Back To Our Roots, Book One

XXIX. Nick Meets The Sterlings

"Hi, Jeff!" Mrs. Sterling said cheerfully when Jeff got in the car.

"Hey, ma. So, Nick's coming for Christmas."

Nick waved shyly, not quite sure what her reaction would be.

She smiled brightly. "Oh, this is the famous Nick? I've been dying to meet you."

Nick didn't quite know what to say to that. "It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Sterling."

"Oh, please call me Mary." She looked at Jeff in the mirror. "If I let you two stay in the same room, can you promise me no sex?"

Jeff rolled his eyes, used to it, and Nick went a furious red.

"Of course," Jeff answered for both of them. Nick nodded.

"I'm not participating in a kidnapping, am I? His family's okay with this?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I could go bungee jumping and they wouldn't care. They'd probably just hope the cord would snap," Nick mumbled.

Seeing the looks on their faces, he chuckled sheepishly. "You heard that, didn't you?"

"Nick, honey, I'm sorry," Mrs. Sterling said sympathetically.

Nick smiled softly. "I found a better family at Dalton."

"Oh, my." Mrs. Sterling set a hand to her heart. "That's so sweet."

They were there before long, Nick and Jeff grabbing their bags out of the back of the car.

Jeff bumped into his shoulder. "I told you they'd like you."

Nick seemed to be in awe. "Is all your family like that?"

"You mean being so cool with it and treating you the same way they would if I had a girlfriend? Pretty much," Jeff chuckled.

They headed up to the house, Nick's nervousness coming back. What if they didn't like him? Not because he was gay, they were fine with Jeff. What if they simply didn't like him, though? His personality?

Right before they entered the house, Jeff quietly said something to him so his mother couldn't hear. "Oh, and don't take anything the redhead says to heart."

Before Nick could ask what he meant and why he'd tell him that now, they were walking into the house and greeting Jeff's father.

"So this is Nick," he said, shaking his hand. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Sterling," Nick said nervously.

He waved his hand. "Oh, I was never one for formalities. Call me Harry."

Nick smiled and nodded, not sure how to respond.

Harry messed up Jeff's hair. "You two should put your bags away, dinner's almost ready."

They nodded, Jeff leading Nick up a staircase and down a hallway.

One of the doors opened. "Who is–" she stopped short. "Oh." Her tone was flat as her hair when she saw it was Jeff.

Nick unconsciously tensed up, seeing that her hair was red. He didn't know how worried he should be.

It wasn't ginger, either. It was a bright, maraschino cherry red.

"Who's this?" she asked interestedly, looking Nick up and down.

"I'd appreciate it if you stopped checking out my boyfriend, Emily," Jeff said, extra emphasis on 'boyfriend.'

She wrinkled her nose. "Ew."

With that, she was back in her room.

Nick relaxed, and Jeff rolled his eyes. "Sorry about her, she's my cousin and she doesn't really like me. By association, she doesn't like you either."