Friday was uneventful, a long mist, a blur of sex, sleep and at some point Max had taken it upon himself to cook for them.
But as the day wore on, the relaxed atmosphere had begun to wane and the nerves began to build so much that by the time Saturday morning dawned Zoe seemed unable to focus or to remain in one place for very long. She had made two trips in as many minutes to the toilet, and had unpacked and re packed her over night bag more times than Max had witnessed.
He found here there again, making his way upstairs he caught sight of her through the open bedroom door. She stood before the bed. The contents of the over night bag were scattered across the top of the duvet, her hands were firmly placed on her hips and she was frowning intently into the empty bag.
"I don't think anybody is going to mind which deodorant you take with you..."
He entered the room.
"Or which underwear you wear. Except maybe me...and I'd prefer none at all..."
He stopped on the opposite side of the bed, arms folded across his chest, his head dipped, catching her gaze as she looked up, relaxing the frown from her face.
"I do know how silly this looks."
She ran a hand through her hair.
"What are you taking?"
She asked.
"A change of clothes...?"
He shrugged as he spoke, smiling as her eyes widened.
"Is that all?!"
She asked, eyebrows raised, hands still firmly on her hips.
"Mmhmm, it's at a hotel, what else will we need for one night?!"
He smiled as he spoke, reaching out for a pair of black knickers, drawing them back with his fingers like a sling-shot and firing them at her.
"Certainly not these."
She caught them mid-air and balled them up between her hands, throwing them back at him with full force, hitting him in the chin.
"I'm just..nervous."
She exhaled, beginning, slowly to re-pack everything back into the bag.
"You don't need to be."
He spoke, tossing her a wash bag that was just out of her reach.
She raised an eyebrow.
"And you wouldn't be, if it was the other way around?"
She asked, pushing the wash bag to the bottom of the bag and folding away the clothes neatly on top.
Max pushed his hands into his pockets, contemplating what she had said.
"Yeah..."
He paused as she zipped up the bag.
"I'd be scared shitless."
He grinned as he spoke, Zoe rolled her eyes as she swung the bag up over her forearm and made her way to the top of the stairs.
"So, when do I get to meet your parents then?"
He asked, following her, taking the first two stairs with a jump.
She laughed, her heels clattering against the wood of the stairs.
"The thought of that terrifies me even more."
She breathed, reaching the bottom and turning to him, he paused on the bottom step, looking down at her.
"Won't approve of the lowly porter fucking the brains out of their consultant daughter...?"
He asked, his voice just more than a whisper, his smile deliciously even.
"Something like that."
She whispered, turning on her heel to unlock the front door.
"Let's get this over with..."
…...
"So, what are they like?"
Zoe broke the silence as she slowed at a roundabout, glancing in the rear view mirror and then to Max who was busying himself with a packet of crisps.
"Who?"
He asked. She raised an eyebrow at him, pulling away again and onto the roundabout.
"Oh..."
He chewed for a moment before answering.
"Pretty normal really."
He paused, the car swung neatly from the roundabout and out onto the main road.
"My mum will want to swap recipe's with you...be warned. She carries recipes in her head like maps. My Dad's retired...he's the sort of man who breaks biscuits in two and saves the rest for later..."
He caught the tale end of a smile by pass Zoe's lips as he spoke. She tapped the steering wheel with her fingers.
"Why did I have to quit smoking before this...?"
She smiled as she spoke but Max could see the tell tale tension of stress at the corners of her eyes.
He didn't answer.
"Do you feel any different?"
He asked after a brief period of silence, watching as a string of articulated lorries drove past them, catching the car in their slip stream, making them wobble on the roads surface.
"I feel more stressed!"
She stopped tapping her fingers as she spoke and gripped the steering wheel harder, feeling the car judder as she moved in behind the lorries.
He began folding the empty crisp packet into squares in his lap.
"No, I mean, we haven't been using anything..."
He spoke quietly, and for a moment Zoe was unsure as to what he meant. She glanced in the mirrors again before looking quickly at him.
"Any protection?"
She asked.
He looked up at her, the neat triangle of crisp packet balanced on his knee, shaking with the movement of the car.
"Can we not talk about it...not now, I'm nervous enough as it is."
One side of her mouth twitched as she spoke, and she pressed down on the accelerator, speeding past three silver cars and a blue.
"I don't think it will happen that quickly anyway."
She paused, changing lanes.
"If at all."
She glanced at him. He was watching her, his face unusually characterless.
She followed the signs and moved off from the main road, easing the car along a narrower road towards the town centre.
It was a small town, the fields around it relatively un-spoilt, just large expanses of grass, the glimpse of sheep in the distance and the gentle lowing of cows somewhere over the next hill.
"It's just down here."
Max gestured to the next turn off. Zoe slowed the car, letting the car behind her over take and continue down the road before she turned off, taking the turning into the centre of the town, again following the signs until they reached the car park of a small hotel. 'The Mermaid Inn' was written in gold lettering on a sign that swung dramatically in the wind.
She parked the car and turned off the engine. The car park was full, and a few cars down a couple were hauling children out of car seats and shouting to them to stay close.
Max reached across, taking hold of her hand and squeezing her fingers.
"You'll be fine."
He whispered, rubbing her fingers with his thumb.
"Most of them don't bite."