Love Beyond Words

"It's a beautiful day....," my phone blared, signaling it was time for me to get out of bed. "L... like h... heck it is," I grumbled as I turned off the alarm, resisting the urge to chuck the darned thing across the room. I forced myself to sit up in bed and groggily pushed my long, brown hair out of face and back behind my ear. I kept my eyes shut as I fumbled around on the nightstand for my glasses. The light coming in through the window was too much and, frankly, I couldn't see a danged thing until I found the glasses anyway! I found them right where they normally were, on my night-stand sitting precariously close to the edge. I'd knocked them off more than a few times, which always resulted in my frantically feeling around on the floor for them. Luckily today though I was able to grab them before that happened and slip them onto my face. "You awake in there, sweetie?" my dad called from the other side of the door. "Y... yea," I grumbled, not sure if I'd said it loud enough for him to hear me. "Great!" he called back, "Pancakes'll be ready in a few!" Dad's pancakes.... things were looking up! Most mornings Dad didn't have enough time to make pancakes. He had to rush off to work, which pretty much left me with either cereal or toast. He must have gotten up early to have had time to get a bit fancier for breakfast. I hoped he'd slept okay. Whatever the reason, I definitely was not complaining. Dad's pancakes were the best! Of course, if I was going to savor Dad's treat, I needed to get my own butt moving. I forced myself out of bed and stumbled across the hall into the bathroom. I took one glance at the disaster of a girl staring back at me in the mirror and shook my head. My hair was a total disaster, just like it always was first thing after I woke up. Not that it would be much better after I brushed it. I felt like it always had a frazzled look no matter what I did to try to tame it. Not that great hair would have done me much good with my face. I had on my thick dorky glasses with their black and pink frames that I thought were kind of cool when I first got them, a thought that my peers quickly dissuaded the first time I'd worn them to school. My ears were still big enough to warrant their own zip code, my freckles made me look like I had a perpetual case of chicken pox and I had this pimple on my right cheek that I was pretty sure was eventually just going to consume my entire head. The rest of my body wasn't anything to write home about either. I was tiny and scrawny and had it on good authority from all the girls at school that I was basically a little boy, not the 18 year old girl that my driver's license claimed I was. I brushed my teeth and made my best effort at taming my hair before conceding defeat and resolving to find myself a beanie. Beanies were a staple of my typical look, along with oversize sweaters and hoodies. I liked to imagine that I could hide in them, that I could make it so none of the other kids at school could see me. They always seemed to manage though... Well, that wasn't entirely true. Most of the time most of the kids ignored me, really. But every now and then Annie and her crew would decide it was high time to remind me of how pathetic I was. I hoped it wouldn't be one of those days. Content that my morning routine was finished, I made my way to my room to get dressed. Soon I was rocking a pair of skinny jeans, a red hoody with a retro anime character on it (Kenshin Himura if you must know), and a black beanie. I took one last glance at myself in the mirror over my vanity, decided I looked as terrible as ever, and made my way downstairs to drown my sorrows with syrupy goodness. I got downstairs and found Dad in the kitchen just as he was depositing our pancakes on our plates. He was already dressed for work, wearing a pair of khakis, a white button-up shirt and a blue tie. He was an accountant, and was always quick to assure me that it was, in fact, the most boring job in the world. I'd apparently gotten his build as the man was a skinny as a rail, though I certainly had NOT gotten his height. He was 6'2", which made him nearly a foot taller than me! We also shared the same wild brown hair, though he had the good-fortune of being able to get away with cutting it short. His eyes were a deep hazel, while I guess my own dark brown ones were something I'd inherited from my mother. I sometimes found myself wishing I'd known her better, my mom. She'd died when I was really little, so I didn't really remember her. Dad liked to tell me about her, though. It was obvious he loved her. I did sometimes wonder what she was really like though. I mean, from Dad's stories you'd think the woman was a saint, but I figured she probably actually had a few flaws despite Dad's constant insistence to the contrary. I was her daughter after all, so there was no way she was perfect! "Dig in, kiddo!" Dad said with a grin as he handed me my plate. "Th... thanks, Daddy," I said as I took the plate from him and made my way to the table. Dad was probably the only person in the whole world I felt comfortable talking to. He always gave me plenty of time to finish my sentences and never interrupted me or looked impatient as I struggled my way through. I wouldn't say I wasn't self-conscious around him, but it was certainly a lot less of a problem with him than it was with other people. I sat at the table and doused my pancakes with strawberry syrup. I knew it was a ton of calories and the last thing I needed to add to my list-of-many-flaws was getting fat, but for pancakes I'd indulge. I did, however, resolve to skip lunch later. Honestly that was probably for the best anyway, as then I could avoid the cafeteria. The cafeteria had other people in it, which wasn't really my scene! "So anything exciting going on at school today, Hannah," Dad asked as he sat down across from me. "No... Not really. I... I have a qui... quiz in hi... history," I stuttered out. "Hopefully your grades aren't history after you're done!" Dad joked. I rolled my eyes. The joke really was terrible, but I couldn't help but smile. We made what passed for small talk in a conversation where one of the two parties could barely speak, and before I knew it the pancakes were gone and it was time for Dad to go to work and me to go to school. We walked out the front door together, Dad heading for his car while I made my way for my bike. Before we parted ways, Dad wrapped his arms around me in a hug. "D... Dad! Not... not outside!" I exclaimed. "I love you Hannah," the man said. "G... God, I... I love you too. Now... now l... let go!" It was the same exchange that happened pretty much every morning when we parted ways. It was embarrassing as hell, and I always worried that somebody would see me. At the same time though, it was also one of the highlights of my days. As Dad drove off and I hopped onto my bike, though, I realized it was all downhill from there...