3:26 am

t w e n t y

t w e n t y

"Oh, my god. That's your mom... and there's your dad," I started to quietly freak out as we walked up to Holden's parents, and my rambling caused Holden to laugh. "Holden, I'm going to puke."

"Don't say that," Holden told me, looking over at me. "You're the one person I know that will actually puke when they say things like that. Just calm down, okay?"

"You've been back in my life for barely an hour, and most of that hour we spent in a car... and you're already making me re-meet your parents. You have a girlfriend," I reminded Holden and he started to laugh loudly, which caused me to panic. I watched as Holden's parents turned their heads, and as his mom made eye contact with me, my eyes widened.

"Is that Quincy?" she asked after gasping at the sight of me. "Quincy!" Holden's mom rushed over to me and hugged me tightly, which caused my heart to race. I hugged her back and immediately felt better about spending time with her and Holden's dad, but I still had anxiety. As she started to pull away from me, she kissed me on the cheek.

"Hey, Anne," I said, greeting her quietly.

"What a surprise!" she exclaimed, her face completely lit up.

"Quincy," Holden's dad, Adam, stepped forward to hug me as well and kissed me on the head before pulling away. "It's good to see you, sweetheart."

"You too, Adam," I said, smiling up at him. "I don't mean to intrude on family time-"

"Hey, don't be like that," Adam started as he walked back to where he had been standing. "You're still apart of ours."

Surprised by what he had said, I raised my eyebrows. I looked at Holden and as he looked at me, I could tell he was just as surprised as I had been.

"Well-" Holden started to say, but I cut him off.

"I've sort of been replaced," I joked, wanting to remind his parents that I wasn't apart of Holden's life anymore, and that he had someone new.

"Replaced?" Anne asked, laughing quietly as she looked up at Holden. "What does that mean?" I looked at Holden and my eyes widened again as I saw his cheeks a shade of red. He clearly hadn't told his parents about Andy, so I had messed up.

"I, uh... I mean," Holden stuttered as he started to explain and I sighed quietly before looking back at his parents. "I'm seeing someone," his words came out jumbled and rushed, but they were understandable.

"Holden! You didn't tell us," Anne started to pout and Adam laughed as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"He's twenty-seven, babe," Adam kissed her cheek and looked back at Holden.

"Uh... her name is Andy, and she's really great. We haven't been seeing each other long, she's new... and different," I stared at Holden as he talked about her, and seeing the smile on his face as he started talking about her caused my heart to break. I looked away before he could continue. "I hadn't said anything, because I'm scared she'll get sick of me before too long," Holden joked and I slowly shook my head.

"Are you... gay?" I looked up at Anne as she spoke, then at Holden who was looking at me with furrowed eyebrows, and then at Adam who also had his eyebrows tightly furrowed. "That's okay, honey."

"Mom... I said she," Holden said, a little louder this time.

"I can hear you," she scolded Holden, which caused me to laugh. "You really met a girl named Andy?"

"Yes, mom," Holden rolled his eyes and I began to quietly laugh under my breath. I missed Anne, she was a special kind of... sweet. "Her real name is Andrea, or something, but she hates it... so she goes by Andy," Holden explained, clearing up any confusion.