You and I.

It had been three weeks since I’d last seen Dan, which also meant it had been three weeks since our first proper date. Today, I was throwing him into the deep end. We were going to have dinner with my step-mum, my dad and my brother. I was pretty sure it was going to turn into one of the biggest disasters ever as well, because Dan wasn’t really the kind of guy my step-mum or dad would approve of, his bleached hair, his tattoos and not to mention his job.

“You look worried.” Dan mused as he followed the direction his sat-nav was giving him, “Want to talk about it?” He asked.

“I’m fine, I’m just worried about today.”

“Surely it should be me worrying about today, not you.” He laughed, “What’s the worst that could happen?” He asked.

“Oh trust me, my step-mum and dad can be pretty ruthless if they don’t like you.”

“Oh Rosie, seriously, if all they’re going to do is call me out, I can do ten times as worse, don’t worry about me!” He took hold of my hand as he drove, “As long as we like each other, nothing they can say about me to you or to my face is ever going to change how I feel about you.”

I smiled and in no time, we were pulling up outside my dad’s house. It looked the same as always from the outside, the flower beds had been meticulously pruned so they looked perfect and all of the coloured flowers were in a colour gradient. I knocked twice on the door and took hold of Dan’s hand, hoping it would be my brother to open the door instead of Jane and it was like the God’s answered, because it was Jamie who opened the door.

“Sis!” He exclaimed, enveloping into a hug, “I’ve missed you!”

“I missed you too Jamie!” I smiled, “Oh! This is Dan.”

“Alright mate?” Jamie smiled, well at least one of them like him, “Woah, hang on, you’re Dan Flint!” He exclaimed, “Dude, I love You Me At Six!”

Dan laughed, “Thanks!”

“Where are dad and Jane?” I asked, pulling Dan in.

“Dad’s in front of the television, Jane’s cooking, we’ve all been banned from the kitchen, you know how it is.”

I took Dan’s hand and dragged him to the front room where my dad was sat in his arm chair, the football on in the background whilst he was reading the paper.

“Daddy!” I exclaimed, it had been ages since I’d seen him.

He looked up and got up from his chair, pulling me in for a hug.

“Dad, this is Dan.” I smiled, pulling Dan in. I saw my dad look him up and down, taking in his appearance and I knew right then that my dad didn’t like him, although I knew he’d be civil.

“What’s going on in her- oh, Rosie, how lovely.” Jane smiled, hugging me stiffly, “And who’s this?” She asked, turning to Dan.

“This is Dan.” I smiled, “My, uh, my…” I trailed off, not knowing what he was to me. He hadn’t asked me to be his girlfriend, but I assumed that we had something more than friends.

“Her boyfriend.” He said, saving my ass from a massive lecture.

“Oh, lovely.” She sighed, “Well, dinners ready.” She said.

We all went through to the kitchen and sat down, my dad at the head of the table, Jane and Jamie on one side and me and Dan on the other. Jane had cooked a feast, the table was full of different cuts of meat and plates full of home-made bread, potatoes, salad and vegetables. We all filled our plates with food and settled down into talk.

“So, what do you do for a living, Dan?” My dad asked.

“I’m in a band.” He said.

“Any good?” Dad asked.

“Well, we’re just finishing up promotion press for our third album, so if three albums, one at number 4 for two weeks, is good, then yeah.”

“You know Jamie’s favourite band?” I interjected, “Dan’s the drummer.”

“Oh, I see.” Dad said, “Does that mean Jamie can get free tickets to shows now?”

“If he wants.” Dan smiled at Jamie, who was quick to thank Dan.

“Are you still a make-up artist, Rosie?” Jane asked, I nodded over my glass of wine, “I’ve never understood why.”

“She’s got some crazy talent, that’s why.” Jamie told her, “You should have seen her portfolio she took with her to her first interview.”

“What kind do you work in?” She asked me.

“Anything that needs to be done, I did the make-up for Dan’s new music video a few weeks ago.”

Dinner after that was pretty awkward; I knew that there were so many things Jane wanted to say to Dan, but Jamie had probably given them both a talking to before we’d arrived. I offered to help clear up once we’d finished, while Dan offered to give Jamie a bit of help with his drumming.

“I don’t like him.” Were Jane’s first words to me while I scraped the left overs into the bin.

“Well, I do.” I smiled, passing her the dishes to put in the sink.

“He’s in a band, Rosie, for goodness sake!” She exclaimed, “He’ll be just like the rest of them, waiting for you to give him one thing, then he’ll leave and you’ll come running to us for help!”

“Are you serious?” I asked, “Dan’s totally different than the other people I know in the business, his whole band is! None of them have ever cheated or used someone before.”

“Just give it time.” She snorted.

I threw the towel onto the side before telling her ‘she could finish this herself’. I found Dan in the garage with Jamie and told him it was time for us to go. The two said goodbye and before long Dan was dropping me off.

“I’ll ring you tonight about tomorrow.” He smiled, “my mum and sister are so excited to meet you!” He smiled.

“I’m excited to meet them too.” I said, kissing him cheek.

I just hoped they were nicer than mine had been.