Michael was already angry as it was after what had happened in the locker room, but after he found out that Andrea had gotten him fired, he saw red.
He slammed the front door behind him as Lisa got in first since she didn’t want to come in between Andrea and Michael’s fight.
Michael walked in the living room to find himself seated on the sofa with his feet up and a popcorn bowl in his hands.
Andrea smiled before she patted the place beside her for her father. “There’s Wall-E playing. Let’s watch it together.” Lisa was the one that obliged as she ran up to the place beside her father’s body.
“You got fired?!” Andrea rolled her eyes as she let Lisa snuggle into her. “Well, yeah, I messed up a file.”
Michael ran a hand over his face as he sighed, “And you didn’t ask for a second chance.”
“Eh, I didn’t like working there anyway. Plus, I found a new job place. There’s a job open at my school.”
Michael squinted his eyes at his body before he tried to calm himself down. Going over to sit at the recliner, he looked at the tv screen before he looked back at his body.
“Uh, about that group of girls you told me to stay away from.” Andrea nodded her head as she ate popcorn nonchalantly.
“What about them?”
Michael cleared his throat before he spoke up, “They came up to me today.”
Andrea looked from the tv screen to look at her body with an eyebrow raised.
“What did they do?”
“Well, more like what they said to me which is troubling.”
“What did they say?” Andrea didn’t know why but she felt like she knew what they said to Michael. She knew what was coming as Michael gave her a frown.
“They called you’re a dyke and that you stared at Olivia while she undresses for gym.” Lisa widened her eyes as she looked at her sister’s body before looking at her father’s.
She already knew Olivia since middle school, but their father didn’t know that.
“Yeah, so?” Andrea tried to play it cool as she shrugged her shoulders. Michael frowned before he folded his arms. “That’s not right, Andrea. Please tell me you’re not a dyke.”
“There’s a better word for that!”
Michael was a bit taken aback as he looked at the tears in his own eyes. He had never cried before, well, he did cry once but that was when the doctor had said there could nothing be done for his wife anymore.
Right now, he didn’t like the way he saw himself crying even when it wasn’t him that was actually in tears.
“I’m a lesbian, okay! I like girls!”
Michael didn’t know what to do as Andrea stood up from the sofa and put down the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table.
“Wait, Andrea.” Michael tried to stop her but he couldn’t as she practically sprinted up the stairs. He damned himself for still being athletic even at that age before he scolded himself for wording his concerns in a wrong way.
“It’s not wrong, daddy. Andrea never did anything wrong. It was that girl, Olivia.” Michael raised an eyebrow at Lisa, who looked at him with a frown. “You knew about this?”
Lisa nodded her head as she sighed, “Olivia and Andrea used to be friends in middle school but then Andrea confessed her feelings for Olivia. They had a whole relationship together before high school started. But right after that, Olivia dumped Andrea and her friends began to bully her.”
Michael was finding all this information hard to hear since he felt ashamed for not knowing what his daughter had went through. “I’m a bad father.”
He looked down at his hands as he felt tears slide down his face. “Ugh, this feminine body.”
Lisa smiled before she went to go sit in her sister’s lap. “You’re not a bad father.” Michael just sniffed as Lisa wiped away his tears. “You just don’t know what to do, and that’s okay. But you have to accept Andrea as she is. It’s not like she chose to like girls.”
Michael nodded his head, feeling a little embarrassed for having a 13-year-old share a little wisdom with him.
Lisa smiled before she pecked her sister’s cheek. “Now, go talk to her before she destroys your signed football.” Michael’s eyes widened as he placed Lisa on the sofa before running out of the living room to go up the stairs.
………………………………………..
“Andrea?” Michael called from the doorway as he peeked inside his own room. It was weird but this was just how things were now.
Andrea was sat on the bed with a frown on her face as she watched tv.
“What?” Michael sighed as he heard the hostility in his own voice. “Can I come in?”
“Well, it’s your room. Do whatever the fuck you want to.”
Sighing again, Michael walked into the room before he went over to sit on the bed. Andrea frowned before she scooted away from her own body.
“Come on, just talk to me, honey.”
Andrea rolled her eyes before she changed channels, just to distract herself.
“If you would’ve just told me that you were a dy—lesbian, I would’ve understood.” Andrea looked at herself, before she frowned. “As if you ever wanted to hear me out.”
Michael didn’t know what it was that hurt him the most. There was just too much that caused a pain in his heart. “It’s not like that, honey.”
Andrea didn’t listen as she ignored her father the best she could without shedding tears again. She felt weird for crying out loud in a grown-ass man’s body.
“You know, I’m proud of you for what you did today.” It was a weird way to get Andrea to talk to him but he did feel a sense of pride at what Andrea had managed to do. Something that he couldn’t do himself for years.
This caught Andrea’s attention as she looked at herself. “What?”
“I’m proud of you for getting fired.” Andrea snorted as she leaned a little forward. “I didn’t even tell you the best of it.” Michael raised an eyebrow as he watched Andrea smirk smugly.
“When he fired me, I told him how I couldn’t work in a box and that I’d rather die than to work there. Oh, and I also announced that I’d go work in some sport related job.”
Michael burst out in laughter as he tried to imagine his boss’ face.
“I’m sure, he would’ve been surprised.”
Andrea’s smirk didn’t go away as she nodded her head. “Oh yeah, he was surprised alright. I even preached for everyone there to just go do what they loved.”
Michael felt his heart swell with pride as he heard Andrea talk like that. Yes, it did feel weird to see himself talk so freely but it was a nice change.
“I even went to my school to see if they had a job opening there and they have two job openings.” Michael raised an eyebrow as Andrea continued. “One’s for a gym teacher and I don’t know about the other one.”
“Are you going to apply there?” Andrea nodded her head. “Oh yeah, I’ll love to be there myself at all times. What if those girls do something to my beautiful body? I know, you won’t stop them cause you’re too nice.”
Michael frowned as he heard her call him nice. “Hey, I can be a little hard too.”
“Oh please, you can’t even curse at someone.”
Michael didn’t want to agree but she was right. He disliked cursing; he just didn’t know how Andrea learned to like it.
“But to tell you the truth, I really don’t like cursing too.” Michael was surprised as he looked at Andrea with his mouth open.
Andrea chuckled before she nodded her head.
“When I started high school, I made friends in the wrong crowd. They tried to get me to drink and smoke but I hated both. But they somehow got me cursing. It was just something that this guy told me that I still remember even now.” Michael didn’t know all of this had happened in his daughter’s life as he listened attentively.
He was proud that she didn’t succumb to peer pressure and didn’t drink or smoke at an illegal age.
“He told me that cursing was a good way to tell someone you’re fearless.” Michael frowned as Andrea continued. “I didn’t believe him at first but when Olivia’s little gang began to bully me, I found out that it was quite effective.”
Michael nodded as Andrea sighed.
“Well, that Olivia girl is sure pretty.” Andrea squinted her eyes at Michael as she pushed his shoulder. “You’re an old man, that’s disgusting.”
“Hey, right now, I’m a teenager.”
Andrea laughed as Michael smirked at her.
They didn’t even notice between their conversations how one part of the snowflake tattoo on their shoulders disappeared.
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