Royally Falling

~ 39 ~

"Falling deeper as we go
It's no wonder you're not alone
Guess these feelings take me home
And take me home, yeah, yeah"
love ride - Christian French

oOoOo

Saturday afternoon, Kaden arrives at the penthouse around noon.

"Ready to go?" He asks as he walks into my room.

"Almost. One more minute," I say, finishing my makeup. He's taking me home today to meet his family. Apparently, his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins are going to be there too. I'm totally not freaking out.

I glance at myself in the mirror and smooth my hair down one last time.

"Am I dressed up enough?" I ask him, biting my lip.

Kaden scans my outfit. "You look beautiful as always. There's nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about? I'm literally meeting your entire family at once!"

"You'll be okay. My grandma idolizes you already," he reassures me.

"Do they know the whole backstory of all of the articles?" I'm a people pleaser at heart, so their opinions of me matter a lot more than they should. I'm trying to work on this, but it's not like I can just wake up and suddenly not give a shit about what people think.

"They know the truth and that's all that matters." He checks his phone. "We really should get going. I told my mom we'll be there at one."

"Okay." I take one last look in the mirror before standing up and following him out of my bedroom.

Kaden leads me out of the penthouse and into his car.

With each passing minute, my anxiety levels rise. What if I say or do something that they don't approve of? Do they secretly loathe me after all the drama? How much do they know about me? I know next to nothing about his family.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Kaden's voice startles me. I turn and see him glance at me before turning his eyes back to the road.

"Tell me about your family. I don't want to walk in blindly."

"Okay," he pauses to think. "Well, you already know about my sister, Soph. She's eighteen and is practically the same person as Maeve. My cousins Alexandria and Amelia-- Alex and Mia for short-- are twins. They're fourteen and always getting into some sort of mischief. They're really into soccer. Their brother, Gabe is your age. To be honest, he's kind of a douche. Don't tell him I said that, though... He likes partying, drinking, and sex."

"And their parents are... Angela and Mark?" I ask tentatively.

"Yep," he nods. "Aunt Angela is my mom's sister. Her other sister, my Aunt Andrea won't be there, though."

"And then what about your parents?"

"Isabella and Dave. They own an Italian bakery. I think I've mentioned it before?"

"Mhmm," I hum.

"You met my mom on FaceTime on Christmas. She's really nice and accepting. Same with my dad. He enjoys football. If you even bring it up, he'll go on and on for ages about the Patriots."

I laugh. "Duly noted."

"And my grandma is crazy. Prepare yourself for a lot of intrusive questions. She also doesn't grasp the concept of personal space. My grandpa is pretty passive. He just sits back and watches everyone and tells the stereotypical 'back in my day' stories."

Just as he finishes, we exit the highway.

"Okay, that makes me feel a little better."

He quickly looks in my direction. "Hey, they will all love you. If anything, my family will concentrate on embarrassing me."