You, Me and My Family

Chapter 33- Desserts and Shirts Part III

"I just wanted to warn you. My family is in there. I am going to introduce you, okay?" I gulp and nod my head. He nods and let go of my hand as he grabs the Tupperware container. He holds my hand again as we walk up into the house.

"Here he is," shouts someone. I walk into the house and am met with six expectant faces, one nervous face and Ty. Ben seems a little nervous, but I think it is not for me, but because of the old man sitting by him because he keeps doing quick glances at him.

"This is my girlfriend Aitana Hurst. Aitana Hurst, this is my dad's family. The couple on the couch are my grandma and grandpa. You met my parents already." His parents give me a little wave. "The guy by my dad is my Uncle Jonathan and his wife my Aunt Anna. I have another aunt on my dad's family, but she lives in California."

"Hello," I say politely which means quietly in my case.

"That was fast. It's been only a month or two since you got here, Devlin. What's the rush?" That doesn't sound good. Now, I know why Ben was nervous.

"Must be the knockers. You don't see ones like those every day," says the grandma right after. I don't think that the question was supposed to be answered, but she didn’t seem to know that. I can feel myself heating up.

"Grandpa! Grandma! Excuse my grandparents, Ai. They don't mean anything by it, right?" His grandma looked a little confused, but his grandpa did some mumbling in agreement, I think.

"Well, it is nice to meet you," said Devlin's aunt as she stepped forward. Her husband steps forward a second later and says, "Yes. Nice to meet you."

"Well, we're going to go upstairs then," suggested Devlin.

"Why don't you guys stay down here and watch a movie with us?" suggested Devlin's grandpa instead. Ty passed us on the way to the couch and whispered, "Already tried that." Devlin shrugged and we joined the family on the couch. The arrangement was Devlin's grandma, the grandpa, Ben, Ty, Devlin and then me. Ty tried to squeeze in between his grandpa and Ben, but his grandpa wouldn't budge and kept Ben from budging as well. His parents sat on the other couch with his aunt and uncle. So that is how we sat while we watched A Chrismas Story for the rest of the night. When 10:30 rolls around, Devlin suggests that he takes me home. Ben and Ty agree wholeheartingly so much so that Ben jumped up before Devlin even finished his sentence. Ben and I give a goodbye and head out.

*** **

Ben's POV

It was fun hanging out with Ty and his family, but I have to say that I am glad when we finally pull up to my house. Ty's grandpa scares me. Ty tried to help out by sitting between us, but his grandpa held me in place and told him to just sit on my other side. I tried to move out of his grasp, but the old man has a strong grip. I literally jumped at the chance to leave when Devlin suggested it. Breathing a sigh of relief, I get out of the car. Ty hops out and follows me.

"I'm sorry about my grandpa. The old man can be a pain," he said as he walked behind me on purpose. Ty doesn't like to show a lot of emotions and I think it is because of bullies picking on him because of him being gay. Still, sometimes when I know he is feeling unsure, he hides his emotions from even me, his boyfriend. Once we get on my porch, I grab his hand and bring him to the corner of the porch that I know is hidden from the street by the huge tree in my yard. I don't want him worrying about if we have an audience or not.

"Stop that."

"What?" he says even as he has his mask on.

"Putting on that face. You don't need to hide from me . . ever." I knew I got his attention when his face seemed relaxed. "I had fun, but I think it is better with just us two." I leaned in and had no resistance as we kissed. "Yep, definitely better," I comment as I pull away.