Work Hard, Play Hard

Chapter 36

When I woke up I rolled over to see a peaceful looking Maxi still sound asleep. I got out of bed and walked the short distance from the bedroom into the kitchen. I was stood boiling the kettle to make a cup of coffee when I felt two arms wrap around my waist.

"Good morning" Maxi grumbled in his morning voice

"Morning" I replied turning about to give him a quick peck on the lips. "I was making a cuppa do you want one?" I asked

"Yeah please" I walked over to the window and sat down on the sofa next to Maxi and we drank our coffee whilst looking out at the London skyline. "What's the plan for today then Lottie?" Maxi said after taking a sip from his coffee

"I thought that this morning we could go shopping and ice skating near the London Eye then go in the afternoon to meet my family." I smiled looking over at Maxi

"I'm really nervous though, but that sounds like a good plan" Maxi said returning the smile.

"Come on we need to get a shift on then!"

Less than an hour later I and Maxi found ourselves walking hand in hand down the streets of London wrapped up head to toe trying to keep ourselves warm from the biting cold wind.

"God, it's so cold here" Maxi said through his chattering teeth

"It's not even that bad, let's go ice skating to warm ourselves up then!" We walked to Belvedere Road where the ice skating rink was with a spectacular view of the London Eye.

Surprisingly the ice rink was quite empty with me and Maxi and only about ten others on the rink. To begin with I refused to let go of Maxi's hand in case I fell and broke any bones.

"Babe let go of me and the side of the rink, I promise you I'll catch you if your fall" Maxi said,

"No, I'm scared" I replied. Eventually after a lot of pleading from Maxi, I finally let go of both him and the side of the rink. "Look Maxi, look at me, I'm doing it!" I shouted with a lot of confidence

"I knew you could do it babe" Maxi replied smiling at me. My confidence grew even more as I hadn't yet fallen over. I thought I was the next Jayne Torvill so I thought it would be a good idea to attempt to do a pirouette which of course I failed at and I soon felt myself flat out on my face on the freezing ice. The next thing I heard was a massive laugh from Maxi as he skated over to help me up.

"What are you laughing at" I scolded, gratefully taking hold of Maxi's hand and standing up.

"Nothing" Maxi smirked. I raised my eyebrows at him "...youuuuu" Maxi finally admitted.

"Well it's your fault, you told me to do it!" I huffed

"No I told you to skate alone not do an ice dance" Maxi lightly chuckled "You're not injured though are you?" Maxi said suddenly turning serious

"No I'm fine" I replied

"Good because if you were injured then I couldn't do this..." Maxi whispered pulling me close and kissing me deeply. "I love you Lottie" Maxi breathed

"I love you too" I responded.

Our ice skating experience had been an eventful one but it was over. We mutually agreed to stop by the local cafe to grab a steaming hot cup of hot chocolate to warm ourselves up. With hot chocolate in our hands, topped with cream and marshmallows we sat nearest the log burning fire. "What time do we have to leave to go and see your family?" Maxi asked

"If we leave here in half an hour then we should get there in time, the car journey is only 40 minutes" I said looking up from my phone after looking up the route in Google Maps. "Maxi, you've got a little something on you lip" I smirked

"Can you help me get it off?" I leaned over the table and cleaned off the cream from Maxi's lip "mmm...thanks" Maxi smirked.

About half an hour later me and Maxi were sat in the rent a car on route to my family's house, after traffic delays we arrived at my dad's house 1 hour later. I opened the door to get out and Maxi grabbed my hand.

"I can't do this" Maxi said with pure fear in his eyes. I turned round to face him,

"I felt like this when I met your parents, you'll be fine" I reassured him

"Can I have a good luck kiss please" Maxi asked fluttering his eyelashes. I leaned in and peaked him on the lips before getting out of the car and walking towards the familiar blue front door. I reached up to the door bell and pressed it. A few moments later my dad opened the door, I released my grip on Maxi's hand and hugged my dad

"Daddd!" I squealed

"Princess! I've missed you so much" after our embrace ended i turned to Maxi and said

"Maxi this is my dad Alan, dad this is my boyfriend Maxi" I smiled as I watched them shake each others hand

"Pleasure to meet you Mr Bonner" Maxi said

"And you son, please call me Alan" dad replied with a kind smile "come in you two." We both followed my dad into the living room "unfortunately the rest of the family aren't here yet" Dad said looking sad

"Not to worry, how long will they be do you know?" I asked

"SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!" Everyone jumped out of their hiding places and came running over to me and Maxi. My cousins were there, aunties, uncles, and my grandparents, pretty much the whole family. After introducing my family to Maxi we all sat down and the alcohol began to flow.

After a short while my grandad got to his feet and I knew what was coming next , a good old Bonner family speech.

"Lottie my dear, on behalf of me and the rest of the family we'd like you to know how proud we are of you. We all miss you so much when you're on the other side of the world in Australia. You've grown up so much, and you're a very beautiful strong woman. We love you so much, and it reassures us that you're so very happy with your boyfriend, who we think is perfect for you. We will love and support the both of your for a very long time and I, along with everyone else hope you're very happy together" After my grandad's speech there was not a dry eye in the room. "To Maxi and Lottie" my grandad said raising his beer,

"To Maxi and Lottie" everyone chorused.

It was nearing midnight when me and Maxi decided to say our goodbyes.

"Hey Lot, I'll meet you in the car I think I've miss placed my phone somewhere"

"Okay I'll get the car warmed up" I smiled and said my final goodbyes to my family promising to Skype everyone more often. I was sat in the drivers seat with the heated seats on and out of the corner of my eye I saw my dad and Maxi talking and laughing. I watched for a while and then my dad and Maxi hugged. I was glad they were getting on so well but I was slightly suspicious as to what was going on. Eventually Maxi joined me in the car. "You and my dad seem to be getting on well" I stated

"Yeah, he's a cool guy" maxi said and turned to me smiling with a twinkle in his eye.

A.N: So what do you think Maxi and Alan (Lotties dad) were talking and laughing about???? Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and have a Happy New Year😘