"Babe, don't be nervous. It'll be fine," John assured his girlfriend in a calming voice.
Gemma forced a small smile, but still had a look of worry in her eyes. She looked up at John and her eyes softened a little.
"Right. It's just, you don't know how my parents are." She began. "They.. um, my father's a reverend. They're both pretty conservative."
John nodded slowly. "Well, don't worry. I'll act my best," he said with a small chuckle.
Gemma looked up at him and gave him a smile. She looked down again, rubbing her hand over her face in distress. She let out of her mouth a noise that was a mix between a sigh and a laugh. "I guess we should go get this over with," she said as she raised her eyebrows at John and half-grinned.
John nodded slightly and stepped out of the car, walking around the front of his old, beat-up Ford Pinto to make his way around to the passenger side of the car. He opened up the door and Gemma stepped out, adjusting her leather jacket and pulling her purse strap higher up onto her shoulder.
They walked up to her parents' doorstep together, Gemma taking deep breaths to help calm her nerves. She walked up to the door and knocked a few times in a row. She took a small step back as she waited a moment for the door to be answered by one of her parents, softly slipping her hand into her boyfriend's hand and giving it a small squeeze.
"Hello?" Her father answered, opening the door. "...Gemma?" He asked in shock, finally recognizing his transformed daughter standing before him. She looked completely different from the Gemma that he remembered; a sweet-looking girl with long brown hair, wearing what would be considered to be "normal" clothing, and without any tattoos. She started getting into trouble in her later teens though, mainly for somewhat minor things like drinking alcohol underage and skipping class. She had left home three years ago after graduating high school- the night of her graduation, to be exact. He didn't know what she did or how she made a living when she left, but he wasn't quite sure he actually wanted to know. She seemed like a lost soul when she left; a young girl with her whole life ahead of her who didn't know who she was and couldn't grasp the idea that just because she went through a stage of rebellion, it didn't mean that she had to live her whole life like that. One incident of being in trouble with the law caused her to believe that she was labeled as a delinquent and that she needed to maintain that label.
"Hi dad," she greeted with a small half-smile. She made her way inside the house as her father took a step back to make room for her.
"Who's this?" Her father asked with a confusion-filled voice as he noticed the scruffy, older-looking biker following closely behind his daughter.
"That's John," Gemma answered. "My boyfriend," she added with hesitation.
John lifted his forearm up and looked at Mr. Madock to signify that he wanted to shake his hand, but the gesture was not returned. He instead looked up and down at John, then back and forth between him and Gemma. John looked quite a bit older than his daughter.
A woman then made her way down the stairway that was located to the near right of the doorway, breaking the awkward moment. She paused midway down, her body freezing and her eyes opening wide with surprise as she saw her daughter standing at the front entrance of her home.
"Gemma," she announced with excitement as she rushed down the rest of the stairs. "I haven't seen you in years," she added, making her way over to Gemma and hugging her.
"I know," Gemma agreed as she hugged her mother back.
As they backed away from the hug, her mother gently grabbed the blonde streak in her hair and ran her hand down to the end of it. "You changed your hair," she stated with a poorly-faked enthusiasm and a smile to go along with it.
"Yeah, I did," Gemma replied quietly. "Mom, this is my boyfriend," she said quickly after, trying to subside the awkwardness.
"Why hello there," she said with a cheerfulness to her voice as she gestured to shake hands with him. "You can call me Mrs. Madock."
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Madock," he responded with a genuine tone to his voice. "And you can call me John," he said as they shook hands and exchanged smiles. It was beginning to become very obvious which of the two parents was friendlier.
"I was just about to take a chicken out of the oven, if you two would like to stay for dinner?" Mrs. Madock questioned earnestly as she raised her eyebrows and made eye contact with her daughter.
"Yeah, of course," Gemma answered sweetly. She wanted both herself and John to be able to warm up to her parents and make a good impression before they told them about their situation.
"Great, you two can go take a seat at the table. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes," she said as she guided them into the kitchen.
Gemma and John followed her over to the kitchen and sat down next to each other at the table as they smiled nervously at each other. Mr. Madock followed soon behind, sitting down at his usual place at the head of the table.
"Alright everyone, dinner's ready," Mrs. Madock announced as she placed the chicken on the table, along with some corn and green beans, and then sat down at the table with everyone.
"It looks wonderful, Mrs. Madock," John complimented as he smiled both at her and then at Gemma. Gemma returned the smile and looked down as she shook her head a little, amused by the professionalism John was trying to portray.
Just as John was about to put a bite of food into his mouth, Mr. Madock announced, "Alright everyone, let's hold hands and say grace."
John looked around in embrassment and then raised his eyebrows at Gemma, who reached her hand out to John and nodded slightly as a signal to him to hold her hand. He held her hand and then hesitated to hold her father's hand, but ended up holding it when Gemma lightly kicked his foot.
"Bless us, oh Lord, for these thy gifts which we are about to receive, from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord, Amen," the Reverend slowly spoke loud and firm with his eyes closed.
"Amen," Gemma and her mother spoke in unison.
"Amen," John added a second later after realizing he probably should say it too. Gemma looked at him and smiled, amused again.
"So, Gemma, where should we begin?" Her mother asked as everyone began to eat, referring to the three years that Gemma hadn't even talked to her parents, let alone come and visit them.
"Well, I'm sure you're figuring that there's a reason for my visit.. might as well get to the point, right?" she asked, seeming to be directing her question at John.
John quickly looked over at his girlfriend and seemed to be searching her eyes for answers. "Oh, um.. yes. Reverend Madock, Mrs. Madock, I am in love with your daughter," he reported, not quite sure if he should spill the rest of the story yet.
Mr. Madock seemed to choke a little on his food. He took a sip of water, sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. "So, this is serious then?" He questioned, looking at the couple.
"Yes, dad. We've been together for quite a while now," Gemma lied; her and John had only been together for about two months now. They really did feel a strong connection with each other, however. They both really did believe that they would marry each other and be together for the rest of their lives.
"If I may ask," Mr Madock paused. "What is the age difference between you two?"
Gemma looked down in dismay, while John maintained eye contain with Mr. Madock and answered his question. "Well, I'm not gonna lie, Reverend. We're quite a few years apart.. but that doesn't invalidate our feelings for each-"
"How many years?" Mr. Madock interrupted with a little bit of irritation in his voice.
"Seventeen years," John admitted quietly as he broke eye contact and looked down at the table instead.
Mr. Madock raised his eyebrows and stayed quiet as he looked over to his wife to see her reaction; she was noticeably shocked as well with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. "John, I'm sure you're a lovely man and all, but what business do you have dating a girl who's seventeen years younger than you? What are your intentions? You're old enough to be her father, for Christ's sake!" he retorted, gradually raising his voice.
"Dad, please," Gemma requested, attempting to calm down her father.
"Please? Honey, I don't think you fully understand the situation. This man is nearly twice your age."
"Dad, I love him. Age is only a number, right? I mean, it hasn't been a problem for either of us," She responded, glancing over at John.
Her father rubbed his hand down his face in distress. "Honey, I love you. I really do. But please get out of my house and don't come back until you're not involved with this man anymore."
"Nate…" Mrs. Madock started to say to her husband, but stopped talking as she saw how upset he was.
Gemma began to collect tears in her eyes, and she stood up from the table. "Come on, John," she spoke quietly. John somewhat hesitated as he stood up from the table and followed his girlfriend out of the house. He didn't look at either of Gemma's parents as they left, but instead continued to look straight forward until they got out of the house. He walked over to the car and opened the passenger door, and Gemma sat down inside the car. He walked slowly over to the other side of the car and sat down beside her.
"I love you, John," she stated. "And I don't care if my parents approve of that or not."
John grabbed ahold of her hand and started stroking it with his thumb. "I love you too, Gemma."
"I guess that didn't go quite as well as we planned," Gemma said.
"Yeah," John sighed. "We didn't even get around to telling them that you're pregnant."