Chapter 65: Summer Breeze


    Chapter 65: Summer Breeze


    EMMA’s POV :


    "Are you sure this is a good idea?n asked nervously.


    We were standing in front of my front door.


    My parents and I were having dinner together tonight and I decided to bringn home.


    This was a big step for us.


    Our rtionship was on a whole new level now.


    No more lies and sneaking around, we could be an official couple.


    I''d been hiding him from my family for such a long time, I didn’t wanna do that anymore.


    "Don''t worry, it''ll be fine,"I said reassuringly.


    "We don''t have to tell them everything right away, do we?"


    "No, we don’t.I just want them to meet you and know who you are as a person.Everything else is just


    whatever,"


    "Emma? Is that you?"mom called out from the dining room.


    "Mom, dad, I want you to meetn, my boyfriend,"I announced to them.


    "Mr.and Mrs.Sinir, it''s an honor to finally meet the both of you,n smiled brightly.


    "Oh...hello,"mom was absolutely shocked.


    Dad couldn''t even say a word.


    "Please, have a seat,"she said again after a while of awkward silence.


    We took our seats in front of them and they watchedn like a hawk.


    He wanted to appear formal for some reason.


    "So, this is what you wanted to tell us all week long?"mom asked me.


    I had been hinting at her that I wanted her to meet someone.


    I smiled sheepishly and nodded at her.


    "Mr.and Mrs.Sinir, I''m very serious about your daughter.I would love your permission to date her,"


    "Oh, well, um,n, tell us about yourself,"mom said, "


    “How did you two meet?"


    We had prepared ourselves for this, we knew exactly what to say.


    "I''m twenty-four years old.I’m a painter and I teach art on the side.We first met at Emory two summers


    ago.I was finishing up grad school at the time and Emma was there visiting a friend,"


    "You went up to Emory? Two summers ago?"mom red at me.


    "Yeah, remember my birthday? I wanted to go visit Zach, so Tiff, Carrie, and I went out there.And


    before you yell at me, everything was fine.We were all being careful and we didn’t do anything crazy or


    bad,"I said defensively.


    Nothing crazy or bad, just insane.Mom and dad shared a worried look.Dad looked like he was going to


    get a heart attack.


    "So now you two are...dating?"mom said to us.


    "Yes,"we both said in unison.


    "Do you know that Emma''s going to the University of Pennsylvania in the fall?"Dad spoke up for the


    first time.


    "Yes, sir.I''m aware of that,n nodded quickly.


    "I promise our rtionship’s not going to affect Emma’s education.Her educationes first,"


    "That''s right,"dad agreed.


    "But, I do n to keep on seeing her.I love your daughter very much,"


    "And I love him too,"


    I said to mom and dad, pausing for a moment before continuing, "He’s the one that motivated me to


    apply for lvy League schools and push my limits.I wouldn''t be able to do all this if it wasn’t for him,"


    "Emma''s an amazing girl.I can be the best version of myself when I’m with her,n said as he turned to


    me.


    "I think we make each other better,"I kept my gaze on him too.Mom and dad didn’t say anything for a


    while, but I noticed the small smile that escaped mom''s lips.And although dad didn’t say anything


    much, by the end of dinner, he gaven a firm handshake and said, "take good care of my Emma,"


    To whichn responded, "Absolutely and always,"


    "See? It wasn''t so bad?"I said as I walked him to his car.


    "I thought I was gonna die out there,n let out a sigh of relief, the first time this entire night.


    Dinner wasn’t so bad.After the typical interrogation round, mom and dad warmed up ton.


    Themon denominator was me.They talked about college life I was gonna have and the future.


    Honestly, I found it cute.


    There were these three people that loved me to the moon and back and they were just talking about


    how to love me best.


    "You were great in there,"I said to him.


    "Your dad has the best poker face.I still don’t know if he likes me or not,"


    "He’s just worried.Even though I''ve graduated high school and I''m gonna be in college soon, I''m still


    forever his little girl.Just give them time, when they see how good we are together and how responsible


    and mature we are, they''lle around,"  "Responsible and mature...sure,"he stifled augh.


    "Hey, it''ll be different this time around.You said it yourself,"


    I reminded him.After graduation,n and I sneaked off for a bit and we talked about our rtionship.


    We talked about everything from always being honest with each other and dealing with long distance.


    The n was that we would long distance for a year and thenn would move to the east coast to be


    closer to me.


    We didn’t have all the details yet, but we would figure itoutas wego.


    "You''ve met my parents, I''ve met your mom.This all feels so real,"I said when we arrived in front of his


    car.


    "Because it is real, baby girl.You best believe it,"he smiled and he leaned down for a kiss.


    Even though it was just a short, sweet kiss on my frontwn, it was our first real kiss in public.


    I would treasure this moment forever.


    "I love you, Emma."


    "I love you,n,"


    That night, I was sitting on my bed, exchanging texts with my girlfriends.


    Tiff was getting ready for her backpacking trip and Carrie was spending all her time with Mark.


    I was so busy with my phone screen, I didn’t realize mom had knocked on the door and she came in.


    "Honey? You''re still up?"mom said.


    "Yeah, I’m just talking to Tiff and Carrie.What''s up?"


    She took a seat on the edge of my bed and sighed,


    "Honey, we need to talk aboutn,"She got my full attention now.


    I put the phone away and asked, "Do you like him? Does dad like him?"


    "Emma, things look pretty serious with you two.Why are we just hearing about him now?"


    "It is serious, mom.I’ve loved him since two summers ago.But life got in the way and we just couldn''t be


    fully together, until now,"I paused for a second and asked, "


    “Why, do you guys not like him?"


    "It''s not that we don''t like him...we just don’t know him.And he’s a little too old for you, no?"


    "We''re only six years apart.Aunt Marissa and Uncle Michael are eight years apart,"I said defensively,


    calling out my aunt from my mom’s side.


    Aunt Marissa was mom’s younger sister who got married to a guy eight years older than her.


    "She was thirty and he was thirty eight.The age gap doesn''t really matter once you hit thirty,"mom


    retorted back.


    "So, what? You don’t like him because he’s older than me?"


    "I''m not saying that,"she sighed.


    "I''m just saying, take it easy.Don’t rush into anything.You''re still so young,"


    "I''m gonna be in college in two months,"


    "Still,"she insisted.


    "I know, mom.I know what you mean.And trust me, rushing is thatst thing we wanna do.We''re taking


    things slow but steady.That''s why we wannae to you guys.We wanna make sure we''re building a


    good, strong foundation for our rtionship,"


    "Wow...that’s very mature.I''ll give you guys that,"she nodded approvingly.


    "After everything that’s happened, I wanna focus on myself and college.Long distance isn’t gonna


    affect that.So, you have nothing to worry about,"


    I gave mom a confident smile and she smiled back.Tears pooled in her eyes and she pulled me into a


    hug.


    "I can''t believe this.You''ve graduated high school and you''re going to college.My baby’s growing up so


    fast..."


    "Aw, mom.I’m not a baby anymore,"


    "You''ll always be my baby, baby,"


    Summer went by like a breeze.I was having the best time of my lifen and I were still wary about


    going out and possibly running into people from school because that would be awkward.But we still


    spent all our time together.If we weren''t hanging out at his apartment, he woulde over to my


    house.


    One day, my parents were out at work and I was alone in the housen came over and we made out in


    my living room.I found it so surreal, the fact thatn and I were making out in my living room.


    We moved things over to my bedroom next and that felt even more unreal.


    Some days, we would go out and take day trips to the beach.


    I would just lie around, read a book and get a tan, whilen would be sketching.


    Even simple things like that felt so amazing to me.


    Before I knew it, the days were passing by and my birthday was just around the corner.


    As my birthday present, I askedn to be the one to drive me up to Philly.


    Mom and dad were reluctant at first, but I was very good at begging, and they finally relented.


    I figured that we were gonna do long distance soon, so I wanted to make the most of my time withn.


    Taking this road trip to Philly together sounded like the perfect way to do that.


    We would have so much fun on the road andn would stay for a couple of days to explore U Penn and


    Phdelphia with me.


    It was the perfect way to end a perfect summer.


    "Ready to go?n said when he arrived at my house the morning before my birthday.


    He was smiling that mega- watt smile, full of excitement.


    My parents were upstairs, busily helping me move my things.


    I peeked around to make sure they weren''t watching and I pulledn into a kiss, saying, "With you?


    Absolutely and always,"