Love Will Save You

-Nash-

*Skipping to Thanksgiving*

Amy and I were sitting on the couch talking while everyone else was in the Follese's kitchen when Danielle skipped into the room. "I'm not interrupting anything important or life-changing, am I?" she asked. "Do you consider talking about shoes important or life-changing?" Amy giggled. "Unless these shoes are undercover superheroes, no." "Then you're not," she replied, smiling. "Good," Danielle said, "Because I need to borrow your boyfriend for a couple minutes." "Are you going to make out with him?" Amy asked sarcastically. "Yes," Danielle replied as seriously as she could. She stared at her for a few seconds before saying, "Have fun." "Seriously?" I laughed as Danielle grabbed my hand and pulled me off of the couch. "You'll love it, don't worry," I heard Amy laugh before Danielle took me outside. "Yeah, because she would know," Danielle giggled as we sat on the porch steps.

"So, what's up?" I asked her. She took a deep breath and let it out, "Okay, I know this is going to sound really weird because I feel like I should be asking Keith since he'll be my father-in-law, but I wanted to ask you." "What do you mean?" I asked when she paused. "This is kind of sudden, so you don't have to answer right away." "Danielle," I chuckled. "Right, sorry. I was wondering how you would feel if I asked you to walk me down the aisle when Jamie and I get married.." "Why me?" I asked, looking over at her. She shrugged, "You were the first person I thought of when Adrienne asked me about it. You're my best friend, you've helped me through a lot of shit, and you're like the older brother I've never had. It's okay if you don't want to. I can just ask-" I cut her off, "I would love to." "Really?" she asked, looking at me, seemingly surprised. "Of course! How could I say no after being the first person you thought of?" I laughed lightly. She reached over and wrapped her arms around me, quietly saying, "Thanks, Nashy." I smiled, "You're welcome, Danielle."

We sat there hugging for a few more seconds when we heard a man ask, "Excuse me. Does an Amy Duerinckx live here?" Danielle and I looked up and noticed three people standing in front of us. "Um, well, she doesn't live here, but she is here," Danielle answered, raising her eyebrows. "This may seem very confusing," a woman laughed, "We're her family." "Yeah," I said slowly, standing and helping Danielle up as well, "She's inside. Come on in."

Danielle and I led everyone inside the house and we walked into the kitchen where everyone else was talking and laughing. "Uh, Amy," Danielle said when we saw her. She looked behind us in shock, "Mom, Dad, Andrew? What are you doing here? HOW are you here?" "We wanted to see you for Thanksgiving! We have seen you in six months! We missed you," her mother said. "Why didn't you call or something?" Amy asked, still a bit shocked, but walked over and hugged them. "We wanted to surprise you and it looks like we did a pretty good job," her father laughed. She smiled, "I'd say so!"

Amy introduced us to her family, "Well, this is everyone! Everyone, this is my dad Mark, my mom Angela, and my brother Andrew. Guys, this is Keith, Adrienne, Anna, Ryan, Melanie, Ian, Maggie, Jamie, Danielle, and my boyfriend Nash." She walked back over to me and wrapped her arms around my waist, smiling as I laid my arm across her shoulder. "Boyfriend?" he father asked, almost smirking, "How long has that been going on?" "About six months," she said happily, "Right before I moved." "Oh! I remember," Angela exclaimed, "These were the people you stayed with when they were in Australia! They're in that band you always talk about!" The guys and I all smirked at Amy, who was now blushing lightly. "Thank you for that," she said sarcastically. "You're welcome," her mom smiled back.

"It's very nice to meet you all," Adrienne smiled, "You can sit down if you'd like. We were just about to eat." "Oh, that's alright. We don't want to intrude. We just stopped by to say hello to Amy," Mark said. "It's really no trouble," Keith smiled, "We have plenty of food and room for three more!" Angela looked at Mark and shrugged, "We didn't really have anything planned and we're only staying for today." "Well, I suppose that would be okay. As long as you're sure it's alright with you," Mark said, looking at Keith and Adrienne. "Of course it is," Adrienne smiled before turning to Ryan and Jamie, "Boys, go get some extra chairs from the garage." They nodded and walked out of the room, returning a couple minutes later with some chairs. They put them at the table and we all sat down, beginning to eat after the prayer. As we all talked and laughed with each other while hearing stories about Amy from her childhood - which caused her to hide her face against my arm for most of the time - I noticed her brother giving me a strange look throughout most of the afternoon.

We finished eating and while everyone was clearing the table, Andrew pulled me into the living room. I was about to ask what was going on, but he beat me to it, saying, "I know about your reputation and I'm not happy with you dating my sister." "How do you know about that?" I asked, trying not to sound too harsh about it. He simply shrugged, "I got curious about the band she always talked about and Googled you guys." "Well, I can assure you that that is no longer who I am." He laughed loudly, "Oh, I'm sure it's not, but she left Lawrence for you and I'm not about to let you hurt her." "Andrew," Amy exclaimed walking into the room, "What is going on in here?"

I shook my head at him and walked back into the kitchen where everyone else was while Amy talked to her brother. "What happened in there?" Ryan asked when he saw me. I smiled, "Nothing major. Andrew just gave me the whole protective older brother speech."

-Amy-

"What's going on?" I asked again when Nash walked out of the room, apparently mad at something. "I know about his reputation, Amy, and I don't like that you're with him," Andrew said. "Well, that's too bad," I said, slightly shocked, "Because I am and you don't have a say in who I date." "Yes, I do, Amy. I'm your brother!" I laughed sarcastically before shouting, "That has nothing to do with this, Andrew! You're just pissed off because I broke up with your best friend and now, you're apparently getting even with me!"

Suddenly, my mom and dad came into the room and looked at us. "What's with all the yelling?" my dad asked. I was about to say something when Andrew cut me off, "Nash gets drunk all the time and sex with random girls behind Amy's back, but she won't leave him." My parents looked at him in shock before turning to me. "Amy, is that true?" my mom asked. "No," I exclaimed, "It's true that he used to do it, but he hasn't done anything like that since we started dating, I swear!" "I saw pictures of him with another girl a few weeks ago! I'm not making this up," he said, pulling out his phone.

He showed the photo to us, but before I had the chance to explain, my mom grabbed my wrist and started taking me out the door to their car, slamming the door behind us. "What are you doing?" I asked, trying to break free. "We're taking you home," she said plainly, lightly pushing me into the backseat and shutting the door. "What do you mean you're taking me home?" I yelled, going to open the door, only to realize it was locked and I couldn't get out. "You're coming back to Australia," my dad said, pulling out of the driveway once my mom was in the car and sped off.