Fight or Flight

"Mom, we're here!" Veronica shouted out, bursting into her parents' home with Matt in tow. They never used the actual front door; everyone always came from the driveway to the side door. The side door led straight into the kitchen where her mother was bent over the oven, poking a fork into the turkey.

"God, don't give me a heart attack." Christine stood up abruptly, shutting the oven door. "You should have called me when you were on your way. Dinner's not quite ready yet. Your father tried to deep fry the turkey and it was just... a mess. It's a good thing your brother was able to pick up another one from the supermarket."

"That's Dad," Veronica sighed. Her father was always up to something and trying new things. A deep fried turkey didn't sound too good to her. "Well, this is Matt."

"Yes, yes," Christine smiled, wiping her hands on a dish cloth. She looked exactly like Veronica, except with different colored eyes and dark, reddish brown hair. She stood with a hand on her hip, her pale green eyes looking him and down. "I've been waiting to meet the man who's with my daughter."

"And I've been waiting to meet the beautiful woman she talks so much about," Matt gave a charming grin as he shook her hand.

Veronica wanted to laugh out loud. She'd given Matt the lowdown on her parents and how to charm her mother. Her mother was a sucker for compliments. Her father, on the other hand, was different.

"Christine," Her mother introduced herself, placing a hand over her heart.

Veronica gave Matt a sly wink at his performance. He grinned even wider.

"Your brother and father are in the living room," Christine said, motioning for them to follow her.

The house looked the exact same from the last time she'd been there a few weeks ago. It looked the exact same from when she first moved out at twenty-one. She had lived in that house for fourteen years after they moved from Virginia when she was seven years old. The only thing that ever changed was the number of magnets on the refrigerator and the pictures that hung on the walls and sat on shelves. Her father, her brother, and Lisa all stopped conversing and looked up when the three of them entered the living room.

"Daddy, this is Matt," She introduced him before she greeted them herself.

"So this is the band guy you're dating..." Her father stood up from the leather recliner. He was a tall man, around six foot. He brushed down his 49ers football jersey, observing Matt for a second. It was silent for a moment before he broke into a smile and looked at his daughter. "You're officially a groupie now, huh?"

"Dad!" Veronica yelled. She turned to Matt. "He's just kidding."

"Matt, Robert Scott," Her father introduced himself, giving Matt a firm handshake.

"It's nice to meet you, Sir," Matt greeted.

"We'll have to have a man-to-man talk later," Her father hinted to Matt.

"No, there won't be a talk," Veronica said, interrupting whatever plans her father had. "Just be nice, please."

"I'm always nice," Robert laughed and kissed her cheek.

"Matt, this is my brother, Gabe," Veronica gestured to the dark-haired man with a bit of stubble on his face, "and his girlfriend, Lisa."

Gabriel stood from the sofa, narrowing his eyes at Matt and sizing him up a bit. He gave off the protective older brother vibe, despite him being younger than his sister. He held out his hand. "Gabe."

"Matt." He shook her brother's hand.

Lisa stayed on the couch, waving at Matt but not saying a word. She flipped her natural blonde hair over her shoulder and her crystal blue eyes looked after her boyfriend. Veronica knew that she could be shy around new people, which was normally taken for rudeness.

"Sis," Gabriel pulled his older sister into a hug. His facial hair and height always made him look older than her. She never failed to remind him that she was four years older. They looked exactly alike when they stood side by side.

"Hey, Lisa," Veronica waved at Lisa after she pulled away from her brother.

"There’s about an hour left on the turkey, but if you guys are hungry you can get started on the other dishes," Christine suggested.

"We're alright," Veronica said, looking to Matt for confirmation before her mother returned back to the kitchen. She plopped down on the sectional sofa with Matt next to her. She unzipped and kicked off her brown riding boots to get comfortable in the warm living room.

"How about a beer?" Robert asked Matt. He walked into the kitchen before Matt could respond, assuming that as a man, he drank.

Veronica felt like the meet and greet had been a success so far. Now, she just had to get through dinner and the rest of the night until they said their goodbyes and went back home.

"Thank you, Sir," Matt said when Robert came back with beers in both hands.

He handed one to Matt, Veronica, took one for himself, and left the extras on the coffee table. Gabriel and Lisa were both still on their first bottles.

"I'm not in the Corps anymore. Call me Robert or Rob. Hell, call me Bob if you want," Her father chuckled, uncapping his beer. "The beer's unlimited, too."

Veronica glanced at Matt. She felt like her father was doing great so far. Her father grabbed the remote from the coffee table, turning the television volume down so they could hear each other better.

"While we wait, I guess we’ll talk," Robert started. "I've been wondering when Veronica was going to bring you around. You’re in a band, huh?"

"Yep," Matt nodded his head. "I'm the lead singer."

"So you like to sing?" The older man asked rhetorically, mumbling something to himself. "What's your band's name?"

"Avenged Sevenfold," Matt answered, if you're into heavy metal and that type of stuff."

"He likes metal," Veronica told Matt. "That's where Gabe and I get it from."

"Son, write that down or remember the name," Robert told Gabriel. "I'll have to Google you. I heard you can find anything and everything on the internet."

"Again, he's kidding," Veronica told Matt, placing her hand on his arm. She didn't want him to think her father was a stalker and he had to undergo a background check. "Dad, stop that."

"Ah, I'm kidding," Robert chuckled at Matt's nervous expression. "I never thought you'd be with a musician, though. I thought you would marry a soldier. But then again, I thought a lot of things..."

Veronica snickered at her father's joking scowl at her brother. It was a running joke that Gabriel had ruined the family tradition.

"I thought she was going to marry Nathaniel!" Christine poked her head into the living room.

"He's a good one," Robert mused. Her parents and brother had come to know Nate as family. "But if you make my daughter happy, then I'm happy... unless you hurt her, which I know would never happen."

Veronica wasn't sure if her father was making an underhanded threat or implying that she could hold her own.

"That's definitely not my intention, Sir," Matt asserted.

"Good, 'cause I'd hate to have to kill you," Robert said with a serious face. "How long have you guys been together? One month? Two?"

"One, Dad," She reminded him. She'd been through this before.

"How'd you meet? You've never told us the story," Gabriel chimed in.

"Uh," Veronica looked at Matt wondering if he wanted to tell the story. He motioned for her to explain since it was her family. "Well, his band came over to Iraq to play for us and I was assigned the job of protecting them. We kind of... reconnected over the summer."

"Iraq? So you're an international band? Well-known," Robert commented in surprise. "You didn't tell us you were dating someone famous."

"I wouldn't consider us famous," Matt tried to remain modest about the band. "We just travel and do what we love."

Veronica looked over at Gabriel, who was focused on the screen on his iPhone. She wondered if he was googling the band and trying to find out how famous they were exactly. Maybe he was trying to find dirt on Matt. She hoped he wouldn't open his mouth and say anything stupid.

"That's the best thing to do," Robert nodded in agreement. "How long are you normally away from home?"

"Um, every couple of months, I would say," Matt answered with a shrug. "It depends. With our new album, we'll be on the road and touring a lot next year."

Robert gave his daughter a knowing look that Matt didn't catch. "So you're used to being away and touring, then."

"Yes, I am," Matt nodded. He looked beside him to Veronica. "I think that one day, if she lets me, I'd like to take her on tour with us."

Veronica's eyes widened at his idea. They'd never talked about her going on tour with him before, so it was new to her. She was speechless.

"I hope you guys get to that point," Robert said sincerely. "Obviously you know my girl's in the military. You seem to have knowledge on what it's like to be away from home and touring. Have you guys talked about her deployments yet?"

"No, Dad, we haven't," Veronica said through slightly gritted teeth. She wanted to put her hand to her neck and give him the 'cut it out' signal.

"Deployments generally happen about every two years," He continued. "I'm just wondering if you're ready for that."

"Um, I don't think I'm ready for it if it happened tomorrow," Matt said honestly. "But if need be, I think I could handle it because I know what it's like."

"Good answer." Robert swigged from his beer bottle. He looked at his son and daughter, pointing a thumb at Matt. "I like him."

"Do you love her?" Gabriel was straight-forward, his eyes burning into Matt's.

Veronica turned her head, giving him the 'what-are-you-doing' face.

"I think so," Matt said. Veronica turned to him at the word think. "I think I'm so in love with her that I don't know what I'd be doing if I hadn't met her. She's just about everything I've always wanted. She’s beautiful and she's got an amazing personality. She's just about everything I've always wanted. I love you, Veronica."

He looked directly into her eyes as he spoke. Her blush was uncontrollable and the room seemed to have gotten twice as hot. He said he loved her. The butterflies overtook her stomach. She wanted to kiss him right then and there, in front of her father and everything. She had to contain herself from jumping on him.

Her father sat up in his recliner at Matt's little speech. "Well, any guy that gets my daughter to blush like that has my seal of approval."

Veronica blushed even more, grinning from ear to ear.

“Dinner’s ready,” Christine announced, coming into the living room, wielding a spatula.

Everyone stood up, making their way to the dining room. Matt and Veronica were last to get up, taking their time. Veronica snuck a happy kiss to Matt behind her parents’ backs, smiling up at him. “They love you, Matt.”