It's Friday. The last days were a nightmare. My ribs hurt like a bitch and my doctor said that's because they're broken. Apparently, they were cracked before, but Tyler's strong hug broke them. Damn it.

I didn't go to school because of that, since I couldn't risk injuring them even more. Especially because I had PE classes planned.

Another thing that happened during those days was Blake notoriously calling me and coming to my house, even when I didn't let him in. I was basically sleeping the whole time to heal faster.

But today I finally decided to let him in, simply because I can't sleep with him constantly banging on my door.

I go to my front door, the sound of the doorbell getting on my nerves. As I open it, I see him. He looks the worst I've ever seen him.

There are dark circles under his eyes, as if he couldn't sleep lately and he's not wearing his signature leather jacket and jeans, but sweatpants and T-shirt. All in all, he looks exhausted and worn out.

"Lia! Thank God! I thought something happened to you! Why didn't you answer my calls, I need to talk to you, urgently!" He almost yells out as he comes in.

"Woah, calm down. Nothing's wrong, I'm fine. My ribs hurt, so I didn't go to school and I was mostly sleeping so I didn't pick up your calls." I tell him, inviting him to my living room. He seems pretty stressed out, so I decide to let him into my house.

As he sits down, I go to the kitchen to get him a drink.

"I hope soda's fine. Or would you rather have some juice or water?" I ask him, but he doesn't answer me, taking a big gulp of the drink.

"I need to talk to you. It's serious."

"What, you're going to ask me to pretend to be your wife now?" I laugh, finally getting him to relax.

"No, no. My parents want to meet you. They somehow found out about you." He tells me, his voice unsure, as if afraid of my reaction.

"Somehow? What does that mean?" I completely ignore the first part.

"Yeah, someone saw me coming to your house and told them about it. You'd be surprised how fast they got a report that I'm on the other side of town, with a girl nonetheless. The people my parents hang out with are extremely nosy." He explains. "My parents grilled me about it, but not before telling me that they were going to send me to some juvenile center in Montana. That's when I told them that – he pauses – that you're my girlfriend. And they want to meet you." He finishes, waiting for my response.

"Okay, well, the whole thing was supposed to be for your parents, so I don't get why you're so anxious, we can just pick a date and meet them, what's the problem here?"

"They want to meet you tomorrow."

"Oh, that's why." I sigh.

"Yeah, and that's why I needed to talk to you."

"About?"

"This whole thing. I know my parents, and I'm sure they will grill us at the dinner. They will ask a lot of questions, since it will be the first time I introduce my GIRLFRIEND to them. It's a pretty big deal for them."

"Alright, what kind of questions?"

"You know, the usual. How we met, blah blah blah. But I can't just tell them I asked you out a few days ago."

"Well what DID you tell them, then?" I ask him, so that I know what to expect.

"I told them that we haven't been together for long, so I need to talk to you about the dinner. I haven't told them much else, but the last few days they have been asking more and more about you. It's been a fucking nightmare to get them off my back." He sighs tiredly.

"That's why you look like this, huh?"

He looks up, surprised.

"Like what?" He asks tentatively. It's almost cute when he's shy.

"Like shit. I've never seen you like this." I tell him, getting straight to the point.

He leans back on the couch, running his hand down his face.

"Yeah, I got scared you decided to back off, and then I couldn't reach you. You didn't come to school, you didn't answer your phone, didn't text me back. So yeah, I'm tired."

"I already agreed to help you. And I don't intend to back off from something I already agreed to do."

"I know, but still. I got worried." He tells me truthfully.

"No need to worry. Everything will be fine. Now, what do you need me to do? I mean, you know your parents better than me, so you know what to expect from them."

"Yeah. That's what I needed to talk to you about. We need a story about how we met and started dating." He says.

"Oh so we're dating now?" I joke, making him laugh, the tension leaving him. His laugh sounds nice, I kinda like it.

"Ha ha, funny. You're not your usual self, you know?"

"What do you mean?" I ask, not offended, but curious.

"Well, on Monday you were so serious, composed and businesslike. But today you're joking around. It's nice." Blake explains.

"Well, you just didn't know me." I smirk mockingly.

"I know. I'm sorry if I offended you." He apologizes.

"It's fine, you didn't offend me. I'm not that sensitive." I assure him.

"Okay, now on to the serious topic. How did we start? We need to have solid story or my parents won't buy it."

"Well, that part is easy." I say, but I'm interrupted before I can continue.

"Easy?! That's the worst part. We need to have the same version, so we don't slip!"

"Don't interrupt me, Blake. It can't be something made up or too detailed because you can forget something and mess up."

"Okay, fine. So do you have an idea?"

"Yeah. I know William told you about us doing a project together. So let's go with that. We met through him. We did a project together, so sometimes when we met to work on it, you and Tyler were there too and that's how we started talking. Then after some time you asked me out, and bam! Here we are. Easy."

"That's... great actually. Will and Ty will not have a problem with confirming that. You're good." He appraises me, looking satisfied with the story.

"Well now that we got this down, how about a dinner? I haven't eaten yet and I'm starving." I ask and Blake looks both surprised and thrilled for some reason.

"Dinner?"

"Yeah, that's what I said. I can fix something up and we can talk meanwhile." I get up and head towards the kitchen, expecting Blake to follow.

"You cook?" Blake sounds shocked.

"Why are you surprised? I live alone and I can't exactly live off take outs. Of course I cook." I tell him as I go through my fridge, not understanding what's the big deal.

"Wow, my girlfriend is cooking for me. I should've asked you out sooner." He jokes.

As I cook, we talk, joke and laugh. We decided to play 21 questions, and find out more about each other. I got to find out a lot about Blake, as he got to know more about me. Something about this carefree atmosphere makes me open up to him. I didn't expect us to get along so well.

We learn a lot about each other during the dinner and we get pretty comfortable. Now we sit in the living room having eaten ice cream for dessert, Blake does something that doesn't sit well with me. He puts his hand on my thigh.

"Blake, take it off." I warn him. I somehow tolerate his presence near me, but that doesn't mean he can touch me.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot." He quickly takes his hand off my thigh, realizing his mistake.

I had to tell him about not liking to be touched, considering we're pretending to be a couple which means touching is kind of implied; and he took it surprisingly well. He didn't pry further, either. But we came to an agreement that he can hold my hand and maybe hug me sometimes to make the whole charade believable, but no touching below waistline.

"It's getting late, I think I should head home." Blake says, looking at the watch on the wall. It's already past 9. He's been here for over 5 hours.

"Oh, yeah, I didn't realize the time. I often stay up late." We get up and I walk him out.

"I'll come and pick you up at 5, okay?" He asks as we stand by the front door.

"You could just give me the address; I have a car, you know."

"Yeah, but I want to pick up my girlfriend myself. Oh, and also from now on I will drive you to school." He tells me as I walk him out.

"No, you won't. I can drive myself, you don't have to waste time and come all the way here. It's too far."

"It's not a problem, sweetheart." He smirks, knowing that I hate that word.

"Stop calling me that." I say, annoyed.

"No can do, pet name is a must." I roll my eyes and groan; since it's obvious he won't drop it. He takes out his keys, unlocks the car in my driveway, and then quickly leans down, kissing my cheek as he says goodbye and drives off, leaving me furious on my porch. I did not agree to kissing!!!