"Dad..."
You groan, trying to move away from the tiny hand shaking your shoulder. "Dad..."
"Ugh..." you groan again, this time reluctantly opening your eyes as the shaking becomes more persistent. You look over at the clock. Only seven in the morning. You hoped to sleep in a little later than that, but you know that's asking for too much.
Your vision focuses in on your shoulder aggressor. "Adagio? Why are you up so early?"
"I needed help with..." She looks over at Aria beside you, who begins to stir to life. "Can you just come help me in my room?" Adagio says in a hushed tone.
Aria slowly opens her eyes to see her sister, then as soon as she does, they open wide in terror, a massive blush coming over her face. She turns over in the covers to try to hide herself, but the damage has already been done.
You turn up to get out of bed, leaving the embarrassed Aria underneath the covers. Adagio wouldn't ever use that against her sister, unless Aria somehow really pisses her off, but you haven't seen Adagio anything but cool and collected for quite a while now.
You follow her into her room, where you find one of her shirts laying on her bed, already stretched out around the collar slightly.
"What's wrong, Adagio?"
"I just... needed some help getting this shirt on," she says, picking the shirt up carefully.
"And you didn't want to say that in front of your sister because...?"
You can see a tiny bit of frustration cross her face. "Can you just help me, please?"
You put your hands up innocently, trying to curb her wrath. "Alright, alright."
Adagio takes her other shirt off, and tries to put on the other one. As you attempt to work around her insanely thick, curly hair and get her shirt on, you could tell how it got stretched out in the first place. Once you pull her hair out of the collar, you could see the shirt is at least two sizes too small for her and clings way too tightly to her body. You close your eyes and shake your head.
"Honey, it's not going to fit. You'll just have to find another one." You hadn't taken them out clothes shopping in quite a while, and there's no doubt they've probably outgrown half of their wardrobe in the past couple of years.
Once you open your eyes, you see Adagio is looking up at you, almost at the verge of tears. No doubt she thought you were shaking your head at her.
"Adagio, honey, what's wrong?" you say, concern overtaking your expression as you kneel down to her level and put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm getting fat, aren't I?" Adagio says, a pout forming on her face as she looks down at her body then back to you.
Your concern turns to amusement. "What? What made you think that?"
Adagio takes a deep breath. Oh lord, here it comes. "Indigo called me fat yesterday and said that was why none of the boys ever talked to me, then once we ate dinner I noticed I was the only one who ate everything and then this morning I tried to put on this shirt but it was really tight and I think Indigo was right and I'm getting fat and I'll never get married and have kids because I'll be--"
You give Adagio a little shake to snap her attention back to you. Damn this girl could talk fast sometimes. "Honey, you're not getting fat. You're just growing. This shirt is way too small for a girl your size."
"But Indigo said--"
You give Adagio a stern look to stop her mid-sentence. "You and Aria need to stop listening to this Indigo girl. She is causing nothing but trouble around here."
"B-but the shirt doesn't fit! And look," Adagio says, pinching a little section of skin on her arm.
You give her a little laugh. She has the exact opposite problem Aria does. She is way too young to already have body insecurities, and imaginary ones at that. All three of them could stand to gain a few pounds so they could grow properly.
"Sweetie, you're not fat. You're just growing. It's perfectly natural for a girl your age to start growing out of her clothes. Besides, school is starting up again in a few weeks. You and your sisters probably need some new clothes anyway."
A hopeful light returns to Adagio's eyes. "You mean it? You don't think I'm fat?"
"Of course not. You could be a model when you grow up if you keep looking like that." That got a smile out of Adagio. It always makes your day a little better to see that smile. "Now come on. Now that I have the day off it'd be good to spend it getting some new clothes for you and your sisters, don't you think?"
"Sounds good to me."
"Good, now we just have to wake up Sonata."
Adagio smiles up at you. "Not it!" she says as she goes back into her closet, leaving you to the agonizing process of getting that six year old out of bed.
After that nightmare of a process, full of the usual grunts and groans, you finally get Sonata to the dinner table for a bowl of cereal before you finally leave. Once you get Adagio and Sonata ready, Aria is a bit harder to coax out of bed. Her face was still red with embarrassment that her sister saw her sleeping in your bed, and once you said something about clothes shopping, Aria definitely didn't want anything to do with it. After another long process of convincing you finally told Aria to suck it up and get in the car. By the time that actually happened it was closer to nine.
Just as soon as you pulled out of the driveway, the drama already started.
"Why does Adagio always get to sit in the front seat?" Aria says, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Because I'm the oldest," Adagio shoots back. She looks almost confused that Aria would even question the order of things.
"So? Why do I always have to sit in the back with this baby?"
"I am not a baby!" Sonata says.
"Last time I checked most babies needed booster seats."
You sigh. You're never going to get away from it.
"Sonata isn't big enough for it to be safe without it." Aria smiles triumphantly at her sister at that. "But that doesn't mean she's still a baby, Aria." And then quickly loses it as you shoot her down.
"Maybe you have to sit back there because you're still a baby too," Adagio mumbles under her breath.
"What?!" Aria shouts. She definitely heard that one. You look over at Adagio, surprised that she actually threw an insult back at her sister.
"Maybe you just don't have the emotional maturity to sit in the front seat," Adagio says, pushing her glasses up her nose.
"What does that even mean?"
"It means just because you don't look like a baby doesn't mean you still don't act like one. What nine year old still sleeps in her par--"
"Adagio!" you say, giving her a stern look. As soon as you cut her off, you can see she's wondering where that came from too. "What's gotten into you?"
"S-sorry, Dad." She casts a quick glance back at Aria before looking down into her lap.
You adjust the mirror to see Aria's fists clenching hard, positively seething at Adagio. Sonata's sitting there wide-eyed at the display. "Wait, where was Aria sleeping?"
"Nowhere!" Aria blurted. "Just shut up, Sonata. No one asked you."
"But I was asking Adagio." Sonata's face turned to a pout. "Why are you always so grumpy?"
Aria let out a grunt of frustration. Before she could actually say anything, you speak up. "Aria... leave your sister alone."
"Fine."
You adjust the mirror towards her and give her a stern look. She meets your eyes and crosses her arms tighter before looking away and giving you a weak, defeated "Yes, sir."
You finally get to the mall just before another drama outbreak starts. As you pull into a parking space, you quickly remind the girls to be on their best behavior, or else they won't get to buy the clothes they want.
As soon as you walk into the stores and start actually letting them pick things out, you quickly learn how bad of a decision letting them choose themselves was. Adagio had some semblance of style and actually picked out something decent, albeit expensive, but Aria and Sonata... With Aria, you don't think you've ever seen a ten year old want to go goth this badly. Every shirt and jacket was pitch black, and she even tried to try on a pair of combat boots. Thankfully they didn't actually have any for kids. When you told her that you weren't going to buy her any leather because she would outgrow it too fast, she glared at you like she was about to start calling you names again.
Sonata on the other hand... you'd never seen so much pink in your life. Pink pants, pink shirts, pink shoes, pink socks, pink underwear. You're convinced she'd dye herself pink if you let her. She actually tears up a little when you tell her she needs to find something other than pink to wear.
You let out a long sigh as even something as simple as clothes shopping became infinitely more complicated than it needed to be. You really wish their mother was here to help. Your throughts drift away to a time where you might do something like this with her, smiling as you knew she'd obviously deal a lot better with picking out some good girl's clothes. The thought only made the reality that she isn't here even worse.
"Dad... are you alright?" Adagio asks you, tugging on your sleeve and snapping you out of the reverie you were in.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"You just looked... sad, or something." Adagio looks up to you with a concerned tone. Just as you open your mouth she speaks up again. "You aren't mad about what I said to Aria, are you?"
"No, no. That's not it. I just... I'm just having a hard time with this whole clothes shopping thing. I don't know if I can really send Aria and Sonata to school in good conscience with the clothes they're picking out." You give Adagio a smile, but you can't really tell if she bought it or not.
"I can help! I read something the other day about color coordination. I could definitely pick out something that will look good on them."
"That would be wonderful," you say, giving Adagio a thankful pat on the head. "Just try find something a little less expensive, alright?"
"O-oh, alright."
After another few less excruciting hours, you have a pile of rather expensive new clothes for the girls. Aria's selection still had a few too many skulls surrounded by black fabric and Sonata's pick was still pretty pink-heavy, but to Adagio's credit it certainly could've been worse. You admit defeat and buy it for the girls, knowing their mother would probably have a fit if she could see what you got them. Once you take a solid hit to your bank account, you decide that's probably enough fun for the day.
You almost get out of the mall before you realize you're missing one. You stop suddenly, making Aria run into your leg and since Sonata was holding your hand, you give her a little jerk when you stop. "Wait, where'd Adagio go?"
Aria gives you an uncaring shrug, but Sonata looks around like a bloodhound before finally pointing to a big sign for a future designer clothes store. You find Adagio standing there staring up at the sign: a shirtless male model with a pretty chiseled six pack, covered in a glistening layer of water as he modeled some funny-looking shorts. You bring your hand to your own stomach for a moment, lamenting the loss of your own fit, high school body as you walk up to her.
"Dagi, why are you staring at the naked man?" Sonata asks.
Adagio seems to jump at the sound. You droop a little at the realization of what exactly Adagio was just doing. You are not prepared to deal with this at all.
"What? I wasn't staring at anything," Adagio blurts out, a tiny blush forming on her face.
A sly smile crosses Aria's face at the display. "Looks like Adagio has a crush," she said in a sing-song, teasing voice.
"I do not! I was just looking at how--"
Aria's smile grows even wider. "How dreamy he was? How great your wedding is going to be?"
Adagio's blush grows even darker as she slowly gets more pissed at Aria. "That's not what I was going to say!" she says with a little stomp of her foot. As cute as that was, you know Aria is playing with fire on this one, and you've already had a long enough day as it is without Adagio bringing down the brunt of her wit on her sister.
"That's enough, you two. Don't worry about what Adagio was doing; let's just get home so we can get everything out of these bags, okay?"
"Unless we have to stop every five seconds for Adagio to stare at every guy she sees."
Adagio gets even redder at that one. She opens her mouth to say something, but you give her a quick, stern look and she stops her impending barrage. You let out a sigh of relief. At least one of them actually listened to you. "Aria, leave your sister alone. This is your last warning."
Aria went stiff at that, making sure to look in the opposite direction of Adagio. It wouldn't be the first time you had to punish her two days in a row, and you can only imagine it wouldn't be the last. You adjust the myriad of bags in your hands, just hoping you could get out of here without another incident.
"Mrs. Cheerilee!" Adagio says, completely forgetting about her previous embarrassment. You sigh as she runs off in another direction, but as you watch her go you remember that name.
"Hello, dear. It's so nice to see you here!" Cheerilee says, leaning down to give Adagio a hug.
"Teacher's pet..." Aria mutters. You ignore her as you walk up to the pair.
"Well, long time no see," you say, giving your old high school teacher a smile.
"Oh," she says, perking up as she sees you. "I'm just seeing everyone today, aren't I?"
"Mrs. Cheerilee, this is my dad," Adagio says proudly.
"Oh really," Cheerilee says, raising an eyebrow at you as she looks across your three girls.
"Hey, I've been pretty busy since high school," you say with a sheepish smile.
Cheerilee gives you one back. "I can certainly see that."
"Wait, you two already know each other?" Adagio asks.
"We sure do. Cheerilee was actually my teacher in high school."
Adagio looks between the two of you in amazement. "But she's so young..."
Cheerilee giggles at that. You're not exactly sure how to take it. "I'm not that young, dear."
"Couldn't take high school anymore?" you ask.
"Oh, middle schoolers are so much easier to deal with, and when the superintendent told me they needed someone like me in the new school I couldn't resist."
"Yeah... I remember some kids giving you quite the hard time."
Cheerilee gives you a playful smile. "I don't remember you being any easier to deal with either. It seems every other day I'd catch you distracting Su--" Cheerilee caught herself mid-sentence. Her expression immediately turned apologetic. She looked between you and the girls, not exactly sure how to handle the situation. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to--"
You raise a hand to stop her. The start of her name took you off gaurd. Even after two years a lump still formed in your throat every time you thought of her. You clear your throat and give Cheerilee an easygoing smile. "Hey, don't worry about it. Listen, it's been a long day for the girls and I, and I should really get them home, but I'd love to catch up some time."
Cheerilee perks up. "Oh! Of course. We could certainly get together some time this weekend if you'd like. Would you like my number?"
"Of course."
Sonata and Aria look between each other and let out a quiet "oooooh" at the exchange. "Looks like someone else has a crush too," Aria whispers to her sister, eliciting a little giggle from Sonata. You nudge her as you take down Cheerilee's number and tell her goodbye. Adagio is standing there awestruck at the exchange you two just had.
Once the three of you get back into the car, Adagio looks apprehensive, like she wants to ask you a question. After you get back onto the road, she finally speaks up.
"Dad... is Cheerilee going to be our new mom?"
Uh oh. You wince at the question, reminding yourself to have a talk with Adagio later to remind her she's the only one who knows the truth. You brace yourself for the oncoming drama.
"What? How are we gonna have a new mom when we're still waiting for our mom to come back," Aria says. Adagio freezes up, immediately realizing the error of her ways. She opens her mouth, but it looks like she has no idea what to say.
"And Dad, I'm totally going to tell on you when Mom gets back for this. She is gonna be so mad when she hears you have a crush on Adagio's teacher," Aria says, a mischevious smile on her face. Your heart sinks for a moment. You know now isn't the time to tell her, even if she's way too old to still believe that lie.
"It's... It's not like that, Aria. We're just friends, okay?"
"Whatever you say, Dad."
"Is she gonna be our new babysitter?" Sonata asks, prompting Aria to roll her eyes.
"The only reason we even need a babysitter anymore is because of you, you big baby."
"Aria, do not start this right now!" you say a little louder than you intended to. All three of the girls jump at your volume, and end up staring at you with a little fear in their eyes.
"O-okay... I'm sorry, Dad," Aria says, her voice cracking.
You sigh. "I'm sorry, honey. It's just been a long day and I think we're all a little worn out. Let's just listen to the radio."
The rest of the ride home is pretty quiet somehow. It would almost be nice if all three girls weren't pointing their worried glances towards you constantly. You can't even enjoy the silence after the awkwardness of yelling at Aria like that. You chide yourself for it, but not like you can really do anything about it now.
Once you get home the tension starts unwinding a little bit, the usual bickering between Sonata and Aria starts up again as you eat dinner and let them play for a little bit before bed. Adagio is surprisingly quiet through it all, but you can't bring yourself to pay too much attention to it. You spent way too much of the day thinking about her, and now all you need is something to take your mind off of it.
Once all the girls went to bed, you drag a bottle of whiskey off of the top shelf and grab yourself a glass. You sit in your chair in front of a blank tv, just taking shot after shot, trying to take your mind off of her. You try to think about Cheerilee, and how maybe you could spin that meetup into another few dates. You try to think about work too, and play with the dream of finally starting that business so you didn't have to put up with so much shit anymore. None of it really occupied you for long. When the world got quiet, you could never help but let your mind wander back to her.
"Dad?" you hear from behind you. You jump a little at the sound. Once you turn around you see Adagio standing there, a worried look still on her face.
You scoot the bottle behind the chair, hoping Adagio wouldn't put two and two together, and then look up to the clock to see it is way past this girl's bedtime. "Honey, what are you doing up so late?" you say. You're surprised at your clarity. After that many shots you expected at least a little slur.
"I couldn't sleep."
"Why not?"
Adagio looks away from you for a moment. "I... I kept thinking about Mom."
You look over to her. She looks between you and your lap anxiously, as if standing there next to you is making her uncomfortable. "Come here, honey," you say.
She crawls up onto your lap, making you wince and try to adjust under her weight. She's getting too old for this. You put a hand around her anyway as she curls up next to you.
"How do you forget?" she asks.
"W-what?" The question catches you off guard for a moment. If she was ten years old you might say whiskey, but that didn't really seem appropriate.
"How do you forget Mom so easily? I think about her all the time and I just miss her so much," Adagio pauses, bringing her knees up to her chest. "How do you just keep going so easily."
You let out a long sigh. "I've never forgotten her, sweetie. Sometimes I can't think of anything else."
"But you never seem sad or anything. I... I still cry sometimes about it," Adagio says, looking away from you. She looks a little ashamed to have said that.
"Honey, when you're a grown-up sometimes you just don't have time to be sad. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and do what you have to do for the people you care for." You think about the whiskey bottle sitting behind the chair. Not exactly the most responsible thing to do. "I have to go to work and take care of you girls. I can't afford to spend too much time being sad."
"But you still remember her?"
You run a hand through Adagio's thick, curly hair. "Of course I do, sweetie. Not a day goes by that I don't still think of her."
"Then what about Cheerilee?"
"What about her?"
"If you can't forget about Mom, then how is Cheerilee going to be our new mom."
You give her a laugh. You'd think a twelve-year-old would be a little more understanding of the whole romantic process, but who knows. "I don't know about all of that."
"So you really are just going to be friends with Cheerilee?"
"I don't know, honey. We haven't even gone out on a date yet."
"But you're thinking about going on a date with her?"
"I am."
Adagio furrows her brows at you, her lips turning down into a little scowl. "Why?"
You raise an eyebrow at her. "Why does it matter, sweetie?"
"Why do you want to replace Mom?" she says, anger growing in her voice.
That one took you even more off guard. You open your mouth to say something, but aren't sure what to say as you look into Adagio's angry little eyes.
"Adagio..."
"You're trying to replace her! She's only been gone two years and you've already moved on! How can you just do that?" she asks, tears starting to roll down her cheeks. You wrap her up tightly in a hug, feeling the sting of her words like an icy dagger ripping at your heart.
"Adagio listen to me," you say as she starts crying into your shirt. "I could never replace your mother in a million years. I'm never going to forget her for as long as I live, and I'll never find anyone that could ever come close to replacing her."
You stroke Adagio's hair as she cries into your chest. "Just because I want to spend time with someone else doesn't mean she'll ever replace your mom, okay? No one could ever make me forget about her," you say, feeling yourself choke up as well.
"I just miss her so much..." Adagio says between sobs.
You rock her back and forth, shushing her as you run your fingers through her hair. "I know, honey. I do too."
You sigh and hold her tightly against you. "I do too..."