chapter five

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friday night

september 9th, 2011

6:13pm

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"Don't be nervous, baby." Ryan said as he gently stroked my hand with his thumb. I looked over at him as he drove to his parents favorite restaurant, some French place that I couldn't remember or pronouce. Ever since he dropped the news on me that I was meeting his parents, I had been crazy nervous.

"What if they don't like me?" I asked, biting my lip. I could see his eyes widen as he looked over at me and stared. He looked as if he was trying to figure something out.

"Ryan!" I yelped and he jerked the steering wheel of his truck back into his lane, just barely missing the car next to us. With an angry look on their face, the sped off...away from us. Even though their windows were rolled up, I heard the old man yell "Hooligans!!". Hooligans? What is he, British? "What on Earth...?" I murmured, waiting for Ryan to respond...why had he looked at me like that?

"What's not to like?" He said, so softly and sweetly. My face turned a shade of pink as I smiled warmly at him, leaning over to kiss him gently on the cheek. He smiled too, and I felt my nervousness start to melt away. This place was an hour away and the long drive hadn't been good for the anxiety. The closer we got, the bigger the butterflies in my stomach.

Finally, we pulled into the parking lot of the large restaurant. After he parked, Ryan hopped out and jogged over to my side, helping me out gently. I had once told him he really didn't need to do that, but he had given me this long speech about how guys should do nice things for girls, "Especially ones like you." I had melted, and now I always wait for him to help me out.

"After you." He said as he held the door open and he placed his hand on the small of my back as he led me into the restaurant. Ryan told the host our reservation name and he nodded, walking us to our table. Those butterflies in my stomach turned into...I don't know, dinosaurs? when I saw his parents were already sitting there. Both of them looked up, and smiled at me. His mom, a petite blonde woman with sparkling blue eyes stood to greet me. I held out my hand and smiled back.

"Hi, I'm Oli--" I was interrupted by the woman, who as small as she was had a tight grip.

"Oh, dear, handshakes are only for business." She said, as she released me from the hug.

"She's a hugger." His dad said, grinning at his wife. Ryan looked just like his dad: Dark brown eyes that shone when he smiled, dark hair, and the same friendly smile. "I'm James, and this is my wife, Alice." He then pulled me into a hug, but a much gentler one than Mrs. Harris.

"Why don't we sit down and get to know you, Olivia." His mom said, and Ryan took that as his cue to pull out my chair and I noticed his dad did the same for his wife. Like father, like son, I guess. After the guys sat down, we took a look at the menu. Considering everything was in French, I had no idea what to order.

"I think I'll just split with you." I whispered to Ryan and folded my menu closed, giving up. He smiked and nodded, looking over the menu. "Ryan, don't order the grossest thing you can find." He pouted and I laughed. Busted.

After everyone had ordered, his parents asked me lots of questions. "What's your family like?" "What's your favorite food?" "Who is your favorite Disney princess?" "Have you ever been to jail?" Well, the last one wasn't real, but they might as well of thrown that one in there too. After a lot of laughs and much more questions, our food was placed in front of us and I was grateful to see that Ryan ordered fairly normal-looking pasta. We tried to reenact the spaghetti scene from "Lady and the Tramp", which caused his parents to laugh at our many unsuccessful attempts. However, we finally got it and the people sitting around us clapped softly as we shared a sloppy victory kiss.

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