Chapter One

Max's POV

Tori and I had finally graduated from Blackwell and were planning to move to Seattle within a week of graduation. The only problem with our plan were my parents. They still had no idea that Victoria and I were dating and I hadn't exactly been keen on telling them. Not because I didn't love Tori and want the whole goddamn world to hear about it, I just really wasn't sure how my parents would react to something like that. I was their only child, "the only heir to the Caulfield name" as my dad always put it. It was always a joke, sure, but Jesus Christ was it a scary joke.

Apparently my parents had been very aware of the fact I like girls, so they weren't upset, but it scared me to think of how they'd react if they found out that I'd been secretly dating Victoria since the middle of my last year at Blackwell. The first time they had met Tori was at graduation, and we sure as hell weren't going to tell them then. None of Tori's family had come to the ceremony, sending the information for our new apartment in the mail. They didn't know that Tori and I were dating either. Hell, they didn't even know that Tori was gay. However, my parents and both sets of grandparents came to the ceremony, all with big smiles and familiar faces that I had missed more than I could've imagined. I cried when I saw my grandpa, but in my defense, he lived in Ireland so I didn't get to see him all that often.

"That's the same Victoria that took you to the hospital over winter break, right?" Dad had asked when I'd pointed her out across the crowd. She was dressed in her cap and gown still, but I had seen the dress that she'd decided to wear under it and the memory of the way it hugged her curves made me sigh a little.

"Yeah, that's her," I replied, sounding out of it even to myself. I got a slap on my right shoulder blade from my grandpa who then wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"Well, don't just stand there, go and get her so that you can introduce us," he said, giving me a big smile that I couldn't help returning. But when I looked over at Victoria, she was looking back at me, her eyes kind of wide. I took a deep breath, walking over to her. She watched me suspiciously as I made my way towards her, her eyes narrowing. When I finally reached her, I gave her a sheepish smile, my heart racing in my chest. We had been together for awhile now, but that glare of hers was still terrifying. It was hard not to just kiss her right then and there, but I didn't want to give my grandma a heart attack so I just opened my arms for a hug.

"My family wants to meet you, just go with it," I whispered as she wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tight.

"Fine," she said, straightening her cap and gown when I pulled away. "How do I look?" She asked, giving me a nervous look. I smiled despite myself, looking her up and down. These gowns never did anyone justice, but Tori somehow managed to still look stunning. I was just glad that my parents were far enough away so that they couldn't hear what I was saying.

"You look perfect, babe," I replied, linking arms with her to give the illusion that we were just "gals being pals" or whatever that thing was I'd seen online. "Just breathe, alright? They don't bite."

"Oh, so it's not genetic, that's good," she retorted, making me blush a little. I held in a laugh, taking a deep breath to calm myself.

"You know you love it," I replied, slowly getting closer and closer to my family. I felt myself getting more and more nervous by the second.

"Not as much as you do," she said quietly, just before we reached my family. I couldn't say anything back, so I just kept my mouth shut while Victoria disconnected herself from me, standing up tall as she put on that "Yes, I am Victoria Chase, thank you for noticing," facade that she always got whenever she was around anyone she wanted to impress. I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes at her.

"You must be Victoria," my mom said, giving her a big smile as she held out her hand. Tori smiled and shook my mom's hand, looking surprisingly stiff.

"That's me," she replied. "You must be Mr. and Mrs. Caulfield. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Maxine has told me so much about you." My dad laughed, the sound booming around us and disturbing birds that'd been resting peacefully in the tree above us. My mom gave me a surprised look when Victoria said my full name and I stiffened in response, giving her a sheepish smile.

"She actually lets you call her Maxine?" Mom asked as Victoria shook my dad's hand.

"And she has quite the grip, too," my dad added, giving her a knowing smile. I felt my nervousness freeze into a knot in my stomach as I watched the scene in front of me unfold.

Oh god, I thought, wishing that this whole thing would end quickly. Please, spare me from this embarrassment.

"No wonder she wants to move in with you," my dad said, making me groan. I lowered my head, burying my face in my hands as my cheeks grew hot with embarrassment. Tori just laughed nervously, patting my shoulder.

"Can we please not have this conversation?" I begged, running my fingers through my hair.

"Oh, come on, Max," my mom said, giving me a sweet smile. "Your dad is only teasing. Plus, Victoria probably gets compliments all the time, seeing how she's such a beautiful and talented young woman." Now it was Tori's turn to blush, making me smirk a little.

"We wanted to thank you for taking care of Max before," my dad said, smiling at Tori and putting a hand on her shoulder. "We were away and all, so we couldn't come back to check on her, but she told us all about how you were there for her through her recovery." I held down the smile that threatened to break through from the memory. Christmas with Tori had definitely been special, but my parents still had no idea just how special it really was.

"I'm just glad that I was able to be there for her when she needed me," Tori replied, giving me a smile that sent warmth through me in waves.

"Do you have any plans tonight?" Grandpa asked, smiling sweetly at Victoria. "We were going to go out to dinner to celebrate, you should come along. Invite your parents even, dinner and drinks are on me."

"Oh, that's really very kind, but I wouldn't want to intrude," Tori said, but my mom interrupted her.

"Nonsense!" mom said, wrapping her arm around Tori's shoulders. "Where are your parents? We would love to meet them." Tori's expression only fell a little, barely enough for anyone to notice, but I noticed.

"My parents aren't here, they um… Had a very important meeting to attend," she replied, making my whole family adopt confused expressions as they looked at each other and then at me. I swallowed hard, laughing nervously.

"Maxine Caulfield," mom said in disbelief. "Your poor friend here didn't have a single graduation plan for tonight and you didn't bother inviting her to dinner?"

"I -" but Tori interrupted before I could answer.

"Oh, no she invited me earlier," she said, which was true. I had invited her, but she had looked like she might pass out at the thought of spending a whole evening with my family. I didn't blame her. It wasn't like she didn't want to, she was just so nervous. "I just didn't want to intrude on such a special family event."

"Well, consider yourself a Caulfield, lass," grandpa said, taking her cap off her head and placing it on his own. "'Cause you're coming to dinner with us tonight." Tori gave me a pleading look, but I just walked over and linked arms with her again and grabbing her cap off my grandpa's balding head, heading towards the girls dorms.

"Ok, well, we'll be right back, we just have to put our gowns in our rooms," I said as we walked away, feeling Tori's grip on my arm tighten.

"Why didn't you say anything?" She hissed at me as we made it out of earshot. I held in my giggles and cast a quick glance over my shoulder towards my family. They're all watching us walk away as we turn the corner that leads to the dorms.

"It won't be that bad, it's just dinner," I replied, taking her hand in mine and intertwining our fingers. "Plus, I thought you wanted to meet my parents."

"I did, but that was before I realized that they probably think I'm some rich bitch who's trying to corrupt their daughter," she said quickly, squeezing my hand nervously. I laughed, my eyes filling with tears as we reached the dorm doors. I had to stop for a minute to catch my breath from laughing so hard.

"Oh my god, what?" I asked, wiping the tears off my face as I caught my breathe. "You can't be serious." Tori just scoffed and opened the door to the dorms, holding it open for me.

"They suspect us and you know it," she accused, but there was no weight behind it, just her signature glare and crossed arms. "They think you're trying to sleep with me." It took every ounce of willpower I had not to bust up laughing again.

"I hate to break it to you, babe, but I have slept with you," I replied, my voice tense from holding in my laughter. She threw me a glare and I giggled, watching her storm into her dorm. I followed, taking off my cap and gown as I went. I closed the door behind me, tossing my cap and gown onto the white couch that was still sitting in her room. My stuff had all been moved back to Seattle and put in storage until Tori and I were ready to move. Basically, I'd been sleeping in Tori's room for the past week, which was exciting, to say the least. My parents had no idea that I was sleeping in Tori's room, they thought that I was using a sleeping bag in my own dorm. As much as I hated lying to them, I was just too scared to to tell them about Tori and I. I honestly had no idea how they would react. We never had any family members that were gay or anything and my parents usually didn't talk to me about that stuff. Well, they had tried to when I was younger, but they hadn't been able to since I'd gone to Blackwell.

"Do you think they'll like me?" Tori asked, her voice pulling me from my thoughts. She was standing in front of her mirror, looking herself up and down to make sure that there were no flaws to be seen. I smiled, walking over and wrapping my arms around her from behind, kissing her bare shoulder. She was wearing a single strapped, red dress that went down a little past her midthigh. It hugged her curves, showing off her swaying hips and perfect skin. I kissed up her shoulder, kissing her neck a little before standing on my tiptoes to kiss her cheek.

"They'll love you," I said softly, leaning my chin on her shoulder and giving her a little squeeze. "But not as much as I love you, because I already called dibs." She chuckled, rolling her eyes as her brilliant smile flashed for a moment in the mirror before she looked away. Her hair was perfect, as always, the shimmering blond strands slicked back a bit with some gel so that the hair didn't get near her eyes. She had gotten it cut again recently, not daring to change her hairstyle despite some nasty comment her mom had made to her the other day. Her white teeth contrasted well with the red lipstick she was wearing, her makeup just as perfect as her hair. She had even shaved her legs perfectly, not bothering to wear tights of any kind under her dress. It had taken all of my willpower and then some not to just sit there and touch her legs all day because they were so soft.

"You're such a fucking dork, Caulfield," she said, smiling at our reflection in the mirror as she stroked my forearms with her hands. I smiled blissfully, closing my eyes and kissing her shoulder again. I wasn't as nicely dressed as Tori was, but it was definitely one of the nicer outfits I'd worn in awhile. It was just a simple blue, sleeveless dress with a thin black belt. I wore it along with some nylons - even though Tori had insisted that I didn't need to - and black flats. Tori's three inch heels made her a total of five inches taller than me now, but I didn't really mind it. She looked powerful and beautiful, overall alluring, if I'm honest.

"I mean, I would be a fucking dork if we were fucking," I replied, making Tori shake her head at my awful joke. But she still laughed a little, which was a good sign.

"Shut up and get out there so we can go to dinner with your family already," she said, opening her door for me. I stopped in front of her, giving her a quick kiss before walking out the door.

"You heard my grandpa, you're one of us now," I said, yelping when I felt Tori smack my ass. I whirled around to see her grinning at me.

"What? It wasn't me," she said, closing her door and kissing my cheek, rubbing a bit of lipstick off of where she kissed.

"You're not going to make this easy, are you?" I asked, taking her hand as we headed down the hall to the main door of the dorms.

"Not particularly, no," she said, giving me the most shit eating grin I'd ever seen. I just laughed, shaking my head as we made our way back to where my family was waiting for us. No matter what happened next, Tori was worth all of it, that much I was certain of.