Small drops of blood dripped into the sink, splattering over the ceramic and painting it with a red pattern. Sophie waited impatiently for the fountain in her nose to dry out, still feeling the stinging pain in it from the fall earlier.
The sound of steps mixed in between the dripping, announcing a spectator entering the bathroom. Judging from the familiar rhythm, could she tell exactly who it was.
"What is it, Dad? Worried that I might leak on the carpet?"
Her sarcastic undertone got slightly diminished by the still flowing blood and her bent posture, preventing her from making eye contact with her Father.
That frustration vanished in a flash with a sudden freezing chill down her spine. She jumped almost up. Her muscles tensed and her back straightened. Now, in height of the mirror and with both of her eyes wide open in panic, could Sophie see in the reflection the ice pack that her Father had placed in her neck.
"FUCK! Couldn't you have warned me?"
A playful smirk on his face showed how amusing he found her reaction.
"That wouldn't have been as fun. It's much more entertaining to 'catch you cold'."
Sophie cringed inside from the awful pun, even more considering it actually made her chuckle.
'Tsk… That was awful…'
He joined in on it, both just enjoying the moment.
At least until the icy feeling in her neck became painful, crawling slowly into her body. It was already uncomfortable enough outside, but this felt like it went directly into her bones. That feeling soon chased her smile away, making her twist away from the ice pack. Just for her Father to place it back in her neck.
"Just a little longer. The blood drips, already slower."
Concentrating on that, while she gradually felt like getting hypothermia, seemed impossible for her.
"That's because it's freezing! Now stop it, before there's no more liquid blood to flow."
She reached back with her left, shivering in the process to get the ice pack away from her. He gave in almost immediately after she grazed his hand, while trying to move it away.
"Could you reach me some toilet paper? The rest goes without this torture."
Another droplet fell, while he seemed suddenly distracted by something. Sophie waved again with her left backwards.
"Hey! Sophie at Dad, anyone home? The toilet paper, please."
That seemed to work, and he reached her the pieces. A somewhat worried look in his eyes.
"Have you touched something weird today?"
Sophie raised an eyebrow at that sudden out of context question, while putting some of the paper inside her nose.
"What do you mean? Something like a Father who doesn't know how to make jokes?"
Her tease seemed to miss, gaining her no retort. With both leaks stuffed turned Sophie around, looking at him questioning. Only for him to shake his head and turn around.
"Forget it. That was a stupid question. Do you want to help with dinner? It's 'Spaghetti Bolognese' today."
Sophie's confusion drowned in the excitement of one of her favorite meals, and she followed him swiftly into the kitchen. He was sometimes weird; it was probably nothing important.
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The cooking sauce filled the kitchen with a tempting aroma. Or at least Sophie imagined it would. The paper in her nose robbed her of the smell she had expected.
Her Father stood on the stove, turning on the temperature and stirring the pot.
"Don't you, perhaps, want to change your clothes and clean yourself before helping me? You look currently like a vampire that snorted blood and then sneezed accidentally."
Sophie looked down at herself, still in her thick clothes, only now splattered with red.
'Good point…'
A few moments later and she stood back in the kitchen, dressed in her usual casual hoodie and eager to taste some of the sauce.
Her attempt to snatch herself a spoon full got quickly thwarted by a slight slap from her Father.
"No. You deal with the noodles. Have you forgotten what happened the last time you tried to season the sauce?"
There was that smirk on his face again, a sight that filled Sophie with the urge to retaliate the minor pain on her hand. Especially after getting reminded of her last disastrous attempt at cooking.
"It's not my fault that the top of your pepper shaker fell off."
His smile grew only wider at the sight of her sour face. Sophie already braced herself for the inevitable joke on her behalf, yet the smirk disappeared without warning.
"Either way, how was your day?"
The sudden change of topic caught her off guard, and her frown gave way to a raised eyebrow.
"Hm…? Except for the bitch slap I received from the stairs, nothing special. Why do you ask?"
Maybe it was just her, but he seemed to behave even weirder. Not that anything was normal today.
"Am I not allowed to ask? I was just wondering if… something happened. You know. Something unusual."
The scene of a shoplifter landing in a fountain rushed to her mind at that notion. Not necessarily something she would want him to know.
'Calm down! He'll certainly see if you act suspicious.'
She nervously kept stirring the noodles, trying to look inconspicuous while simultaneously avoiding eye contact.
"Nope! Nothing out of the usual. I was just shopping with Monica and Izzy."
Although her acting was mediocre, it didn't seem to raise suspicions.
"Ah… finally spending all the money from that bank robbery. I see. Hahaha…"
His sudden seriousness dropped at the first opportunity for a joke. The usual cheerful mood lightening his face up. Yet Sophie felt only reminded of the huge drama he had made that time, dampening her mood extensively.
"Do you have to bring that up again? That wasn't my fault either."
Sophie could feel how her meek argument brought him into the defense. Instead of starting a playful banter, had he this time hit a wound point.
"Oh… I didn't mean to… of course, that wasn't your fault. I was just… worried. Worried that you might keep on getting into trouble with Felix."
'And that, for good reason…'
She twitched at that thought; he was obviously right to think that. Not that she wanted to admit it.
"Is that about how we are a bad influence on each other?"
Her Father's eyes twitched at her quiet accusation and held his empty hands in front of him.
"No… look. I know you are… disappointed that your friends won't go to high-school with you. But… Felix especially, is currently… seeking trouble. I was the same at that age. Even if I was definitely not as muscular as he is. I mean Jesus Christ! He's sixteen and already bigger than me!"
Even though she was glad that the conversation took a different turn, Sophie couldn't help but look disappointed at his inability to have a serious conversation without cracking a joke.
"Sorry, I didn't want to drift off. What I meant to say is… you will surely meet new friends there and Felix… I just don't want you to get in further mess with him, not to forbid you from meeting him at all."
She felt relieved by her Father's concession and less guilty about staying silent about that topic earlier. But the thought of actually having to find new friends made her shudder.
"You say that like it's easy. I wouldn't even have any friends if it wasn't because you know their parents."
The noodles in front of her looked slowly ready, and she fished one out to try it. But chewing on the uncooked pasta felt pretty unsatisfying.
Her Father on the other hand, turned off the plate below the sauce and put the lid on it, before trying to cheer her up again.
"I think you underestimate yourself there. Sure, opening up to people can be hard. But you'll have to learn that, eventually."
'Perhaps… yet that doesn't make it easier to let go of my friends…'
Sophie continued stirring, knowing full well that it didn't help to finish the noodles faster.
"I just want to spend time with them as long as possible. Is that so hard to understand? Who knows if I'll see them after the school year. Hell, they are already so busy that I barely get to see them with all those after-school activities they do suddenly."
She half expected him to joke, and if only to escape a serious conversation. But, to her relief, he kept eye contact. Ensuring that his attention was fully on her.
"Surely they don't avoid you on purpose. There's a lot to prepare for their own future. You know, like job interviews and seeking an apprenticeship."
The last few afternoons crossed her mind, each one with at least one of them. Meetings as a group, though, had become rare.
"I can't get behind why they all drop out either. Sure, Felix is no surprise. But Izzy and Max aren't much worse than me. Jacob neither, you know that. Among all of us, Monica is the best, and she still doesn't continue with school? I just feel like there's something wrong…"
'Monica's slip up makes that even more suspicious.'
Sophie tried another noodle, while thinking about the implications of that new information she got today. Perhaps her friends were meeting up without her?
The pasta was firm to the bite, so she turned off the stove. Seeing that, her Father grabbed the sieve from one cabinet and put it into the sink.
"That's just the changes that come with growing up. We can't stay in contact with all of our friends. Sometimes life just… breaks you apart."
His argument might have held more water in Sophie's eyes, if she wouldn't know for a fact that he was still friends with his classmates.
"I don't know. How did you hold contact to your friends from school?"
His phone rang before he could pour the pot with noodles into the sieve.
"We've just gone through a lot together… wait a moment. That might be important."
Sophie grabbed the noodles, continued with pouring, and put the finished pasta back in the pot. From the corner of her eye could she see him stiffen up. It wasn't the first time he got an important call or message and had to disappear promptly.
"Sorry. Something urgent in the office. We continue that another time. Could you leave a portion for me?"
She watched as he rushed out of the kitchen, taking her time to serve herself.
'Yeah, that won't happen.'
Seeing the conversation continue was as probable as the stairs being fixed tomorrow.