I Got You ~ C.B

TWENTY-EIGHT

He gives me a tour of the house after we drop our bags into his childhood room. Unlike my childhood room back home, there's nothing that really shows that he has lived in there most of his life. I know in my room I still have a whole wall painted with chalkboard paint with things I've written and drawn on it in white chalk when I sixteen. My furniture has never moved, same quilt covers, books falling off shelves. At least I think I do, mum and James could have given Maisie the room by now, I haven't even asked. Colby's room it's neat, clean, nothing on the walls. However the furniture is tell-tale teenage boy furniture. Black painted wooden bed frame, bedside table and desk to match. Grey bedding, a basic steel and white shade lamp on the nightstand, a pile of books on the shelves next to the desk. Very basic, almost lifeless. I ask him of it when we return to it after the tour
"Did they recently spring clean the crap out of this room?"
He chuckles, looking up at the ceiling as he lies on the bed like I do
"No, I brought most of what I owned to LA with me. The rest I just threw out. Same furniture though."
I smile
"I did assume that. There was no way you were this clean if a teenager."
He shakes his head
"Absolutely not."
After a quite moment- which I spend taking in that I'm for the first time inside the childhood bedroom of a guy I'm seeing in his home town, in his family home- he asks
"See- that wasn't too bad was it?"
I turn my head to face him, raising an eyebrow
"What wasn't?"
"Meeting my family," he explains "I could tell you were anxious the whole flight Rey."
I sigh, nodding
"I was expecting the worst. But they're amazing. No wonder you turned out like you did."
"Emo?"
"Yes," I giggle "and incredibly good natured and charming. Polite, welcoming, accepting... they just welcomed me in so easily."
Sensing there's something more, he nudges me with his shoulder
"Keep going."
I do
"I just wish my family could have made you feel the same way your family has made me feel."
He takes my hand on the gap of mattress between us
"Baby, all families are flawed. They're on the super best behaviour right now because I've never done this before and they're scared they're going to ruin it. Your family, albeit a little dramatic, Did still make me feel accepted and all that. Except for maybe Sadie, but the rest I got along with. I still got their approval, which is all that counts to me."
He pauses, ponders, and adds
"Then again, if they didn't I don't think it would have made a difference."
I bite my lip, leaning into him to kiss him. Breaking it before he can try to roll over me and progress the kiss, I tell him
"I'm going to go see if your momma needs help."
He groans, standing up after me
"That means I should too."
I take his hand, leading him back downstairs comfortably. I ask him in a hushed tone as we do
"Your Mom wants me to call her mom. Do I call your dad, dad?"
He contemplates, deciding when we hit the bottom step
"Since they're already planning our wedding, I'd say yeah."

I spend the next hour helping Mom do the dishes, setting the table, making mashed potatoes and greens. We chat about her recipes and their family Thanksgiving traditions. And when we have time to spare, we have a cup of tea and look through photo albums. This is one thing I'm glad my family were too caught up in themselves to remember to do, baby photos. Old family photos are terrifying to me, at least my family photos. I would greatly love to just burn half of them. Their ones are sweet though. Actually nice ones. Colby was an adorable kid, I especially love the ones when we finally hit the year his inner emo came to light. He looks like the kid out of that Black Veil Brides music video. When there's nothing else to be done, I head upstairs to freshen up and get out of my plane clothes. Then I join Gage and Colby in Gage's room, where he has brought his Xbox home and set up in his room which bears a great likeness to Colby's, only his has a tv inside. They're playing Mortal Kombat, and I sit on Gage's bed watching the gameplay while they sit on the floor beside it. After Colby loses to Gage, again, he offers me the controller
"Your turn. I'm going to break something if I don't put myself in a time out."
"Yeah," Gage begins "you much of a gamer, Rey?"
I shrug, moving and sitting between Colby's legs on the floor, his arms coming around me as he hugs me to him, head on my shoulder
"I wouldn't call myself a gamer, but-"
Before I can finish, we're choosing our characters. Of course, I go straight to Kitana. Colby stating before I even select her, without even looking
"She's playing Kitana in an up coming movie. She'll pick Kitana."
It's then that the tv says 'Kitana' and he laughs against me. I roll my eyes, and begin the match with Gage. It doesn't last long. It was a flawless victory on my behalf, ending on my fatality- slicing the arms and head off of Gage's Scorpion with my fans. I turn to the brothers, who look at the screen blankly, trying to process what happened- and how it happened so quickly. I giggle, tilting my head back to kiss Colby's jaw
"Your turn."
Colby catches me before I can stand
"I thought you weren't into video games!"
He tickles me, and I hat his hand away
"I'm not. This is a special circumstance... and one called DOA but I haven't seen it since 2006. And Minecraft- thanks to you."
Colby smiles over my face
"Six months of dating and I'm still learning things about you everyday."
Gage, I see out the corner of my eye, puts a finger in his mouth and pretends to gag around it. It's then that Mom pokes her head into the room
"Visitors are here- and they're very excited to see our special guest. Come say hi, kids."
And turning off the console, we head back downstairs to do just that.