Give Into Me.

Being able to drive again was absolutely wonderful, I felt liberated and almost excited to go to work even. That was until I actually got to the office and had to deal with more than 3 people for the first time in weeks. Working at home had reminded me how much I loved the "off season", which by the looks of the Cowboy's record appeared to be coming sooner rather than later anyway!

Other than driving myself to the office I spent my time doing physical therapy with a woman who had absolutely no mercy on my foot. I knew it was her job to help but damn did it hurt! On the days that I had physical therapy I still worked from home which was great especially with the holiday's approaching! I have so much to get done and barely anytime to do it before the Reichman family takes off for the Southernmost part of the state.

My fingers tapped rapidly on the keys of my MacBook one afternoon post therapy, my hair tied in knot on top of my head and gym clothes on my body when the whole computer started ringing on my lap. An incoming FaceTime call, (TYLER SEGUIN WOULD LIKE TO FACETIME). Of course he would, if I wasn’t at his house he was constantly checking on me. Even more so now that I was free to roam alone, apparently if you injure yourself one time you need to be babysat 24/7. I pushed myself up on the couch, straightened the t-shirt on my chest and accepted the call Tyler's face quickly taking the place of the press release I had been working on.

"Hey, good you're not at the office!" Tyler says through the screen, I can tell from the background behind his head that he's sitting at the bar in his kitchen.

"No, not today I had PT this morning."

"So, how's the foot today?"

"Same old, hurts like a bitch. Marlene is trying to rip it off I swear." Weaning myself off the pain meds was not going as well as I had planned especially on the days when I had to deal with Dr. Marlene Scott.

"Yikes. So, uhh I was thinking you could come over tomorrow." I stared at him as he pushed his hands through his hair, something he did when he was nervous.

"For what? Did you mess up the tree, I swear if you messed up my masterpiece I'll kill you." I made Tyler promise not to mess with it and he agreed as long as he could tell his mom that he had decorated it himself when she arrived.

"No, no, I haven't touched the tree. But, my mom and sisters are here now and they want to meet you."

"Meet me? They know about me, what did you tell them?" Is that the first thing he tells people? Hey I have this girl who's more than a friend kind of thing? Oh and she's a washed up Cowboy's cheerleader because he never can seem to leave that out.

"My sisters have social media, Ads. They're smart and well my tree never looks that good, hell you wind up in a lot of stories. Okay? Just come over." He's nervous, it's cute. But meeting his family? His sisters?! Sisters are scary.

"Tomorrow?" I question my lips twisted in contemplation.

"Tomorrow, mom is making dinner, I want to give you your gift before you leave for your uncles too." Ughh, presents I told him not to buy and explaining that I'm afraid to date someone's only son? This should be fun.

"First of all I told you not to get me anything; second, what time?" Tyler grins and shakes his head, always getting what he wants.

"Come over at 6, and you know I don’t listen to you."

"Yeah, I know you don't." As I'm talking to him I see another figure appear in the back a tall girl with dark hair, "Hey, Ty are you-" she starts speaking and then stops noticing the screen in front of him.

"Crap," Tyler turns toward the girl, "Uhh, Candace this is Adleigh, Adi this is my sister Candace."

"Oh my god you are real!" She leans over Tyler's shoulder and I wave at her awkwardly now fully embarrassed of my appearance.

"Yep, totally real. Umm, it's nice kind of meeting you? I'll see all ya'll tomorrow, okay?" I speak quickly trying to escape the awkward situation.

"Yeah, I'll talk to you later Ads." I nod and slam the computer shut before anyone can say another word, Christmas week just got a hell of a lot more interesting.

With Hannah's advice and a lot of time spent in my closet we somehow compose an outfit that works for Christmas and "Meeting the parents", easier said than done when one of your feet is stuck in a clunky walking boot. The dress she chose is cream with black horizontal stripes, paired with knee high cream colored socks and one black (flat) bootie. It's cute, comfy and doesn’t look like I'm trying all that hard. Hannah curls my hair into loose waves before sending me out the door to meet my fate, I have Tyler's present in the backseat and I silently pray that he likes it. I mean what do you buy the man who could practically buy the moon?

I stretch my drive out to Tyler's from 20 minutes to a half an hour arriving a few minutes after 6, when my Jeep is in park in the driveway I sit and take a deep breath before unclipping my seatbelt. I've never met any other guys parents except Noah's and they had watched me grow up so it barely counted, this was a whole new ballgame for me. Feeling as calm as possible I slowly slide out of the Jeep and retrieve the red box from the backseat. As I hobble my way up to the front porch I exhale a deep cleansing breath, preparing myself to knock on the front door, something I've never done before. But letting myself in like usual seems rude in this particular situation. I can hear footsteps on the hardwood through the front door and I hope they belong to Tyler.

They do not.

When the front door swings open a tiny blonde girl stands behind it the look on her face is full of surprise, "Uh, hi? You must be Cassidy."

"Uh huh. Ashley right?"

"Close, Adleigh with a D." She blushes and looks down at her feet.

"Oh, right I'm sorry. Come in, Ty's on the phone with his agent." What a wonderful time to take a phone call Tyler! I step into the house leaving my purse on the hook by the door like I normally do before following the teenager. The house smells like food which is way different than it's normal scent considering Tyler's lack in cooking skills. As we move into the living room I see Cash and Marshall pacing by the doors that lead outside which must be where Tyler is, I stare out the large glass windows but I don't see him. Hearing voices in the distance I look away and find two others in the kitchen, and older blonde woman and the dark haired girl from yesterday's impromptu FaceTime.

"Ahh, you must be Adleigh!" The woman speaks with a spoon in her hand I nod and walk in her direction after placing my gift by the tree, which thankfully looks the same as when I'd left it.

"Yes ma'am."

"Oh, ma'am? You must really be from Texas, eh?" I forget that not everyone speaks the same way as we do down south.

"Yes, I was born and raised in Dallas I went to college in Austin."

"Well, it's nice to meet you sweetheart but you can just call me Jackie."

"It's nice to meet you too, Jackie. Tyler's told me a lot about ya'll." I smile at her and look to her eldest daughter who is leaning against the countertop. "You're Candace right? We kind of met yesterday."

She looks up at me with smile that mirrors Tyler's and flicks a dark curl off her shoulder, "Yeah, I am. It's nice to finally meet you! Wow, you're really tiny. Like, I mean you're shorter than I expected."

"Candace!" her mother scolds but I just laugh it off, it's not the first time I've heard that.

"It's fine, I'm only 5'5 and I can't really wear heels right now with this, uh thing.." I gesture down to my foot and the two women look down noticing the hideous walking boot.

"Oh dear, what happened?" Jackie asks her voice full of motherly concern.

"Cheerleading accident, I guess I should just stay retired." I joke and they all look at me confused, before I can start to explain the sliding glass door opens and Tyler steps in wearing dark jeans and a maroon v-neck.

"Hey, I didn't know you were here hobbles." Tyler says throwing an arm around my shoulders with a laugh.

"Funny, Ty. You said be here at 6, I was just listening to you for once."

"Wow, I'm so honored. I see you've met my mom and sisters." He nods with his head towards the three Seguin girls on the other side of the counter.

"I have, I-" I get cut off by Tyler's mom.

"She was just explaining how she hurt her leg, poor thing."

"Oh this is a good one, you should have seen her on the pain meds." Tyler winks at me and I roll my eyes.

"I was messing around one day at practice, I coach at Cheer Athletics and I fractured my tibia. No big deal," I shrug.

"Cheer Athletics? Weren't you a DCC too?" Candace asks and her mom looks to her then back to Tyler and I.

"Yeah, for a few years. I just work for the Cowboys organization now, in a nice safe office."

"You should live in a bubble." Tyler mumbles and I elbow him, "You're not getting your present now."

"Aww, you guys are so cute." Cassidy coos and I can feel my face heat up.

Before I can defend our non-existent relationship Tyler's got it covered, "I know I'm cute, but we're not together."

"Uh huh, whatever you say." Candace mocks grabbing a bowl of food and heading for the dining room, her little sister follows suit with their mother right behind.

"I'm just going to go out on a limb here and say they don’t enjoy it when you bring home girls?" I ask Tyler tugging at one of my socks as it slides down my leg.

"It just doesn’t happen very often, they're not sure how to act. Come on, let's go eat."

Dinner, which thankfully included wine goes smoothly thanks to Jackie who is a lot more accepting of me than her daughters. She asks questions about my degree, my work, a little about cheer but mostly about my family. To her surprise Tyler adds to the discussion of my family and she's shocked to find out that Tyler had been the one with me for most of my time in the hospital, a "proud mom moment" as she called it having raised her son to take care of his 'friends'. Cassidy is too concerned about anything in my life other than how Tyler and I met while Candace asks questions clearly based off of the stalking she had done on my Instagram and Twitter. I wonder where she got that from? By the time we get into the living room to open gifts the Seguin women know almost my entire life story.

Grabbing Tyler's box from under the tree I toss it into his lap as he leans against the couch, "If you hate it it's Hannah's fault."

He looks down at the red box laced with a black bow, shaking it he looks back over at me, "Anthrax? Live animal, hate mail?"

"Nah, thought I'd be nice today." Tyler tugs the string and pulls the lid off the box. Inside is a handmade watch holder I had found instructions for on Pinterest, a copy of Benchwarmer's the movie we'd watched more than once together, and a gift certificate for a detail at Reichman Motors because I had a ton of them and well who doesn't love getting their car cleaned for free? He picks up the watch holder which is literally a decorated picture frame with a knob in the middle and a pocket for cuff links, "What is this?"

"It's a watch holder, with a pocket for your cuff links so you stop throwing them all over your dresser." Me knowing his bedroom habits is probably not helping our 'not together' case.

"Did you make it?" He smiles now knowing what it is.

"Yeah, I've been pretty bored laying around for the past few weeks, kind of got addicted to Pinterest."

"Oh wow, Adleigh that's so nice handmade things are the best gifts." Jackie adds and I have to agree in this case, what do you buy for the guy with more money than he knows what to do with?

"Thanks Ads, I love it. And I promise I'll use it." Tyler slides a black box over to me as he talks, "Now open yours, by the way your Twitter is a really good place to go for gift ideas."

What had I favorited that he could have gotten me? A yellow lab in a pink Yeti cooler? No. A big brick house? Nope. Channing Tatum wearing nothing but a bow? Absolutely not. With a skeptical mindset I untie the gold bow and stare at the 3 letters embossed on top of the black box, YSL.

"Tyler, seriously?" I nod towards the box and he just smirks.

"What? You haven't even opened it yet!" I shake my head and take the top off, a Cowboy's blue leather Yves Saint Laurent purse stares back at me and it's absolutely breathtaking. "You're insane if you think I'm keeping this."

"What you don't like it?"

"No, I mean yes it's gorgeous it's just way too much. I'm kind of afraid to touch it!" On his knees Tyler crawls over and pulls the bag free of it's box setting it in my lap.

"There, it's out now learn to love it. It's just a purse, Adi." I can feel all the eyes in the room on the two of us having a meeting of the minds over a handbag.

"It's a bag that cost more than three months of my rent, Ty. I can't take it,"

"I'll take if she won't." Candace chides from the couch and Tyler glares at her.

"I bought it for you, Adleigh. You obviously wanted it or thought it was pretty at least so here it is. Just say thank you and take it."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a pain in the ass?" I mumble and Tyler just pushes the blue item towards me once more.

"Almost as many times as you've been told you have an attitude problem. Now, what do we say?"

"Thank you, it's beautiful." I accept the bag from his hands as he sits down beside me.

"You're welcome, I can't believe you won't be here for Christmas." Tyler pouts as his sister's argue over which Christmas movie we should watch and his mom heads outside to talk the phone to her boyfriend back in Canada.

"Sorry, family tradition. Don't worry though I'll enjoy the beach for you," I wink at him and smile thinking that in a few days I'll have my toes in the sand in Corpus Cristi, the beach town near San Antonio where my uncle has been stationed since I was a preteen. Each year we switch off which family we visit for Christmas, it's either Mom's at the beach or flying to wherever my dad's sister is working at the moment. Could be warm like California or snowy like Vail, Colorado we never know with her, she's a gypsy with a degree from Harvard and a bank account I'd kill for, I guess being the CEO of some insurance company paid off for her.

"How long will you be gone again?" We've been over this and it never changes.

"Ty, you know I won't be back in time for the New Years game or party."

"Come on, what do I have to do to change your mind?" He waggles his eyebrows and I pull myself off the floor trying to be as ladylike as possible in my dress.

"Not happening, Seguin." I wobble my way down the hallway to the guest bathroom leaving Tyler with his sisters. I don't know why he's making this NYE thing such a big deal but he's acting like it's life or death that I be there. When I return to the living room I hear girls voices stopping me in my tracks, "What do you mean you're not together? Ty seriously lock her down we like this one!" It sounds like Candace to me but it could be the other, I've only known them two hours tops so my voice matching could still be off.

"Yeah, Ty I really like her! She's different, you need that in your life." The other voice chimes in and this one is higher pitched, it's Cassidy for sure.

"I like her too, Cass but it's complicated."

"Complicated my ass, Tyler."

"Hey watch your language!" Tyler scolds his youngest sister, "Let it go she'll be back any minute."

"Actually, I'm right here." My voice startles the two girls and their brother, Tyler looking like a deer in headlights when he turns towards the sound of my voice.

"Ads, how uhh, how much of that did you hear?" Tyler asks me with worry in his voice as I walk closer to the trio.

"Enough, but it was all true. Listen girls, I know it's fun to blame things on your brother, trust me I blame mine all the time. But, this" I stop pointing between Tyler and I for emphasis, "This is all my fault, I'm the one that has commitment issues- issues in general maybe. But I like your brother, I really do but it's well, like he said it's complicated."

"Jeez, you two sound like one of mom's soap operas." Candace comments and I want to agree with her, we are a hot mess.

"You don't have issues, Adi." Tyler adds and I just look at him, in what universe don't I have issues?

"I've got more issues than Vogue, Ty. You know that, but for some reason you're still hanging around." I stand next to Tyler who is standing in front of the couch where his sisters are seated.

"I'm not going anywhere, Adleigh Ruth." An arm swings around me bringing my body into his side.

"I'm going to puke with all this sappiness, what have you done with my brother?" Cassidy questions and I crack up breaking the seriousness of our impromptu discussion of our feelings.

"Trust me he's still in there, it's like a puppy you've got to train him how you want him." I tap his stomach and Tyler gives me a look and speaks something like "Oh, really?"

"Yeah, you're doing a pretty good job, I think you're almost house trained." I wrinkle my nose up at him a goofy grin on my face.

"If I'm doing so well how come I haven't gotten any treats?" His eyebrows waggle and we're back to the normal Adleigh and Tyler relationship.

"Oh, eww. Nope do not go there." The youngest girl gags and I look at the watch on my left wrist, "On that note, I really should head out. I need to pack before we leave, and get my paperwork emailed into the office."

"Okay, yeah I'll walk you out." Tyler grabs my gift box for me as I say my goodbyes to his sisters who surprisingly hug me and ask if we can hang out the next time they're in town "without Tyler." I'm not sure how sincere it is but I agree and tell them to let me know when they'll be here again. Jackie is off the phone now and is cleaning up the kitchen when I go to tell her goodbye, like any other southern girl I'm trained to help her cleanup. As soon as I touch a plate she's buzzing over shoving me out of the kitchen, "Oh, no way sweetie not with your foot. I have this under control, I'm used to Tyler's messes."

"Are you sure? I really should help you, Jackie it's the least I can do after you let me interrupt your family time."

"Oh, honey yes I'm sure. Besides, I can see that you're already like family to Tyler. It was very nice meeting you Adleigh, It's clear you make my son very happy. Even if you two are too afraid to admit it, something is there."

"He makes me very happy too, I guess that's why I'm so scared."

"Love is scary, sweetie." I nod and look over at Tyler who's waiting by the door.

"I'll keep that in mind, Merry Christmas Jackie. Thank you again, it was wonderful meeting you and the girls." She waves and gets back to the kitchen as I meet Tyler at the door grabbing my coat and purse from the designated hook. With one push of a button my Jeep roars to life the glory of an electric start, Tyler tosses my box in the backseat and leans against the cool white metal of the door.

"I like your mom, she's sweet." I cross my arms and stand in front of him in the darkness only the light from the street lights and my car bouncing off his face.

"Must be where I get it from," He grins and I shake my head stuffing my hands into the pockets of my North Face, the chilly 40 degrees has settled upon us here in Dallas.

"Must be," I mumble pursing my lips to keep my teeth from chattering, noticing my reaction to the chill Tyler opens his arms and I step into them soaking up what little heat he is producing. "Thank you, again. Everything tonight was perfect."

"Almost," He mumbles, I look up digging my chin into his chest to get a view at his face.

"What was missing? Snow? Because that's probably not going to happen."

"No, I'd like to see some snow but I would have rather gotten.. Just forget it," I know where he's going and my stomach is so full of butterflies I think I could probably fly away and save myself from the awkwardness.

"Tyler," His eyes are burning holes into mine the way he's looking down at me and my mouth has run dry with no words to say, my brain says kiss the boy but my heart says you know what happened last time.

I'm conflicted.

"Tell me you don't want me to and I won't." He's closer now and getting closer by every second, one of his hands rests on my hip the other cradling my neck.

So close now I can feel his breath on my lips.

Taste the beer he had drank with dinner.

Practically feel how his lips would mold against mine.

His two thin, pink and a little chapped lips are hovering over the top of mine about to meet for the first time when the light on Tyler's front porch flicks on and the entryway door flies open with a squeak, "Adleigh, you forgot your phone!"

I clear my throat trying to catch my breath as Tyler's grip looses on my waist and he pushes me upright as his mom skips down to the driveway. Thankfully it's rather dark and I pray to God she didn't see what was about to go down outside. "Thank you, I forgot I laid it down on the countertop."

The older woman lays the iPhone in my hand and hugs me once more, "Have a safe drive."

She walks back inside only turning back once to look at the two of us awkwardly standing around, Tyler rubs his face with his hands and I pull open the driver's side door.

"I'll see you in a week, don't have too much fun without me." I lean up on my tippy toes planting a kiss on the corner of Tyler's mouth just close enough to drive him crazy. He can wait a few more days, Lord knows I need the time to pull myself together for the big tadoo.

"Have fun at the beach, Adleigh." It's the last thing he says to me as he closes the door shutting me into the vehicle and I can hear it in his voice that he's mad, but I can't help it that his own mother has terrible timing.