I reached over and grabbed one of Amanda's hands to stop her from wringing them so incessantly. She doesn't say anything as she silently interlocks our fingers together over the center console, but the way she continues to rub at her thigh or clench and unclenched her free hand every once in a while shows that my comforting gesture failed.

        "Don't be nervous," I finally said as the silence became too much for me to handle. However, my words fell limply between us, and I only got a small glance from the girl before she silently returned her eyes to the world flashing past us as I drove.

        "Do you honestly think my parents won't like you?" I tried again after a few minutes, secretly hoping she wouldn't be like this the entire trip. I forgot how shy and quiet she got around new people now that she had started to open up to me, and I was worried that my family wouldn't be able to see the bubbly and chipper girl that Amanda could be when comfortable. She was getting even more friendly around the office as well, and everyone was now appreciating her hard work and positive demeanor.

        "My parents don't even like me," she said plainly and without scorn. At first, I was actually afraid that they might dislike her, especially when I warned my mum about her veganism. I was blatantly wrong however, and my extremely conservative parents happily accepted the challenge to cook vegan dinners. I nearly fell out of my chair when my mum emailed me a bunch of recipes that she was planning on using, for I thought they would refuse to change their old fashioned ways. It occurred to me that they might have so little hope for me that they'd be willing to go against their deeply ingrained views on such matters just so I can keep a girl around. To be fair I hadn't had a girlfriend in a couple of years, but that didn't worry me half as much as it did rest of my family.

        I didn't know how to respond to that, so I kept quiet and gently squeezed her hand. We were only about another half an hour away from my hometown, but it seemed like ages before we pulled into the car park of my old childhood home. I leaned over and gave Amanda a quick kiss on the cheek before stepping out, knowing that I wouldn't be able to show much affection when I was here.

        I earned a smile at that and she gave me one last pump of the hand before stepping out to grab her luggage. We would only be here a few days, so both of us had a backpack and decided to share a suitcase to save space. I absently wondered what my parents would think of that, and I regretted telling them she was just a friend.

        "Ross!" I heard my mother yell from the steps of the front porch, and then a cacophony of barking, panting, and winning followed as Archie and Oscar bounded towards us. They seemed confused on which person to focus on, and would switch from being territorial against the new person and mercilessly attack their owner with wagging tails and head buts as I tried to sedate them with petting.

        "Hey mate," I laughed, rubbing both my hands down the length of Oscar as he greeted me. I hadn't seen my dogs since summer, and I was now just realizing how much I missed them. Amanda had seemed to subdue Archie, who was sitting at her feet as she gently and almost awkwardly pet his head. "Sorry about the dogs," I laughed, "They love attention."

        "I'm so glad you're home," my mum said as she made her way over to us, enveloping me into a tight hug. I had to bend down to properly wrap my arms around her back, for she was even shorter than Amanda.

        "Hi mum,"I greeted as she moved over to Amanda.

        "And this must be the girl I've heard to much about," she smiled, pulling Amanda into a hug of her own without warning. I tried to keep from smirking at the surprise on her face as this woman invaded her personal space. My mother pulled away enough to look at her. "She's even prettier than in the pictures," she gushed, only making Amanda blush even more as she continued to keep a grip on her shoulders.

        "Is Seb here yet?" I asked, knowing only one of my brothers was supposed to come home for the holidays. The other one was with his wife's family in Brighton, and would probably come and visit during New Years.

        "He just called," my mum said, taking the suitcase from my friend and leading her inside the house, "He should be here in a couple of hours."

        My father was the next one to greet us as dogs continued to weave around and push their noses into our legs and hands. "Ah, Ross," he called, getting up from a chair and clasping me on the shoulder, "How was the drive down?"

        "It was alright," I admitted, bending down to pet Archie on the head, "We ran into a little snow but it was nothing I couldn't handle."

        "And you must be Amanda," he said, turning to the girl next to me. He held out his hand and then eclipsed one of hers in both of his, squeezing it and giving a warm smile. She seemed thoroughly uncomfortable with the amount of physical contact in the five minutes we've been here, but my dad didn't seem to notice. "It's very nice to meet you."

        "It's nice to meet you too, sir," she said shyly, and my father's face seemed to falter a bit as she said her first words since arriving here.

        "That's a strange accent," he said politely, regaining his warm smile, "Are you from around here?" I mentally kicked myself as I had completely glazed over the fact that she was American; I was so used to it by now that I hadn't even thought to mention it. I had also 'forgotten' to mention how we met, and I was going to wait for Amanda to give as much or as little information as she wanted when asked.

        "I'm originally from New York," she said, lowering her eyes to the floor and running a hand through her bangs nervously.

        "O... oh," he faltered, "So you're American..."

        "Uh yeah," she said, laughing nervously, "I moved here a couple months ago for college..."

        "University," I explained in response to the confused looked plastered across his face, "She's getting masters in digital art." The last thing I needed was for them to think I was dating an 18 year old, and Amanda could pass as one easily.

        My father, the master of hospitality and small talk, was able to keep his composure as he was hit with information I had previously not mentioned about her. "An American artist," he laughed, "You'll have to forgive me, I'm not as familiar with you're vocabulary as I assume my son is."

        My mother rejoined us in the living room, halting our conversation. "Dinner will be ready in an hour love," she said, placing a hand on Amanda's shoulder. "Sweetie, why don't you show her where she's sleeping," she said at me, waving towards the stairs behind her.

        "Of course," I said, placing my hand on the small of her back and guiding her upstairs. I went to my old room first and saw that our suitcase was already there, yet still wasn't sure if they would consider us indecent if we shared the bed in here. We had a guest room, but I wasn't looking to spend a night alone on a lumpy mattress.

        "God, that was so awkward," I said, shutting the door and sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I'm really sorry," I muttered, placing my head in my hands, "I should have told them more about you."

        I heard her walk over to me and felt the bed dip to the side as she sat down next to me, resting a hand on my back and leaning her head onto my shoulder. "You're parents are amazing," she said quietly, but I could hear the laughter in my voice.

        "They really like you," I tried to assure her, "They don't have anything against Americans really, and I can't imagine their against a career in art when one of their sons plays video games and the other is a drummer in a band."

        "Ross Hornby, I'm not worried about that," she giggled, "They're so nice. Honestly I already really like them."

        I sat up straighter and looked down at her. "I thought you were worried they wouldn't like you," I teased, wrapping an arm around her hip and pulling her as close as possible to me.

        "Okay," she submitted, "Maybe I was being a little over dramatic." She leaned her forehead against the side of my jaw and threaded her hands together around my waist, pulling me into a hug.

        I laughed and returned the gesture, relishing the feeling of her body pressed up against mine. The smell of her hair wafted up to my nose and suddenly I didn't want to leave this room. Placing a hand on her chin and turning her face up to mine I slowly planted a long, deep kiss onto her lips, feeling the rise of her chest as her lungs filled with air and the soft tickle of her hair on my cheek. I felt her smile against my kiss. "Won't they be worried about us if we stay up here too long?" she asked quietly, her breath sweet and hot on my lips.

        I shrugged. "We have five minutes before my mum starts looking for us," I joked, looking at her through my lashes and giving her my best seductive smile. Pushing her back onto the bed, I swung a knee onto the edge of the bed and straddled her hips as I threaded my hand through the curls at the nap of her neck and kissed her passionately.

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        Amanda and I were sat at the kitchen table as we made small conversation with my mother about the trip here as she cooked. The small girl next to me would still turn a shade of pink whenever she was addressed by either of my parents, but I sensed that she was starting to feel more comfortable around them.

        "That must be Sebastian!" my mum said excitedly, setting down her spoon and making her way quickly to the front door. She was right, for the dogs started barking as a car door slammed shut and Seb appeared on front porch. 

        There was a similar greeting between my parents and brother, and it was a long time of catching up and questioning before Sebastian noticed the girl standing a bit reserved from the rest of us. He was a confident person in general, so he strode right up to her and greeted, "I don't remember this beauty being here last time." He reached for her hand and brought up to his lips, causing Amanda to turn a deep shade of red. "I assuming you're Ross'..." he gave me a look out of the corner of his eye, and I understood what he was trying to get at, "... friend?" he asked.

        She only nodded as he let go of her hand. Seb knew about the accident and the strange circumstances of how we had met, but I knew he wouldn't mention anything until Amanda or I said it ourselves. Whenever I talked to him on the phone or through emails, he always wanted to know about her and was holistically in support of our relationship.

        "Well dinner is just about ready," my mum said, clapping her hands together, "Go ahead and get settled in Seb, we'll get the table ready."

        The rest of the night was spent talking about the past few months over dinner. Seb went on about his band and the shows they were booking, and I talked about our Block and Load challenge and the Christmas Livestreams. Amanda kept quiet and only picked at her food a bit; I could see it in my parents that they were dying to question her about her life, but I realized that they probably wanted to let her get acclimated before they started bombarding her. For that, I was grateful, but I knew tomorrow they wouldn't have any mercy. I supposed all parents were nosy like that, but I hoped they would at least be a bit sensitive towards her nervous and shy demeanor. More importantly, I hope they approved of her once they got to know her, and the answers to their questions were acceptable.

        As I expected, my parents kept dropping hints that I would be staying in the guest room, but halfway through the night I felt a cold breeze as the covers were lifted up and a warm body curled up next to me. I was nervous that just being in boxers would make her uncomfortable, but she didn't seem to mind as I wrapped my arms around her waist, curled my legs under hers, fell asleep against her back.

A/N Sorry I took so long to update! I'm a pit musician (I play Clarinet and English Horn) for a local musical group and this weekend is the premiere of Oliver so I've hardly had any time the past two weeks. I should be back regularly next week, and I hope you're enjoying this series! Thank you, happy reading!