It was after school on Friday and I had just arrived home since I no longer had my usual ride and getting to and from school was longer than ever when my car is in the shop.
It was almost three thirty so I had around three hours to get ready before Parker picks me up. That gives me at least an hour to take a nap to mentally prepare myself for dinner. I was home alone so the stars had basically aligned for the perfect, refreshing nap. I could hear my bed calling from upstairs. In a hazy state I began moving up the stairs one at a time, following the siren song of my bed, luring me in.
Setting my bag on my desk, I face planted onto the mattress making sure I had a timer ready to go off in an hour. My eyes closed with ease. It would only be an hour...
...
Oh shit.
Oh fuck.
Scrambling around my room, I tried to get an outfit ready. That hour nap I took? Turns out sleepy me is better at clicking the repeat timer than I thought. That left me with an hour (more like fifty minutes) to get showered, dressed and do my hair and makeup. I've really gotta start controlling my sleepy self.
By know I'm sure everyone is home and usually I'd be more careful with how much noise I'm making but this is an emergency situation. They'll forgive me later. Giving up on finding an outfit, I grabbed my towel off the side and raced to the bathroom slamming the door behind me. I could hear the muffled yelling of my name but I didn't care. I had a mission to complete.
I quickly tied my hair up, no time to wash it. In record time I got under the freezing cold water, rinsed and washed my body before hopping out, ultimately slipping in my rush. Forty minutes left.
I dashed back to my bedroom to look at the carnage my wardrobe was in from before. I dug my arms in, shuffling through the clothes before my hands landed on something. Bringing my hands out of the pile I observed what I had brought up with them. In one hand, I had a black pleated skirt, the length landed just above my knee and had a large ribbon around the waist as a belt.
In my other hand, I held a thin, grey sweater. The two pieces complimented each other perfectly. It must've been fate.
I quickly put on my underwear and bra before throwing the outfit on. I tucked in the sweater and tied the bow as nicely as I could.
Now time for the makeup. I tried to channel what the girls would say and the tips they told me. I didn't want to overkill it with the outfit, so I settled for simple nude shades as well as filling in my eyebrows. I went over my eyelashes with mascara to accentuate them and that was it! It's all that I was comfortable with as I was just getting the hang of makeup, plus I have no extra time to experiment.
Five minutes to spare.
I looked in my closet for a pair of shoes, my eyes catching the pair of white wedges that Carly had lent me a while ago. I smiled sadly at the memory but picked them up anyways. The heel wasn't big enough for me to be constantly falling plus my feet wouldn't hurt so much by the end. Although there was that little itch in the back of my mind saying she wouldn't want me to wear them, I ignored it. If she didn't want me to wear them then she should be here with me.
That's mean. But I shrug away all thoughts of it as I hear the door bell ring downstairs. Here I go...
...
My mom greeted Parker at the door and as always, he was looking dashing as ever. A button up white shirt along with black dress pants and shoes that made him look like a god reborn (an exaggeration but who cares).
I smiled from behind my mom, seeing as she hadn't noticed my arrival yet, and he smiled back, adjusting his fringe away from his eyes.
"Oh Paigey!" She exclaimed after she finally noticed me, "You look absolutely beautiful! Parker come stand next to her let me get some pictures."
"Mom-" I whined. Parker snickered behind her but followed the instructions. Wrapping an arm around my waist, we posed for what felt like thousands of photos before we made an escape.
"Have her back by ten!"
"Will do!" Parker yelled back over his shoulder as we made our way down to his car. Nerves began to run through my system but Parker seemed to pick up on it. Grabbing my hand he ran his thumb over it before turning me to face him.
"It's going to be okay Paige, promise. And if anyone says anything mean or unkind, I'll just punch them."
I rolled my eyes but felt a little calmer. We climbed into his car and set off to his house.
...
Damn, his house is big!
I had been here before but had never seen it properly in the daylight. Boy, did it look bigger in the daylight! No, not mansion big but bigger than the average size home of a middle class family. And definitely bigger than my own. It was mainly white with black touches on the shutters and porch. The many windows told me just how many bedrooms there were.
"Woah," I said out loud.
He glanced at my wide eyes. "We moved in here when my mom married the asshole."
Parker pulled up to the three car garage and silently got out to open my door. I reluctantly grabbed a hold of his outstretched hand while my nerves started to kick in. He started to walk towards the large wooden door but my feet didn't feel like moving.
"You good?"
"Ye-yeah. All good. I'm just a bit nervous. I wanna make a good impression. They're your parents after all."
He stepped closer to me. "Baby, what's not to like about you? And who cares what they think! It's not gonna change the way I feel about you. So let's just go in there guns blazing and then get out as soon as we can. Okay?"
I closed my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath to prepare myself for this nerve racking social interaction.
In through the nose, out through the mouth.
"Okay. I'm good. Let's get this over with." I warily smiled up at him, moving up to give him a soft peck.
He was still holding my hand so he moved us forward for the second time, my feet finally cooperating. He opened the door and took strong steps forward as I followed with hesitant ones. Parker called out, alerting his family we had arrived and a cheerful looking petite woman rounded a corner with a smile.
"You must be Paige! Come in, come in, you two!"
She suddenly pulled me into a hug. "It's so nice to meet you, pretty girl. I've been nagging Parker to bring you by for a while now."
"It's nice to meet you too, ma'am."
"Call me Sarah. John and Kayla are waiting in the dining room. I was just about to bring out appetizers so why don't you two go find your seats?"
We nodded. As Sarah retreated to what I presumed was the kitchen, Parker's hand found my waist to guide me towards the dining room. "Come on. The fun begins," He whispered sarcastically in my ear which I grimaced at.
The house was even nicer on the inside than the outside. I had rushed through it and never got the chance to really look. They kept it very modern and very clean that made me confused as to how a family of four lived in what looked to be a museum.
We turned the corner to find a quaint six person table, two seats already occupied by a man and a girl. He was a big man with broad shoulders and an intimidating presence. She was what looked like a tween, staring down at her phone and paying no attention to the people around her until we walked in and Parker cleared his throat.
"Guys, this is Paige." He introduced me, squeezing my side in reassurance and I awkwardly put my hand up in a small wave, followed by a quiet "hello".
John got up to greet me, his tall frame towering over me and even Parker. He held out a hand to give mine a shake. "It's nice to meet you, Paige. I've heard so much about you."
Parker interrupted before I could respond. "How? Through mom? Because I've kept my relationship with Paige private from you for a reason." John's face turned sour and I gripped Parker's arm in frustration.
"It's nice to meet you as well, John," I said.
He ignored Parker's comment, instead mentioning his daughter. "This is Kayla." She looked up for a millisecond before returning to her device.
Wow. It's a Carter duplicate.
Parker's mom then came in with two trays of steaming food and told us to sit as more food would be ready shortly. We made small talk and they asked me the scary questions of: "What are your plans for the future?" and "how are you in school?" but I think I handled them well. Parker sat tense next to me when John addressed me or when Sarah would comment on their marriage. Kayla sat quietly only cutting in at points to make a bitchy comment about my style or why I had no friends. Other than that, it was going alright. Until the door slammed shut...
"Well, well, well! I heard we were having a guest over and I couldn't miss the opportunity to meet her." A young man dressed in a suit said with a smirk as he strutted into the dining room.
"Will, you're extremely late to dinner. I'm just about to get the dessert," Sarah said from one end of the table. He plopped down next to Kayla.
"I didn't come for the food, Sarah," He replied, only looking at me with his god awful smirk. Parker's hand found mine under the table, his fingers intertwining with my own and he gave me a squeeze as he glared at Will.
"I wanted to see the catch that my baby step bro brought in. My is she a cutie."
"I'm gonna go grab the cookies," Sarah excused herself.
John then tried to steer the conversation so Will would stop talking. But neither of them addressed his rude attitude towards me. "Paige! How were your math grades this semester? We just got Parker's report card and let's just say it wasn't so hot." He tried to joke with a chuckle.
"Um, I would say I'm pretty strong in math," I mumbled.
"That's fantastic! You'll have to tutor, Park. Preferably in science too and English and maybe even-"
"Alright. We get it," Parker cut him off in a rough tone.
"I think that would help, dad! We know he's not getting into any ivy leagues like I did but maybe a community college would even take him in with Paige's help."
"Hm. I wonder if money had anything to do with your acceptance?" Parker fought back, "At least I'll be admitted to a school because I earned it."
"You gotta get your act together first, Parker," John butted in, "Step up your game on the field and in the classroom if you even want to go to college."
I shook my head in disbelief of what they were saying. Parker is a fantastic student and soccer player.
"Paige, what are you doing with this slacker? You seem like a very smart girl who could do a lot better," Will continued with his comments.
With wide eyes, I wanted to comment so bad but my words kept getting tripped up on my tongue and I was having a hard time responding.
"I was just surprised to learn he had a serious girlfriend. You gotta explore your options while you're young," John said. They targeted Parker like it was nothing and I could see his anger grow by the minute.
"Cookies anyone?" Sarah waltzed in like she hadn't heard anything and gave us a smile that I didn't return.
"I actually have to go now." I abruptly stood up pulling Parker with me. "Thank you for dinner, Sarah." I briefly glanced at her as I passed by but gave none of the other family members my attention behind me. I could hear a voice about to speak up but I rushed us out the door in the matter of a minute. I tugged at his hand until I let go when we made it to his car.
And he was not happy...