Good Intentions

Elise is wearing black jeans with a loose-fitting black and white striped top. Smart casual down to the minor details, apart from her choker, still adorning her neck. Wow her neck's pretty. Wow, she's pretty. Wow, this is crazy, have I gone actually insane? I'm walking into a family meeting with my girlfriend's parents, a month or so ago this kind of thing didn't even occur to me.

Mum greets Elise with a hug before Elise gestures for her to proceed to the living room. Rouge doesn't even bother taking her hands out of her pockets, instead opting to just nod as she passes. Jasper goes for a handshake, but Elise just shoos him along, ha! That's my girl.

"Hey... How're you feeling?" She asks, pulling me in for a hug.

"Like my heart's gonna beat out of my chest, but then that's normal when I'm around you." I answer, embracing the light of my feeble existence.

"Charmer." She smirks as we pull apart. "I'll be here the whole time, okay?" She adds, rubbing my arm.

Damn, I'm being self-centred, smarten up, Cray! "Oh, I'll be fine, my main concern is giving you a shoulder to hide in!" I joke, taking Elise's hand and heading inside. Rouge has taken a seat on the chair that housed Trish at the party, leaving the sofa, William's chair, and three new chairs, they sort of look like office chairs, not quite as luxurious, but definitely better than sitting on the floor. Mum and Jasper remain standing, guess they think it's improper to sit before meeting the hosts.

William and Camille are nowhere to be seen, but Elise takes the role instead, offering my family seats, Mum takes up a place on the sofa, while jasper takes one of the new chairs. It seems impolite to take William's chair, so Elise and I take the remaining two new chairs, besides, it means she's close enough to keep hold of her hand... And I need that more than I care to admit.

"Sorry for Mama and papa, they think being fashionably late to their own house makes them seem aloof and interesting." Elise jokes, "They'll be down in a moment, how's the new puppy?" She adds. She's done this before, hasn't she? Hosting I mean, introducing her parents to the family of her lesbian lover. At least, as far as I know.

Rouge jumps at the question. "Oh my God, she's so cute, she's like a little fluffy bread roll." She coos. If it wasn't obvious, Rouge has always wanted a dog, kind of terrified to see what happens when she has to go.

"She's decided that my bed is now hers." I counter my sister's point.

"You can have hers." Rouge decides. Yeah, I'll sleep on a rug in the living room, that's fair.

"She's doing well." My mother interrupts to actually answer Elise's question. "She's taking well to the new surroundings, you'll need to come visit while she's here." Mum offers with a smile.

Elise's face lights up at the idea... Apparently she's forgotten she's coming over tomorrow anyway. "Oh, can I get you drinks?" She asks, jumping to her feet and heading over to a nearby cabinet, where it looks like a variety of bottles have already been prepared. She pours a couple of bottles into glasses, before returning to hand me a glass of wine, and vodka and cola for Rouge. She's thought this through. "Wine?" She asks my mother who thanks her as she brings a glass over.

"None for me Ellie, someone's got to drive this lot home!" Jasper explains. Pretty sure he's getting it wrong on purpose at this point. Elise hands him a glass of water with a disapproving look before finally taking a glass of wine for herself and returning to her seat. She looks worn out, secretly she's probably just as stressed as me.

"Sorry for the delay!" Echoes William's voice as he enters the room. He looks... Different, Instead of a suit he's wearing a long-sleeved grey t-shirt and blue jeans... He looks almost blue collar, a far cry from the gangster-looking style he wore before. "Aah, you must be Scarlet's twin!" He announces as he greets my mother. Wow. He went there. I know it's meant to be a compliment for Mum, but it feels like he just said I look like 45.

"Scarlet's Mother. Dani." She introduces herself as she stands to offer her hand to William. Oh yeah! My Mother's name is Danielle... Guess I could've mentioned that at some point, but who calls their Mum by name? William takes her hand in greeting before moving forwards.

"The man of the house, I assume?" He declares, shaking Jasper's hand.

"Well, you know what they say about assumptions, think I'd have a revolt on my hands if I claimed that title." My brother answers cheerily. True, especially since he doesn't actually live there anymore.

Finally, William turns to my sister... Please don't end in a slap. "Well, this makes me a fool twice over, clearly, you are the beautiful sister and the head of the house!" He decides. I mean, it could've been worse.

"Wow, very clever, you practice that upstairs while we were waiting?" Rouge scoffs, not bothering to stand. Come on. You were the one I wasn't worrying about. William clutches his chest, as if stabbed in the heart.

"And the clever one too, but I had to practice, not all of us can be so naturally flawless, no?" He retorts. Wow. You can tell this guy works in diplomacy, he's like charm city when he wants to be. "Camille is checking on dinner, but she'll be through shortly." He explains, pouring himself a glass of Cognac. Oh! Gifts!

"Hey William, thank you for having us." I stand and offer the bottle I procured. I suppose I should be bitter that I didn't get a greeting, but let's be honest, this dinner isn't about me and Elise really, we're just here to give everyone a reason to meet.

He takes the bottle and examines it for a moment. "Very good, thank you my dear." Elise's dad accepts with a grin. Yeah. I'm a dear. bet you all feel left out by that compliment.

We return to our seats as Jasper decides to speak up again. "So, William, this house, it's stunning." He begins. Huh. That's actually a nice, normal thing to say. "Do you think a spire might be worth investing in?" He jokes. Oh. There it is.

William laughs. "Sadly, I cannot take credit, this house is part of my job, so we have the fine people of France to thank." He clarifies. Well that makes sense, I mean, the Monroe's are definitely rich, but this place is giant.

"Well, I won't complain." My Mum smooths over Jasper's impudence. "To the fine people of France!" She declares, raising her glass. I had a list of things I had expected from this evening... Patriotism was not on it. Patriotism for a different country didn't even occur to me.

We join her in raising our glasses anyway.

At least everyone's getting along.