"You're wearing the necklace," was the first thing Roman said after saying hello. He said it like he expected me to not be wearing it.
"Yeah, I haven't really taken it off..." I replied truthfully.
"Good." He seemed pleased about this which in turn made me pleased with my actions.
Every time I'd thought about taking it off, I would go to do it and then stop right before I could. It felt like it would be wrong to take it off. Guys have gotten me presents before but they were always things that those men tried to use to buy me in a way. Another reason to make the majority of them believe it was okay to be with someone underage, until I turned 16 anyway and then I was just 'a little young'. The worst part was that I knew it was wrong, but I still allowed it to happen. But this gift felt special. Roman had given it to me simply because he thought about me when he saw it and because he wanted me to have it. How could I take it off after that?
"Romeyyyyyy," Genie called as she ran over on her little legs. When I looked further ahead, I saw Roman's parents looking over, but they seemed okay with their daughter running off as she was clearly headed for Roman. I did end up making awkward eye contact with Roman's mum though which made me look away almost immediately.
"Genevieve, I told you to stay with mum and dad," Roman lightly scolded his sister. When I looked over again, I could see his parents had sat down on some seating in the shopping centre with a few bags by their feet. I could only feel relief wash over me at not having to meet them yet.
"But I wanna stay with chuuu," Genie moaned as she made grabby hands at her older brother. She was fucking adorable. Roman seemed to think so too with the way his features softened up and he immediately brought her into his arms.
"You're soooo pwetty. Are you Romey's fwend?" Genie asked as she looked at me with these big doe eyes. They were the same brown as her older brother's eyes.
"Genie, it's 'pRetty' and 'fRiend'," Roman corrected emphasising the letter 'R' in both words. "But yeah, he is very pretty, isn't he? And he's more of a special friend."
"Special fRiend like Chloe was?" Genie asked getting the word 'friend' correct this time. I didn't know who Chloe was, but I had a feeling that maybe it was an ex.
"Maybe," was all Roman said before he turned to look me straight in the eyes at an intense stare. "If he wants to be sometime."
Was he asking me to be his boyfriend?! Or no... He said 'sometime' so he didn't mean right now. But how soon was sometime? Why did Charlie have to leave me? I need to ask him with this means. Or am I just freaking out and looking too much into it?
"You'd be the prettiest special friend Romey's ever had!" Genie complimented quite loudly as her enthusiasm overtook her.
"She's not wrong," Roman said in agreement.
I smiled, my heart pumping fast from how nervous and overwhelmed I was feeling, but so thankful that I had his baby sister's approval. "Thank you. You're very pretty too little one." Genie was very cute with her little pigtails.
"But you have such cool hair!" This girl was going to boost my fucking ego.
"Hey, stop complimenting him so much. I'm gonna start to think you're tryna steal him away from me and make him your special friend," Roman moaned in fake annoyance. "I saw him first so he's mine."
"Aww, no fair," Genie responded. Genie was my new favourite person in the whole entire world.
"You guys can always fight for me," I suggested.
"No. Genie would totally win," Roman said refusing before looking at his sister. "Go back to mum and dad already."
They argued back and forth for a couple minutes before Genie reluctantly ran back to her parents. I saw her and Roman's parents look at me again when I looked over, but I was quick to dismiss the eye contact once more.
"Sorry about her," Roman said. "What you doing here?"
"She's cute. And uh, Charlie made me come with him. He disappeared somewhere," I explained.
"Yeah, I saw him run off when I came over. Anyway, I'm glad you're here. I wanted to see if you wanna come over sometime soon?"
As much as I wanted to immediately say yes, I had to try and play things cool. I'm trying not to seem overeager with Roman so I don't I make him run for the hills.
"Yeah, I could do if I'm free," I replied.
"You free tonight?"
I didn't have long to answer because suddenly Roman's parents were beside us.
"Sorry to interrupt love, but our parking ticket's gonna be out of time soon so we should head home," Roman's mum said to him.
Genie was holding onto her dad's fingers completely entranced by the multiple rings on his hand. Now that I had a closer look, Roman's dad was kind of a dilf... Roman definitely got his looks from him. Their hair was the same black waves, their eye shape and nose the same, even the strong jawline Roman adorned was that of his father's. Roman seemed most noticeably to have the same colour eyes as his mother, perhaps the rest being personality that he shared with her. From the way Roman's father stood and the way he was quieter, he seemed more closed off and less open and outgoing like Roman did and that his mother kind of felt like she would be.
"Oh, yeah okay," Roman agreed.
"Who's your friend though?" Roman's mum asked turning to me with what seemed to be a kind smile. She was shorter than me but she was my crush's parent so I couldn't help but feel intimidated, especially with the way Roman's father's hard stare had also turned to face me.
"This is Alden. He's coming over tonight," Roman said. I didn't bother telling him that I hadn't actually said yes. I mean I was going to, so what difference did it make? Also, it was kind of hot how he just decided for me, or was I just being weird again? I could make my own decisions; I just didn't mind if he decided some things for me?
"Oh great, we'll see you tonight then Alden. Are you allergic to anything or have any food preferences? Don't want to make you a dinner you can't have," Roman's mum said.
"Oh, no I don't Mrs Kingsley, but uh I can always leave before dinner. You don't have to make anything," I replied.
"Oh please, I'd love to. You'll be the first boy Roman's ever brought home, so you just have to stay for dinner. It would make my day," she argued. Roman also got his smile from his mum. "And please just call me Sofia."
I reluctantly agreed and would probably now be in a constant state of panic leading up to dinner with Roman's parents. How did I get here again? We'd literally only just kissed yesterday!
"C'mon, we really have to get going," Roman's dad urged with a quiet voice. "I don't want to pay more because we went two minutes over."
"Yeah, I'll be right there dad," Roman said as his family began to walk away.
"Be quick," was all his father said.
"I will," Roman said back a little louder now that they were a few paces away from us.
"Sorry," Roman said turning to me now. "When I invited you round it wasn't so you can have dinner with my parents. You can totally come up with some excuse not to come if you don't want to."
The option to do that was honestly very tempting. I'd never had to meet anyone's parents before, so I had no idea what I was meant to do. How do I dress? What do I talk about? What do I definitely not talk about? But I couldn't possibly go back and decline the invitation when I'd already said yes. And I did want to see Roman tonight so if it meant I had to spend some time with his parents to do it then so be it, I guess.
"No, it's fine. I'll see you later..." I said awkwardly to Roman.
"Okay, great." A subtle smile overtook his face and he leant over to kiss me on the lips quickly before he had to go catch up with his parents. The kiss surprised me so much that I almost didn't even say goodbye when he left.
——
"Are you sure you're not boyfriends?" Charlie asked when I met him at his car. "I mean you're already meeting the parents."
"I'm so fucked." Roman's dad seemed terrifying and I'm sure his mum was nice but what if I say one wrong thing and screw everything up.
"You'll be fine." Charlie started the car and I called Dahlia on the way back.
"Dahlia I'm so fucked," I said not even bothering with hello. I put her on speaker and explained to her what happened.
"You're so fucked," she said.
"He's not fucked!" Charlie argued again. "All he has to do is be nice to them, tell them all the good things about himself and be as honest as possible but omit anything you wouldn't want your own parents to know about. And just big up how good their kid turned out, in this case Roman, and make sure to ask about their jobs and give them compliments on what they do."
"Please, Alden will forget to do at least half of that," Dahlia said.
"Thanks," I mumbled at the vote of confidence.
"I just mean... you always get in your head about things, especially when you're nervous. I think you need to just try to calm down while you're there as best as you can. Remember to think about what you say before you say it so you don't spew out a bunch of shit you definitely don't want them to know."
Dahlia was right of course. I always got too in my head about everything. Overthinking is my specialty, but I have no choice. I have to do this. I've just got to think about what I want to say before I do it.
By the time we got back home, I had Dahlia on face time helping me pick out what to wear. Charlie was in my room offering some options as well. I didn't understand how things got so serious between Roman and I so fast. I mean, I felt kind of okay with it, but it felt weird at the same time because I'd never gone through something like this before. Things felt like what a real relationship is probably supposed to feel like. It was scary but also nice.
This was probably a big deal to Roman as well, even if he didn't show it very much. This would be the first time he was bringing a guy home so maybe he was shitting his pants as much as I was.
Despite how awkward it still made me feel when I wore it, I decided that I was going to put on some eyeliner. Roman would love it so maybe that would calm down his nerves a little if he had any. I was already a ball of nervous energy anyway so what difference did it make if I added on one more small insecurity. Anyway, I was starting to feel more confident wearing makeup like this, and I felt pretty with it on, it was just other people's opinions that bothered me a little. If Roman's parents didn't like it, they probably wouldn't like me as a whole anyway and there's not much I can do about it if that's the case. What I could do is try to make Roman happy though.
When the right time came around, Charlie kindly gave me a lift to Roman's house. Roman did text me and offer but by that point Charlie had already agreed to do it so I told Roman he could drive me home instead.
"I look okay, yeah?" I asked my foster brother nervously.
"Yeah mate. Go meet your boyfriend's parents already," he said.
"He's not my boyfriend," I argued getting out of the car before Charlie could say anything back in retort.
This time, when I was at Roman's front door, I took only one second to collect myself with a deep breath before I rang the doorbell.
~~~~~~~~~
Age of consent in the uk is 16 btw so technically any of the older guys that went after Alden after he turned 16 weren't doing anything wrong in terms of the law, but they still shouldn't have done it and they are still gross in my opinion : )