chapter sixteen,
home for the holidays

    Meeting the parents was a very big step in a relationship, so this meant things were very serious between the couple .

It was October and Nailea had decided to come home for the holidays. She also brought Nicholas along with her so he could finally meet her parents.

"Hi, mom." Nailea called out as she opened the front door to the big house.

"Nailea! Awh, it's so good to see you!" Her mom cheered, running down the stairs to greet her daughter.

"It's good to see you too mom." Nailea said as her mom squeezed her into a hug.

Behind the girl was Nicholas, struggling to bring the luggage up all by himself.

"Nicholas, hi! It's so great to finally meet you." Nadia smiled.

Nicholas grinned, "Very nice to meet you awell, Mrs Holloway."

"Oh cmon Nicholas, we are way past the formality. Call me Nadia."

He laughed, "Okay, Nadia. You can officially call me Nick."

"Is that my little girl?" Rowan called out from the top of the staircase. "Yes, dad. It is." She simply answered as she sat her suitcase down.

"Hey, sweetheart." he said after making it down the bottom of the stairs to greet his daughter. "I've missed you so much."

"Missed you way more, dad."

The two settle down in the house, putting away their stuff in Nailea's childhood bedroom – which usually when kids leave their parents houses, their rooms are turned into some sort of make shift office gym but not in this family.

"So, you were a 1D fan?" Nicholas laughed as he laid down on the bed, looking around at the posters hung up on her walls.

"Yeah," she blushed taking out her earring in the mirror.

"Okay, truthfully. Which one?" He asked now looking at her in the mirror.

Nailea furrowed her eyebrows, "What do you mean?"

"Oh c'mon. Which one were you in love with?" He asked pointing to the poster.

Nailea cleared her throat, "You really wanna know?"

Nicholas nodded. "It was Zayn." Nailea responded.

"Seriously?" Nicholas blurted out laughing.

"Shut up!" She through a pillow at his face to stop him from laughing.

Nicholas continued to laugh, "I really pictured you out to be a Harry type of girl."

Nailea rolled her eyes, "I mean, Harry's hot and all but cmon. Zayn is way hotter. You can't even deny that."

Nicholas chuckled, still amused by her answer. "Oh, wow. I can't believe my girlfriend had a crush on Zayn Malik."

Girlfriend. It felt weird to Nailea to hear that somebody call her that word again. But then again, it was sort of comforting.

She turned away from the mirror to jokingly glare at him, "Hey, you can't blame me. He's fine. But c'mon, you don't have a celeb crush? Don't lie."

"Okay fine." He admits, "It was Anne Hathaway in the Dark Knight Rises."

Nailea chuckled at his answer, "Anne Hathaway in the Dark Knight Rises? That's not even her best role, cmon."

"I'm sorry, Nai but that Catwoman outfit got me feeling some type of way."

Nailea laughed again, throwing another pillow at him. "You're hopeless, you know that?" she teased, still smiling.

‧₊ ᵎᵎ 🍒 ⋅ ˚✮

The sun streamed through the window, to which Nicholas found himself woken by the light. It took a moment for him to adjust to his surroundings, but upon realising where he was, a smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

He looked to his side, expecting to find Nailea lying next to him. The empty space in the bed confirmed she was already up.

Nicholas sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. The faint sound of conversations from downstairs caught his interest, so he got out of bed. He walked gently down the corridor, making his way to the stairs. The voices became louder with each step, and he knew recognised as Nailea's.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and followed the sounds into the dining room. Sure enough, Nailea was seated at the table, deep in conversation with her parents.

"Hi, baby." He said wrapping his arms around her neck.

"Morning," Nailea replied as she felt his touch.

Nicholas smiled at her affectionate response, holding her close. "You were up early."

Nailea chuckled as she held onto his arms. "Well, I couldn't stay in bed forever, could I?"

"Why not? I could've convinced you to stay." he teased, gripping her a little tighter.

Rowan watched the two flirt and tease each other with a bemused smile. Clearing his throat, he drew their attention back to the conversation. "C'mon you two, there's plenty of time for that later."

Nicholas chuckled and released his hold on Nailea, giving her a playful squeeze before standing upright. "Sorry, Mr Holloway," he said, grinning sheepishly.

"No need to apologize," Rowan chuckled. "It's just nice to see my little girl so happy. Hasn't been so bright-eyed in a little while."

"Dad," Nailea groaned, feeling embarrassed.

Rowan chuckled again, clearly entertained by his daughter's reaction. "What? It's true. I haven't seen you this carefree in quite some time."

"Okay, dad, that's enough," Nailea said, shooting a glare at her father.

Rowan held his hands up in mock surrender. "All right, all right. I'll stop embarrassing you. For now, anyway."

Nailea rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but smile as her parents chuckled. Nicholas, enjoying the banter, joined in the laughter.

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