Page 100 of Waiting for Acceptance
I slide off the counter to grab a drink, walking back over to lean against the counter next to her. “One of? What’s the other side you favor?”
“Dat ass.” She slaps my butt and I burst out laughing, pulling her from her seat and into my arms.
“You are so weird,” I mumble into her hair, as I try burying my face in her neck. She giggles and wiggles around until her arms are draped over my neck. I brush her hair out of her face, and her features soften.
“So, what did you want to be when you were younger?”
My heart expands when she becomes the first person ever to ask me that. “A cowboy.” She laughs out loud and I smile from simply seeing her happy.
“If you’re serious, Taylor will never let us forget she was right about that.” I barely kiss her lips before her phone starts vibrating on the counter. We look over at the same time and I see the nameMotherappear on the screen. She lets out a frustrated breath before walking over to pick it up, hesitating before she slides the icon to answer it.
“Hello?” I watch as she rolls her eyes. “Yes, Mother. I didn’t forget.” She pulls the corner of her lip in with her teeth, chewing on it. Then her face falls and her mouth pops open. “But I—” She falls silent again and her eyes meet mine. I’m instantly on edge when I see the worry on her face. What the hell is being said on the other end of this call that’s making her look like…well, like she looked last night. “Okay. I will. Bye.”
“What’s the matter?” She slides her phone back onto the counter, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Um, my mother was reminding me about our family dinner this Friday.” When I look into her eyes they’re distant, unfocused on anything as she stares into the living room.
“Oh?”
“Yeah…” Her eyes finally meet mine. “She told me to bring my new boyfriend with me.”
“Is that a bad thing?” I frown, unsure why she seems so worried by it.
“It’s just… I wasn’t expecting it. That’s all.”
“I’m sure everything will be just fine.” I kiss her nose and see her relax.
“It’s just that?—”
I move my finger to her lips to stop her. “I’m not scared to meet your parents, Trouble. So you shouldn’t be either.”
“I’m not scared I just—” The oven timer goes off, stopping her again.
“Why don’t youjustlet me feed you, rub your feet, and help you forget how anxious you are about this dinner, okay?” I offer, seeing her glare at me.
“Well, I’m smart enough to know not to turn that down.”
I can’t believe I’m actually going to meet her parents. Her meeting my father was bad enough, maybe this will make up for the poor parent introductions. Seeing as how I can’t imagine any interactions between her andmyparents will ever go well. I’ll just have to charm hers enough to make her see that she has nothing to worry about.
CHAPTER 51
LAUREN
I have thought of about fifty different ways to get Fitz out of going to this dinner tomorrow night, and all of them would make it insanely obvious that I don’t want him to meet my parents. Which would probably raise questions, and since I don’t want to lie about anything else in my life, I’d have to tell the truth and at that point he might as well just meet them. I click my pen repeatedly as I stare blankly at my computer screen. The fact that I don’t even have the motivation to work today because I’m so worried about this has me tense and irritated. I’ve got a knot in my neck the size of a golf ball and no matter how much I try to get it to go away, it just keeps coming back with a vengeance. My phone vibrates on my desk and I look down to see Fitz’s name pop up on the screen.
Fitz
You look…troubled.
I look up to see him standing down the hallway, facing me with his phone in his hand, as one of the tech guys stands with a laptop in his hands in front of him.
Me
Just a knot in my neck I can’t get rid of. I see you’re back to your old ways of texting while someone is speaking to you.
Fitz
Well, he’s not talking, he’s waiting for this computer to load to ask me a question and insisted I stay right here because it would be “really quick”
