Head over Heels || brance

XXIX

Bruce's mother drove him to the Hopper residence. He had been nervous all morning and part of him wanted to lie to Vance and say he woke up sick, but he also wanted to meet Vance's family.

He had told his mother that morning about what had happened with Vance, how they talked things through and they were good again — he of course kept out the part of them kissing and that they weren't really dating before anyway. Mrs. Yamada had been a bit confused, asking multiple questions about the subject and if Bruce had told Vance about her telling Linda the neighbour. She had felt better knowing that things had been good again and she told Bruce that she would be expecting Vance to be over for dinner at some point during the week so she could 'apologise' better.

Amy had found it interesting that Bruce was so nervous to meet Vance's mother, especially when Bruce usually was never nervous to meet new people. Bruce just wanted to make a good impression on Vance's mother.

When the car pulled up in front of the house, Bruce took a few minutes to settle his breathing. His mother gave him a concerned look but he tried not to notice it too much.

He got out of the car, the heat hitting his body as he left the air conditioning behind. He smiled at his mother as he walked up the steps, knocking softly on the door. He kept glancing over his shoulder toward his mother, she leaned over the passenger seat, staring in his direction in case no one came to the door. It took a few minutes but eventually the door opened, a younger boy had answered the door staring at Bruce with an expressionless face. As far as Bruce knew, Vance didn't have any younger siblings, he had thought that maybe he knocked on the wrong door.

"Um, hi," Bruce spoke. "Is Vance home?" He looked past the boy, looking off into the house.

"I don't know." He answered, his voice sounding soft and sweet. Bruce was certain then that he had knocked on the wrong door and he could feel his hands get shaky at the encounter. He looked behind him at his mother again, watching as her expression turned confused.

"Is this the Hopper residence?" He asked, turning back to the boy. The boy didn't look much younger than Bruce but he still felt irritated by his lack of communication. The boy didn't answer at first, just seeming to stare at Bruce before he slowly nodded. "And Vance isn't home?" He repeated his question again only to receive a shrug from the boy.

Bruce didn't want to seem overbearing or bossy, but he wanted to just ask the boy to check. He didn't know what else to say or what to do and he knew his mother was staring bullets into his back which made him more nervous. Bruce silently wished that anyone but this boy had answered the door.

Bruce had to scan his brain for any kind of reply which made the air feel awkward as the boy stood staring at him in the doorway.

"Well... I'm here to see him, so... could you go see if he's home?" He said in the nicest way he could muster up, showing a friendly smile in hopes that the boy wouldn't turn his request down.

"I guess so." The sweetness that Bruce had heard in his voice was a bit sour now as he opened the door further, motioning for Bruce to enter. He turned to look at his mother once more before giving her a wave and entering the house. If Vance ended up not being home, he could just walk back to his place, he didn't need his mother waiting for him.

The boy shut the door behind him before turning down a hallway. The inside of the house was just as bright as the outside, the layout was pretty open except for that one hallway that the boy had turned down. Bruce kept his shoes on, standing on the welcome mat the decorated the entryway, he didn't want to untie his shoes to just tie them back up if Vance wasn't there.

He hoped Vance was home, he would be pretty irritated if he wasn't. He had told Bruce to come and although he never really gave him a time, he just sort of hoped Vance wouldn't go out anywhere in case Bruce decided to show up whenever he wanted, like now.