Cyberspace Romance

Zoey placed the curling iron on the sink and then tossed her head over, shaking her curls all about. She sprayed a dash of hair spray onto her hair, and then looked into the mirror and studied her appearance. Her long auburn hair was down in loose banana curls. Her make-up looked very professional and light. She didn't want to go over board with it just meeting the parents. She placed a bit of peach lip gloss onto her lips and then sprayed on a bit of Curious perfume. She fixed her top and then walked out of the bathroom after turning off her curling iron.

Bam grabbed himself a drink from the refrigerator as he waited for Zoey to come down the stairs. He head a pair of shoes on the stairs, and turned around to look up. He smiled seeing her enter the room. He thought she looked absolutely gorgeous.

"You ready?" He ask.
"Mhm." Was her reply.

He walked her out to his black Mercedes and they climbed inside. She giggled a bit as he started off down the drive way.

"What?" He questioned her.
"How many cars do you have?" She ask.
"Oh. . ." He laughed. "A few. . ." He said smiling.

On the entire way to his parents house Bam thought about how much Ape would adore Zoey. She was unlike any girl he had ever brought home. He vaguely remembered the first time Jenn had ever met his mom-- she looked pretty rough, and could care less what his mom thought. Which at the time was a turn on for a young man, but now he knew how important his mother's opinion was. Then Missy-- acting like meeting Ape and Phil was meeting the President and First Lady. She had made sure he had her hair done, nails done, and wore a designer dress. He never saw the point in her dressing to impress his parents, when she could care less about her appearance any other time.

Bam pulled into the drive way and mumbled 'great' under his breath seeing his brother's vehicle sitting in the drive way beside Ape's PT cruiser.

"What is it?" Zoey ask.
"Jess is here as well." Bam replied.
"Jess?"
"My brother. . ."

He loved his brother, however he knew Jess would think he had moved on from Missy too soon. He had told him weeks ago, he needs to take time away from women and focus on being Bam again. Jess would be disappointed and assume he and Zoey had already rushed into a relationship, which meant he would possibly judge Zoey before giving her a chance.

Zoey followed Bam up to the door, expecting him to knock or press the bell. However, instead he just pushed it open. Her eyes went wide-- he was raised in a barn! She thought, as she followed in behind him. She felt like she should take her shoes off when she saw the nice carpet. Bam motioned her forward, and she followed him through a nice living room and into a kitchen where she noticed four adults, and two small girls laughing and carrying on with a fun time. Bam cleared his throat, which caused the older blond lady to turn around from the stove in excitement. Her eye's grew with amazement when she saw Zoey.

"Ape, Phil, Jess, Kel. . . this is Zoey." Bam said pointing to the beauty behind him.

Phil grinned, and Ape let a bright smile appear on her face. Jess was starring Zoey up and down, wondering who this girl was. Kelli gave her a unsure smile as she looked at her husband, and then brother in law. The two girls didn't pay attention, they were too busy playing with their chocolate pudding.

"It's nice to meet you, Zoey." Ape said walking towards her.

Bam walked over to his brother who was giving him a look of disbelief.

"I thought you wasn't going to move on so damn fast, Bam." Jess hissed.
"Jess, if he wants to move on then allow it. Stop being a sour puss." His wife Kelli said picking up her youngest daughter Scarlett to take and clean up.
"we're not together, Jess." Bam said hoping that detail helped.

Jess just rolled his eyes. He was only looking out for Bam. He didn't want history to replay itself. Bam had done the same thing with Jenn. He had moved on way too fast-- and ended up making one of the biggest mistakes of his life. Marrying Missy, he didn't want to see his brother go through that again. He looked over and starred at the auburn haired girl. He looked down at her shoes and noticed they were a pair of haggard torn converse. Her jeans were ripped in several places, her shirt looked worn. Her hair, was curled and her make-up looked amazing, but she really didn't seem like she had put much effort into her appearance. Which was good to him, it seemed like Bam's ex's had always tried too hard to make a good impression. Zoey just seemed like herself.

"She's different than how Missy was." Jess chuckled remembering when Ape and Phil had first met her.
"She's different from any woman i've ever met, Jess."
"You like her, don't you?" Jess said after a moment of studying how Bam looked at Zoey.
"Very much." Bam muttered under his breathe.

Zoey laughed as Phil told her a story about Bam and Jess when they were just little boys. Once he was finished with his, then Ape started telling her a favorite story of the boys. She couldn't believe Bam was such a rascal even as a child.

"So. . . he's always been that hyper?" Zoey ask giggling.
"Always!" Ape said laughing.

Kelli walked back into the room after cleaning up her daughter. She passed Scarlett over to Jess and then took her seat next to Zoey. She introduced herself and began a conversation with the girl. Kelli liked Zoey after only a few minutes of talking to her. She could tell she was a very real and down to earth girl.

"So how far along are you?" Zoey ask noticing Kel's bump
"Five months." Kel said smiling as she rubbed over her small but noticeable bump.

Bam watched as Zoey, Kelli, Ape, and Phil chatted. He was glad his family had taken to Zoey so well. He was also surprised she had felt so comfortable around them. He noticed when she felt comfortable she talked, and when she was uncomfortable then she remained silent.

"So you're a cosmetologist?" Kel ask after a few minutes.
"Yeah, I work at a salon in New York."
"Oh gosh, I bet Salon's there are busy." Ape said knowing how the cosmetology field was.

Zoey nodded, and then discussed some details about her life. Ape had ask about her parents and she had to explain about their accident. She frowned a bit at the end, but had managed to hold back her tears. It was still painful to talk about, but she was learning to cope with it more and more every day.

"So, Bam mentioned a boy lived with you?" Ape questioned her.
"My younger brother, Ryder. He's eighteen." Zoey said smiling.

The rest of the day went by rather quickly. Zoey had a lot of fun talking to Bam's mom and sister in law. She felt completely comfortable around the two of them, and was surprised they accepted her. Nearing the end of the visit-- Bam's brother had finally warmed up to Zoey, and had even started laughing and joking with her.

"You ready to go?" Bam whispered in her ear.

She looked up at him and nodded her head. The two of them said their goodbyes to the family, and then walked back out to his Mercedes and got inside. She smiled over at him, and he raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"What?" He questioned.
"I really like your family." She said.
"I'm glad you liked them. Sorry if Jess came off as a hard ass at first. He's trying to look out for me." Bam said pulling up onto the familiar private road.
"Look out for you?" Zoey questioned him.
"Yeah. . . he doesn't want me to end up with a girl like Missy again." He said laughing.
"Oh God! He thinks I'm like her?" She said making a disgusting face.
"No. . . It's just, hard to explain. He thinks I might be moving on to fast." Bam said honestly.

Zoey nodded her head slowly, not really knowing what else to say. Was he moving on too fast? Was he not ready for this? She couldn't help but to think something was wrong with her.

Bam sighed, knowing he had said something wrong. Zoey had grew quiet, which meant he knew she was feeling uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?" He ask turning the car off.
"Nothing." She replied too quickly, and opened the door.

He groaned loudly as he walked over and opened his house door. She walked inside slowly without saying a word, and started off up the stairs, but he grabbed her arm.

"Not so quick." He said turning her around to face him. "I know somethings wrong, Zoe." He said looking at her face.

Zoey smiled weakly, wondering how he read her so well.

"Nothing is wrong. . ." She tried to lie.
"Liar." Bam said.
"It's about me moving on too fast, isn't it?" Bam ask.

She simply nodded her head slowly. He knew it had come the time to discuss their feelings for each other. He had been putting it off far too long, and he wanted to know if she felt the same way.

"I think we need to talk about something." He said looking into her eyes.
"What's that?" She questioned him.
"Our feelings." Bam said.