Tonight is the night I meet Hailee's family, and I'm losing my mind. Never have I ever been this worried about making a good impression then right in this moment. I throw on a nice outfit that isn't too nice, yet isn't too casual.

I stare at myself in the mirror for a while, thoughts roaming through my head. I try and remember the last time I met someone's parents like this, and I honestly can't think of a time. Meeting Lizzie's parents wasn't as nerve-racking, since it was back in high school, and we were just friends then. I realize that me being this nervous only solidifies how much I like Hailee, and the feelings I have for her.

On the way to Hailee's house, a pit of anxiety grows in my stomach. I put out my hand over the steering wheel and try to hold it steady, but I am left with watching my jittery hand shake like an idiot. My tense nature is temporarily washed away when I see Hailee step out of her front door and walking towards my car. She's wearing the cutest outfit, and she looks so beautiful.

She gets in the car and gives me a warm hug. In that moment, my fears about meeting her parents disappear. In her arms, nothing matters.

"Ugh you smell so good." She compliments after detaching from the hug.

"Why thank you." I reply, and she scrunches her nose. We stay looking at each other for a while. She is resting her head on her hand, her elbow in the center console, looking at me adorably.

"Kiss me." She demands.

"Oh um sorry I forgot I'm just so nervous." I tell her honestly.

"Just kiss me." She says again, and I grant her wishes. She places her small hand on my face, and my own hand glides to her thigh. She indulges me in a long, sweet kiss. We pull apart both smiling.

"Ready to go?" I ask.

"Now we are ready." She replies, as if our kiss was the thing that was stopping us from getting on our way.

We both sit in comfortable silence on the road, our favorite songs playing in the background.

"It's okay to be nervous, but there's nothing to worry about. My parents are so amazing, you'll see." She tells me out of the blue, as if she read my mind.

"How did you know?"

"Jay, come on. You've been fiddling with your thumb the whole car ride, looking around at everything, clearing your throat too much. I just know." She tells me, and her acts of observance make me feel slightly embarrassed that it was that noticeable, but also warm, since she has clearly observed my mannerisms.

"Whattt, haha I don't know what you're talking about." I joke, and she rolls her eyes playfully.

We drive for a little while longer until Hailee alerts me we are here.

"Yeah this house, turn here." She says as we pull into this nice, typical Californian home.

I turn off the car and walk to the other side of it, closing the car door after Hailee walks out.

"You look amazing by the way." I compliment, and she smiles.

"Hey we are both wearing Doc Marteens!" She notices and we both look down to our feet.

"Oh yeah, we are. Twins." I reply, and she looks back up at me with that smile of hers that I love.

We walk up to the door, and Hailee lets herself in. I almost question why we didn't knock but I had to remember that she did in fact live here at one point.

"Mom, Dad!" Hailee shouts, and Cheri and Pete peep their heads out of the kitchen.

"Hailee baby you're here!" Cheri declares excitedly, opening her arms to hug her daughter. Pete follows close behind her. I am still standing at the door, too nervous to even walk behind Hailee. She notices of course, and motions her hand for me to stand next to her.

"Look who we have here!" Cheri says with her attention now on me.

"Hi Ms. Steinfeld, nice to meet you." I reply timidly, raising my hand out for her to grab but instead she just pulls me into a hug.

"Oh dear, you can call me Cheri. It's so nice to finally meet the person my daughter won't shut up about." She tells me, and I quickly become embarrassed. Once I depart from my hug with Hailee's mom, I turn my attention to her dad.

"No need to introduce yourself to me Carter. Big fan." He says, holding his hand out and I shake it firmly, finishing it with a pat on the back.

"Oh um, thank you sir." I answer, and he reminds me to call him Pete and I nod.

As I follow Hailee and her parents into the dining room and kitchen area, she turns to look at me from behind, giving me a thumbs up. She mouths "you're doing great" and it helps to ease my nervousness. We take our seats on the barstools while her parents finish up in the kitchen.

"Do you guys need some help?" I offer, and they decline, telling me that I'm the guest.

"Griffin should be here any minute now, he's been dying to see you again." Pete tells.

"Can't wait, we didn't get to talk much since the first time I met him was at that one game." I recall.

"Jayden, mind helping me outside with the grill?" Pete asks, and I stand up following him outside the two double french doors that lead to the patio area, leaving Hailee and Cheri alone inside. I shut the doors behind me and follow Pete to the area where the grill is located. He opens the grill cover, revealing 5 pieces of tender meat to accompany tonight's dinner.

"Isn't Hailee something huh." He begins.

"She's quite the gem of a person." I reply.

"I'm so proud to call her my daughter."

"I can only imagine, especially with all she's accomplished.

"Yeah definitely." He says while turning the steaks. "But you want to know something?"

"Go ahead."

"Out of her almost 25 years of life, I've never seen her this happy. And part of me believes it's because of you." He admits honestly.

"Oh um, wow I don't know what to say."

"There's nothing to say, except the fact that I like you for her, and I don't even need to sit through dinner with you to know that. It's just a fathers instinct."

"Thank you Pete, I'm really glad you feel that way."

"You take care of her okay?" He says, and I nod.

"I only want the best for her, she deserves it." I tell him honestly, and he responds with a big smile, proceeding to pat me on the shoulder.

"Come on let's get these steaks inside shall we?" He questions, and I grab the plates helping him transfer the portion of the meal indoors.

In the time that we were outside, Griffin arrived, now seated at the barstool I was sat at moments earlier. When he sees me though, he springs up out of his seat and embraces me into a hug.

"Jayden so nice to see you again man."

"Feelings mutual Griffin."

"That last game against Chicago was nuts dude, I watched the whole thing, you killed it out there." He tells me.

"Thanks Griffin, that means a lot, but I was just doing what I do, nothing special." I say humbly.

While Hailee sits on one of the barstools, I stand next to her. She proceeds to wrap her arm around mine, resting her head on my arm since she is shorter than me while sitting down. The five of us continue to talk until all the food is set on the table.

The table has 6 seats, but tonight, only 5 are filled. Cheri and Pete sit at the heads of the table, while Hailee and I sit next to each other, with Griffin in front of Hailee. We serve ourselves and begin to dig in.

"Everything on this so amazing, thank you so much for this meal." I announce.

"We love having guests over, and we are glad you are enjoying the food." Cheri replies.

"Come on, tell us more about yourself." Pete says, and the nervousness flows right back in. I hate getting asked to talk about myself. It seems that when I have to, every known fact about me or interest I have leaves my mind.

"Well, um, I play basketball, I guess that's one thing, um, been playing since I was 4." I reply nervously, looking to Hailee for help.

"I have one. She's a big nerd." Hailee tells everyone and I lightly slap her knee under the table. "She has action figures and posters of Marvel everywhere in her office."

"Who doesn't love Marvel?" I ask, trying to divert from Hailee's comment.

"Ooh tell them about your guitar!" She reminds me, and I look around and everyone else seems so excited to hear this fact about me.

"Oh um, yeah I play a little guitar, and some other instruments." I tell everyone.

"You just keep becoming more and more cool." Griffin says and I chuckle.

"Well, we have a piano in the living room, we would love to hear a little if you don't mind." Cheri suggests, and my cheeks turn red. Hailee looks at me for an answer, and I can't help but say yes.

"Yeah I'd love too. For tips of course." I joke, earning a few laughs.

"She's a funny one isn't she Hailee?" Pete remarks.

"The funniest ever." Hailee replies while looking at me with a warm smile.

We continue to eat and talk, all of us sharing stories from different points in our life. Hailee and I tell the story of the night we met.

"Yeah and then Hailee just said she had to go?" I tell, recalling the night.

"And then I just stood there like an idiot deciding if I should ask for her number or not, and she noticed! Ugh I'm still embarrassed to this day." Hailee says.

"Well aren't you glad you did?" Cheri asks.

"Very glad." She answers, and I nod in agreement.

Once we are all finished eating, I help pick up the plates, taking them to the sink. I begin to lather up the sponge with soap, turning on the water. Cheri immediately stops me in action.

"Jayden! Absolutely not put the sponge down!"

"No, no I got it Cheri, I can clean up it's the least I can do." But ultimately I lose the battle and the sponge ends up back where it belongs.

We all take our place in the living room, Hailee and I seated on the smaller couch, Cheri and Pete on another couch and Griffin sitting in the loveseat, all continuing our conversations from before. As time goes on, I ease into my environment, becoming less stiff and more relaxed in the presence of Hailee's family. After a while, it just feels like home, everything feels so natural. Getting the opportunity to sit down and spend time with a traditional family feels strange, since it's so different from the dysfunctional family I grew up with.

"Come on Jay, go play us something." Cheri says excitedly while making small claps with her hands. I stand up and make my way to the upright black piano that sits against the wall, family pictures framed and lined up across the top of it.

"Mind giving me an assist here?" I look at Hailee, and she sits up and leans up against the piano, giving me a warm smile.

"Any song requests Mom?" Hailee asks, and Cheri ponders for a moment.

"Well, you know I love Elton John." Cheri replies. I look to Hailee and I nod, communicating to her that I know a few Elton John songs. We whisper to each other, sorting through the most famous Elton John songs until we choose one.

I count down from three so Hailee and I begin at the same time, and I start playing the opening chords. Cheri recognizes the song immediately.

"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road! My favorite." She shouts with a giddy smile.

We run through the whole song, Hailee and I making romantic eye contact multiple times throughout the song. Her voice is so beautiful it was hard to play every note correctly.

"That was amazing guys." Pete says, while Griffin claps. Hailee jokingly bows, and pulls my arm forcing me to do the same. We both laugh in unison.

"Next time you'll have to bring your guitar!" Griffin says, and I smile at the thought that there will be a next time. I look over to Hailee and I see her yawn. When I peer down at my watch, I notice it's approaching 11pm.

"I think we are going to head out Mom, it's getting late." Hailee notes, and I nod, slipping my hand to the crook of her back. She melts into my touch.

We say our goodbyes, to everyone, and we walk out of the house still engaged in conversation.

"Thank you for everything, for the food, the invite, all of it." I tell both Cheri and Pete.

"Any time Jayden, you both are welcome here always." They tell me with a warm smile. As Hailee and I walk out of the door, Cheri motions for Hailee to stay behind.

"I just need to steal her for a moment, we wont be long." Cheri says, and I awkwardly try and figure out what to say.

"Oh um, yeah I'll get the car started, no worries." I reply, then I make the short walk to my car that's parked on the side of the road. I get in, pressing my foot on the gas as well as the start engine button. As I'm waiting in the car for Hailee and her Mom to finish up, wondering what they could be talking about, Griffin approaches my car.

"Dude is this the new BMW M240? The 2020 edition?" He asks excitedly and I nod, answering his question.

"Aw man, she's a beauty." He says, looking around at all the features.

"So I take it, you're a car guy."

"Probably the biggest car guy you'll ever meet." He replies smiling, the passion almost seeping out of him.

"I do love cars myself, but I'm sure you know way more than me."

"I'll have to invite you and Hailee to one of my races. Oh! And maybe one day we can all go to the Grand Prix together that would be a blast!"

"For sure dude, that would be awesome." I reply. As we finish up our conversation, I notice Hailee walking towards us.

"Everything okay?" I ask timidly.

"Yeah all good! She just wanted to remind me of something." She says honestly. We say our goodbyes to Griffin once more, and with that we are on the way back to Hailee's house. The car is filled with the sound of her favorite songs on her playlist, but when I look to my right, I notice her in the passenger seat looking out the window.

"What's going on in that pretty head of yours?" I ask.

"Just thinking about tonight. Everything was so amazing." She reminisces.

"Yeah I think it went pretty well."

"It did. You did so well my love I'm so proud of you, I know you were nervous." She tells me, and I smile lightly.

"Oh um, thanks, I think I did pretty good too myself."

"They loved you Jay."

"Really?"

"Yes really, of course they did. I had no doubts that they wouldn't."

"Wow, um, that's good then right?" I say awkwardly.

"Yes, it is." She says between laughs. We continue talking until we arrive at the front of her house. When she notices, she frowns a little.

"Guess this is me." She says lightly, and I mirror her and frown as well.

"Hey no, we shouldn't be frowning, it will only be a few days." She tells me, and she's right. When, she says this though, I realize how attached we have grown.

"Yeah, just a few days. No big deal." I reply, and we both smile. I wait for Hailee to get out of the car, but instead she begins to stroke my arm. I look down, focusing my attention to her movements.

"Since I wont be seeing you for a few days, let me make these last few minutes worth it." She says in a low voice, and I immediately catch where this is going.

Both our eyesights divert between each other's lips and eyes, and we both don't waste time clashing our lips together into a passionate kiss. Our hands reach across to grab each other's faces, only intensifying the kiss. I feel her tongue swipe across my bottom lip, requesting access, and I grant it to her.

As we continue to make out, her kisses slowly diverge to the left of my face. She places small kisses on my cheek, then jaw, then reaching her final destination of my neck. When her lips make contact with the skin on my neck, I can't help but lose control of my breathing, and in result, I let out a breathy gasp. She pulls away to observe the effect she just had on me.

Our kissing comes to a stop for a moment, giving us a chance to look at each other, her hand still on my face. She reconnects our lips once more, and in this moment I feel nothing but affection for her. I get so lost in these thoughts, that I don't even notice her hand traveling further south, until she reaches my thigh.

"Hailee..." I let out, catching on to her plans.

"Is there a problem?" She asks?

"Um, no, there isn't." I reply while clearing my throat.

We are both staring directly into each other's eyes now, her hand lightly kneading my thigh. While still looking at each other, she makes contact with my member, slowly stroking it through my pants. I let out a small yelp. I feel my lower area begin to rise at what she is doing. We begin to kiss again, but shortly, as she pulls away quickly.

"Okay. I'll see you soon. Text me when you get home." She tells me sweetly, but there's a sinister look in here eyes, like she knows exactly what she did.

I'm left in my car flustered as I watch her walk to the front of the door.

What just happened. I think to myself.

3111 words

ON such a night, or such a night,

Would anybody care

If such a little figure

Slipped quiet from its chair,

- Emily Dickinson