Love Persists

Chapter 20

Mandie's POV:
"You only invited Erik?" My father asked me, repeating the question once again as my mother finished hanging the decorations.

"Yes, for the last time, dad, Erik was the only one that I invited," I replied, getting a little annoyed.

"I don't know, Mandie, Erik seems to be a bad influence on you. You seem to be giving up your past friends just because of some guy you met and that isn't healthy. You really need to maintain both relationships, or else choose the one that has lasted longer."

"Dad, I didn't actually have any friends before Erik came along. Didn't you think it was a little strange that I haven't gone over a single friend's house since middle school?"

"Well, I just figured that you and whoever your friends were were just too busy to hang out with each other outside of school. It seemed to be the most logical explanation at the time, you were never the type of kid who didn't want to make friends."

"Except none of the kids at my school wanted to be friends with me. You must understand that I am the person whose parents act as though I am on parole and need to know exactly what I am doing every hour of every day. Erik has been the first person willing to put up with that in years."

"Ah, so you are dating him just because he is willing to be your friend. Mandie, do you know how dangerous that is? You don't know what he is really after, you let yourself get won over way too easily."

I shook my head, "dad, it was me who instigated our relationship. He actually tried to pretend I didn't exist for his first few days at school."

"So he mistreated you-"

"Liam, that is quite enough," my mother spoke, sending an angry look at my father. "I'm sure Mandie is being careful with Erik, we mustn't judge him so harshly."

"I don't know, I still feel as though something isn't right about him. Maybe it's because of the mask, I don't know. Point is, I don't like how they have been going out on dates every weekend since they began dating, he's distracting her from her academics."

"Dad, we have both been able to accomplish our work for school during the weekend with plenty of time. I know that you want to find something bad about him, some reason I shouldn't date him, because you are afraid to lose me, but I promise that no matter what happens between Erik and I, you will still remain my father and I will always love you," I added to conversation, hoping to have him stop talking poorly about Erik.

"Exactly, also I like Erik, he is well-mannered and considerate, you don't get many like him in this day and age," my mother interjected, causing my father to sigh.

"I'm still a bit wary about him, but I understand what you two are saying. I will try my best to be kind to him and not make it seem like I would love to strangle his little neck."

Just then, there came a knock from the front door and ran to answer it. Erik was standing on the front porch, a place that I had grown accustomed to seeing him. He wore a smile on his face as soon as I came into view and held a present in his hand.

"Happy birthday, Mandie," he congratulated me as he leaned in to place a quick kiss upon my lips.

"Thank you, Erik, please come in and we can start the festivities," I joked, feeling giddy like I always did whenever his lips brushed mine.