In Your Time

Chapter 27

After the interview, I finally let out the huge breath of relief Id been holding before I even got out of my seat. The hostess giggled at me.

"First interview?" She joked. I nodded as I slouched into a relaxed position.

"It's so stressful. I don't know how you do this all the time," I said to Braden. He stood over me and kissed my nose before he smirked.

"Someone told me it would be a good idea," he joked. I scrunched my nose at his PDA before I felt my phone go off. Looking at the watch on my wrist, I saw the notification from Merlyn. Apparently, my parents had gone crazy calling her.

"We have to go," I said suddenly. We said our goodbyes to the crew before getting in Braden's car.

"Where do you need to go?" He asked.

"Home. My parents have been blowing up my best friend's phone," I answered.

"Do you think they saw the interview?" He asked as I sent the address to the car's GPS system.

"I'm sure of it. They're normally always too busy to mind me. It's the only reason I could think of that would have them both home right now," I replied. Braden drove us to my house before going inside with me. My parents were waiting in the living room. They sat quietly, waiting.

"Phoenix, care to explain?" My dad asked, motioning to Braden. I sighed before going to sit in an empty seat with Braden following closely behind me.

"It's my fault, Mr. Di," Braden spoke up.

"It's not mister, it's doctor," my dad corrected him.

"Dr. Di. I fell in love with your daughter when she came through your machine. I've been waiting for her since then," Braden explained.

"My daughter just turned 18 years old," my mother chimed in.

"But we were both 17 when we met," Braden said quickly. There was a lot of back and forth and explaining before my parents eventually gave up.

"So now what?" My dad asked Braden.

"I want to be responsible for Phoenix, with your permission. I want to provide and care for her for the rest of our lives," Braden answered honestly.

"From my understanding, you're some hotshot celebrity, right? Aren't you always busy and traveling? How do you plan to make time for Phoenix?" My dad asked.

"I already told Phoenix that I wouldn't stop her life. Whatever she wants to do, I'll support her, but I wouldn't hesitate to take her everywhere with me if she wanted to," Braden replied.

"So my daughter would turn into your personal roadie?" My mom asked.

"No, not at all," Braden backtracked quickly. He was flustered.

"Okay, that's enough," I finally cut in. "Honestly, I'm a legal adult now and I can make my own decisions. I happen to love Braden and we've survived time travel, so I'm sure the rest won't be nearly as complicated. You're overthinking this," I said to my parents.

"On the contrary, I think the complications are just about to begin. It was different when no one knew his face, but who's to say there isn't a picture of you out there somewhere from 2017. How would you explain that? You can't tell the truth. Even if you did, you can't prove it. We destroyed the machine as soon as you came back," my dad replied. I sighed and rubbed my forehead as the stress took over.

"How about this? If you give me permission, I'd like Phoenix to come live with me. She can live with me until she graduates. At that point in time, if we still feel the same way, you give us your blessing and let me be fully responsible for her," Braden offered. My eyes widened as I looked at him. It wasn't like I hadn't lived with him before, but now that he was famous, I couldn't deny that things were different. My parents sat thinking for a long moment as I nudged Braden with my elbow.

"Okay. Phoenix can live with you until she graduates, but if she is unhappy, even a little bit, you drop the idea of marrying my daughter," my dad agreed. Braden walked over to him and they shook on it. Just like that, I was packing my things.

***

Getting back to Braden's house, I sighed as I plopped down on the couch. I let my eyes close as I let out a groan. Between finding Braden again, finding out Torin was our new history teacher, doing the interview, being surrounded by reporters, and my parents shopping me off to live with Braden, I was exhausted and confused.

"What is happening right now?" I muttered to myself. Braden sat next to me and held my hand in his.

"I bought us some more time together. And bought you more time to see if you're okay with this life," Braden answered my rhetoric question. I sat up to look at him as he smiled lightly. His free hand came up to move a strand of hair out of my face.

"I know it's a lot to take in after coming back so suddenly, but I can't afford to lose you again, Phoenix. I've waited for you for so long. If I didn't ask for this trial period, your parents would've stopped me from seeing you altogether," he explained. I smiled softly before moving my head to his shoulder.

"I know you did what you had to do. It's just... everything is moving so fast, I feel like I'm still traveling through the time machine," I tried to explain.

"Well, things should settle down a bit. Now that you've done the interview, people know your face, so there shouldn't be as many reporters hanging around as before. As for school, just do your best. I'll ask Torin to keep an eye on you for me. If you ever get into any trouble there, you can go to him. As for me, I'll lighten my schedule to ease you into it. I know you don't like the limelight. If it still bothers you, I'll retire completely," he thought out loud. I sat up to look at him again.

"Are you crazy? You can't just retire. I won't stop your career, you're too talented to just stop. As for the reporters, I'll just try to get used to it. You managed to work through it, so I can too," I tried to stay positive. To be honest, I was scared of being the girlfriend of someone so famous, but Braden was also right: I knew what his status would be before I met him back then. I knew what I was getting myself into, and I loved him too much to just throw it all away.