"Mum! Dad!" I greet my parents as I let them in to the flat. "Amy, it's good to see you!" Mum says, hugging me tightly. "Come on in, I'll give you the grand tour!" I joke. They follow me to the living room, where Dan is waiting. We decided that my parents should officially meet Dan first and see Phil in his room. "Mum, Dad, this is Dan." I say. "It's a pleasure to meet you Dan" My mum says, hugging him. "Good to see you." Dad greets him. "Yeah, I'm glad that I'm not crying this time." Dan jokes. I go and stand by him and he puts his arm round me. "Listen, me and Dan have something to tell you." I look up at Dan who smiles back encouragingly at me. "We're getting married!" Both my parents looked shocked but happy. Mum rushes forward and squeezes me and Dan in a hug. "I'm so happy for you two." She squeals. She lets us go and Dad gives me a kiss, "Well done honey, I'm proud of you." "So, when did he propose?" Mum asks, turning pink. "I had been planning it for ages, but I finally plucked up the courage and asked her on Sunday evening." Dan explains, squeezing my hand. "Let's see the ring!" Mum goes and admires the simple but beautiful ring I had been wearing ever since Dan gave it to me. Then I continue to tour, showing them the kitchen, bathroom, mine and Dan's room and then Phil. My mum and dad both love Phil, laughing at his jokes. My dad is really interested in Phil's editing, he stays behind after and Phil talks to him about the software.
"So, do you guys have a date yet?" Mum asks as we sit down with cups of tea. I look at Dan, "No, not really. We haven't really had any time to think about it properly." I say, "Although I do have a lot of ideas." I add. "Oh really?" Dan chuckles, "Please expand." I sit up straight. "Well, I want it to be quite small and intimate, not impersonal. I want to get married in a church and have an informal reception somewhere really sweet. Maybe a vintage theme, my dress should be simple and I want us to write our own vows." "Wow, you really know what you want" Dan says, "That's why I love you." He adds, kissing me on the cheek. "Awww, you two are the sweetest couple. This wedding will be amazing." Mum says, I blush as my dad walks back in. "So, what do you guys want to do?" Dan asks, changing the tone of the conversation. "How about lunch in London and we do some shopping and look around?" Dad suggests. "Sounds good." I say, "Can you come?" I look up Dan, "Actually, I think that l'll let you have a catch with your parents, I'll see you later though." "Oh, ok." I say, pretending to cry.
"So, what do you think?" I ask as walk in to London. "Amy, I can't help but think that's it's too soon." My dad says, surprising me. "What?" I ask, confused. "You only moved two weeks ago Amy and you had that fall out last year..." "So, we love each other more than ever now, he's the one dad." I argue. "I don't think that you should just go throwing your life away this quickly." "Excuse me? Throwing my life away?" I feel the anger rise inside me. "You'll be chained down to him Amy, stuck in London. You don't know how you will feel in a few years time, you might want different things." I stop walking and turn to look at my dad. "Dad, you don't understand, we are in love." "You say that but just think what happened last year." "That was a mistake, we got over that." "Amy, you're not getting married to him, I forbid you. And that's that." I am stunned at my dad's behaviour, I never knew about this commanding side of him. "How dare you fore bide me from marrying the man I love, how can you say that?" I walk off before he can reply, I walk quickly back to the flat. I need to talk to Dan. I jog up the stairs and go straight in. "Dan!" He looks up from his laptop, "Amy? What's up?" I start shaking, "My dad, he doesn't want us to get married." I spur out. "It's ok Amy, calm down." He gets up and holds me, "Remember that this is up to us, we are the ones who decide anything about this relationship. Amy, listen to me. We're not going to listen to him; it's just you and me in this." And I realise that once again he is right, I close my eyes and breathe in his smell. It's something between cakes and Christmas. I hold him tighter and make a vow to myself to not to ever lose him.
