What A Secret Looks Like | ✓

21: tessa

"Are you sure that this is okay for dinner?" I ask Grayson for the hundredth time as he drives us across the border into New Jersey.

"Bella you look great." He reassures, lifting one hand from the steering wheel to rest it on my thigh.

I'm wearing a large grey cowl neck sweater I bought when I was in London a few days ago and jeans, but I feel like I'm going to be too dressed down. I'm nervous to meet his family, especially since the time I met his brother, I was wearing only a towel. Definitely not my finest moment.

Once his mom found out he was bringing a date to the wedding, she insisted that I come over for dinner as soon as I was back in town.

"If you can walk runways in front of hundreds of people, you'll be fine with my family. Meredith is really nice so god knows how she ended up with Jared. Just ignore whatever stupid shit comes out of Jared's mouth; it should be filtered more than usual since my parents will be there." He rambles, explaining more than he needed to. That's when I realize that he's nervous too.

"It'll be fine." I look out the window at the fading sunset, "You're not from Jersey are you?" I ask, trying to keep the distaste out of my tone, but I don't do a very good job. Grayson laughs as we turn into a neighborhood.

"No, I'm not from Jersey so don't worry about it. I'm from Texas, but my parents moved here while I was at Stanford to be closer to Jared."

I look at him kind of confused, "Does Jared walk on water or something?"

He parks the car in front of a house with another just as nice car in the driveway, "Yeah, something like that." He responds after getting out of the car, and I take a shaky breath after getting out.

I haven't done meet the parents in a long time. Grayson threads his hand with mine, and we're each others' rocks. "You ready?"

Grayson nods, leading me up to the door, knocking lightly as he mumbles under his breath, "Let the games begin."

The door opens moments later, and an older woman with greying hair and a small frame opens the door, "You're here! Dinner just came out of the oven, and by the looks of you Grayson, you haven't been eating well. Who is this?" She asks, shifting her gaze onto me.

"Ma, can you at least invite us in before you start questioning us?"

But she doesn't budge, and Grayson sighs as I hold out my hand. "I'm Tessa, it's nice to meet you Mrs. Taylor."

"It's really nice to meet you Tessa. I'm not sure what rock my son's been hiding you under, but I'm glad that he's finally introducing you to us." She smiles widely, shaking my hand and I relax a little.

Walking into the house, it's easy to see that Jared is the favored child from the pictures on the wall are mostly focused on him. There's plenty of Grayson too, but it's not on the same scale. The older man sitting with Jared is who I'm assuming their dad as they watch a baseball game on television. "Gray why don't you go watch the game, and Tessa can help Meredith and I in the kitchen."

It's more of a command than a suggestion, and he mouths 'good luck' to me. All I can think is what the hell have we walked into. There's a girl that looks a few years older than me, sitting at the counter with a glass of red wine and light brown hair who smiles kindly at me. "You must be Tessa, it's so nice to meet you," She says, hopping off the chair to give me a hug. "I'm Meredith."

"Hi, thank you guys so much for inviting me." I reply politely as Mrs. Taylor gets out another wine glass.

"Sit, do you drink red?" Mrs. Taylor asks, and I nod, taking the seat next to Meredith.