Gilmore Sisters

Chapter 16 ~ Meeting the Parents

  Asher and I stand, side by side, in front of his house. Where his parents are preparing for our arrival, somewhere in this house. 

  I can tell Asher's nervous. Nervous about being humiliated, nervous about his parents getting along, nervous about their approval. I am definitely worried, about being accepted, being treated horribly and worried about saying the wrong thing. 

  "Do you think they'll like me?" I ask, turning to Asher. 

  He exhales and looks at his shoes before he turns to me. "I'm sure they'll love you."

  "And I'm sure that's an exaggeration." 

  He rolls his eyes. "It doesn't matter. Yes, we're hoping they like you cause that would be great and easier. But if they don't then, oh well. They don't even get along with each other, so for them to like you, would be a miracle."

  I nod. "Okay. Now what did you tell them exactly?"

  "I told them..that I was inviting someone special over. And that they had to be nice, no bickering over little things. It's important to me." he tells me.

  I hug him. "Thanks."

  "I meant it." he whispers. We pull apart and he offers his hand to me. I take it, we step closer to the door and ring the bell. 

  A woman opens the door with a huge smile on her face. "Hello! Welcome, welcome." she hugs Asher. "Hello Asher."

  "Hey Mom." he makes a face at me and I giggle. 

  She turns to me. "You must be Callie, I've heard so much about you." she says, coming in for a hug.

  "Oh!" I say, surprised that she's hugging me. Now it's Asher's turn to laugh. "It's nice to meet you." I say, rolling my eyes at Asher. 

  She pushes the door wide open. "Come in, come in!" she waits for us to enter first before she shuts the door. "So, let's go sit in the family room." she says, leading the way. 

  I whisper to Asher, "Family room?"

  "After the divorce, separation and reunion, she decided to make a special room for the family to play games or do things together." he whispers back. "She's kinda crazy."

  I snort, making his mom stop in her tracks. Asher comes to halt, which isn't what I expected. Which causes me to bump into his back. 

  "Sorry." I whisper. 

  "Don't worry about it." he breathes, holding my hand briefly.

  We both sit down on the same sofa, with his mother sitting on the one beside us. There's a chocolate brown coffee table in the center with a dozen games to play. I'm shocked but also not that surprised based on what Asher told me. 

  "So, do you want to play a quick game before dinner?" she asks us. 

  I nod, so does Asher. "Sure." he says. 

  She leans forward to pick a game. "Which one?" 

  I move closer to get a better look at the games, there's Scrabble, Pictionary and Monopoly. Not so sure what the other games are, these three are the only ones I can make out. "Scrabble." I answer. 

  "Good choice." she chuckles as she picks up the box. She starts taking the other boxes off the table and gets u to place them in a small closet. I stand up to help her, it's the right thing to do isn't it?

  After we've finished, we finally start the game. I go first, with the word 'sister.' 

  "You have a sister?" Asher's mom asks me. 

  I nod. "Yes, an older sister. Only by a year."

  "That's nice..." she sighs.

  "Yeah.." I reply, taking 6 letters out of the scrabble bag. 

  She puts down the word 'slide,' using the s from sister. We play this game for about 30 minutes before Asher's dad comes home. "Hello?" he calls.

  Asher gets up from the sofa and hurries to the door. "Hey Dad." I hear him say playfully. They both step into the room. 

  His dad is wearing a dress shirt, long-sleeve and red, tucked into grey dress pants. He has light brown hair, like Asher, but not as long though. Asher told me that his dad is a middle school teacher, he teaches grade 7-8. I think his mom is some sort of therapist, so that explains how Asher is more privileged than me. 1, he has two parents. 2, they have great jobs that bring in excellent money. 

  I stand up and slowly go to shake his dad's hand. "Hello, I'm--"

  "Callie!" he finishes happily. "I've heard so much about you!" Wow. Both of his parents are really enthusiastic tonight. I wonder if they're always like this..no, definitely not. It would be too weird. Even for this town.

  "Wow. Thank you. I've heard some pleasant things about you, too." I say politely.

  "So, what are you doing over here?" he asks, heading over to the sofa, where Asher's mom is sitting. "Ooh, scrabble. We haven't played this in a long time.." he reminisces.

  "Yeah.." she says, putting down another word. He sits down beside her and joins the game.

  Asher pulls me away and leads me to the dining room. "Is that the first time they've seen each other since...well everything?" I ask him, leaning against the table. 

  He stands beside me, facing the table with his arms propped up on the back of a chair. "No. But I think something happened between them. I dunno what. But I know it was something."

  I nod. "Do you think they'll get back together?"

  "I'm not sure. It has been a long time and they've both changed. It's better now." he states. "Yeah, it'd be good for them to clear the air and start over. Especially now that Breanna and I are getting older, well you would know."

  "I hope they do, get back together.." I say, smiling softly. He acknowledges my smile with a gentle brush of the lips. "You'd better not do what you did in the bookstore." I warn.

  He chuckles. "No, ma'am." I grin as he places another kiss on my lips. Whoever thought I'd end up here, at my boyfriend's house, meeting his parents. Hell, who ever thought I'd have a boyfriend? And before Rory! Well, she and Dean are probably already together, they've been acting more whimsical around each other lately.

  I wrap myself in Asher's arms, taking in the sweet scent of his new cologne. "Thanks for bringing me."

  He kisses the top of my head, then brushes a few stray hairs back. "I wouldn't dream of being anywhere alone, without you, not ever again." he breathes. 

  I love the way he words things, it's so poetic. I take a deep breath in then exhale. "Asher?" I say. He grunts in acknowledgement. "I really like you."

  His breaths stop for a moment and I'm afraid if I've said the wrong thing, too soon. But he continues breathing as usual, before he says, "I really, really like you, too, Callie. You have no idea."

  I sigh with relief. But don't say anything, the silence is already specking clearly enough for the both of us. 

  End of this chapter. I think this one is one of my favorites. The words flow and I could really feel in the moment with these characters. I hope you guys do too. ^_^

  The question is, if you could be placed in any one of these character's situations/life, which character would you choose? (Also includes new characters from my book)