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Recap:

"No it's fine, I'll wait for you" Clay tells me, bringing himself closer and closer, until he embraces me in a warm hug

"However long it takes"

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Clay is a pain to travel with.

He runs over a little list he made over a thousand times, making me crazy. Maybe it's because it's christmas day and the airport is a bit hectic

I'm now sitting next to him in first class, how? This mother fucker upgraded our tickets without me noticing.

I initially paid for them because my mom was the one inviting us, but you had to see the look on my face when the lady in the check in area directed us over to the priority pass line.

"I'm still paying you back for the difference" I tell Clay

"We went over this, no you're not" Clay tells me "It's literally nothing for me, let me pay for it, your family already paid for accommodations and our food for these weeks"

"Yeah but it's my mom paying it, not you. Plus,

we are staying in the same room, she's essentially only paying for me" I say

"Still" he insists

"Trust me, it's the most that I can since you'll have to put up with her"

"She can't be that bad" he brushes me off

Oh but she can be.

Every single guy I've brought home in my years of high school have never been enough for her. Either she disliked the way they talked, dressed, looked, or their family's status.

The only guy she ever liked was an older guy from my school I briefly dated right before I moved to Florida, Aidren.

I don't really know if she liked him for who he was or because of how filthy rich his family was.

The worst thing was that Aidren was actually nice, he wasn't into flashy stuff and mostly kept to himself. Kind of like Clay.

I'm not sure why we didn't work out, probably because none of us were committed enough to maintain a long distance relationship. Things ended up being inconclusive, an open chapter left out to fill.

Maybe that's why I didn't hesitate on bringing Clay along... My mom would've probably wanted to get me and Aidren back together again, which would definitely be a bad thing given everything I have on my plate right now.

Clay will act like a shield for that. I hope.

I turn to look at him, he's staring out the window looking at the sky.

His features are very similar to Aidren's. Dark blond hair and that boyish grin on his face. The only difference are their eyes. Aiden's are blue, while Clay's are green.

I thought I loved blue eyes, I have them myself- kind of. Mine are in between green and blue.

Again, I thought I loved them, until Clay. His green eyes tell me a story, they give me warmth and seem more full of life than Aidren's blue ones which tended to be cold.

Those green eyes that fill with excitement when he talks about things he enjoys, when he looks at me. How could I not love them?

Clay can be a quite reserved person. He never lets out his emotions which in the end tend to bottle up.

However, no matter how little he tells me verbally, his eyes give me so much information on how he's feeling. Maybe that's why I like him so much... trying to figure him out is what draws me in

When we landed Clay seemed to be way more relaxed. Letting me take care of our arrival and finding our ride to the hotel.

As we exit the arrival area I spot some guy in a tux holding a sign with my name on it.

"There" I point out

"Fancy" he whispers into my ears

"You don't even know"

The ride through the city was pretty chill, Clay told me he had already visited New York a couple of times so this wasn't such a big surprise.

When we finally get to the hotel the moment I've been dreading all of this trip came along, getting face to face with my mom

"Thank you" I smile at the driver, he gets our luggage out and into the big hotel.

"Just try to lay low and answer as vaguely as possible" I indicate

Clay furrows his eyebrows in confusion

"The more vague you are the less she can judge you"

As we walk through the large corridors I begin to overthink. I hope she likes him, I hope Clay's charm will suffice.

Where is this dammed woman

"Charlotte baby" I hear her voice

"Hi mom" I smile

She's a bit shorter than me, but still intimidates me more than anyone else.

She quickly embraces me and places a soft kiss on my cheek.

"I guess this is your plus one" she eyes Clay

"Yes, this is Clay" I speak up "I met him in University"

"Nice to meet you ma'am" Clay very politely says, stretching an arm out to greet her

She hesitates for a second, but grabs his hand either way. Ok, good start

"Call me Veronica darling" she flashes Clay a fake smile

She then diverts her attention towards me "Gain a little weight haven't we?" she eyes me up and down

"No mom, it's the clothes" I roll my eyes. Even if I did, what's wrong with that?

"Well, why don't you go say hi to your dad while I show Clay around" my mom says

No way I'm letting her stay with him alone

"Actually Clay can come with me, I bet dad wants to meet him too" I saying grabbing his forearm and pulling Clay towards me

"Oh nonsense, he can do that later" she gives me a dirty look "I insist"

I look at Clay, and he nods in approval, letting me know he'll handle her.

"Alright" I say "Be right back" I assure him, and I walk away

God forbid that woman.

Ok Clay, try and not fuck this one up.

This woman does seem a bit intimidating, but I'm sure I can handle it... right?

"So what are your intentions with my Charlotte" Veronica immediately says. Talk about being straight forward

"I'm sorry?" I ask

"Your intentions" she sternly says "Are you looking to get money out of this?"

Oh.

I knew Charlotte's family had money, I picked it up from the stories she'd tell me about her childhood. Plus who goes to a private school in the middle of the upper east side.

But I didn't know it was this important.

"I don't care about that Veronica" I laugh "Even so, Charlotte and I are friends"

"What are you studying in University kid?" she ignores my previous statement.

"I actually don't" I say and she lets out a humorless laugh

"How do you plan on maintaining her then" she raises an eyebrow

"I don't think she'll need me for that. Charlotte is a very strong woman, her grades are almost perfect, I'm sure she'll be able to do it herself" I say

"But, if it came to it..." I hesitate, is revealing my secret about being a famous youtuber worth it?

Should I?

Fuck it, I'm winning this woman over one way or another

"Do you have your phone with you?" I ask

"Yes..." she looks at me confused "Why?"

"Well, look up 'Dream net worth'" I tell her, and she does exactly that

"What about this" she looks up at me

"I'm Dream" I tell her "That" I point at the green skin and fanart con her phone "That's me"

She looks down at the phone, then back at me. Veronica does this a couple of times until she slowly nods

"I must say I'm impressed" she finally lets out "But why doesn't a handsome man like you show himself on his own social media"

"Marketing" I bluntly say "It's marketable how people don't know my face. The mystery around it draws more people in"

"I like how you think... Here, let's get you to my husband" She says grabbing my bicep, leading me to the elevators

Making our way through the hotel I start getting a bit nervous. I knew her mom was going to be hard... but she rarely mentioned her father, I don't know what to expect from him

"Here we are" Veronica announces once we come face to a grand suite "Charlotte must be inside"

As I go and grab the door handle, she stops me.

"I don't care how much money you have or how famous you are, if you fuck over our family name I will make sure to destroy everything you love" she threatens me

"What makes you think I plan on that" I squint my eyes

"Oh for your own good I hope you didn't even think about it" she pulls back "Just warning you..."

"No need" I sternly say

"I emigrated from Uruguay to give my children the best life possible, if a gringo sucio even tries to come between my children and success I will not hesitate"

"Do I need to repeat myself?" I say straightening my hoodie

"No need" she taunts back "Time will tell I guess" she finally says, opening the door

I'm greeted with an old man who resembles Jake, and Charlotte standing next to her.

The door made a loud squeaky noise

"Clay" Charlotte excitedly says once she lays her eyes on me

"Hi Charlie" I smile back at her

"Meet my dad, Esteban" she tells me

"Hello sir" I greet him, putting my hand out as well

"Oh nonsense" he says pulling me into a hug "Anyone who my daughter seems fit, I like"

I can tell he has a heavy spanish accent underneath his broken english. Charlotte sometimes slips up and similarly to him might pronounce things differently.

That's one of the many things I like from her

"Dad" she says pulling him away from me

"Right, sorry" he laughs "I just thought that after Aidren you'd never find someone else"

Aidren?

"Oh come on dad" she complains

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. I don't know if I should ask her about this Aidren guy or just drop it.

I'm trying to be better for her, better for us. I might not even mention him at all to show her I trust her.

"You know I mean well baby" he tells her "So, Clay" Esteban diverts his attention to me "You're from Florida right?"

"Yes" I nod "I lived there my entire life"

"Oh that's great" he smiles "Which school did you attend? I know some people down there, maybe you shared classes with them"

Great

"Oh no, I did online school" I explain "I'm in software, wanted to focus on coding and school was getting in my way"

"So I assume you didn't go to college" his expression drops

I look to my side and notice Charlotte pinching her nose

"Oh darling don't worry about that" Veronica steps in "He's famous!"

"You told her?" Charlotte questions with worry in her voice

I completely turn to look at her, grabbing her shoulder

"It's fine" I assure her "It's not a big deal"

However, Charlotte knows it's a big deal, she knows how important my identity is to me, so I hope she sees this as me going all in on getting her parents to like me

"Really?" Charlotte's dad expression thankfully changes

"Yeah" I say scratching the back of my neck "I'd appreciate it if that stayed in this room though. My identity is kind of secret" I explain

"Then what are we gonna tell everyone what my daughter's boyfriend works as?"

"Tell him he's a high-tech software boy or something like that" Charlotte speaks up after a while "You wouldn't want me to leave early and not make it to the dinner in case Clay's face got leaked"

Both of her parents stay silent. I can see the difference in both of their stances though. While her dad seems like a more warm and welcoming person, her mom seems cold and distant.

I can tell Esteban's intents are exclusively towards his children's well-being... Veronica's not so much.

"And he's not my boyfriend"

Ouch

Silence falls between us four. We all look at each other and things kind of get awkward

Until Veronica speaks up again

"Bueno todos, christmas dinner is in a couple of hours" Veronica steps in "Move on" she lightly pushes Charlotte out of the room "I have a lot to plan out"

"I'm so sorry Clay" is the first thing I say when we finally leave the room "You just had to expose the Dream secret and I know how much that means to you, sometimes I hope my mom wasn't as nosey as she is, you know? Oh my god and I left you alone with her- I should've been more insistent on staying with you but she scares the shit out of me and-" I begin to ramble but Clay stops me

"Char, it's fine really" he chuckles

"What did she ask" I question

God I feel so bad

"She accused me of wanting to get money off of you" Clay laughs "And after I said I didn't a bunch of times I figured I'd tell her about the youtube thing"

We slowly but surely make our way to the elevators. Once we get there I press the button to call for it before I speak up.

"Wait until she sees your videos flirting with George" I laugh too. Guess it didn't go that bad after all, I honestly think Clay got quite far, if my mom really didn't like him he would be packing his bags by now.

"Well to be fair... it isn't flirting" he defends himself

"Really?" I raise an eyebrow "Should I pull out that one stream you took a test and found out you were 'a little in love with your bestfriend'"

"It was on a discord podcast, and no, there's no need for that" he stops in his tracks "Also, how do you know that?"

"I don't know how, but half of my for you page are edits of you and your friends" I chuckle

"Even the thirst trap ones?" he teases

"Oh yeah, your minecraft skin with armor on is just sooo hot" I say

I hear the distinct 'ding' from the elevator, notifying it had already arrived

"In my defense I don't know why they find th-" Clay begins but I focus on the person inside the lift

A blue eyed boy who I left behind almost a year ago is standing right behind Clay

"Aidren?"