White Cloud

24- It Gives Me Stress Acne

"You look like you're going to church," I tell Vincent after a few days as we're sitting in my room, preparing for dinner tonight with my parents. Despite him being twenty years old, he looks terrified of meeting my parents like he's fifteen. I think that it has something to do with the fact that my dad is also his boss.

"What? I do?" He frowns looking very terrified as he looks in the mirror above the dresser and then he looks at my outfit which is just a tank top tucked into my pink maxi skirt. "Fix it."

"Okay, well," I walk up to him and look at his white button up shirt and navy blue tie, his shirt tucked in to his black dress pants. He does look nice but maybe too dressy for this dinner and when he notices how casual the dinner is, he'll probably stress even more. I untuck his dress shirt from the pants. "Take off the tie."

He does as I tell him to do and toss the tie to my bed which startles Ronny from where he's sleeping by the pillows of my bed but then he goes back to sleep. "Better?"

"Change into the jeans that you brought for tomorrow and roll the sleeves up to your elbows and it'll look more casual," I suggest. "Even though you do clean up really well."

He grins at me and presses his lips to mine. "Yes, I know."

Vincent goes into the bathroom of my room and changes into jeans he brought from his overnight bag and while I wait for him to come back, I give both of my dogs a bone and make sure that my hair, put up in a messy bun, looks not-terrible.

"How's this?" He walks back into the room with all of the changes that I suggested.

"That's good," I assure him. "Now just take a deep breath, it's time to meet my parents upstairs."

"Okay."

"Just be yourself."

"Okay."

I smile at him, give him one last comforting kiss, and then we leave my room together and then head to the elevator. He seems calmer by the time that we get to the restaurant and he greets the waiter because they know each other. The waiter though, starts glancing between Vincent and I and looking very curious.

"We're meeting my parents," I tell him. "Are they here yet?"

"Yes, ma'am," He nods and then steps away from the podium. "You can follow me this way."

We follow the waiter to a four-person table where my parents are already sitting on one side of the table. With menus already in front of our places, we sit down across from my parents.

"Thanks, Ben," Vincent smiles at our waiter.

"Let me know if there's anything I can get for you," He tells the table and it's supposed to go unnoticed by everybody except for Vincent but I see Ben wink at him. I don't know why.

"So, Mom, this is Vincent," I introduce them because I'm not sure if they've ever really officially met. "And you've already met my dad."

"You can call me Rita. It's so nice to meet you, dear," My mother greets him with a beaming smile.

"You too, ma'am," He responds with an easy, charming smile.

"Seriously," She insists. "Call me Rita."

"Right. Sorry. Rita," Vincent corrects himself from the 'ma'am' thing. Ben the Waiter returns to the table with four drinks and then offers to take our order.

My mom gets a salad, my dad the steak, I get a Reuben sandwich. Vincent orders "the monster" which isn't on the menu but Ben seems to know what that means so he writes it down and then walks away from the table.