotta ask… What exactly would YOU know about lying to girls and saying what you think they wanna hear?” She asked curiously, both dreading and dying to know the answer. “There’s GOTTA be a good story behind that one…”

“Maybe there is, but you said we were changing the subject, so…” Phoenix shrugged innocently at her as he spoke.

“Seriously? You’re not gonna tell me?” She groaned. “Ugh, you really ARE lame.”

“Yeah, but like you said, it’s my job!”

Emberlynn rolled her eyes, but the corners of her lips curled into a smile. “Touché.”

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Much to her relief, once the awkwardness of their brunch conversation had melted away, Emberlynn had a very pleasant rest of the afternoon with her father. The movie really wasn’t as terrible as she’d thought (especially now that she was actually paying attention to the plot), and she and her father spent the entire drive home praising the acting, critiquing the writing and directing, and theorizing about what the third installment would bring.

In fact, Emberlynn and Phoenix were having such a good time that she did not even glance at her phone the entire ride home.

As she and her father headed up the stairs and crossed the threshold, Emberlynn almost had to do a double take. Zelda was standing in the huge entry hall, waiting for them. A whole week of total silence, and now she’d just shown up completely out of the blue? Emberlynn knew there HAD to be something up.

And sure enough, despite her cheery “Hey, Onkel Phee!” and casual comment about ‘just wanting to say hi’, it was immediately apparent that Zelda was hiding something. And whatever it was couldn’t have been good.

At the earliest opportunity she could, Emberlynn whisked Zelda upstairs to her bedroom, rounding on her cousin the moment the door closed behind them. “Alright, Z… what the heck’s going on?” She asked.

Zelda’s reply was neither short nor cold, as Emberlynn had expected. Instead, she seemed hesitant. Nervous, almost. “You, uh… You haven’t checked your phone today, have you?”

Emberlynn shook her head slowly, then reached into her pocket to retrieve her phone. She discovered a missed call from Jace, two from Zelda, and a series of texts from both of them.

Emberlynn felt like she was going to be sick. “Zelda… What… What happened?”

Her cousin bit her lip nervously. “There’s um… There’s this picture that started getting sent around this afternoon…”

“To who?!”

“Um… m-most of the people at school… They’re all talking about it.” Zelda admitted softly. “And, uh…”

“Show me.” Emberlynn demanded, her heart beating violently in her chest. He wouldn’t… He couldn’t… There’s no way…

With a heavy sigh and a trembling hand, Zelda held out her cellphone so that Emberlynn could see what was on the screen.

“It could be worse though, right?” She muttered weakly. “At least they covered your face?”

But Emberlynn wasn’t listening anymore. The entire world was spinning. Her vision felt like it was going black. Every last drop of joy or happiness in her entire being vanished in a single instant, replaced by the deepest, most overwhelming humiliation she’d ever felt in her life.