Meet the Parents:
Chapter 6
Claimer: I own all of the members of the Merrick household excluding Shelby and her father.
Disclaimer: I do not own the remaining characters. Fox Family does.
Author's Note: Oh my gosh!!!!! I received 10 reviews when I only asked for 5!!! HOW AWESOME IS THAT??? Thank you sooo much!!! Plus, all of the reviews were VERY nice with the exception of one. I would like to address that reviewer in this note. "D"-In the last part of your review, you said "Please hurry or no one will want to read your story." Well, I am extremely sorry I have a life and can't ALWAYS post. I am a very busy person, and writing here is supposed to be a FUN thing...not a full-time job! I would like to think that if I don't post for a month, a person would still would read it. Maybe you're not that type of person. And if you're not, that's okay. Just please don't review telling me that no one will read my story if i don't "hurry up and post" because maybe YOU won't read it if i don't post after a while, but anyone else would. WELL, now that I have that out of the way, I would like to thank the few people who gave me ideas for the dinner scene. I have decided to use some of them, but I'm afraid it's not as good as I would like it to be. See, tomorrow and Friday will be my LAST days to post until atleast July, so I'm trying to finish this story up. And, I'm sorry to say that this story will not be as long as I'd like because I want to finish. But I have ALOT of ideas for other stories, and I CAN'T WAIT to post them in July!!! Anyway, on with the dinner scene. Oh! How about 10? I know ya'll can do it!!
Shelby slowly sat herself down in the stiff oak chair waiting for her at the table.
She tried to meet Scott's eye, but he refused to look her way.
Mr. Merrick noticed this and gave Melissa a look that seemed to say, "I told you so!"
Melissa just gave a scolding look at him and then smiled warmly at Scott. "The food will be here in a minute," she told him sweetly.
Scott forced a smile. "Okay, so what's on the menu?" he joked.
His smile faded when no one laughed. Melissa gave Mr. Merrick a confused look while he looked at Scott like he was the dumbest person alive.
"Steve, this isn't a restaurant," he explained, his eyes set on Scott.
Scott nodded a little too eagerly. "Oh! I know! I just meant, ya know! What are we having for dinner?"
Mr. Merrick just gave him a blank stare as well as Shelby.
Melissa just politely smiled. "Linda will let us know what we are having soon."
Scott nodded and put on a fake smile again. *Remember not to make jokes*
"Now, you don't order or anything. You get what you get." said Mr. Merrick in such a voice that would haunt Scott in his dreams.
"Oh! Are you going to be taking care of the bill as well?" he added, a sick smile on his face.
Melissa and Shelby both gave the man a death glare, and Mr. Merrick groaned. "I was just kiddin with the boy. I believe he can take a joke."
He looked over at Scott. "Can't you?" he stated, not really asking it as a question.
Scott nervously clasped and unclasped his hands. "Yyyeah," he studdered, hoping Mr. Merrick wouldn't comment on his nervousness.
Mr. Merrick just smirked. *What does Shelby see in this guy*
Scott took a deep breath to calm his nerves. *Why are you trying to impress these people anyway? Shelby doesn't even want you here, so there's no point*
At the thought of Shelby, he looked over at her. *She's been awfully quiet. Way too quiet for Shelby*
She was sitting there deep in thought. *Okay, after dinner I can just casually tell them. Or I could go ahead and break it to them right now* Shelby stifled a laugh. *Yeah, right* Luckily, she didn't have to think about it much longer, for Linda had placed the food on the table.
Scott gawked at all the delicious food waiting to be eaten. There was chicken, steak, oysters, crab...and that was just the main course. There was mashed potatoes, corn, fresh fruit, string beans...Scott had never seen so much food in his life. Then, there were the desserts, which was his favorite. There was apple pie, key lime pie, and EVERY chocolate dish you could imagine. Scott was in Heaven.
Forgetting he was a guest, Scott went ahead and served himself a helping of everything offered. He licked his lips and was about to take a bite of the big, juicy steak, when he realized the Merricks were staring at him like he was crazy.
He slowly put the bite of steak down and tried to hide his embarrassment.
"Scott, are you a Christian?"
Scott looked over to Melissa, his eyes wide in confusion. "Uh, yes I am. Why?"
Then it dawned on him. Hadn't Shelby mentioned something to him about her family being big Christians and saying a prayer before each meal?
Mr. Merrick had a beyond angry expression on his face. "Well, you obviously don't have many family dinners at home! You just went right in an got what you wanted, not even waiting for the host to take the first bite. You didn't even wait for us to bless the food!" he yelled, his face beet red.
Scott dejectedly lowered his head. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. *I'd say this is going REAL well*
Shelby bit her lip. *Damn you Dad! You can be such an ass sometimes. Come on, Shel! You owe Scott...make up for it*
She quickly grabbed for all the food she could hold in one hand and placed it on her plate.
Mr. Merrick looked at her, the expression on his face never changing. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked, his face starting to turn purple.
Shelby pursed her lips. "What do you think I'm doing? I'm eating my dinner," she explained with a roll of her eyes.
Melissa laughed internally at Shelby's cleverness. *Maybe Joe was right about this boy. Maybe this is who Shelby's been talking about. I can sure see what she sees in him*
Mr. Merrick's blood boiled. *Why is Shelby covering up for him*
Scott looked over at Shelby. *Why is she covering for me*
Shelby just gave a Scott a wink that only he could see and took a bite of her chicken. *Ha! Now he can't give Scott the whole speech about how perfect the Merrick's manners are*
Scott gave Shelby a small smile and also took a bite of chicken. *Maybe she wants me here after all*
Mr. Merrick's gaze never wavered. *This is worse than I thought*
Seeing that there was no reason to wait, Melissa followed Scott and Shelby's example and served herself some food.
She made sure not to look at her husband. *This is one time I'm going to do what I want to do*
Mr. Merrick gave his wife a glare as he downed down some wine. *What is happening to my family? I need to show them I'm still in charge*
He then mumbled something under his breath and placed some food on his plate.
Scott and Shelby glanced at each other and grinned.
Meanwhile, Mr. Merrick didn't even notice. Think! What could you ask him*
He then thought of a question. "So, Sal," Mr. Merrick started.
"It's SCOTT," Scott corrected him, no longer feeling scared of Shelby's father.
Mr. Merrick rolled his eyes. "Sal, Scott, same difference. So, why are you at Horizon?" he asked before taking a bite of chicken.
Scott nearly choked on his water. *He had to ask that, didn't he*
He gave Shelby a sideways glance, hoping she'd save him again, but she said nothing, her eyes on her plate.
Melissa, also interested, placed her fork on the table and waited for his response.
Scott took a deep breath and prayed for the best. "Well, I did drugs and stuff," he answered, telling half of the truth. Oh yeah, and my step-mother molested me, and I never stopped her*
Mr. Merrick's eyes narrowed. "What kind of stuff?" he questioned, his eyes burning into Scott.
Scott shrugged. "Just drugs, pretty much."
Mr. Merrick shook his head. "You said you did drugs 'and stuff'. What else did you do, Scott?"
Scott felt a new wave of anger wash over him. *Dammit! This is abuse! I don't have to tell him anything*
There was an awkward silence.
Mr. Merrick was still studying Scott, as if the answer would appear on his face.
"Just drugs," Scott answered firmly.
Mr. Merrick finally nodded, but he knew Scott was lying. *Maybe I should pull up Scott's records from Horizon. He's obviously hiding something*
Scott picked up the [AUTHOR'S NOTE: I COMPLETELY FORGOT WHAT THOSE THINGS ARE CALLED WHERE YOU USE THEM TO CUT THE CRAB CLAW. I'M GONNA CALL IT A "CRABBER"] crabber and tried to cut the crab leg in half. He knew what Shelby's dad was thinking, so he decided to focus on anything but Mr. Merrick's intimidating stare.
*Come on, cut already* He cut the claw off, and as a result of the force being used, the claw flew across the table and hit Mr. Merrick in the eye.
Mr. Merrick winced in pain as he rubbed his eye as if to make it feel better.
Melissa quickly got up from the table and ran to her husband's side followed by Shelby close behind her. "Are you okay?" "Do you need anything?" Questions like these were asked by the two girls.
"No," Mr. Merrick replied, pushing their arms off of him,"I'm fine," he added.
Scott knew what he was doing. He was putting on the tough guy act. *Shelby must have inherited that from her dad*
He then pushed aside his thoughts and ambled over to Mr. Merrick. "I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed. "You sure you don't need any ice or..."
"NO!" Mr. Merrick yelled. "Let's just...finish eating."
The three reluctantly agreed and returned to their places at the table.
Scott poked his fork around his plate. *Right when I think everything's going okay*
"So, Scott, what's your last name?"
Scott looked over at Melissa and was a little taken back at her random question, but didn't argue. *Just as long as she's not mad at me for hitting Mr. Merrick in the face with the crab claw*
He then laughed internally at the situation. *It is kinda funny when you think about it*
"Scott?"
His thoughts were interrupted by Shelby. She was staring at him, waiting for an answer.
Scott then remembered Melissa's question. "Oh! My last name is Barringer," he stated.
Mr. Merrick's eyes grew wide. "As in Martin Barringer, the lawyer?"
Scott grinned. *Yes! Maybe he's a friend of my dad, and now he'll be nice to me* "Yep, that's my dad," he stated matter-of-factly. "Do you know him?"
Mr. Merrick's mouth turned up into a sneer. "Hell yeah, I know him! He happens to be my biggest enemy in law! He's a lying, cheating bastard, and he doesn't know how to represent a case worth shit!"
Melissa gasped. "Joe!" she scolded him.
Mr. Merrick shrugged. "It's the truth!" he yelled.
Scott looked at his feet. *Okayyyy*
He tried to block Mr. Merrick out of his mind as he continued to rag on Scott's dad.
Scott looked at the piece of bread on his plate and realized it needed butter. Since the butter was near by, he reached across the table to grab it, his hand accidentally knocking the gravy over into Mr. Merrick's lap.
Mr. Merrick quickly stood up, looking angrier than Scott had ever seen him. "Dammit!" he yelled. "Is there a reason why you've been doing all this?" he asked, trying to dab at his pants to get the gravy off.
Scott groaned to himself. *WHY ME???? WHY ME???*
Mr. Merrick gave Scott a death glare. "Well? You've been disrupting my household this whole day! What's your explanation?"
Scott didn't know what to say. "Well, I...I didn't..."
"Come on, Scott."
Scott couldn't finish his sentence because Shelby was dragging him away.
He looked back at the table to see Melissa frantically trying to get the gravy off her husband's pants as Mr. Merrick slurred curse words, obviously about Scott.
Shelby led Scott to her bedroom and quickly shut the door behind her.
"Whew! I had to get out of there!" Shelby exclaimed as she looked at Scott.
Scott was silent for a second.
"Your parents hate me," he then said quietly.
Shelby's eyes softened. "No, they don't!" she assured him.
She walked towards him and placed his hand in hers. "My dad acts like that with EVERYONE."
She shrugged. "I don't know why."
Scott managed a grin. "Well, I'm glad he doesn't act like that with just me."
Shelby mirrored his grin. "Come here."
She pulled Scott towards him, and they shared a honey sweet kiss.
After a few minutes of making out, Scott moved his hands to Shelby's hips without breaking the kiss.
Shelby broke away, laughing. "Stop, Scott! That tickles!"
Scott gave her a devilish smile. "I'll show you what tickles!"
Before Shelby could say anything, Scott began tickling Shelby.
"Scott! Stop!" Shelby cried in between laughs.
She fell back onto the bed, laughing; Scott followed.
He then crawled on top of her.
Shelby's breath caught in her throat. *Does he want to...in my parents' house?*
Scott leaned down and whispered, "You know, I think I'm ready to..."
Shelby held her breath. *Am I ready*
Scott grinned. "Tickle you!!!!" he yelled while attacking Shelby again.
The door then opened, and in stepped Mr. and Mrs. Merrick.
Scott and Shelby turned and looked in the doorway. They were out of breath, and their clothes were in disarray.
Melissa gasped. She looked over at her husband.
Mr. Merrick looked at the two of them with hatred in his eyes. "I guess I never made it clear that there is NO sex in this house," he snarled.
Shelby sat up and straightened her shirt. "Dad, I can explain."
Mr. Merrick shook his head. "It's time for bed," he interrupted. "In your OWN bedroom," he added.
Scott and Shelby solemnly nodded, and Scott left Shelby's room.
*I feel like I'm like a little kid getting caught sneaking cookies or something*
Scott changed into his pajamas and lay down to sleep. He was going to need a lot of sleep for the next day.
Okay, I know it was really bad, but I was in a hurry. PLEASE REVIEW!!! I know it's not very funny, but I just typed some stuff. Anyway, how about 10??? I think I'm going to post two chaps tomorrow, and with 10 reviews, they'll DEFINATELY be up!! Thanks!!
