Timothy’s Terrible Prompt Stories - 18. Prompt 291 Oh crap! Here we go again.

“Oh crap! Here we go again.” The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop to think. I immediately turned to Eric.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that, but I thought one ‘meeting-of-the-parents’ was enough for any first date.” And why were they here so early, it was only nine-thirty.

My boyfriend rolled his eyes.

“I couldn’t agree more, but I suppose it’s only fair that I meet your folks too. We had better get down there and do some damage control, before my mom asks them about being invited out, or Dad tells them too much about Rob going on a crusade.”

Thankfully, I had deflated fast at the news of my parents being downstairs, so we were able to get up and follow Rob down to the kitchen. He looked almost as worried as us, so I guess Eric’s comment about what their dad might say had hit a sore spot.

When we entered the kitchen, my parents were sitting at the table enjoying apple pie and coffee. I decided to get it over with at once and grabbed Eric’s hand. He followed me willingly over to them.

“Hi Mom, Dad. This is Eric, my boyfriend. Eric, my mom Annabeth, and my dad Jean-Paul.”

Mom smiled at Eric, and Dad got up to shake his hand.

“It’s good to meet you, Eric, please call us Beth and Paul.” My dad is out of a French-Canadian family, but he’s been a US citizen for years, and usually stays with the English version of his first name. Our surname, Gilbert, is pretty neutral when not said in French.

“Hello Eric, nice to meet you at last. I enjoyed your performance as Bob Cratchit in the Christmas play.” My mom’s smile softened, when Eric squirmed a bit under the praise. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Mrs. Perry look puzzled. Oh crap! Here we go again with me spilling the beans to Eric’s parents.

“Thank you. It was a fun play to do. Nelson was awesome as the ghost, his costume and make-up were quite scary.” Clever man, did he know my mom did those for me?

“Why, thank you, Eric, I helped Nelson with them, so I’m pleased you approve.” Eric nodded and turned away to move around the table. He winked at me and took my hand as the grown-ups began discussing the play. We managed sit down at the other end with Rob and eat some apple pie before the conversation turned to the topic of our relationship. Eric’s mom started it off.

“We’re pleased for Eric that he has found such a nice boy as Nelson. Your son has beautiful manners, Beth.” I almost choked on the piece of pie in my mouth.

“Thank you, Diana, I’m glad to hear that.” Mom turned her head to give me an approving smile and I wanted to crawl under the table. ‘Beautiful manners?’ Was I a cocker spaniel or something? I pleaded with my eyes for her not to embarrass me any further.

“Nelson is lucky that Eric likes him enough in return to come out. It shouldn’t be a big deal, but I know it can be,” my mom said.

“Yes, and that’s why we’re glad to get to know you. We would like to invite you over for dinner soon and talk about how we can be supportive if there are any problems.”

“Certainly, we’ll be happy to get together, won’t we, Paul? And it could also be at our place.”

My dad nodded, “You know our schedule better than I do, so go ahead and decide on a day.”

Mom turned to me, “What are your plans for tomorrow, Nelson?”

This was easy to answer since Eric and I had already talked about being together Sunday too.

“Well, we don’t have any specific plans other than spending the day together. Maybe I could come over here tomorrow with Jazz, and all of us could go to the mall and see a movie?”

I gestured at Rob to indicate I wanted to include him, and he lit up with his typical Rob grin before looking at his mom. Would she say he was grounded, and why?

“We don’t have anything planned for tomorrow, so that’s fine. Maybe you could join us for coffee in the afternoon?” Mrs. Perry looked at my parents, “And when the boys get back, we can order some pizza. Seeing as they ate most of the lasagna I made today.”

I had the feeling Rob wanted to high-five me and shout ‘YES!’, but fortunately he restrained himself. His mom gave him a stern look, and his dad followed up with: “Rob, I expect you to behave sensibly and look out for your brother. Eric, I’ll give you money for the movie and some drinks and snacks.”

“Yes, Dad. Thanks, Mom.”

“Thanks, Mom, Dad.” Eric echoed.

“Nelson, do you need some cash?” My dad enquired.

“No, I’m fine. We didn’t spend any today, since we came here for supper. How come you’re back so early? I thought your dinner went on for longer?”

My mom sighed then laughed. “We sat at a table with this tiresome old guy who kept spouting the most obnoxious nonsense. When we’d finished the main course, Paul and I chose to leave. Good decision, since this apple pie is much better than the dessert on the menu.”

“Plus we saw your text after we left the theatre, and didn’t want to get here too late at night,” Dad added.

“Yes, we really shouldn’t impose on your hospitality any longer.” My mom nodded at me. “Why don’t you get your things, Nelson, and say goodnight to Eric?”

I managed to keep calm and got up together with my boyfriend. I realized Mom wanted to give us the chance to kiss goodnight in private; she knew me too well, damn it. Rob slipped out with us and when we were outside Eric’s room, he gave me a crushing hug.

“Thanks, dude, I would have been stuck here all day tomorrow if you hadn’t asked me to go with you to the mall. Plus I can talk to Jasper and make plans for Monday.”

“Yeah, that was sort of the idea.”

“Well it worked pretty well, since Mom and Dad preferred to have me protecting my brother rather than be grounded.”

“Hey, I’m perfectly capable of protecting myself!” Eric was pissed and I didn’t make the mistake of saying I would take care of him. Hopefully, we’d have each other’s backs.

“Maybe they wanted to give you the chance to prove you could behave and not ‘resort to violence’ again,” I teased Rob.

“Whatever, I don’t care as long as I get to go out,” Rob shrugged, and then he smirked at us.

“Better get on with saying goodnight, guys. Do you want me to stand guard outside, so no one barges in on you?”

“Shut up, Rob.” Eric grabbed my hand, pulled me inside his room and closed the door. Before I could do anything else, he had me pinned with my back to the door and was kissing me silly. I tried not to moan, but it was hard – and so was I. Eric too, I realized as he rubbed against me.

“I’m going to think of you tonight,” he whispered in my ear, before letting me go. I knew exactly what he meant. I needed to get home fast and take care of myself before I exploded. But first I had to make myself presentable so I could leave. My hair was messed up, since Eric was apparently incapable of kissing me for more than two seconds without running his fingers through it. I looked down to make sure there was no visible wet spot and tried to think of dead dogs and broccoli to get rid of my boner.

Eric had gone over to get my backpack and my jacket. When I had sorted myself out, he gave them to me.

“When will you be here tomorrow?” His voice told me he was already sad about missing me.

“I’ll try and persuade Jazz to drive over here around eleven. I’ll text you when I know and just before we leave.”

“Oh,” he looked crestfallen, “Why so late?”

“I can try to make it earlier, but Jazz likes to sleep in. And a grumpy Jazz is no fun!”

“OK.” We stared at each other, unwilling for our time together to end.

“Thanks for a wonderful day, Eric.”

“It wasn’t much of a date – ” he began, but I quickly interrupted.

“It was great – in spite of various interruptions and unexpected drama." Eric grinned at the reference to the Tina and Rob mess, but I continued. "I simply want to spend time with you, do stuff we both enjoy – no, not just that. I want us to be friends as well as boyfriends.” When Eric licked his lips with a hot gaze, I slapped his arm. Geez, I thought, those Perry brothers had one-track minds! But I had to admit I liked it.

This time Rob knocked, and I turned to open the door behind me.

“Your parents are in the hall, ready to leave.”

“OK. Thanks Rob, see you tomorrow.”

I turned back to Eric who was still in the room. “I’ll text you when I get home. See you tomorrow, love.”

With a wave, I left, having his delighted smile burned into my mind, but blushing at hearing Rob’s stage whisper. “Love?! He called you …“ Ooops, slip of my tongue. Anyway, I’m sure, Eric didn’t mind…

So much for Rob being grounded...