The following morning, we boarded a plane back to Pittsburgh, then I began driving home. I was still tired and refused to let Marc drive, despite how many times he has offered. "Why won't you let me drive?" he said frustratedly. "You don't know where I live." "You have a GPS." I ignored him. "I just wanna drive, ok?" "Why are you so stressed out?" I let out a deep sigh and ignored him. "Bella..." "No Marc." "Fine then. I'll shut up." he said in an irritated tone. I instantly felt bad. I concentrated on the road even more so while I tried to figure out what I wanted to say to him. "I'm sorry. I'm just too anxious for some ridiculous reason." "It's okay. Just try to stay calm." I nodded and licked my lips. "Everything will be fine." "I know. I just can't help but think about it." He kissed my cheek and I blushed. "I love you." he said. "I love you too." Around three hours or so later, we had made it back to my childhood home. The smile on my face was apparent and I didn't think that anything could wipe it off. "Excited?" he asked seeing the look on my face. "Yes! Let's go!" I said pulling his hand. "Ok, ok. Just let me grab our stuff first." I nodded. We grabbed our belongings, shut the door and made our way to my front door. I rang the doorbell and immediately saw my mom come down the steps. "Hi honey!" she said, instantly hugging me. "Hi Mom. I missed you." "I missed you too." When she finally let go, she turned to Marc. "You must be Marc. Nice to meet you." "Nice to meet you too." he said shaking her hand. I smiled. "So Mom, are Dad and Alex home?" "Of course they are. They're downstairs." "Awesome! Thanks!" We headed downstairs with our suitcases and headed to the couch. "Hey guys! Merry Christmas!" My dad noticed me first and gave me a huge hug while lifting me off the ground. My brother was next giving me a tight hug as well. "I've missed you guys so much. You have no idea." "We've missed you so much!" Alex exclaimed. I laughed. "Anyways, Dad, Alex, this is Marc." They all shook hands and greeted him. "Hey, we'll be back down. We're gonna put our belongings away." I said, waving to them. We quickly made my way into my room, put our stuff and I laid on my bed. "Tired?" he asked. "Yes. I can't wait to sleep tonight." He sat beside me. "What do you think of my family?" I asked looking at him. "They're great." "Do you like my room?" "I love it. It's very spacious and there's a lot of room on your bed." he said with a smirk. I held in a laugh before I kissed him and pulled him farther onto the bed and on me. He ran his hands through my hair and I grabbed a tight hold of his shirt. After a couple minutes, we stopped and we sat up. I laughed. "I need to fix my hair now. Thank you very much." I said standing up and moving in front of my mirrored closet doors. "You're welcome." he said in a sing-song voice. I rolled my eyes. Once I fixed my hair, I turned back to him. "Ready to go?" "Yep. Let's go." Once we were back downstairs, we found my brother and my dad intently watching a football game. We sat in the middle of the sectional waiting to see if they would notice that they were back. "Dad? Alex?" Nothing. "Are you guys in there?" Still nothing. "Watch this." I mouthed to Marc. I took out my phone, selected a song while I smirked and then pressed play. "What the hell, Bella?!" Dad asked. "What is wrong with you?!" Alex asked. "I had to get your guys' attention somehow. It's like you two were zombies or something. Plus, I felt like irritating you guys." I said laughing. "You are so irritating." Alex said rolling his eyes. "Obviously." I said. I looked at Marc. He was biting his lip, trying not to laugh, but that wasn't too successful. I kissed his cheek causing him to blush. I heard my mom coming downstairs; she probably wanted to know what the heck was going on down here. "What's going on?" she said with her hands on her hips. I was trying to get it all together so I could answer her. "Marc and I came back down to find Dad and Alex watching the game like they were zombies, so I decided to pick a song off my phone and played it. Apparently, it worked." My mom rolled her eyes. "How old are you, Bella?" "23." I said, trying to put on a straight face. She shook her head then sat down next to Marc and I. "Anyway, how did yesterday go?" she asked looking at both me and Marc. "Very well. His family is great and we had a lot of fun." "My parents and my sister, Marylene instantly liked her." My mom gave him a smile. "I'm looking forward to meeting them someday, by the way." "So is my family. Very much so." I could tell my parents loved and accepted Marc already, which made me feel beyond great. After talking for a while, my mom went back up to the kitchen to finish dinner and we continued to watch the game. That is also when my phone rang. "Hello?" "Bella?" "Hey, what's up?" "I talked to your mom earlier; she said that I can come over for dinner later." "That is awesome! When are you coming?" "I'm actually on my way now." "Yay! Ok, I'll see you then." "See ya." *click* "Is she on her way?" Marc asked. "Yep." I said, rapidly nodding my head. He laughed. "I love you." he said. "I love you too." "Did I just hear what I thought I heard?" my dad asked. "Hear what, Dad?" I asked. "You two said you love each other." "Yeah...what's your point?" "You two have only been dating for nearly four months. You don't know what love is." Was my dad really saying this? I couldn't believe it. "Yes, I do! You have no idea. We may have been only together for that amount of time, but we have a connection and we love each other." I said teary. Marc squeezed my hand. "How long until you said this to one another?" "A month." "No one knows what love is after a month, Bella." "Well, we do. Right, Marc?" "Yes. Yes, we do." he said sternly looking straight at my dad. "What's all of the commotion?!" my mom said coming into the family room. "Dad overheard Marc and I saying, l love you to one another and he couldn't believe it since we've only been together for four months. He got even more irritated when I said we had first said it to one another after a month of being together." My mom let out a heavy sigh before speaking. "Aaron, why did you feel like you had the need to tell them that?" "They needed to know that. It takes a long time for love to form. One month is not enough time for them to say those words and actually mean it." I looked at my mom for her response. "Have you even noticed how much they care about one another? Their connection? These two are crazy about one another. I believed Bella when she talked to me on the phone about it for the first time. There's no denying it." Marc was holding me close. "Sorry for yelling at you like that, honey. That was wrong." "It's okay, Dad. You did it with the best of intentions." I sat back and felt Marc's arms wrap around me causing me to giggle. "Is all good here now?" my mom asked. "Yes. Everything's good." my dad said. About ten minutes later, I heard the doorbell ring and my mom answering it. She ran down the steps and I untangled myself from Marc to give her a huge hug. "I missed you!" she exclaimed. "I missed you too." My dad and Alex greeted her before she took a seat next to Marc and I. "It's great to see you again, Marc." she said giving him a hug. "It's great to see you again as well." he replied hugging her back. I couldn't help but smile at the sight. "So, Bella, how did yesterday go?" "It went very well. It was a great day." "That's good." Before we knew it, it was time for dinner and I practically sprinted up the stairs; I was really hungry and excited. "Excited?" she asked. "Yep and very hungry. C'mon...you aren't? It's Christmas dinner!" Marc laughed and Ally simply shook her head. I just shrugged my shoulders and sat down. My mom had cooked ham, her amazing potato salad, deviled eggs and yams which I was ready to devour. "Mrs. Leyton, this is absolutely delicious!" Marc said with his mouth full. "Thank you, Marc." she said trying not to laugh. "You are disgusting. Learn to chew your food and swallow it before speaking." I said slapping his hand and making a disgusted face. Everyone else laughed. "Ok." he said once he swallowed. When the time finally came to leave, I was entirely too sad. I didn't want to leave, but I knew we had to; I had to go back to work as did Marc. "Bye Dad." I said hugging him. "Bye honey. I'm so sorry about earlier." "Dad, don't worry about it. I forgive you." He smiled. "Thanks." "No problem." Saying goodbye to Mom was the hardest. "Bye Mom. Today was great by the way." "It was more than great. It was fantastic. I got to meet Marc and see you. I love you sweetie." "I love you too, Mom." Once in the car where I was sitting in the passenger seat, I laid back and let out a relaxed sigh. "Content?" "Yes. Besides my dad yelling that is. I couldn't believe that he would yell at me like that. I don't know how I'd be if he was still mad. Thank goodness for my mom intervening." "That was so sudden, so unexpected. I know that we haven't been together too long, but still..." I nodded. "Anyway, it's back to our everyday lives tomorrow. How do you feel about it?" "I'm looking forward to it. Absolutely. I'm gonna miss everybody, you know?" "Yeah...I feel the same way."

Notes

Word Count: 1,779.