Chapter 9 – Meet the Parent (Part 1)

It was two more days later when both decided to go back to New York. As much as they didn't want to leave their little love nest in LA, there were work waiting for them. There have been too many calls they have ignored and they both knew if they kept that up, people were gonna start thinking they were dead... or whatever crazy thought people thought these days.

It was the couple's first day apart and they got so used to being together that it wasn't easy for them to interact with people other than each other.

"Where are you?" It was Taylor. She was inside her room, reading another script that her agent had sent her. There were more than a couple of them by now and she planned on spending the whole day just reading those. She was also talking to Laura on phone.

"Home. I just finished working out. You?"

"Reading scripts. What, you're working out again?"

"What do you mean again? Babe, I haven't worked out in more than two weeks. I feel weak already."

"So, you mean to say, that those things we did in LA weren't enough work out for you?" She heard Laura chuckle on the other line. "I miss you already. I can't concentrate on these things. I wanna see you."

"I know, baby. Me, too. But if we keep seeing each other, you're gonna tire of me soon enough."

"You know that's not true."

Laura smiled. "You're right." She missed Taylor, too. She wasn't used to being this clingy in any of her past relationships. Taylor was turning out to be the exception to her usual rules. "Okay, what do you say I come to your place at dinner later tonight?"

"Yes! That would be amazing. But you know what would even be better? If you come right now."

Laura was happy to learn that she wasn't the only 'clingy' one in this relationship. "You know that I want to. But I can't, babe. I have this meeting with some people about shit I don't really care about. I don't wanna go, really. But I have to."

"Well, that's too bad, then. I was gonna prepare something special for you," said Taylor quite naughtily.

"Darn. I promise it'll be fast. I'll come right away."

"Oh, you definitely will."

-o-o-o-

It was almost five o'clock in the afternoon when Laura's meeting was finished. She decided to go home first before going to Taylor's. She needed to freshen up a bit. She was driving her car when her phone rang. She just let it ring. "Hey, you've reached me on a bad time. Just leave a message after the beep and I'll call you afterwards."

"Laura, honey." It was the familiar voice of her mom. "Call me as soon as you can. This is important."

Her mom usually didn't leave her a message when it wasn't really important. This freaked her out and wanted to call her mom right at that moment but she knew better than to drive and use her phone at the same time. So she just drove a little faster. She reached her place in less than ten minutes.

She immediately called her mom as soon as she had settled in. "Hey, Mom. What's wrong? Is everything okay?"

"When are you coming here?"

"Why? Did something happen? What? You have to tell me I'm freaking out here!"

"What? What happened?" asked her mom who sounded confused.

"What?" Laura was also puzzled now. "You told me to call you as soon as I could because it's something important. You never leave me that kind of message because you know it would freak me out. What's going on?"

Marjorie laughed. "Oh, you're right, sorry. I forgot about that. Nothing happened, sweetheart. Everything's fine."

Laura let out a sigh of relief when she realized that everything was okay. "Thank God. What was that message about, then?"

"I just wanted to know when you and your girlfriend, Taylor, are coming over. It's been a week since we talked on phone and I'm not hearing any updates."

"What? That's it? God, Mom! You scared me, Jesus." Then what her mom told her sunk in. "Wait, what? You were serious about that? About wanting to meet her?"

"Yes! When have I ever been not serious?"

"Well, let's see. Uhm... every time? Come on, you really wanna meet her?"

"Why do you seem like you don't want me to? Is there something wrong about her that you don't want me to know about?"

"What? Of course not. She's perfect, okay? It's just that we've only been going out for a week. Don't you think it's a bit too early?"

"But I'm not meeting her just as your girlfriend, honey. You've known each other for three years now and I haven't even met her yet."

"That's not entirely true. You've seen her numerous times."

"Yeah, on what? Award shows? I wanna say more to her, a lot more than just hi and hello."

"That doesn't sound too good mom. Please don't scare her away."

Marjorie laughed. "Don't you trust me? I'm nice. I just really want to get to know her better, you know. And again, not just as your girlfriend... but as someone who's a part of your life."

With that, Laura couldn't say anything more. Taylor was gonna freak out.

-o-o-o-

She arrived at Taylor's place at exactly eight in the evening. Taylor wasn't too happy that it was a little late, for her own liking, but Laura made it up with a long, hot but sweet kiss. After that, Taylor didn't seem to remember that she was supposed to be fake-mad anymore.

"I prepared dinner! I know it's not as good as the ones you cook, but we're gonna be fine, I think. If you don't like it, we can just throw it out and order something else."

"Or I can just eat you for dinner."

"Or that, too," Taylor chuckled.

They sat on the table and started eating. They asked each other how their day went, and had the usual conversation until Taylor noticed that Laura was a little uneasy.

"Are you okay, baby? You don't like the food?" asked Taylor nervously.

"No, no. It's amazing, babe. I can eat this every day." And she was being honest with that. She was just finding it hard to concentrate on her food while thinking how to tell Taylor what she and her mom just talked about.

"Then what is it? You look like you're gonna start telling me something and then just stop."

"Well, okay. Since you already asked. Uhm... Remember that time in LA when mom called?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, we talked again before I came here. Turned out she was actually serious about wanting to meet you, I mean, get to know you better, as she phrased it."

"What?!" Taylor almost spit out her food.

"Yeah. I swear, I tried convincing her out of it. But my mom can be pretty persistent." When Taylor didn't say anything, Laura figured that she did not like the idea. "But I can cancel, you know. I mean, I can just tell her that—"

"Cancel?" Taylor cut her off. "No, you can't do that. That's rude. Let's do it!" She tried hiding the fact that she was totally freaked out by the thought of meeting Laura's mom, and probably her whole family, formally.

"You're freaked out, are you?"

"Totally. What do I do?" This time, she didn't need to hide anymore. "What if she doesn't like me or something? Gosh, Laura I'm dying here." She fanned herself as she felt like she was starting to sweat.

Laura laughed. "What, have you never met any of your former boyfriends' parents before?"

"No."

That stopped Laura from laughing. "Wow. Okay. Relax, it's not like it's gonna be a family gathering or something. You don't need to memorize Paradise By The Dashboard Light yet, if that's what scaring you," she joked.

"Oh, I have no problem with that. I've already memorized that."

"You have?" asked Laura incredulously. She wasn't expecting this.

"Yeah. Those times when you were ignoring me, I kind of started listening to it, almost the whole fucking time." Taylor shook her head at that thought. "As if that was gonna bring you back or something. I needed something to remind me of you, to make me feel like you were still there. Because I missed you so badly." She recalled that time and knew she didn't want that to happen again. "I didn't realize I had already memorized it until I heard it on the radio one time and I just started singing along," she chuckled.

Laura felt warmth spread across her chest. "Aw, babe. That's really sweet." She kissed Taylor on the cheek. She was touched that Taylor cared for her that much, even before they were a couple. "And I'm impressed!"

"I know. Turns out, you, ignoring me actually did bring something good in my life. But okay, back to business! Please tell me what to do."

-o-o-o-

Laura and Taylor were already parked in front of the former's house in New Jersey. Taylor kept asking Laura for last minute advices as if her life was depending on it.

"Are you sure? Would it be okay if I touch you in front of her?"

"Oh why, Schilling. Didn't know you had it in you. In front of my mom!" Laura laughed.

Instead of laughing with her, Taylor hit her in the arm. "Shut up! I'm serious, okay? I think I'm gonna barf."

Laura wanted to laugh at Taylor again but she knew it would just make her even more nervous, and probably pissed at her now, so she just kept it to herself.

"Babe, will you please relax? My mother's not going to interrogate you or something. We will just have lunch, and knowing mom, probably dinner, too, and have a normal conversation. And if you're worrying about my sisters and brother, they're as cool as my mom. The kids are even cooler."

Taylor could sense the tone of happiness in Laura's voice as she was talking about her family and it made her smile. And surprisingly, it even made her excited to meet all of them now. "All right, I'm ready. Let's do this!"

"That's my girl!" She kissed her. "So, let's go?"

"Let's go!"

So they went in, hand in hand. Laura was supposed to open the door when it opened on its own. Standing there was Laura's mom, Marjorie.

"I thought you weren't coming in!"

A/N:

I wanna dedicate this chapter to xowithyouxo because of that wonderful message you left on my inbox! You're too sweet. Thanks again :"