Count on Me

Chapter Four: The First Date

Climbing out of his car, Mesut took a deep breath and stared up at the house where he had dropped out Katrina off a couple of days ago; he was relieved to be seeing her again and spend some time with her. 

It had been a little difficult to ignore the pull between them, he couldn't help but stare at the tattoo that had replaced his timer; the infinity heart marking had surprised him but he couldn't help but smile at it. 

Katrina would have the same one on her wrist and Mesut knew that everyone would be watching his wrist now that it had timed out; he dreaded to think what people would do when they found out that he had a soul-mate now. 

Heading up the path, Mesut couldn't help but feel nervous especially since there was a chance that he would meet Katrina's parents; he wasn't sure what they would make of this. 

Most parents tended to be excited at the idea of meeting their child's soul-mate for the first time and start planning the wedding; Mesut wanted nothing more than to take this slow since he wanted to get to know Katrina first. 

There was also the chance that they could hate him, it happened very rarely that the family would try to have the bond removed for some reason or another so they could force the child to be with someone they saw was right for them. 

Knocking on the front door, Mesut tried to ignore the fears that built inside of him; he was sure that it would all be okay and Katrina seemed to like him enough. 

"Hi," Mesut greeted as the door opened, he peeked at the man that he guessed was Katrina's father; he didn't look happy and it set Mesut on edge. 

The door was quickly slammed in his face and Mesut wasn't sure what to do for a moment before he heard harsh words being exchanged in what he imagined was Greek. 

The door opened and Katrina stepped out, she closed the door behind her knowing that her parents were going to have to get over the fact that Mesut wasn't Greek.

"I am so sorry about that," Katrina murmured shaking her head, she offered him a small smiled knowing that things were still a little strange; she had barely spoken to either of her parents after what had happened. 

Mesut was quick to shake his head, he admired the wrap front jersey maxi dress that she was wearing; Katrina looked beautiful and he was looking forward to taking her to dinner. 

"We should get going," Katrina said making sure that she had everything, she didn't want to go back inside and face another argument with her father. 

Kostas wasn't happy right now and it was best just to avoid him until he calmed down and got over it; it had taken him months to warm to Ian after Toula had met him and it would probably be the same this time. 

Slowly nodding his head, Mesut peeked back at the house his nerves even worse now after how meeting her father for the first time had gone; there was no hiding the fact that Kostas had been far from welcoming to him. 

"Mesut... don't worry about it," Katrina tried to reassure with a shake of her head, she took his hand wanting to offer him a little bit of comfort; this had to have been a surprise for him and she wished that she knew what to say. 

It wasn't his fault that her father was sulking over this, Katrina knew that it had come as a massive shock to them while she couldn't have been happier about being his soul-mate. 

Mesut didn't say a word as he nodded his head, he smiled a little at the fact that she was holding his hand and he was determined to find out why her father had reacted the way that he had to him.

***

"Your parents don't like me?" Mesut mumbled peeking down at his dinner, he had taken her to a restaurant where he knew that they wouldn't be bothered; he just wanted some time with Katrina alone. 

Looking up sharply from her dinner, Katrina blinked and stared at Mesut for a moment; she had hoped to avoid talking about her family's issue with them for a little longer. 

"It's not that," Katrina said wishing that she knew how to explain this, she had never met anyone who'd had this problem before and she had no idea how Toula had coped so well with all this alone. 

Mesut set down his cutlery and waited for Katrina to continue, he wanted to know what was going on and he didn't want to worry that this was going to cause them any issues. 

"Before my sister married Ian, no one in the family had married someone who wasn't Greek," Katrina tried to explain, she chewed on her lip knowing that this wasn't something that people normally had to deal with. 

There was silence for a moment both knowing that they were going to struggle a little with this especially if they ever planned to get married; both sets of families would expect a religious ceremony that wouldn't be possible in any shape or form. 

Mesut took Katrina's hand, he didn't care what anyone else thought and he was sure that they would be able to make this work without anyone interfering; he liked her a lot and everyone else would just have to deal with it. 

"They'll come around eventually," Katrina mumbled not knowing how they would react yet to the news that she wouldn't be having a Greek Orthodox wedding. 

Katrina doubted that things were ever going to run smoothly for her or Mesut, she dreaded to think what would happen when their families would meet for the first time. 

Brushing his fingers over the back of Katrina's hand, Mesut watched her wanting nothing more than to make this easier for them; his family were thrilled with the news and desperate to meet her.

"We'll work it out," Mesut said offering her a smile, it had only been a couple of days since they had met and he didn't want things becoming extra serious before they'd even gotten a chance to know each other. 

It was still pretty new to the both of them and Mesut doubted that they would be able to keep this between them for long; the mark on his arm had been spotted by people and already there were stirrings in the press about the fact that he had found his soul-mate. 

"I hope so," Katrina replied smiling back at him, she liked spending time with Mesut and it sucked that already there seemed to be so many things against them. 

It had never been on their minds that they would just walk away from this, they wanted to make this work and they could work out any issues that they would have when the time came to face them. 

Mesut grinned brushing his fingers gently over the back of her hand, he was so relieved that it was Katrina that had ended up being his soul-mate; he had worried he'd end up with a fan or someone that would wish to use him to make them famous. 

"Would you like dessert?" Mesut asked wanting to spend more time with her, he didn't know when he would get this chance again with Arsenal keeping him busy most of the time. 

It was trying to find the balance that the others had in their lives, Katrina was important to him and he knew that it was going to take time for things to settle down. 

Nodding her head, Katrina couldn't help but hope that everyone would come around about this and they would support her when she made decisions about her relationship. 

The last thing that Katrina wanted was more fighting at home while she tried to work things out with Mesut.