His girlfriend sat next to him, her arms crossed. "It's getting late, Kevin," she says, pointing to the clock on the radio of his car. "My parents aren't going to wait forever, you know." She was pissed that he was taking forever just to go inside.
He sighs, knowing that she was right. He had met both of her parents before, but that was before they had started dating. The last time he was there, he was with Ben trying to eavesdrop on Gwen's conversation with her father. He knew that her mother liked him, but then again, she probably preferred anyone over Gwen's Anodite grandmother, Verdona.
"Just give me one more minute, Gwen," Kevin says, leaning over the wheel of his car. What was he suppose to do? Sure, he had girlfriends before Gwen but those girls were just flings. Those girls weren't important to him. But Gwen was. And he knew that he would have to meet her parents soon.
He just wished it was rather later than that soon.
After waiting for her boyfriend to get up or say something, she rolls her eyes. She couldn't take it anymore. "Oh, come on Kevin! How can a guy like you who have faced life and death situations can possibly be scared of meeting my parents?"
He shrugs. "We could just fight about this and I could just meet your parents another time."
She raises her left brow. "You're kidding me, right?" Her arms have been crossed for quite a while now.
He shrugs again. "Like I said, just give me one more minute, Gwen."
"Do you want me to carry you inside?" Gwen asks, ticked off. She didn't enjoy how he was making a big deal about this.
He looks at her and scoffs. "I doubt you have enough strength to carry me inside," he says, examining her small body.
She narrows her eyes at him. "C'mon Kevin." She got out of the car and headed for the door to her house. He knew he had no choice but to follow her in.
-x-
"Kevin, it's so nice of you to join us," Natalie Tennyson says to him as she places a plate in front of him.
He nods his head at her. "It's no problem, Mrs. Tennyson." He looks at Gwen, who was sitting right next to him. She gives him a small smile.
Frank Tennyson crossed his arms and glared at Kevin the entire time. He didn't trust that boy. He was usually okay with the fact that they hung out, but only due to the fact that his nephew, Ben, was always hanging with them. After all, Kevin was just Ben's friend.
"The meatloaf looks amazing," Kevin says as Gwen's mother served what she had spent the afternoon working on.
"Thank you, Kevin," Natalie says, smiling at him. She always thought he was a sweet boy. He wasn't at all as she had expected the first time she had met him. She would have thought he would have been one of those bad boys that had bad boy antics, but he was genuinely nice. Plus, that one night when Verdona showed up, she couldn't help but notice the secret glances that her daughter and Kevin had kept on stealing at one another. They were obviously crushing on each other, Natalie had thought that one night.
Frank was skeptical of Kevin. He didn't trust Kevin, but that was due to his looks. "What school do you go to, boy?"
Kevin's face goes red. But before he could answer Frank, his wife interrupts him.
"Frank, don't be rude. He's Gwen's guest," Natalie says to her husband.
Gwen looks at Kevin. He was still red, but it was toning down. Now she was curious too. What school did he go to? She would have to ask him later.
As they ate, Natalie kept on asking Kevin a few questions, to which Kevin sweetly replied to. Gwen kept on smiling at him every time he talked to her mother. She squeezes his hand before returning to her dinner.
Frank didn't like how Kevin looked at her every few minutes. He knew that look. It was the look that most boys had whenever they were crushing on someone, bad. And he had seen his brother with that look when his brother had when he met his wife, who then had just moved to town.
"So, Kevin," Frank asks, crossing his arms after placing his silverware down. "Do you have a girlfriend?" He wanted to make sure that this boy knew he was protective of his daughter.
Kevin's face went a bright shade of red. Gwen looked away from her father's gaze.
"Well, sir," Kevin says, after tugging on the neck of his shirt. "In fact, I do have a girlfriend." He was uncomfortable with the fact that Frank kept on drilling him with questions.
Natalie looks at Kevin with new interests. "Oh?" She smiles. "That's great, Kevin."
"That is great," her husband says in a slightly grouchy tone. He looked at the two teenagers in his room. They were both looking uncomfortable.
"So, who is your girlfriend?' Natalie asks, curious. She asked the question her husband would have asked, if she didn't say so first.
"Well…" Kevin says, scratching the back of his head. He had always thought that Gwen would have been the barer of the news. He looks at Gwen, who gave him a smirk. He was entering the battle field on his own.
"It's Gwen," Kevin admits, after a brief silence. He puts an arm around her shoulder and gives it a squeeze. He didn't want to lie to her parents. If they found out he had lied, they would have liked him less. And he could already tell that Frank didn't like him much.
Natalie looks back and forth between the two teenagers. She smiles and says, "I knew there was chemistry between the two of you." Kevin sighed, full of relief.
Frank doesn't say anything, but has a facial expression on his face that would tell anyone that he was deeply concentrating.
"Daddy, what do you think about this?" Gwen asks, placing her hands onto his hands.
Frank sighs. His wife was on their side. If he said he didn't like the fact that they're dating, he'll end up making a big fiasco. Someone would wound up getting hurt badly, and he didn't want to be the reason of that. "I'm happy that you're happy, Gwendolyn."
She gives him a big smile, the one that he had always liked on her. "Thank you, daddy."
Kevin couldn't help but feel a wave of relief come down on him. Nothing bad happened. No one threatened to break them up. He had made a big deal about it outside for nothing.
"I'll go help mom clear the table," she says, standing up. "Why don't you two go into the living room and have a nice chat?"
And that's when Frank and Kevin both shot a funny look at her.
Frank didn't like the boy much. Kevin was afraid of her father and wasn't a big fan of him either.
But both of them knew that had no choice.
As they walked to the living room, Frank says to Kevin is a low but threatening voice, "If you hurt her in any way or break her heart, I'll kill you. You understand?" The way he said it made it obvious he was serious.
And that threat caused Kevin to gulp. "Yes sir."