The good news was, Tabby was no longer barricaded away from those who cared about her who could take care of her after the events of that night.
The bad news was, the door would need to be repaired.
The further bad news was, Rush was weeks away from eighteen and already kind of scary.
I decided to file that away to worry about at a later date (if I was around to worry about it) and instead prioritize.
This led us to now. Tabby took the ice and set aside the fast food cup but she also instantly curled with her back facing me, her face resting on the ice, me sitting on the side of her bed begging her to talk to me. Through this, her brother was standing across the room, arms crossed on his chest, looking like he wanted to murder someone.
I decided pleading wasn’t working so I tried another tactic.
“Okay, I’ll admit, maybe I lost my cool and didn’t handle that too well,” I told her.
Finally, a response.
“You think?” she muttered to her pillow.
“Tab, my beautiful girl, he hurt you,” I whispered.
No response.
“I’m worried about you, baby, and not just because you’re going to have a black eye tomorrow,” I said softly.
Still no response.
I kept at it.
“I’m worried because you have a boyfriend. I’m worried because of his age. I’m worried because you didn’t tell me or your Dad about it.”
Her eyes slid to me and she hissed, “You’re not my Mom.”
“No, but I’m your friend.”
Her eyes slid away while she stated, “You’re not that either.”
Ouch.
That hurt but I kept trying.
Putting my hand on her, I whispered, “Honey –”
Her shoulder twitched to shake my hand off but I felt something new in the room, it wasn’t a good new and I turned to the door just as Tack ordered, “Sit your ass up, now.”
Oh boy.
Seeing as his eyes were on his daughter I knew he wasn’t talking to me but I still got to my feet beside the bed.
“Can everyone just go away?” Tabby asked in a teenage whine.
“Ass. Up. Now,” Tack demanded, coming to stand at the foot of the bed where he crossed his arms on his chest just like his son was still doing.
I assessed him.
Nope.
The dragon had awoken and he wasn’t feeling tired just yet.
This wasn’t good.