Stuck with a Punk ✔

Extra Chapter: Nathan Meets Annabelle's Parents

I refuse to admit how long I've been parked in the street where Annabelle's parents live and just staring at their perfect little suburban house that oddly reminds me of mine.

I don't trust the suburbs.

At first, I was just sitting in my car and staring in front of me, while mentally preparing myself. For God's sake, the last (and the only!) parents that I met were Patty's, and that was in high school! I eventually killed the engine and relied on the cold late October weather to convince me to leave the cooling car and resort to the warmth of her parents' house instead. I'm not sure if that's working yet, I'm still waiting for it to kick in, and by spying the clock, I still have approximately seven minutes to get my ass out of here.

The thing is I'm not worried if they're gonna approve of me. I know that as a man I bring to the table everything that parents possibly have to ask for - I have a respectable university degree, a really good job, my own place in a nice neighbourhood, the charm and good looks, and most importantly, feelings for their daughter.

And yet!

I remember how it was meeting them very briefly once before, and they looked like genuinely nice and caring people, I don't imagine myself being interrogated by her father like a prisoner of war. They also seemed very happy that Annabelle met and hung out with somebody who wasn't Mason or wasn't related to him.

Thank God because Mason fucking sucks.

Regardless though, I was just a guy who they perceived as somebody Annabelle was interested in thanks to Caitlin being a tattler. This now? Slightly different. It's the first time me meeting them after officially getting together with her, so they're not meeting a handsome guy Annabelle occasionally sees and is getting to know, but her boyfriend.

It still feels odd saying that, me being a boyfriend. Annabelle's boyfriend. It's been such a long time since I was last a boyfriend that my name and that word seem like distant relatives that don't want to speak to each other at family functions. To be honest, though, my life hasn't changed that much. Sure, I don't really go around the city picking up chicks, but the rest... The rest is surprisingly very good. Perhaps my view of these things is askew because of how I viewed having a relationship and by the previous relationship I've been in, which was Patty. So, you know... Psychotic, yet passionately erotic.

Two minutes. Two goddamn minutes.

I take a deep breath and mentally kick my ass out of the car. Except I don't move. And I take another deep breath. And another one. And one more. And after that one, I just feel like I'm a woman giving birth and waiting for the epidural to kick in.

Then I properly kick my ass out and am, after taking out flowers and a ridiculously expensive bottle of whiskey, I start marching towards the Taylor lawn.

Annabelle's pale yellow Renault Clio is parked next to a dark blue Volkswagen, and I pray to the universe, the gods of all religions, the fairies in Ireland and the laws of nature to have Annabelle welcome me into the house.

Argh, fine... Let's do this.

The moment I press the doorbell button, my heart drops down into my stomach acid, even though things are fine! Annabelle and I are fine, Devon is fine, everything is just fine.

When I hear footsteps on the other side coming closer to the door, it's when it hits me like a train. Once the door opens, there's no going back, regardless of who's on the other side and welcoming me into the house.

I'll more than officially be her boyfriend. Not just that, I will officially be the man she wants to build a life with. I haven't even taken Annabelle to Patty and Daniel's place and they know what surpassed between us.