Lana stood in front of the mirror hanging on the back of the closet door applying her makeup when I walked into the room. "Are you ready for tonight?" she asked.

"What's tonight?" I questioned as I plopped down on my bed watching her steady hand as she applied her mascara. "I'm not going to another party with you."

"It's not a party." She slid the brush back into the tube and screwed it shut. "It's the parent night thing."

"Oh, yeah." I had completely forgot about that, probably because my parents wouldn't be attending so I didn't feel the need to worry about it. "I'm not doing that whole thing."

"Why not?" She applied her new nude matte lipstick.

"Because my parents aren't coming?" It was more of a statement but I was surprised she asked such a question. She's known since the parent night announcement they wouldn't be attending.

She shrugged. "So? You can still go. My parents would love to see you."

"Are they going to claim me as their own?" I laughed.

She tossed her lipstick into her purse and turned to me unamused. "You can still go and have a good time." Then she smiled. "But of course they would claim you as their own."

"I don't know."

"Yes, c'mon!" She shook my shoulders as if trying to lighten the mood, her broad smile never leaving. "I'm not going to let you sit in here all night. Besides, my parents haven't seen you in awhile and they would love to."

"Lana," I began but she cut me off.

"I'm not taking no for an answer." Then she headed to her small closet and rummaged through her clothes, ignoring me when I asked what she was doing. She pulled out a cream colored dress. It was tight fitting at the waist but still loose enough to breath, and flowed loosely just above the knees.

"I have my own clothes, you know?" I laughed.

"I know." She laid the dress out on my bed. 'But you look amazing in this one."

Despite wanting to get into my pajamas and just crawl into bed while everyone else went to hang out with their parents, I got up and got dressed. I could see it on Lana's face that if I would have stayed in she would have been upset; not that I stayed in but because of why.

We stood in front of the mirror checking ourselves over one last time. I really did love this dress. Lana wore a soft gray strapless dress that complimented her golden blonde hair perfectly.

I peered out the window noticing all the parents pouring onto campus before Lana called for me to hurry.

We stood outside the building waiting for Lana's parents to arrive. We agreed to meet them outside before heading in so it would be easier to find each other. We stood there around ten minutes before we spotted them making our way to us.

"Mom, dad!" Lana called out as they neared us before wrapping them both into hugs. I stood off to the side allowing them to have their moment together after being a part for this long.

Then her mother turned to me with her arms open wide. "Ellie, dear, it's so nice to see you."

I embraced her. "It's nice to see you, too, Mrs. Young." Then I looked up at her father. "And it's nice to see you, too.'

"Ellie, it feels like it's been so long since you've raided our kitchen and hogged up the sofa," he said to me with a smile.

"Dad," Lana exclaimed softly hitting his arm.

"What?" He laughed. "I've missed those days."

I laughed. "Me too."

I spent a lot of time at their house with my parents always being gone and honestly, their house felt more like a home than my own did. They really did treat me like their own and I could never thank them enough for watching over me all those times.

"Well, we should head inside," Mrs. Young said as she linked her arm with her husbands. "I'd like to meet that boyfriend of yours, Lana."

Lana smiled, obviously excited for them to meet Derek. Every guy she's ever dated has been someone her parents loved, and there was never a break up with her that was sour. It was always just a wrong pairing.

As we made our way inside we spotted Derek right away. He was stood over by the sitting area talking to his parents. As soon as we made it to them Derek wrapped his arm around Lana's waist and the introductions began.

"I'm going to go grab a drink," I whispered to Lana who just nodded.

I left them to their conversations not wanting to interrupt. I felt out of place standing their with them. When I made it to the drinks and food I grabbed a bottled water and wasted no time unscrewing the lid and drinking half of it.

As I watched all the students talking to their parents looking as though they were having the time of their lives I felt even more out of place. It was like I just crashed some party I was never meant to be at.

I started picking through the finger foods stuffing them into my mouth, ignoring the pile of plates at the side. I mean, I was only touching what I ate so it didn't seem like that big of a deal, though most times I thought it was gross for others to do it.

"Already devouring the food, huh?" I heard Grayson's voice behind me.

I stuffed a cracker in my mouth and turned around. "Just finding something to pass the time."

"Where are your parents?" he asked.

I scoffed. "Probably in Spain or something."

He stared down at me with furrowed brows. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know where they are." I shrugged. "They're usually gone either for work or vacation."

"And they didn't want to come here to see you?"

I looked up at him, and seeing the frown he wore and sorry in his eyes was too much. "It's not a big deal. I'm used to not seeing them much. I'm here because of Lana."

"Grayson!" I heard a woman's voice and looked away from him to see a woman and man walking towards us.

"Hey, mom," he said giving her a hug. "Hey dad."

"You look just as handsome as ever," Mrs. Pierce said as she ran her hand over the sleeve of his long sleeve button up dark blue shirt. He kept it tucked in neatly to his blue jeans that fit him just right and had the first couple of buttons undone exposing just a glimpse of his chest. I noticed another hint of a tattoo just like I had on his arm not long ago.

"Mom, seriously," he said looking slightly embarrassed.

"And who is this?" she asked as she turned to me with a smile. "Is this your girlfriend?"

His eyes widened. "Mom."

"Hi, Mrs. Pierce." I gave her a warm smile. "I'm Ellie."

"Ellie, it's so nice to meet you." Before I knew it she had pulled me into a tight embrace, taking me off guard for a moment, but I wrapped my arms around her.

"It's nice to meet you, too," I told her as I pulled away. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Pierce."

"Ellie, it's nice to meet you, as well." He smiled.

"I'm so glad Grayson has finally met someone as lovely as you, Ellie," Mrs Pierce said.

"Mom, Ellie and I-" Grayson began.

I patted his arm as I smiled at her. "He sure is something," I told her. Standing behind her Mr. Pierce wore a smile, but it was more of a sense that he knew something was going on, still he said nothing about it.

"Well, we're going to go talk to Derek's parents for a moment. It's been ages since we've last seen them," she said to us and then looked up at her son. "Will you be joining us soon?"

Grayson scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, I'll be over there soon."

When his parents left his eyes landed on mine. "You didn't have to do that."

"She looked genuinely happy at the thought of her son finally being in a relationship with someone. I didn't want to crush her dreams."

He laughed mockingly. "Very funny."

The both of us headed over to the group. Lana was still there with them and I was going to go ahead and leave but wanted to tell her goodbye, first.

"Hey, Lana, I think I'm going to head out," I told her, whispering so no one heard me.

"Already?" She frowned.

Before I could say anything Mrs. Pierce spoke for everyone in the group to hear. "I can't believe Grayson has found someone like Ellie. She's wonderful."

All eyes shot at us, but the only ones I focused on were Lana and Derek, who were looking between the both of us with wide eyes wondering what the hell was going on. I didn't blame them, I was starting to wonder the same thing.

I forced a smile hoping no one sensed just how awkward this whole situation was.

"Ellie, where are your parents?" Mrs. Pierced turned to me. "I would love to meet them."

My smile fell. "Oh, they couldn't make it. But I really should get going. I'm not feeling too well." At first that was meant to be my lie as a way to escape, but suddenly it wasn't such a lie. I felt sick to my stomach and wanted to get away as soon as possible.

"Oh, no." she frowned. "Well, it was great meeting you. I hope to see you again soon. Maybe Grayson will bring you with him sometime when he comes back home."

I could still feel Lana and Derek's eyes burning into me and I tried to ignore them. "Yeah, maybe." I turned to Mr. And Mrs. Young. "it was nice seeing you both again." Then I turned to the other parents. "And it was nice meeting everyone." I gave them all a small smile before turning away and walking off.

"Aren't you going to walk her home?" I heard Mrs. Pierce say, and then I heard Grayson say, "oh right."

I heard his footsteps come up behind me before he appeared at my side. "You're really bad at the whole fake boyfriend thing."

He laughed. "Obviously."

The walk back to my dorm was quiet and I was freezing in the cold night. He followed me up to my room, despite me saying he didn't have to.

"I'm really sorry about my mom," he said rubbing the back of his neck. "I really didn't think she would announce it to everyone."

"It's fine. I'll just have a lot of questions from Lana soon." I laughed.

I sensed his nerves ease and he laughed.

"Thanks for walking me back." I reached behind me grabbing hold of the doorknob. "You better get back before you're gone too long giving your mom more ideas."

He let out a hearty laugh this time. "Yeah, you're probably right." Then he smirked. "Would it really be that awful, though?"

I rolled my eyes. "And to think we were having a good moment." I chuckled at his wide grin. "Go back to the party, Grayson."

I quickly jumped in the shower wanting to beat Lana and our bathroom buddies next door. Then I slipped on some shorts and a t-shirt. Just as I was about to dive in to a bag of Doritos my phone buzzed. A text from Lana.