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Finally he sighed, nodding. “Alright, but if he lays one finger on you, I’m personally introducing his face to the asphalt.”
“If he ever tries to abuse me then I’ll be handling him before you can ever step in.” I said and he smiled, pride glowing behind his eyes.
“Good. Have a nice night baby. We’ll talk later.”
Then, after one last hug from each of them, they got in their car and left. Releasing the breath that’d been lodged in my lungs the entire dinner, I turned back to the boys and considered them.
Will still looked pale and twitchy, but at least he didn’t seem ready to climb a wall now. Devin’s face was a mask of frustration and exhaustion.
So he’d had no luck prying what was wrong out of him, great.
Walking over, I stopped a few feet away from them and spoke. “Ready to head home?”
Devin hummed, getting into the driver’s seat and ignoring the dirty look Will shot him. He almost climbed into the passenger side, then paused, offering the door for me instead.
I almost considered asking him to sit in the back with me before quickly discarding the thought. Devin was too close for us to have any kind of meaningful conversation, and he still looked ready to crawl out of his skin.
So, I nodded and got in.
The entire drive back was painfully tense, awkwardness all but oozing off each of us as we avoided the elephant in the room.
Will was the first out of the car the second it pulled to a stop. I followed him, just barely catching Devin’s muttering about going for a drive.
I waved absentmindedly over my shoulder, but once it was just William and me in the parking lot, I cleared my throat.
“I guess you don’t want to come in and talk about all that?” It was mostly rhetorical since he’d all but run away from me back at the restaurant and was continuing to do so now.
He hesitated, the driver’s side of his car already open and his back to me. Silence stretched for a painful few minutes before he finally shook his head.
“There’s nothing to talk about. Your parents don’t like the thought of you dating me, which is what I expected, so there's no point in having a conversation about it.”
I bit back the urge to scream, but just barely.
“I think there is something to talk about here since you’ve been nearly running away from me since Mrs. Bream brought up the topic of marriage yesterday,” I said, my voice hard and flinty.
William groaned, resting his head on the car. “We’ve been over this-.”
I cut him off, my blood boiling in my veins at his continued refusal to even try to discuss whatever was bothering him.
“No, we haven’t even started talking about it because anytime I try to ask you what’s wrong, you shut the conversation down. It’s obviously bothering you, therefore it is important enough to discuss.”
Frustration bled into my tone and William spun around, his eyes fiery now as he snapped. “What do you want from me?”
His voice was sharp, the defensiveness from the restaurant coming back in force as he took it all out on me.
“I’m already trying my best to adjust to this whole being in a relationship thing. What else do you want?” He snarled and I bristled right back, ignoring the hurt tugging at my heart.
“I want honesty, Will. You keep saying that you’re fine, but you’re obviously not! I can’t fix it if I don’t know what’s bothering you!”
He shook his head, dragging a hand through his hair. “There’s nothing for you to patch here. I’m just not comfortable with the idea of children, marriage, or any of that. It feels like everyone is throwing it at us now. It’s all anyone can talk about.”
Finally we were making progress.
Letting some of my irritation go, I moved closer and leaned against the car next to him. “There’s nothing wrong with not wanting any of that. I told you before that I’m not going to try to force anything with you or us. If we eventually decide we want kids, it will be a joint decision, not just mine, because I wouldn’t be the only one raising them.”
His shoulders eased a tiny bit, and I continued. “As for marriage and the other stuff, that’s another thing that–if it’s in the cards for us–is going to be far in the future. Yes, people are going to pester us because it’s a small town, and the gossip vine is rabid. Their opinions don’t matter.”
He sighed, finally turning his back to the car and looking sideways at me. “Your parents do though, and I totally botched that tonight.”
