Frozen

Chapter 15)

Brianna

"Barney, it's too soon! I'm not ready for that kind of commitment!" I exclaimed.

Barney waited about a millisecond before he busted out laughing.

"I'm serious," I screeched, my voice getting higher and higher pitched the farther Barney drove.

"Darlin' we said I love you before we officially started dating," he pointed out, his voice shaking with amusement.

I turned to glare at him. When I couldn't come up with a comeback, and it became obvious that my glare had no effect on him, I huffed and turned to narrow my eyes at the windshield.

"Whatever," I muttered.

I heard his soft chuckle, then felt his warm hand cupping the back of my neck. He pulled me across the front seat so he could kiss my temple, never taking his eyes off of the road.

"I love you baby girl," he said in his new special soft voice that he had been using every time he told me he loved me.

"Then why are you torturing me?" I asked in a super soft, super sweet, slightly whiny voice.

He laughed.

"Introducing you to my family is torture?" he asked.

"No," I snapped, my capacity for being sweet and whiny gone, "telling me we were going out to eat somewhere casual them taking me to your family's house for a surprise dinner ambush is torture."

"Surprise dinner ambush?" he mumbled, but I ignored him.

"And because I thought it was a casual dinner, I'm wearing a knit sweater and leggings I can't be dressed casually the first time I meet your family!" I yelled.

"Brianna, darlin', calm down, you look amazing, you always do," he said, his voice shaking with his effort to hold in laughter.

"You obviously don't understand the gravity of this situation," I growled.

"Obviously, I don't," he muttered, his lips twitching at the corners.

"Okay, let me see if I can find a good substitute," I said, trailing off in thought for a few moments.

"Baby," he said softly as we pulled up outside of a house. He turned to look at me, putting one hand on the headrest and one on my chin to turn my head to face him. "It does not matter what you wear. They wouldn't care if you were covered in tattoos from head to toe advertising your admiration of the devil. All they care about is that I love you, and you make me happy."

I felt as my face softened and I sighed.

"I guess I love you, too," I said begrudgingly.

He grinned and leaned in to kiss my nose.

"Fantastic. Now, a little warning, you are not about to meet my parents, you're going to meet my aunt and uncle and baby cousins, they are my family, ready? Cool, let's do this," he said quickly.

With that, he opened the door and got out, leaving me frozen in the car.

If I had known we would be meeting his family, I would have asked questions. He knew everything about me, my whole story, and I knew next to nothing about him.

But I loved him.

And I was about to meet his family.

I took a deep breath and right as I was about to open the door, it opened for me and I was staring at his hand. I took it and he helped me step out of the car.