No Escape

A fully clothed Elise paces back and forth as I finish putting my own clothes back on. I can't say this has ever happened to me before, getting caught is more Rouge's area of expertise. I doubt I'll have chance to call her for advice before the Monroe's slap my head off. Fuck, I wasn't prepared to come out once today, let alone twice, and meet my girlfriend's parents.

"We have to go down, they'll be waiting for us." Elise explains in a hushed tone, the worry clear on her face.

"What reception should we expect?" I ask, standing and offering a hug to her, which she gladly accepts.

"I don't know. They've caught me on my own, and their answer for that was to pretend it never happened, but this is more than just embarrassment." She answers, her voice trembling. I've had years to come to terms with my sexuality, and how I feel about it, Elise hasn't, and now she's got to explain it to her parents? Feels like she got the rough end of this deal.

"I'll be there the whole time, okay? No matter what they say. You're my Moon." I reassure her, stroking the back of her head. Sadly, we can't stay like this. Elise takes the lead, opening the door and making her way down the stairs. I stay close behind, partly to comfort Elise, partly out of my own fear. We arrive in the living room, with Elise's parents awaiting our arrival as predicted.

Elise's mother is a slender woman, her long raven hair enunciating her plain white skin, she's dressed up, presumably for the appointment they attended, in a long crimson ball gown. The world elegant springs to mind and stays there, the way she looks, the way she stands, the way her eyes follow us as we enter, all with the grace of a dancer. She stands by one of the recliners, containing the form of her husband.

Mr Monroe looks like I expected, yet his presence is unreal. His hair and beard, while greying, are perfectly groomed, while his tanned skin shows the weathers of age. He sits cross legged with a glass of something I don't recognise, his eyes trained on us like a hawk, still in his dark blue suit. Dignified, classy, terrifying, all at once, he looks like the head of some mafia... Which, for all I know, he could be.

"Sit. Both of you." His deep voice commands. His accent is much stronger than Elise's, but at the same time much different, like another regional dialect. Elise obeys the order and I follow suit, taking up our places on the sofa. The next part I don't understand, Elise's mother speaks in rapid French before Elise responds, this goes back and forth for a couple of minutes before her father speaks again.

"You. What is your name?" He asks me succinctly. These few words set me on edge already, and this is the easy question.

I look him in his unfeeling eyes. "Scarlet... Cray, Sir." I stammer. Why did I say sir? Am I mean to? Would he prefer the French equivalent? What is the French equivalent? Monsieur? Would he be offended if I tried to use his own language badly?

"Tell me... Scarlet. How long have you been sleeping with my daughter?" He demands.

"Papa!" Elise protests, but a quick raise of her father's hand only a few inches to signal her to halt is critically effective, reducing her to silence.

"I... About 22 hours?" I answer honestly. What? Why? Why would I be honest? How on earth would that be the right answer? What in the fuck is wrong with me? This man may actually kill me and I'm-

My internal screaming is interrupted with the last sound I thought I'd hear right now. A low chuckle, escalating into wild laughter from Elise's dad. His face has completely changed, now appearing calm and joyful, I look to Elise, who's shaking her head at the sight, then to Elise's mother, who doesn't seem to enjoy the answer as much as her husband. I recall that she doesn't speak English, so that might explain it... If I could explain it at all.

"I'm sorry little one, I wanted to play the scary Papa, but this one! 22 hours! She is funny, no?" He chuckles, putting his drink down on a coaster. "Let's start again." He decides, trying to return his face to it's intimidating from. "Miss Cray, you have insulted my family, we must duel to the-" He begins before overcoming with laughter again.

"My Papa thinks he's the funniest man in the world." Elise mutters. Oh my God. He was tricking me the whole time. I can't tell if I'm relieved or pissed off.

"I'm sorry, please understand, I've prepared a hundred scary parent stories for when I met one of Elise's boyfriends, I wasn't sure how to intimidate a girl, you don't frighten so easy!" He grins, picking up his drink again and leaning back. "So, the circumstances are not ideal, but it's nice to hear this one has found someone nice. You are nice, aren't you?"

This is not the situation I thought I was walking into. "I... I try to be, I guess." I answer, still not sure if this is a test.

"Well, try less, nice is terribly boring!" Mr Monroe laughs again, before receiving a slap on the shoulder from his wife and straightening up again. "Of course, Elise, you know better than this, you're an adult, we don't expect you to be a nun, if you want to invite someone to the house then you ask us first." He directs to his daughter. Wait. They're not angry we were having sex... They're mad that she invited someone over without permission? That's the priority? Am I drunk?

"I'm sorry." Elise begins. "I would have introduced you properly, but you said you wouldn't be back tonight." She adds. Not sure if justifying the rule breaking is the right answer, but I'm not going to correct her with her own family.

"I said probably, I always tell you, read the fine print!" Mr Monroe snickers. "But how rude of me, my name is William, this is the light of my life, Camille." He explains gesturing to himself and his wife, who rolls her eyes into a smile, which reminds me so much of Elise's it stuns me for a moment. She tells her family something before proceeding out of the room. "Ah, she is just going to change and then to prepare dinner, please, tell me you'll join us, I'd love to learn more about you!" William informs me, rather than asks.

I turn to Elise, who looks to me with hopeful eyes. "How could I say no?" I answer, finally letting a smile reach my face.

"Excellent, I'll fetch some more glasses, and we'll drink until you are part of the family!" He replies, standing and leaving the room in the direction.

"Well, you built that up to be much scarier than it was." I joke to Elise, who's now let herself fall back into the sofa, a stressed look on her face.

"You only heard the bits in English." Elise clarifies. "My mother was not pleased that I hadn't talked to her about liking girls, she'd been trying to set me up with sons from the club, said she feels like a fool now." Again, the Monroe priorities feel a bit different to the rest of the world.

"I have to ask... Are they usually like this? So... Laid back about the obvious stuff and bothered by the etiquette?" My words feel offensive as I say them, but I need to know.

"Pretty much, they trust me to make good decisions, but they can be tricky, don't be surprised if they're not done yet." My girlfriend clarifies. Oh good, so they're going to ambush me. Joyous.

William returns with three glasses, placing them next to his own and pouring some kind of brown drink into them. "Are you a Brandy drinker? I love Cognac, too much if you ask my wife!" He smirks, handing me and Elise a glass each, the fourth presumably waiting for Camille. I follow Elise's lead and take a sip, it tastes like fire, but somehow pleasant. Smalltalk takes over and we discuss how Elise and I met, my family life, my hobbies. Soon Camille re-emerges in much more comfortable-looking loungewear, summoning Elise to help her in the kitchen, leaving me with her father.

"Aah, I think Camille has chosen this time to give Elise 'The Talk.' Best to let her handle it, no?" He observes. As much as I want to rescue Elise from the birds and the... Other birds, I guess. Something tells me she's not the only one who's about to get a lecture. "My daughter is a bold girl, very determined, I have tried to tell her what do do, what not to do... It always ends the same. She proves me wrong." He chuckles, taking a sip of his drink. "I can't stop her from seeing you. I don't believe I should try, you don't seem dangerous. But Elise, her skin is made of steel, impenetrable, unstoppable, but her heart, it has always been made of glass, when she feels something, she feels deeply. All I ask is that you show respect for that."

This isn't meant to be intimidating, honestly, it feels the opposite. Behind his larger than life persona, he's worried about Elise, I guess I am the first person she's really shown interest in with the whole Pierre thing covering her love life. "I won't pretend I've done everything perfectly, or well, even in the last couple of days that we've actually been together, but I promise I'll do my best." I answer. It's all I've got really.

William gives me an understanding nod. "Your family, do they know about your... Relationship?" He asks.

"Not all of them, I've been building up the courage to tell my Mum." I reply.

"Well, she will suspect something if you go home after dinner, you stay with us tonight." He decides with a convinced face. "But you should tell her, a parent only wants their child's happiness, even if it is not in the form they expect." He continues, raising his glass. I meet it with my own. Damn, Elise's family is so different to mine, so open. I know he's right, but part of me wishes Mum had just walked in on us, it'd make it far easier.

Soon enough, Elise summons us for dinner, and I'm taken back by how gorgeous the food is, it's a mushroom risotto, but it tastes like it was prepared in a restaurant. I try to compliment the chef, but the language barrier results in a confused look on Camille's face until Elise translates for me, before her mother replies with a compliment regarding my hair. Still getting used to that one. I help with the washing up, and soon Mr and Mrs Monroe retire to bed. Surprisingly early actually.

"They're not going to sleep." Elise explains awkwardly, as we finish our drinks in the lounge. Oh... Well, good for them, I guess.

"How'd the talk with your mum go?" I ask.

"Good. Sort of. Just a lot of talk about how she accepts me, that I shouldn't feel pressured to do anything I don't want to just because we're both girls." She answers wistfully. "I reassured her there was nothing going on that I didn't want and left it at that."

"Oh? You left out that both times we've had sex you basically jumped on me?" I smirk. Secretly it's nice to hear how caring Camille is behind the language barrier, I suppose she did produce Elise, so she can't be bad.

"Yep, skipped that bit." Elise responds before both of us break out into giggles. "Papa didn't scare you too bad?" She enquires,

I think of William's words, and how little I want to do anything to hurt Elise. "I really like you, you know." I say instead of answering. It matches how I feel better.

"But?" Elise asks, with a hint of fear in her voice.

"Oh, no but." I clarify. "Well, except yours, and I like that too." I add with a grin.

"I noticed, you'll have to show me how much sometime." Elise smiles back. "You heard anything from Trish or Rouge?" She changes the subject, taking another drink.

I check my phone. "No new messages, Trish is probably taking time to think, Rouge? Hard to say, probably hard at work." I consider. "Do you think we've been neglecting them?" I ask Elise.

"Kind of, but I think they understand why. We'll make it up to them at some point." She replies, swallowing the last dregs of her cognac. "But first, I'm exhausted, cuddle me to sleep?" She requests cutely. If I ever say 'no' to that I need shooting. I accompany Elise to bed, not bothering to try being the little spoon this time.

Tomorrow's going to be a trial, I'm going to enjoy this for now.