"What should I wear my fake boyfriend's family dinner?" was a bundle of words you would never thought you'd have to think about yet here you were: waiting for Tom and wearing your best dress while your stomach tied in knots, over-thinking about what could happen tonight.
You already contemplated so many times about bolting back up to the apartment, changing completely and coming back downstairs with time to spare, but your thoughts came to a halt when Tom's car pulled up to the curb.
The first thing you saw when Tom got out of the car was his smile. It was reliving that from first glance, he already approved of your outfit that you were so nervous about. He was wearing a white shirt and a light-blue button down that he left open, his hair somewhat gelled and you could tell he got a fresh cut.
"You look amazing." He continued to smile at you, admiring your dress.
"Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself, stud." You teased before you both embraced a quick hug.
You couldn't help but smile at the sudden smell of his cologne. The scent was so refreshing, almost comforting and familiar so it kind of calmed your nerves. You'd spent so much time together that the smell just kind of lingered on your clothes sometimes. You couldn't say that you didn't mind.
When you pulled away, you looked up at his hair and you pushed some hairs lying on his forehead back on top of his head.
"You cut it?" You asked and he shrugged.
"Yeah, my parents always say something when it gets too long."
"Aw, I like it long. It makes you even dreamier." You joked again and Tom chuckled.
"Alright, smartiepants. Let's get on the road." He grinned and you rolled your eyes.
Tom walked to the passenger door, opening it for you, but you were surprised to see a bouquet sitting on the seat. It was a random assortment but predominantly your favorite flowers popping out. You glanced at Tom before you gently grabbed them, holding them in your hands.
"For me?" You asked, smelling them.
"Yeah. Well, I got them for my sister, but she said you would probably like them more." He smiled before pinning his lips, watching you continue to smell them.
You giggled, "Hmm.. well, I can't wait to thank her."
When you looked up at Tom, he saw how perfectly the sun perfectly kissed the horizon behind you. It was like a painted picture or something you would frame, but he knew he would never admit that to you, at least not right now.
After you got in the passenger seat, he closed the door for you and quickly walked around the front of the car to get to the driver seat. The ride to his parent's house was a little under an hour so that just meant fifty great minutes of classic rock and somewhat letting all your nerves out before the big dinner.
Whenever you got halfway through the roadtrip, Tom put his arm on the rest between you and you laid yours there as well. A few times, while Tom was singing a song you didn't know, you kept glancing down at his hand and you weren't sure why at first. You wanted to intertwine your fingers with his, holding it and seeing if it was as warm and comforting as the smell of his cologne. Would this prove if you had actual feelings for him?
"Y/N?" Tom asked for a third time before you shook your head.
"Hmm?" You answered, as if you weren't completely distracted.
He chuckled, "I asked if you were alright. You zoned out."
"Oh yeah, I'm okay. Just nervous." You kind of lied, directing your eyes out the window and looking how dark it had already gotten.
"Don't worry, it'll go fine." Tom reassured.
His hand reached for yours, squeezing it and brushed his thumb against the top of it. You cracked a smile as you felt your heart beat faster, but once Tom's hand went back to the steering wheel, those nerves immediately left your body. See, there weren't any feelings there and it was all in your head.
Tom reached for the radio and turned the volume dial down, "They'll like you, I can't think of a reason why they wouldn't."
"Again, I'm honored to be picked among the many runner ups as your fake date to impress your parents." You joked, holding your hands to your heart and both of you chuckled. "I mean, I'm actually kind of surprised you need me.." You shrugged, coming down from your laugh.
"What do you mean?" Tom asked as his eyebrows furrowed at you.
"Well, you're a baseball player, you're in your dad's fraternity, you have a high GPA and you're just nice and sweet.. It's more like, I can't see a reason why you don't already impress them." You tried to say delicately without pinching a nerve, especially since Tom never opened up about his home life except a few days ago.
"I mean, I do sometimes. Just not enough.. Ya know." Tom could admit this was the one time he felt like he couldn't open up to you, only because he didn't want you to hear this side of him.
Your lips went to the side, "Sorry, I didn't mean to get too personal."
"No, no. It's okay. You deserve to kinda know. After all, I'm taking you to dinner as my fake girlfriend." He smiled as he made sure he was getting off the right exit.
You chewed on your inner cheek before you said, "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, of course." He chuckled.
"Why did you decide to do this with.. Me?"
Tom blew air pass his lips, his eyes widen and eyebrows arched before he shook his head, "Because you're an amazing singer and you know almost every Queen song like the back of your hand and-"
You playfully smacked his shoulder, lightly because he was driving, "I'm serious."
Tom came to a stop at a red light, letting him look over at you and see how glassy your eyes were.
He shrugged, "You're just really fun to be around and you get my jokes and we can talk about anything really.. And I can really trust you."
You sealed your lips, trying to contain your smile as you both let the soft music play between the silence.
"What?" Tom asked, his foot still on the brake and he thought you looked flustered but was confused by your reaction.
You sighed, "You're getting soft on me, Holland."
His lips formed a relieved smile, feeling his heartbeat go back to normal pace and his eyes go back to their normal size, "Hey, you made me soft."
There were only twenty minutes left of the car ride, but you were distracted most of it from looking out that window and admiring the town Tom lived in. It was cute, had a charm to it, like one of those Hollywood set neighborhoods you see on TV sitcoms. The leaves were starting to grow back on the trees they had between every street light and small restaurants and cafes still open with their dim lights.
"You grew up here?" You asked and Tom nodded.
"Yeah.. and that's the baseball field where I played growing up." Tom said, glancing out his window for a second and you gazed over.
The big headlights were still beaming over the field and you saw a father and son throwing a ball back and forth as Tom drove pass slowly, taking a right turn to head down his street. Tom gripped his hands around the steering wheel a bit tighter, trying to focus on his breathing but he could practically hear his own heart beating out of his chest.
Tom took the last turn and then pulled into his house's roundabout driveway, parking behind his dad's truck and he saw his mom's white Lexus parked as well.
"Surprised my mom didn't get caught up on a late shift." He chuckled, turning off the engine and unbuckling his seat belt.
"Because it's such a special dinner and she cares so much to meet your new girlfriend." You reminded him and both of you got out of the car and met at the front of it.
The morning after you spent the night at Tom's loft, you two sat on his couch and talked about your families. Tom went on about his little sister, how sweet she was and how much he took care of her whenever his mom worked late night shifts at the hospital and his dad was away on business. He even told a story about how he had to bring her to practice a few times and the coach's wife watched after her.
His brothers were all younger than him as well, leaving him to be the shining star of the siblings. It frustrated him no doubt, but it was only because he wanted to make sure he always lead by example, but he was raised with great morals so, really, he was just too hard on himself. But, you realized how much he really cared about his family and how much he wanted you to know about them.
"You okay?" You asked, looking at Tom's face at whiter by the second.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just nerves. I'm usually never this nervous." He tried to calm himself as you two walked to the big, oak front door.
"It's gonna go great, dreamboat." You grinned at him, turning to stand in front of him and you brushed off anything on his shoulders and then fixed some of his gelled hair that had fallen a bit.
"Now.. let's go in there and impress the shit out of them." You held your hand up and he high fived you back, locking your fingers for a few seconds before you two looked into each other's eyes longer. You fixated on each other, the moment freezing as both your smiles faded once you realized how nice it was.
The door swung open, forcing you and Tom to snap out of your trances and look at the person standing there.
"Tommy!" An older girl, looking close to your guy's age, immediately hugged him and Tom embraced her back with a big smile on his face.
"Y/N, this is my cousin, Annabella. She goes to Florida State." Tom introduced you after he pulled away.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you. You can call me Anna.. Tom's told me about you." She grimaced, shaking your hand and you blushed a little, not really knowing if it was something you were forcing for the moment.
"Hopefully good things." You jested and she giggled.
"Of course, he raves about you. I didn't know you guys had been together for so long." She was in awe of the two of you, grabbing her wine glass that she'd left on the side table.
"Yeah.. going on five months." Tom smiled, putting his arm around your shoulders.
"That's so great to hear, Tommy. Well, your mom and dad are still making dinner, I think the boys are upstairs and Hazel is outside."
"Of course she is." Tom chuckled, rolling his eyes.
He and Annabella exchanged a smile before Tom gently took your hand, leading you through his living room and through the backdoors. You got a peak of his parents in the kitchen before he opened the door and guided you out to the back patio area. There were hanging lights with a nice picnic bench and other furniture completing the space and giving it a summer vibe.
"Hazel! I want you to meet someone!" Tom somewhat yelled, making you look around but you followed Tom to the side yard and saw a single garage light shining on a little girl with a bat in her hands and a ball on a batting tee.
You couldn't see her face when she turned around, but she dropped her bat and ran quickly over to Tom.
"Tommy!" She shouted, her arms pumping and Tom finally met her in the middle, spinning her around in his arms.
"Hey killer. Is this my helmet?" He asked, holding the helmet on either side that was still on her head.
"Yeah, I grew out of my old one and mom said you wouldn't care." She smiled at him, her left front tooth slowly growing back.
"Maybe I should start calling you Bighead, instead." He joked with her and she just giggled. "Um, Hazel. I wanted you to meet Y/N." Tom introduced her as well, standing her in front of him and he had his hands on both her shoulders.
"Hi." You grinned, looking down at her.
He took the helmet off, allowing her long, brown curls to fall down on her shoulders and you could see freckles kissing along her nose along with her bright smile, similar to Tom's.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you." Her cheeks tinted red, reaching out to shake your hand.
You were surprised, "Nice to meet you too. You're very sweet."
"Thank you." She giggled.
"Tomm-aye!" A few voices boomed from behind you, making you turn around and you saw Tom's four brothers tread over to the three of you and they embraced their big brother.
Hazel stood next to you, both of you chuckling at the well-dressed boys being rowdy with one another but they missed Tom so much and it was rare for him to come home anymore. Tom rubbed one of their heads, before the four brothers moved away from him and fanned out to face you.
"And these are my brothers." Tom smiled, a little out of breath and their laughs trailing.
"Will, Lucas, Caleb and Elliott." He pointed each curly, brown-headed boy out as he said their name, all of them saying hi in response with shy smiles.
"Nice to meet all of you too." You blushed, all the boys admiring how pretty you were.
"Mom said dinner will be ready in five minutes, but she wants to meet your girlfriennnd." Lucas sang before making kissy noises and dancing a little.
All of you headed inside, Tom having his hand on the small of your back to lead you and butterflies erupt from your stomach. You faced the hallway that lead to the kitchen, staring at his mom checking the oven while his dad was opening up a bottle of wine. You thought your feet were glued to the floor, not being able to take the first step but you just head to keep telling yourself "you're not dating, you're not dating.."
Tom was just as nervous, wondering if the first thing his dad would say would be about baseball or about his grades. He didn't expect any less so he tried to bite his tongue as the two of you walked into the kitchen and his mom stopped at the kitchen island when she say you two in the doorway, luckily a big smile painted on her dark red lips.
"Hi! You must be Y/N." She said, her voice was very smooth and sweet.
"Yes, It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Holland." You nervously giggled and she wasn't shy about giving you a tight hug.
Annabella was at the end of the island, mixing the bowl of mashed potatoes and smiling to herself at his mom already being in love with you from what Tom's said about you. Tom grinned, embracing a hug with his mom before she left a kiss on both his cheeks.
"I'm so glad both of you could make it. It's your senior year of college so I know you're both very busy." Tom's mom joked before sipping her red wine.
Tom's dad had yet to turn around until a few seconds later, his eyes landing at you and your spine's nerves automatically tingled. His expression was stone cold toward the two of you; and without saying a word, he already felt like he had said so much with that one, almost deadly look.
"Hey dad. This is my girlfriend, Y/N." Tom introduced you to break the awkward tension.
"Hi, Mr. Holland. It's nice to meet you too. Tom talks about you guys and I couldn't wait to meet you." You glanced back and forth at his parents, trying to butter them up a little like the plan but it caught you off guard whenever you felt Tom's fingers intertwined with yours at your sides.
"Well, Tom's told us about you too and we made our best and favorite dinner for you." Tom's dad grinned, wrapping his arm around his wife's shoulders and you felt some weight off your shoulders yet Tom was still holding your hand.
You rolled with it before Tom's mom asked if all of you could help move the dinner plates to the big dining room area. The head of the table had a fireplace behind it and above it was a family portrait from when Hazel was a newborn. It was all so extravagant, kind of overwhelming and feeling like the show you were already putting on for them had to be bigger than planned in the past week.
After everything was placed perfectly in the center of the long table, the ten of you sat around the table and instantly dug into it the hot food. Laughs and giggles filled the room as all of you tried to pass dishes to each other, trying to let everyone get a little bit of everything. Once you passed the bowl of broccoli to Lucas across the table, you felt something brush against your ankles which made you flinch enough that your silverware shook on the table.
You looked under the table cloth and were surprised to see a Beagle dog, his paws against your knees and he liked his lips before panting at you.
"Awe, he's so cute." You pouted, running your hand over his head.
"He knows the smell of a great, loyal girl from miles away." Tom joked, making Hazel, who was on his other side, giggle at how sweet he was to you.
You patted Tom's shoulder before you leaned your head on it and his cologne gave you more comfort, already feeling very at home already. Although his dad didn't say much, his mom's and your conversations flowed so well. A few times, you would place your hand on Tom's knee whenever you two shared one of your made up stories to the family, like explaining how you met at a party, but instead made the actual ending, Tom used his ending he used at the bar.
"..And I just fell in love with him." You shrugged, still holding his hand that was on his leg.
"Didn't know our brother was such a charmer." Will smiled before eating some of his potatoes.
"He's a dreamboat." You teased, Tom's cheeks tinting red your inside joke.
Tom leaned over, kissing your cheek lightly a few times and you giggled, nudging him away.
"Y/N has really been helping me with classes, she's one of the smartest people I know."
"Yeah, Tom has been working really hard this last semester and I'm so proud of him. I can't believe he can balance everything on his workload.." You hoped that didn't sound too stage the way you said it, but you weren't lying.
"That's great to hear and the season is coming up real soon so will we see you at his games?" His mom asked and the boys all glared at you at the same time.
"Yeah, I wanna be in the stands cheering him on." You smiled at him, patting his knee again and Tom had his bottom lip between his teeth.
"Can't wait.." He chuckled, his heart slowly swelling second by second.
Tom's dad took a liking to you, interested in your field of study and how you were paving your future after graduation which was only months away. Tom knew that the plan was working, at least on his end, but then he started to think about if you had spoken to Bradley. It was your idea to make him jealous and dating Tom would boil his blood, but he didn't really see what you would really get out of it because he knew Bradley and the kind of guy he was.
Tom was fairly positive you were subconsciously setting yourself up for heartbreak, especially from how Bradley's treated you so far and you're not even dating. Tom almost felt like opting out to your guys' elaborate relationship, but now both of you were in too deep and calling it off after this dinner would make it seem like Tom just used you and the last thing he wanted to do was decieve you or worst, hurt you. He didn't want to lose your strong and fun friendship yet he didn't have the heart to tell you how he felt... about Bradley.
As you went on talking to his parents, you kept glancing over at Tom while holding his hand still and all he did was grin. You didn't see the spark in his eyes, but he suddenly realized you look ethereal in any lighting.
After dinner was finished and everyone cleaned up, you two stayed for a while and the family gathered in the living room to keep on with conversations you'd started at the dinner table. You and Tom stood by the fireplace, your arms crossed and your eyes, once again, scanning the room while Tom chatted with his brothers.
"You guys just look so cute together." Annabella commented, pouting at you two and Tom smiled.
"Thanks, can you take our picture, actually?" He asked her, pulling out his phone from his back pocket and your eyes widened at him.
"What? No, I look bad.." Your face heating, tucking your hair behind your ear while holding a glass of wine in the other.
"You look beautiful." Tom beamed, tilting his head a bit and you smiled back at him.
"Okay, get close." Annabella said as she pointed the camera toward you two.
Tom snaked his arm around your waist while you put one hand on his chest and the other was on the small of his back. You leaned your head in so it was against Tom's shoulder and you both smiled at the camera, both your grimaces feeling tired from how much you smiled all through the night.
It was starting to get late and you and Tom were not only full from your dinner, but starting to get tired. After his mom wrapped up some leftovers for you, everyone followed you both to the door and gave their hugs goodbye.
"It was nice to meet you, Y/N. It will be a great time with you at the games." His dad barely grinned at you and Tom smiled, but immediately biting his bottom lip to contain his happiness.
His mom told you two to drive safe and his little sister hugged on your leg, telling you that she wanted to see you again. His family was like something out of a Norman Rockell painting, so nice, a little too perfect and you never felt so much warmth and love in one sitting. You weren't sure how much longer this fake relationship would last, but a very small part of you almost didn't want it to end it.
You fell asleep on the way home with your head against Tom's shoulder, but once you woke up, you were parked in front of your apartment complex.
"Have a sweet dream, sleepyhead?" Tom asked as you rubbed your eyes.
"Yeah, it was getting good." You giggled before you yawned, feeling how heavy your eyes were.
"Well, thanks for tonight. I can definitely say I've never seen my parents that happy with a girl I've taken home." He admitted, sealing his lips and nodding his head.
"They were a lot of fun, you made it sound like a dinner with the Hitlers." You jested, picking up your flowers as you unbuckled your seatbelt.
"You just knew how to sweeten them up like you do with everyone."
You rolled your eyes, "No, I'm pretty sure that's what you do."
"Is that a compliment or an insult?" He smirked.
"..Take it as you will." You quoted from your english lessons, joking about how he didn't get the concept of metaphors at first.
Both of you laughed before getting out of the car and Tom quickly walked around the car to you, embracing a tight hug and you squeezed him back.
"Tonight was fun.." You trailed, a small smile on your lips.
"Yeah.. It really was."
Your eyes gazed into each other's, only the sound of crickets and Tom's car engine running in the moment. It was tense, feeling the same as you did earlier in the same exact spot. You could see how glassy his dark chocolate brown eyes became before he slowly started to lean in.
Your heart was pumping, your hands were sweating but you didn't want to take it the wrong way so you turned your face and his lips pecked your cheek, assuming that's what he was going for. He'd done it before, but you really felt how soft and nice his lips were against your skin. His nose lightly pressed against your cheekbone before he pulled away and you put your one hand on the side of his face.
"Wanna get coffee tomorrow?" You asked and he smiled.
"Psh, you already knew I was gonna ask."
You blushed, "Okay, nine o'clock sharp."
"I'll be here at eight fifty-nine." He winked before walking back to his car.
You had your bottom lip between your teeth and strolled back into your building, somewhat wondering how you were destined to meet Tom and this would happen.
Haley was still away with her family so coming home to an empty apartment was lonely and kind of scary so, you quickly put the nice, colorful flowers in a vase with fresh water and went straight to your room to change and take off your makeup.
Once you hit your bed, nice and warm under your covers, you checked your phone for anything you might have missed while you were at Tom's house. You scrolled through some emails and app notifications till you saw that three hours ago, Tom tagged you in a photo. Your eyebrows pushed together before sliding the notifications and opened Instagram.
Your fingers tapped against your screen as it loaded before you found out Tom posted the picture of the two of you at his house. Your mouth was slightly parted, slowly smiling and not believing he went this far to do this. You opened up the picture, seeing it had over five-hundred likes and all the comments were really sweet from what you saw. You swiped back, seeing the caption said: "I got so lucky." with a red heart emoji.
"Not as lucky as me." You commented back, a huge smile on your face while doing so.
Tom instantly liked your comment, but then a message at the top of your phone popped up.
It was a snapchat from Bradley.
You cleared your throat, your thumb hovering over it before you pressed it and you saw it again in your Snapchat inbox. You began to wonder what it was, wondering if it was even worth opening, but you knew the longer you waited, the worse the would get.
It took a few seconds to load, but it showed his face, his phone's light highlighting it and the background pitch black. His caption read: "Wanna chill?" and suddenly, you were confused about your feelings.
This was what you wanted, to get a rise out of him, but it was bittersweet. You had so much fun with Tom tonight, but that's because you were putting on a whole show, right? You were sure it'd be the same if you were with Bradley and got to know him even more then getting to meet his family.
As much as you wanted to say yes, you thought it would be easier to play it off and say you fell asleep, then text him in the morning when you had more of a clear head. But, for some reason, you couldn't stop smiling from how amazing the night was, so much you had to open up Instagram again and look at the picture of you two once more.
You did feel lucky..