I Want to Hold You, for Now and Forever

Robert Sexton:

"Sometimes your nearness takes my breath away; and all the things I want to say can find no voice. Then, in silence, I can only hope my eyes will speak my heart."

I was nervous at the thought of meeting Brian’s family but standing outside the front door, I swear my heart was going to jump through my chest and explode. I haven’t been this nervous since, well, I can’t even remember when. Please God let them like me I pleaded with the man upstairs. We all came together, the guys and girls. Brian went through the door first but I pulled to the back of the group walking in with Johnny and just before we exited out to the back garden, I pulled him into a side hug

“What’s wrong?” he asked me

“I’m petrified that they’re going to hate me” I answered truthfully

“I’m really sorry about dropping the ball on this one”

“I know”

“Seriously, they’re the best kind of people and if they hate you then that’ll just be a strange occurrence because your amazing” he smiled at me

“Thanks Johnny” I returned the smile and squeezed him tighter as he rubbed my shoulder

“No problem. Brian’s calling you over by the way” I stopped dead in my tracks and stared at him currently standing with his family, who were intently staring back at me

“Best make my grand entrance huh” I looked at Johnny

“Yep” and he slightly pushed me forward. I felt like I was walking the green mile to meet my executioner, I kept my eyes to the ground. This was going to be awkward, imagine someone coming up to you and saying ‘Hi, I’m your son’s wife. It’s lovely to meet you’ … get my point? As I got up to them, I could feel my girlies eyes on the back of my head, I could sense their support so I was a little at ease but not too much. His family just smiled at me and I returned the gesture

“Dad, Suzy this is Chloe” Brian said introducing me to his dad and step-mum and before I could say hello I was engulfed into a huge three way hug. I swear, I was going to stop breathing

“I think she’s stopped breathing” a younger girl laughed and they let go

“It’s nice to finally meet you Hun” smiled the older woman

“Nice to meet you too” I returned the smile

“Your British” Brian’s Dad stated “He failed to mention it before. I’m Brian Senior but call me whatever you feel like dad, pops, old man” I laughed

“Old man? You’re not old, you’ve just clocked a few miles is all”

“I like her” he laughed

“I’m McKenna” the younger smiled and pulled me into a hug “I have a sister, this is cool”

“Guess that makes two of us then huh”

“Yeah, so what are you into? What do you do?” she blurted out

“Hold on Kenna” Brian said before looking back at me with a smile “This is my brother Brent and my Step bro Johnny”

“Hi, nice to meet you. Do you want to hug as well?” I laughed and they nodded, hugging me also

“So why did this shit bag keep you from us?” Brent laughed as Susie smacked him on the arm

“Because we both agreed on it” I said looking back to Brian before returning my gaze back to his brother

“Why dear?” Suzy interrupted

“Erm… Brian?” I nudged him

“I told them” he said, looking at me

“Told them what exactly?”

“Ya know, Vegas and shit” and I nodded

“Thought there was going to be a domestic there” His step brother laughed

“We just decided it was best to keep quiet for a while but it seems JC can’t keep his mouth zipped”

“JC?” McKenna asked

“Johnny” Bri answered for me

“Oh. So what do you do?” She asked me again

“I’m at UCLA, I studied History and this year I’m doing teacher training”

“Where do you want to teach?” she was one curious little cat

“High School preferably” I smiled

“Wow, now that’s a brave move” Brian Sr piped up

“Yeah, I was a little shit when I was younger so I’m pretty sure I know what to expect” I laughed

“Really” Brian beamed at me and I laughed

“Trust me, you don’t want to know”

“Yeah I do”

“I’m not telling you, you’ll just take the piss” I nudged him as his family laughed at our conversation

“She plays soccer too” he informed them

“Really? What position” Brent looked at me

“Right midfield”

“She’s captain too” Brian stated proudly and I rolled my eyes

“Wow, that’s cool”

“Yeah, it’s alright”

“Chloe” Beci came over and I looked at her “Sorry to interrupt. I just brought you two drinks” and with that she left

“She’s British too” Johnny pointed out. Why do they have all the same names? I thought to myself, it just gets confusing

“Yeah, she came over here with me, we’ve been best friends since we were kids and she’s also the best defender we got”

“It’s nice you both came over together” Susie said

“Yeah, I don’t know what I’d have done without her. I’d probably have a few extra years on me but it was worth it” I laughed as did they. We talked for another 20 minutes as they told me about themselves and I honestly loved his family, they were so lovely, caring and had this whole ‘togetherness’ thing down to a T. Susie pulled me aside after we the others went to go talk to other people

“Hun” she said “I’m going to be honest and I know you’ll appreciate it. Me and Brian’s dad when we heard about what happened weren’t very happy and we had images of you being some sort of gold-digger out after his money and it saddened us even more that we weren’t there for one of the biggest days of his life but after meeting you, I guess you can say you’ve put our minds at ease and we really are happy your going to work on this” and then she pulled me into the warmest hug, it reminded me of my mums and how much I missed her, my eyes started to well up

“Oh my God I didn’t mean to upset you” she panicked

“You didn’t” I let out a light laugh “You just remind me of home and my mum”

“Aww sweetheart” she pulled me into another hug “Anytime you need a hug or a chat, I’m here”

“I’ll definitely take you up on that. I’m not a gold digger, I love making my own money and working hard to get it. I guess the only reason we decided to stay married is because we had nothing to lose and maybe we could build our own fairytale, ya know, the unconventional way” We both laughed

“I hope it works for you both, I really do but it’s going to be hard. There are going to be times when you cant stand each other but love… real love will weather that and you’ll be ok in the end”

“Thanks” I smiled

“Anytime sweetheart” she smiled warmly before heading off to her husband as I headed off toward mine. I walked up to the group which consisted of the girls, the band and some friends

“You okay?” Brian eyed me, wrapped his arm securely around my waist

“Suzy reminds me of my mum”

“Really?”

“Uh huh. I love your family” I told him, whispering the last part in his ear

“They love you too” he said, returning the sentiment before kissing me softly on the lips

“So this is the Gates’ family” Jen laughed “Bestie, your going to fucking fit in here perfectly fine” she finished as the rest of us laughed. We sat there in a big circle, talking and laughing about our plans for the rest of our summer

“When are we going home?” Beci asked

“When are you taking your AIDS test?” She what I meant and rolled her eyes but we all laughed anyway

“I’ll take my AIDS test tomorrow to make sure it’s SUPER!” she said still laughing, when we were 17, we made up this joke that we had SUPER AIDS but I guess you’d have to be there to understand it

“Good and I don’t know. How much money you got bitch?” she put her finger to her chin as if she was thinking about my question

“$200” she answered as my jaw dropped

“Oh snap! We have enough for flights but I guess we’re hitchhiking home again” I grinned

“Wait, you two hitchhiked home?” Shads asked

“Yeah, ‘cause someone forgot to rent a car” Beci replied mock glaring at me

“I told you not to trust me with shit like that” I laughed “So it’s your own fault”

“It was fun though” her giddy reply told me she remembered it clearly. It was a fun 2 days to say the least

“That’s dangerous, we can’t let you hitchhike” Suzy added

“Don’t worry, I’ll just get a short term job as a Prostitute and Beci can be my Pimpette” we all laughed again before I continued “You think I’m joking?”

“Definitely not dirtbag” Dani stuck out her tongue

“HA! They think you’re a whore!” Beci shouted

“Think?” Jen laughed

“I second that, bitch tits” Charl high 5’d Jen

“I have the bestest friends ever” I said sarcastically

“You told me you stopped your whorish ways” Bri laughed, looking at me

“Yeah, I did way before you came along but I heard you were way worse so I thought it would be best if I got you tested before I went near you” I stuck my tongue out as everyone laughed

“She got you on that one Bro” Jimmy pointed at Brian

“Seriously though, my mum keeps asking when I’m going home”

“We need to make more money first Bec” I told her

“Why don’t Suzy and I pay for it as a belated wedding present” Brian Sr offered

“No, we aren’t taking your money” Beci and I replied at the same time before bursting out in giggles

“I told you that if you two went back to England, we were coming with you” Brian said, pointing to the guys as they nodded in agreement

“No because then you have to meet my family” I told him

“Why can’t I meet your family?”

“Because One, we have to go to two different places and Two, my family will rip you apart” I said as if it was nothing

“What?” Jimmy laughed

“I have two older brothers who scare off any guy that comes within 2 feet of me and when they and my Daddy find out that their little girl got married without telling them first or meeting you then, lets just say you may get hurt. Don’t even get me started on my mum” I slightly chuckled

“They can’t be that bad” Brent laughed

“Okay, I could be exaggerating a little bit but then again I’ve never gotten blind drunk in Vegas and gotten married before”

“She’s got a point” Johnny laughed

“Yeah, good luck with that dude” Matt slapped Brian’s back

“Two weeks” Brian said looking at me “That’ll give you enough time to tell them and then we’re going, understood?” he didn’t ask, he told me, it kind of turned me on when he was authoritative

“Deal” I said, sticking my hand out

“I can do one better” he smirked, pulling me in for a mind blowing kiss as the others either eww’d, aww’d or wolf whistled. This man literally left me speechless