The day had finally come for Kris and Jessie to announce their engagement to their parents. It was safe to say that both of them were a wreck.
"What if they don't give their blessing," Jessie panicked.
"Jess, I highly doubt your parents would say no," Adriana reassured, "They love Kris."
"You're right," Jessie said as she paced the room.
"Jess? Stop pacing," Natalia ordered from her spot laying in the bed.
"Okay, I'm calm. I'm totally calm," Jessie said as she sat down on the bed.
Mason then burst through the door saying, "Guys, we have a problem. Kris is literally about to die."
"That's kind of your job, Mase. We have the bride. You get the groom," Adriana whined.
"Please, girls? His parents can't see him like this before they say anything," Mason begged.
"I'll go," Natalia said as she got out of her bed, "If Jess goes, they'll just freak each other out."
-
-
-
As soon as Natalia walked into the room, she found a pacing Kris and a nervous Anthony.
"Okay, you both need to chill," Natalia ordered, "Your parents are going to see you and suspect it. We've done everything to keep it quiet. Jess isn't wearing a ring, no one has mentioned it. But you two are going to mess it up."
"My parents wouldn't say no, right," Kris asked.
"Goodness, you and Jess are way too similar," Natalia muttered.
"KB, it's fine. You just need to take a deep breath and chill," Anthony said.
"Right, yeah," Kris said as he released a big breath.
"Okay, now you're just overdoing it," Natalia laughed as she watched Kris do a whole breathing exercise.
"And I thought Adriana was the dramatic one," Mason joked as Natalia laughed.
"Get dressed and ready to go KB. Lunch with the parentals is in an hour. You need to look your best to play the part," Natalia said before walking out.
-
-
-
Natalia and Adriana quickly got to work with Jessie's hair and makeup. They were going to a fancy restaurant with their families to share the news, and definitely needed to look the part.
An hour later, Jessie was ready, Natalia was putting on her shoes, and Adriana was swiping on her final layer of lipstick.
Three knocks sounded at the door as Anthony entered the room, "Are you girls ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," Jessie muttered as she walked out the door.
Adriana followed behind as she said, "This is going to be bad if she can't calm her nerves."
Natalia shook her head at her best friends and turned to look back at Anthony who stuck out his arm, "Shall we?"
"We shall," Natalia giggled as she linked arms with him.
The gang all met downstairs in the foyer and Kris said, "So my parents are meeting us there and obviously Jess' parents are too."
"You both need to chill. It'll all be fine," Adriana said.
"I honestly think Sue and Mike already know with the way you two were acting this morning," Mason said.
"Impossible," Natalia said with a roll of her eyes, "I didn't get up at 5 in the morning every day to steal the newspaper from them for nothing."
"Yeah, and I certainly didn't have Kylie call her tech guys to hack everyone's phones," Adriana muttered.
"Exactly," Anthony said, "We've come to far to give up now. You can't keep them in the dark forever."
"It's now or never," Natalia smiled.
-
-
-
Arriving at the restaurant before the parents, the gang took their seats in the middle of the table, leaving the heads for the head of each family. (a/n it basically went Kris, Jessie, and Mason on one side, and Anthony, Natalia and Adriana on the other).
"Jess," Natalia called to get her attention.
Jessie only hummed in response.
"Can you stop shaking your leg? You're making me nervous," Natalia laughed.
"Sorry, sorry. I'm just-"
Jessie was cut off when her parents were escorted to the table.
"Mom and Dad! I missed you both so much," Jessie said as she stood up to hug them.
"Mr. and Mrs. Delp, it's great to see you again," Kris said as he shook Mr. Delp's hand and kissed Mrs. Delp's cheek.
"Likewise," Mr. Delp said as he took his seat.
"Natalia, I didn't expect to see you back so soon," Jessie's mother said.
"Well, the occasion arose," Natalia nervously laughed.
"I saw your mother at the mall the other day. She mentioned you were coming, but I didn't quite believe her," Mrs. Delp explained.
"Who can blame you? The old hag is crazy," Adriana laughed.
Natalia sent her best friend a warning glare. She certainly didn't want to put down the mood with her mother's antics.
"I'm really not staying for long. Besides, I wasn't planning on talking to her," Natalia said.
"I saw Chase's father as well. He mentioned you would be in town as well. He hasn't been giving you any trouble, has he," Mr. Delp asked with a look of concern.
"No, he hasn't," Natalia lied, "I haven't even seen him."
It was a simple lie, but Anthony couldn't tell why she had done it. He made a mental note to ask her later as the conversation shifted to something more lighthearted.
-
-
-
The night seemed to be going well. Both the Delp's and the Bryant's seemed to be enjoying themselves, so Kris and Jessie took the opportunity to finally make their engagement known.
"Mom, Dad, Sue, and Mike," Jessie said as she took a deep breath, "Kris and I have an announcement to make."
The adults around the table looked at the couple expectantly and gasped when Jessie raised her hand to showcase the diamond ring on that finger.
"We're getting married," Kris said.
"Oh my! Congratulations," Sue yelled as she hugged the two of them.
"This is wonderful news," Mike agreed as he smiled at them.
"Mom? Dad? Don't you have anything to say," Jessie asked.
Natalia turned to look at the Delp's and widened her eyes when she saw their faces. She knew that face. She had seen it many times before whenever Jessie had done something wrong.
Disappointment. That was the only thing their faces were conveying in that moment.
"You're too young," Mrs. Delp said.
"You didn't even ask for her hand before all of this," Mr. Delp agreed.
"We're in our mid 20s. We're not too young," Jessie insisted.
"You're both just starting out your lives. Jess, you just graduated college, and Kris, you're hot off your first World Series. The time isn't right," Mrs. Delp explained.
"So when is the time right," Sue asked expectantly.
"When they're both ready to settle down," Mrs. Delp insisted.
"Mrs. Delp, all due respect, but that time is now. We're ready to settle down now," Kris said as he grabbed Jessie's hand.
"I won't have it. You want our blessing, but I won't give it," Mr. Delp finally said.
"Fine," Jessie yelled, "I don't need it anyways. We can get married with or without it. This was just a courtesy."
With that, Jessie stormed off and Kris quickly followed after her.
"For what it's worth, Jessie is a great girl, and we can't wait to have her in our family," She said as she and Mike left as well.
"You should be ashamed in yourselves. Jess has been nothing but a terrific daughter her whole life. Everything she's done is to make you both proud. But you can't support her in the one thing that makes her truly happy? It makes me sick," Adriana said as she also walked out of the restaurant.
"Mason-"
Mason held up a hand to cut off Mr. Delp, "I really just don't want to hear it. Normally I could care less for my sister's dramatics, but she's right in this case."
Then, he also walked out, leaving Natalia and Anthony behind at the table.
Just as Natalia was getting up, Mrs. Delp spoke up, "Natalia, you've known Jess the longest. You can talk her out of this."
"Actually, Mama Delp," Natalia sighed, "I can't because I care too much about them both."
"Nat, they're making a mistake. You know it as well as we do," Mr. Delp insisted.
"No, you're making the mistake by not supporting them. Kris is great for Jess and vice versa. Honestly, you're plan of delaying the wedding is ridiculous. Waiting a few more years, won't change anything," Natalia said, "Now if you'll excuse me, we really must get going."
With that, Natalia walked away from the table with Anthony following behind.
"Props to you for handling that the way you did," Anthony joked.
"I know a thing or two about over interested parents," Natalia shrugged with a laugh, "It's a gift."
---------------
AdrianaHunt| because all we ever do is lounge 🤷🏻♀️ [tagged: NataliaGrey]
1,682,803 likes|221,572 comments
KylieMontgomery: my besties are hot AF 💖😍‼️
KrisBryant: put a shirt on @/NataliaGrey 😒
NataliaGrey: nope @/KrisBryant 😉
AdrianaHunt: we miss you so so much 😫 @/KylieMontgomery
MasonHunt: y'all childish and petty AF 😂 @/KrisBryant @/NataliaGrey
---------------
*disclaimer: obviously this isn't what really happened when they told their families about the engagement. I am just doing this for my own story's progression.
But that's besides the point lol; not a lot of Anthony and Natalia, but dw. They have to team up really soon as maid of honor and best man 😉
Until next update,
Gabby