And I suddenly felt like a child all over again.
“What’s this about Cs in two of your classes?” he asked.
I forced myself not to react, but I was angry and nervous at the same time. “I haven’t gotten my final grades, so those will go up.”
“And who’s this Orion character?”
I bit my lip. “I think he quite possibly might be the love of my life.”
Dad sat back with a sigh. “I see.”
I dropped my eyes to my hands, unable to look at the disappointment in my father’s eyes.
“This is why you’re failing.”
“I’m not failing,” I countered.
He raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not,” I said. “And it has nothing to do with Orion. It’s more about the fact that I suck at science.”
“One more semester,” he said. “You don’t get your grades up, I’m pulling the plug. Finance-wise…I’d never pull the plug on you.”
I couldn’t stop a groan. My dad was a total dork.
“You can do this, chickpea,” he encouraged.
“I’m going to try,” I said, finally meeting his eyes again. “I’ve lined up tutoring.”
“That’s my girl.”
“Did you really need to come down here and give me a lecture, though?”
“I didn’t lecture, Raquel. If I give you a lecture, you’ll know it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, there is that.”
He grinned. “Come on, chickpea. I need to interrogate your young man.”
“No. Absolutely not.”
He stood, grabbing his beer off the desk and walking out.
“Dad!” I growled, following and slamming into the brick wall that was Orion.
“I got you,” he said with a chuckle.
I gripped his cut. “Where’s my dad?”
“I don’t know. I was takin’ a piss.”
“Thanks for the info.”
He grinned. “You okay?”
I sighed. “Yeah. He was actually kind of cool about everything. I have one more term to pull my grades up before he cuts the money off.”
Orion waggled his eyebrows. “Wow.”
