“Home sweet home.” I sighed, spreading my arms out and spinning in a circle in the middle of the airport.
“I have a bit of a surprise.” James admitted while the five of us neared luggage claim, walking slightly behind the boys, Dean, and Joe.
“What’s that?” I asked, dread flooding my veins. I mean, sure, how bad can it be? But you’re forgetting you are being paid to date one of the most sought after teenage boys in the country.
“We’re going home straight from the airport.” James said, digging for something in the outside pocket of his carry on luggage.
“Yeah, I know that.” I replied, looking at James as if there was something else to say, asking him what the surprise was.
“Not home, home. Home as in my home. With my family. We’re taking a cab to the train station and going home for the week.” James said. My jaw fell open and I raised my eyebrows at him.
“You’re joking, right?” I asked blankly. James produced two train tickets, spreading them like cards in a game of poker.
“No, not a joke. Ta-da?” James offered, seeing the expressionless look on my face.
“James, you’re taking me to meet your family?” I asked nervously, keeping my voice down so nobody would hear us.
“You had to sooner or later, besides you get these two weeks off anyway.” James shrugged, pulling my suitcase off of the machine.
“Yes, and I intended to spend them eating food on my couch and vegging out, not trying to impress your family and convince them that we’re actually dating.” I shot back, glancing around me to make sure nobody was listening in.
“Listen, Liz-” James started, but I yanked on his arm and moved us away from the boys, clenching my jaw.
“No, you listen. You can’t just spring this on me! I’m not even dating you, and it’s hard enough to convince our friends and thousands of fans that we’re dating, but now you’re forcing me to meet and lie to your family? I can’t do that, James. Couldn’t you have at least warned me?” I asked through clenched teeth, dropping his arm and crossing mine over my chest.
“I’m sorry, but if I told you then you wouldn’t have agreed to come.” James insisted.
“Damn right I wouldn’t. How can you do this? How can you lie to your family like this?” I asked. James shrugged, running a hand through his hair.
“You’re doing the same thing. Do your parents even know we’re dating?” James asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Fake dating, James. And I’m sure they’ve heard about it by now.” I shrugged.
“You didn’t tell them?” James asked incredulously. I shrugged again, avoiding his eyes.
“They have their lives and I have mine. Whatever, I just hope you feel bad pretending to be something you aren’t for your family, and you better pray that they fucking love me.” I snapped, something snapping inside of me. I grabbed my suitcase and walked off towards the glass doors, James catching up to me quickly and hailing a cab. We rode in silence to the train station, where James and I barely caught our train to Bournemouth.
The train ride was also silent, but we had to sit very close together because there was a teenage girl and her family on the same cart and we didn’t want her to get suspicious if she was a fan. By the time the train had stopped I had already taken a long nap and read all of the magazines I’d brought. James was easy to wake up because he was a restless sleeper when we were travelling, which I learned from being on two seventeen hour flights with him.
“Home, sweet home.” James sighed, leading the way off the train. “Now they should be here to pick us up-” James said, turning slightly and squinting, before he was cut off.
“James!” A younger girl shouted, running towards us and tackling James into a hug. I watched silently, smiling as James scooped her up and spun her around, grinning.
“I missed you.” James grinned, setting her down.
“I’m Elizabeth.” I introduced. James, his sister, and I ended up back to his parents, who were very kind and welcoming. It was a bit nervewracking, meeting my fake boyfriends parents. They liked me well enough and seemed to believe that James and I were dating, so that part went over well.
As soon as we got home James’ mum showed me the guest room, taking my dirty laundry and showing me how the shower worked before letting me know dinner would be ready in an hour. I immediately stripped down and took a long, scalding shower until my skin was red and stung. I dried off and put back on the same clothes- a pair of dark ankle jeans, a flowing emerald chiffon tank top, and some gladiator sandals. My hair was put into a messy bun and I wiped off all of my makeup before heading down to dinner.
“Your clothes are in the drier, sweetheart. I’m sure they’ll be ready by the time dinner is done.” James’ mum assured me, pulling some plates from the cabinet.
“Thanks, Mrs. Mcvey. Can I set the table?” I offered. She thanked me and pointed out the cutlery drawer, and I set out our places before helping her put the food on the table.
“Kiddos, dinner!” Mrs. Mcvey called. James came down in his joggers and a tee shirt, his sister in the same clothes as before. We all sat around the table and chatted lazily, deciding to catch up tomorrow when James and I were less jetlagged. The dinner was amazing, some nice pasta dish and a very nice Argentinian wine that wasn’t bitter like Italian or French wine.
“Good night, Elizabeth. Lovely meeting you,” Mrs. Mcvey said kindly, giving me a hug and helping me with my stack of clean and folded laundry.
“You too, and thank you so much for the laundry.” I replied quietly, stiffling a yawn.
“It was no problem. Now go get some sleep and we can talk over breakfast.” She said kindly, patting my back. I nodded, climbing the stairs and moving to the room in a haze, putting my clothes in the empty drawers even though I’m 99.8% sure I’m already asleep before collapsing into a deep sleep on the bed.
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