Coffee and Love

Meeting Parents, Being Adults, and Other Fun Activities

"Do I look alright?" I asked, pulling at my dress while I stood in the mirror.

"For the thousandth time, you look fine." Sam assured me. "Why are you so freaked out? It's just dinner with your boyfriend's parents."

"I'm changing. This is too short." I declared, disappearing in my closet.

Lauren groaned loudly and I heard the soft thud of her hitting Sam with a pillow. "Look what you did. Now she's going to ask us another thousand times about dresses." She muttered. "Nikki, put on the black dress with red flowers."

"It has an open back!" I protested.

"Not open enough to show your bra or anything. Put it on. Your boy-toy is going to be here soon." Lauren said firmly.

"Actually, he's here." Gia informed us, raising an eyebrow as I practically fell out of my closet while trying to do the zipper on the side of my dress. "Want me to go tell Phil that Nauren is actually a thing and you won't be needing his assistance? Seeing as you just tumbled out of the closet..."

I rolled my eyes and slipped on my shoes, checking my hair and makeup in the mirror one last time. "I look alright?"

"YES!" all three of them shouted, shoving me out to Phil.

Phil smiled and steadied me as I stumbled out. "You look very nice." He kissed me gently.

"Will your mother approve?" I asked nervously as he led me out to where the cab was waiting.

"She'd approve of you if you were wearing a dinosaur shirt and a hula skirt." Phil laughed "But yes, I think she'll approve."

We arrived at the restaurant and Phil's parents waved us over. "Nikki! It's great to finally meet you in person." His mother greeted with a bright smile. "You are even prettier than on camera."

"Oh, uh, thank you." I said awkwardly, never good with compliments. I sat down as Phil pulled out a seat for me and tried to avoid doing anything offensive or strange with my body language.

"So, Nikki, Phil tells us you're a student. What are you studying?" Phil's dad asked.

I took a sip of water, not sure why all of a sudden my mouth felt as dry as the desert. These were just people. They raised Phil, they had to be nice people. "Communications. I'm hoping to go into something with media."

"Like the radio? I heard your show the other day." Phil's mom smiled "Your co-host is really trying to make you a permanent part of the show. Would you take it if BBC ever offered?"

"In a heartbeat." I said honestly.

"You're alright with moving into London permanently then?" Phil's dad looked at me.

Phil coughed loudly and gave his Dad a slight glare. "Sorry, something caught in my throat." He sipped on his water. "I'm not sure you two really need to interrogate poor Nikki on where she plans to live."

"It's alright." I took Phil's hand under the table. "I know you two probably are wondering like my parents 'what country will they choose if this gets serious?'"

"But you can't expect us to have an answer. There's still a lot-" Phil started to explain.

"I'd move to London." I interrupted. "Even if I didn't get a job at BBC straight away, if Phil and I got serious I'd try to find a way to be in London with him. Well, not just him. My friends all are starting to set up roots here also. Gia's got a permanent position teaching art classes. Lauren got accepted to grad school here. Sam was offered a full time job at the clinic. They're planning on staying. They'll have to tie up a few loose ends in America first, but they're staying permanently."