He hangs up my coat with the others and I get a peak of some of the baby pictures hung on the wall. I start to walk in the direction as Clara and Portia before Miles’ hand grabs mine. I turn to him.
“Are you going to be okay?” I ask. He nods and shrugs at the same time.
“Areyougoing to be okay in there?” He motions to the direction of the kitchen, and I smile. “Call me if you need saving.”
I start to turn in the direction of the kitchen, but he holds onto my hand until the last second, until my arm is almost ripped out of my socket. This whole time, I’ve been worrying about what’s going to happen with Miles instead of worrying about what’s going to happen if I’m left alone with his family. He gave me a small run down on the way over, but this is only the second time I’ve met any of my boyfriend's parents.
The kitchen is small and intimate with cream stone features. Clara is sat on the counter, her legs swinging and her tall stature overcrowding the kitchen, while her mom chops vegetables on the other counter. Her head shoots us when she sees me.
“You and Miles seem very happy together,” she says, and it catches me off guard. “I can tell by that way he looks at you.”
I laugh nervously, not knowing how to go about this. “He’s a bit much sometimes but I’m glad you’re able to handle him,” Clara jokes as she jumps off the counter.
“If I’m honest, he wasn’t my cup of tea at first and I definitely made him work for it, but he’s grown on me,” I admit.
“Atta girl. It’s all about the chase,” Clara laughs. “Sometimes he needs to be dealt with that way, though. He thinks he can get what he wants without working for it.”
"Ay. Milesisa hard worker in some respects but sometimes his heart is a little misplaced," his mom mentions.
"What do you mean by that?" I ask, suddenly wanting to know more.
Miles' mom sighs, pausing her vegetable cutting, looking of into the distance. "He loves a lot, and he loves hard. He always has and he always will. Sometimes, he can't let go of things and he latches on. It consumes him." She sighs. "I'm sure that is partly my fault."
"Mom," Clara presses, rolling her eyes as if they've had this conversation before. I stay quiet, letting the new information about Miles settle in.
“Enough talk about him,” Portia says, wafting her knife around. “You girls are going to have to help me dish out this food.”
*
Eating Christmas Eve dinner with Miles’ family was a lot less awkward than I thought it would be. Although Miles doesn’t talk to his mom much, everyone else seems to be getting along great. Clara basically carries the table with her work horror stories.
She works on low budget film projects with her friends and enters them into festivals. You wouldn’t believe how many of her stories end with getting booked for a job, but it turns out to be some weirdos wanting to film a porno. Even with the inappropriate jokes she makes, neither one of her parents seem to bat an eye at the candour. If something like this was said around my mom, she would have slapped me silly.
“Oh my God, Miles, have you told Wren about Felicity?” Clara exclaims loudly when we’re eating dessert. Their parents have gone into the kitchen, leaving us to talk in the dining room.
“Oh, Clar, don’t,” Miles replies, shaking his head with a blush. I’ve never seen his face go so red before and it’s making my stomach crowd with butterflies.
“I have not heard about this. Who is Felicity?” I say, leaning on my hands at Clara. She takes a long swig of her wine before starting.
“She was Miles’s first crush. He was probably around five or six and there was this girl in his kindergarten class who he thought was cute. So, he came to me, asking for my help. And as the hopeless romantic tween I was, I suggested that he write a song for her. I think Miles should tell the rest of the story.” She gestures to him. He’s still shaking his head but now he’s laughing.
“Long story short, I sung her the song at recess, and she started crying.Notout of happiness,” he admits, shoving his face into his hand.
“I must hear this song immediately,” I demand. I look over to Clara who is smiling wide, but Miles’ expression is serious. I nudge him with my knee and his face cracks.
“Felicity, will you be with me? Felicity, do you like cream cheese? Felicity, your eyes are so pretty,” he opera sings at the top of his lungs.
I start hysterically laughing, tears springing to my eyes. I’ve always known he was a bad singer but Jesus. That poor girl who had to hear this at recess. I would have cried too. He takes a deep breath as if he’s about to continue.
“No, please stop,” I scream, and I cover his mouth with my hand. A devilish smile spreads across his face as he nips my hand with his teeth. I pull my hand away, shaking it out as I glare at him.
“I think he’s learnt a few moves since then if he’s managed to getyouto date him,” Clara comments, tipping her glass towards me. I look up at him and he’s already looking at me. I hide the smile on my face my snuggling deeper into his side, letting myself pretend that this is real for two seconds. Which is easy because Miles is great to be around. He doesn't expect anything of me. We just exist. “Do you want to know what he said when he first told me about you?”
“I’m genuinely frightened to find out,” I say.
I feel his warm hand slowly move from his thigh to mine, just beneath my dress. He squeezes it gently before leaving his hand there. I cross my legs, trapping his hand between my thighs on purpose and I hear him suck in a breath. I can feel the heat on my face, so I try not look at him.
“He mentioned you for the first time and I was asked who you were. Then he said, ‘she’s my girlfriend but she’s everything.”
