Hold Me Close

Chapter Fifteen: Famiglia

"Not. A. Single. Word." I replied laughing. A small female pink wolf leaned back in her metal chair.

"It says seat yourself hun." She pointed to the sign.

"Thank you so much!" Evan exclaimedin relief. That was nice of her.

"By the way, you two make a great couple." She smiled, causing the both of us to blush as red as wine. [Haha, see what I did there? Wine? Italy? I'll just get back to writing...] We sat ourselves outside, taking in the amazing scenery as we looked at two preset menus.

"Let's see...pollo means chicken and bistecca means steak. That's all I know..." I said, looking down at the menu in my paws.

"Steak?!" Evan practically yelled, his eyes darting around trying to find the options on the menu.

"Calm it, meat lover." I laughed, giving him a wink. He rolled his eyes and continued to choose what he wanted to eat. Ten minutes later our food arrived. Some random chicken dish for me (which looked amazing by the way) and the waiter set a plate with one of the biggest steaks I had ever seen on it. I just shook my head, smiling, as I began to eat. I looked up at Evan to see him chewing what looked to be a piece of raw cow. In fact, it was purple that's how rare.

"How can you even eat that?" I asked him, pointing my fork at his meal.

"Ey, don't judge. Barely seared is the best way to go."

"Weirdo..."

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-=Evan=-

The sun was setting by the time we had come back to the house. A black sedan was parked on the street outside, and I could tell ot was Alex's parents by the way his ears flattened to his head as he noticed it. I grabbed his hand in an effort to comfort him, but it didn't seem to be helping, he was actually shivering. We walked inside, softly pressing the door closed with a satisfying click. At tge sound of our entering, a female's voice called out from the living room.

"Alex, is that you?" Who I could only assume was Alex's mom asked.

"Y-yeah mom it's me." He shakily replied. "Wait here." He silently mouthed to me. I nodded in agreement and took my shoes off, setting them with a few other pairs by the door. In the distance I could hear a muffled conversation of what seemed to be Alex quickly catching up with his parents. I perked my right ear up to listen in. "...promise you won't be upset...why would I be upset?" Then I saw Alex's paw motion through the doorway, signalling for me to come. I slowly walked in with my ears back and tail between my legs to see Alex's mom, a gray wolf in an armchair and his dad, a cream-colored wolf just like Alex leaning back in a brown leather recliner.

"Mom. Dad. This is my boyfriend, Alex." Alex's voice quietly forced out, scared of there reactoion. He closed his eyes, bracing for the worst. But the nightmare scenario never happened.

"Oh, so that's your name!" Alex's mom exclaimed. Alex snd I just stood there confused.

"Wait, what?" Alex questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah we knew he was a he. We saw you guys out and about earlier today! See." She handed Alex a silver camera, a picture of him and I walking by the cathederal holding hands wason the screen.

"So that was you taking the picture! And you're not mad?"

"Of course not honey. In fact your father and I have had a long running bet. He said you would never date a guy and I begged to differ, so now he owes me." She gave a devious smile, turning the camera off.

"Yeah, you've kinda screwed me over here son. It's a lot of money." His dad laughed, putting the leg rest down and sitting upright. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, I don't think either of us were expecting them to be this accepting.

We sat on the couch, also brown leather, and talked with his parents for the next three hours. Imediately I felt like I was among family, but that's Italian hospitality for you I guess. Over our conversations I learned that his mother, Susane, was an avid decorator and actually worked in interior design. His father, (Italian side is from here) Benito, or Ben for short, was a carpenter who worked odd hours.

"Well by God look at the time!" Susane said, looking at the small clock mounted on the wall above us. I leaned forward and turned my head to see it and it read 23:41. "We'd better get to bed, busy day tomorrow." We both hugged his parents tonight (Susane seemed insistant that I felt like family, which was working) and we parted ways. His parents took a side door out of the living room and to what must be their room and Alex and I went back into the hallway and towards our room.

"Well that went well." He said.

"I love them." I laughed, walking into the room behind him. We should actually get to sleep...

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Hey guys. Sorry this chapter took a little bit longer to get out, I've been really busy the past few days. The next chapter is aleeady pretty much planned out so I won't have to make it up as I write so it probably (and hopefully) won't take that long to get published. Hope you're enjoying so far and tysm for 300 reads!!