I sat in a café in Alberquque with my mum, waiting for Troy and Lucille. I still wasn't sure if this was a good idea, given that my mother was the reason for the feud, but I was improvising. At the moment, Jay was talking to me only because of his girlfriend, Mel. She'd threatened him, saying that if he didn't 'grow a pair' then she was leaving, because that would mean he wasn't the man she thought he was. I also had numerous texts from Elizabeth, as she was also excited at the feud being over, because she had a crush on Johnny (Callum's best mate who liked me for a short while) dating back into primary school.
"Hey." I heard a voice, and looking up I saw Troy. I smiled, sighing, and got up to greet him. I almost froze when I saw the woman standing behind him, but relaxed when she smiled comfortingly.
"Mom, this is Troy, my boyfriend, and his mum Lucille Bolton." I introduced, and the two women shook hands and smiled at each other.
Troy took his cue. "Mom, this is Gabriella and her mum Maria Montez."
"It's nice to finally meet you, Maria." Lucille said, taking a seat. My mom smiled across the table.
"Same to you, Lucille." Troy and I took seats next to our parents, turning to observe the conversation. "I've been wanting to ask you for your opinion on this ridiculous argument for so long."
"Is it about you?" Lucille asked, and frowned. "I'm sorry, that sounded rude. I was wondering, as Jack never fully explained."
"It's true that Jack and I dated." Mom started, and Troy and I shuddered. "But we had a bad break up. We became distant from each other, and more on a friendly basis. We had a mutual agreement to end it, and Greg was there for me. He was Jack's best friend up until about a month before we ended it. He stepped in and became a shoulder for me to cry on, and romance sparked out of it."
"Oh." Lucille nodded. "Well I'm glad I finally know."
"Can we get you drinks or food?" Mom asked, and Lucille smiled.
"As long as I end up paying, I'm fine." She grinned, and Troy exchanged a glance with me that said it all about the friendship being formed.
"I'm so glad I can finally meet you, Mrs Bolton." I smiled at Troy's mum. "I've been wanting to meet you for so long."
"Well it's good to know the reason for the smile on my son's face." Lucille smiled warmly. "And call me Lucille."
"Of course, thank you." I blushed and she nudged Troy.
"Don't let this one go, son, you hear me?" She sounded stern, and Troy nodded, glancing at me with a loving expression I knew all too well. "I don't care what your father says, I run the Bolton household."
"Same for us, Gabby." My mum raised an eyebrow at me. "I want you to be happy, and your father will learn to accept this."
"We're already doing well on the sibling front." I told her, and she tilted her head, which I took for a cue to continue. "Callum's started talking to Troy a little easier, Elizabeth is already like a little sister, Connor is tolerant, and it's pretty much the same for Jay."
"They're so alike they don't get on." Lucille murmured. That's what their maths teacher told me once."
"She said the same to me!" My mum grinned, and the two mothers started engaging in a conversation about the funny things their eldest children did.
"This is going well." Troy whispered to me.
"Don't jinx it." I joked, and he rolled his eyes jokingly at me.
"I'm not going to jinx it, I'm not going to let anything ruin this." He told me, and I blushed. He grinned at me softly before placing his hand upturned on the table and motioning for me to hold it. I reached up and linked our hands as he smiled and looked up at me, leaning across the table and staring into my eyes, letting me know he was speaking the truth. "I plan on marrying you one day, Gabriella, and I'm not going to let a stupid family disagreement get in the way of my feelings for you."
"Well said." My mum spoke, and I glanced at our mothers, watched Lucille's look of pride and my mum's of acceptance.
"You have our help now." Lucille smiled. "I think it's the start of something great."
"I think we should organise a family meal." My mum suggested, and the table went quiet. We all glanced around as the server came over.
"What can I get you?" She asked, glancing flirtatiously at Troy. My eyes narrowed, and I heard my mom smirk behind me before taking charge of the situation, just like a Montez should. She puffed up, and turned to eye the waitress with eyes like slits.
"I'll have a latte and a pecan pie, and my daughter and her boyfriend will have…" She trailed off, looking at the table and our linked hands. "What'd you like, guys?"
"I'll have a coke and a brownie." Troy said bluntly, not paying attention to the waitress, and I knew immediately that he had noticed what was happening and was participating in whatever this was that we were doing. "Do you want to share my brownie, Brie?" He asked innocently, and I bit back a smile.
"Only if you have ice cream, Wildcat." I told him, and he winked at me.
"Brownie with ice cream and two spoons it is, and she'll have an iced coffee." I looked away from my cheeky boyfriend to the server, noticing her blush as she scribbled down our order. Troy turned to his mother and smiled sweetly. "What would you like mother?" He asked, and his mom shook her head at him. I half expected her to tut before she spoke.
"I'll have a large black coffee and a shortbread." She smiled. "That's it."
With an embarrassed look, the server nodded, mumbling before turning and hurriedly walking to the kitchen. All of us, however, burst out laughing the moment she disappeared from sight.
"That was hilarious." Lucille giggled. "I don't understand why Montez' and Bolton's haven't done this before. We've got very similar senses of humour!"
"Definitely." My mom agreed enthusiastically. "This needs to happen more."
Troy looked across the table and winked, and he didn't have to speak for me to know that he was happy I'd gotten jealous. He loved shows of affection whenever we'd gone to Brad's, and I was happy I could give him more now we were 'out in the open'.
"We need to talk about this family meal thing." Lucille said, and the mood went serious.
"How about we discuss it over coffee, here at 12pm tomorrow?" Mom suggested, and Lucille grinned at the suggestion.
"That's perfect."
As we waited for our food to come, our moms chatted about anything and everything, but me and Troy just exchanged a look, both glad we were doing okay so far. As I felt his thumb brushing circles against my hand I knew that we'd be able to handle pretty much anything.