Rivals // m.g.c

Chapter 17 - Family

*Desiree's POV*

The next day, the band and I were back in New Jersey. I was sort of happy, but I also knew I'd miss touring. I knew that from the beginning of the tour, the A4dable Affair boys actually had gotten closer to the 5sos boys, even if they didn't want to admit it. I was glad. I didn't like when they would fight. I couldn't believe they were finally beginning to accept Michael and me being together. Michael and I just had to tell our parents, however.

I Skyped Mikey when I knew he would be home, but that wasn't until the next day. Their flight was a lot longer than ours. Ours wasn't very long because we stayed in the same country, but 5sos's flight was longer because they had to go to a completely different country.

Whenever Mikey picked up the Skype call, he was smiling more than I had ever seen him smiling. I had no idea why, but I knew I had to ask him.

"Michael Gordon.. You're smiling too much, and it's scaring me.." I joked. "But seriously, why are you smiling so much? You'll hurt your face if you keep it like that for too long."

"No I won't, Desi. I'm just excited that you called. I miss you already," he sighed.

"I miss you already too, but we need to tell our parents about us, don't you think? Do you want to tell them now?" I questioned him.

"Yeah, definitely. I think it's just the right time to tell them. They're still happy that I'm home, and hopefully this will make them more happy. If not, the only thing it will do is make them slightly less happy, or it won't affect them at all. Who ever knows with my parents?" He chuckled.

"I wouldn't know what to expect because I've never met your parents," I shrugged.

"That's true. And I've never met yours. But we'll meet each others' soon!" He exclaimed. "So do you want to tell you parents first, then mine? Vice-versa? Or do you want to tell them at the same time? It doesn't matter to me what we do, just as long as we tell both your parents and my parents."

"I know. I don't care who's parents we tell first, but if I don't tell my parents soon, Charlie will, so let's tell my parents first," I laughed.

"Sure, yeah. That will work fine," Michael nodded.

I picked up my laptop and took it out to the living room. I held it so the screen was facing me. When I had my parents' attention, I announced, "Mom.. Dad.. Meet my boyfriend." I flipped the laptop around so they could see Michael.

"Who is this, Desiree? He looks familiar," Dad raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out where he knew Michael from.

"Dad, this is Michael Clifford from 5 Seconds of Summer. You know, the band Charlie and I went on tour with?" I smiled at my parents.

"That's great, Desiree. Terrific," Mom nodded.

"I haven't gotten to say hello yet, but hello!" Michael waved at them.

"Woah!" Dad exclaimed and laughed. "I didn't know he was Australian!"

"His whole band is Australian, Dad.." I giggled at my dad. Sometimes he could be so clueless.

"I had no idea that any of them were Australian. I thought they were American like us," he shrugged, being as clueless as always.

"Well, is there anything else you guys would like to say to Michael or me?" I wondered, looking at my mom, then at my dad. Dad shook his head, so I looked back at Mom.

"I think I'll like you two together," Mom smiled at Michael, then at me.

"Thanks Mom," I smiled back.

"Thank you, Mrs. Edwards," Michael grinned brightly at my parents.

"Michael, since you're dating my daughter, you're like family now. Call me Jolene," Mom insisted.

"Mom, let's not get ahead of ourselves here," I laughed awkwardly, giving her an uncomfortable stare.

"What do you mean, sweetheart?" She wondered.

"I'm just dating Michael, Mom. It's not like he's family at all. He's just, let's say, a friend of yours. He's my boyfriend, though. He's not family," I made it clear to my mom.

Michael quickly responded, "Yet.."

"Mikey, let's not go too far with this conversation, okay? We're not ready to talk about anything like that yet.. You just met my parents, remember?" I looked at him with a small, sweet smile on my face.

"Sure, yeah. Definitely. I'm sorry," he looked away from his computer for a minute.

"But, you've met my parents, so how about I meet yours?" I grinned hugely. I was really excited to meet Michael's mom and dad. Michael nodded as he walked out to find his parents. They were both in the kitchen, cleaning up from eating supper just minutes earlier.

"Hello Karen and Daryl!" I exclaimed so they could hear me. I immediately heard the water shut off from the cleaning of dishes. I saw the look on Michael's face, and I could tell they both looked over at him.

"Michael, what was that? Or should I say.. who was that?" His mom questioned.

"That was, uh.. That was my girlfriend." Michael say quickly, so quickly that you could hardly understand him.

"Sorry? Did you say your girlfriend?" Daryl wondered.

"I did, yeah. Her name is Desiree Edwards. She's in the band A4dable Affair, the one my band went on tour with," Michael seemed nervous telling them for some reason. I got the feeling that he thought they wouldn't approve of us for some reason.

"I thought you hated that band? You used to tell us about them all of the time. You never liked them," Daryl argued.

"Yes, Dad, but.." Mikey sat his laptop down on his kitchen counter so I could see him and his parents. I smiled at them and waved. "I used to not like them, but once I spent time with them and got to know them, they're actually pretty nice. And now I'm dating their lead singer, Desiree."

"Hi," I introduced myself quietly, "like Michael said, I'm Desiree."

"Well, it's nice to meet you," Daryl's mood changed quickly. He smiled at me, so I smiled back. I was a little confused on why he changed his mind in that short amount of time, but I was fine with it. At least he wasn't mad, and he seemed to approve.

"It's nice to meet you, too. I wish I could be doing it in person, but with just finishing up a tour, I wanted to come home to be with my family for a while. Hopefully sometime soon I can meet you two in person," I tried to be as nice as possible. Karen still hadn't said much, and I was trying not to ruin what she was thinking about me. Hopefully she liked me.

"This is great. Very nice. Michael, I'm so glad you have a girlfriend. She seems so kind, and there's no doubt she's very beautiful," Karen finally spoke. A weight was lifted off my shoulders when I finally found out she liked me.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Clifford. Sorry.. Karen," I chuckled. The whole Clifford family smiled and me, and I had to give it to my mom. I did feel like I was part of their family right then.