Chapter 33: Father (Emma's POV)

We were all sitting there very awkwardly but we're all trying here. "So, you're her boyfriend, correct?" Dad questioned Nathan. 

"No," I said. 

"I'm confused," my dad said. 

"Why don't we just... I don't know, not talk about it," I shrugged. 

"You like him?" 

"Yes, Dad," I sighed exasperatedly. 

"You like her?" 

"Yes, sir," he nodded. 

"But you're not dating?" 

"No," we said in sync. "Yet," Nathan added. I pulled my lips into a thin line and looked down at my plate, biting back a smile. 

"Why?" 

If you couldn't tell already, we've just had this conversation literally 2 seconds ago. Which is why answering the same questions over and over again is annoying. "Dad," I groaned while Nathan facepalmed, stifling a laugh but just letting out a snort instead. "Oh, for the love of God. Forget it, just forget it," I laughed, standing up and clearing my dishes. 

"Your generation makes no sense," my dad huffed, falling back in his seat. 

"Are you done with that?" I asked, picking up his dishes as well. 

"I'll help," Nathan shot out of his seat. 

"No, that's okay," I chuckled, "You can-" 

"Please, let me help," he whispered, letting out a chuckle. 

"You guys can hang out," I smirked, taking his dishes out of his hand and heading to the kitchen. I stood at the sink and did the dishes, trying to listen in on their conversation but I couldn't really hear anything all the way from here. 

"Boo!" he whispered in my ear. I gasped, nearly dropping the plate in the sink, quickly turning around to, I don't know, maybe smash it on his head. "Shut up, I'm here to help. Your mom is here and your parents went out to the backyard," he chuckled. 

"Well, you're late," I smirked, drying off the last dish and then my hands once I washed them. 

"Well, I wasn't actually here to do dishes," he retorted, putting his hands on my waist and kissing me. 

"Really? No?" I smiled against his lips. I heard the backyard door closing and footsteps coming in moments later, so I pulled away. He sighed in frustration, standing beside me. I chuckled, turning to my parents as they stepped in. 

"How come I didn't know about this but your father did?" Mom asked me. 

"What are you talking about?" I laughed, "I told you I liked him." 

"Oh?" Nathan smirked. 

"Shut up," I nudged his ribs with my elbow. "And my father," I rolled my eyes. "Just found out." 

"Right, when they came back from a date," he nodded. 

"It wasn't a date," we said in sync. They looked at us quizzically. I turned to Nathan. "We were just hanging out with... friends?" He seemed confused. Unsure if we could call the 15-year-olds our friends. 

I nodded, "With friends. At the park." They seemed unconvinced but dropped the subject. 

About 20 minutes later, we were all sitting on the floor around the coffee table, playing board games. While I lived in New York, which was only 2 years, we would have a game night every Saturday. Or a movie night, whatever floated our boats during the time. Currently, we're playing scrabble in teams of 2. Me and Nathan against my parents. 

"So Nathan, what are your thoughts on marriage?" I bit back a laugh and sipped on the iced tea that I grabbed earlier. 

"Uh," he chuckled awkwardly, "I believe in it. I'd love to get married someday and settle down, make a family of my own. But sometimes it just doesn't seem realistic or possible," he shrugged while looking for a 'K' to complete Koala on the board. 

"How come?" she asked him. 

"My parents got divorced when I was around 3 years old. My mom travels back and forth between Paris and London for work." 

"Oh, what does she do?" 

"She works with modeling agencies for fashion shows or something like that, I don't really know," he answered, letting out an embarrassed laugh. 

"And what are your thoughts on becoming a father?" my dad asked. 

Nathan choked on air and froze momentarily. I nearly spit my iced tea out. "Dad!" I hissed. 

"It's just a question," he shrugged. I'm not stupid. He's trying to find out if we've had sex. 

"What a great question that is," I said sarcastically. 

"I wouldn't want to be a father before marriage," Nathan answered, "And I haven't slept with your daughter." 

"All right," I cleared my throat, "That's 27 since your score tripled. Your turn," I said to my mom. I shot Nathan a glare before turning back to the game. 

"But you do want to be a father someday?" 

"Oh, my god," I threw my head down onto the table. 

He laughed, scratching his brow before answering, "Uh, yes. Yes, I do." 

"When do you think you'd be okay with that happening?" my mom asked. 

"Um, well... I've always wanted to do the whole starting a family thing pretty young. So, earlier than people normally do, I guess," he shrugged, very smoothly dodging the question. He just answered indirectly. 

"You know, Emmy's always wanted to get married really young and have kids too," Dad revealed. 

"Really? I didn't know that," he said, looking at me. 

"Tell him," my mom encouraged. 

"Um," I chuckled, "I've always wanted to get engaged at 19, married at 20, and have kids at 23." 

I don't tell people this because people think it's pathetic. Every girl is expected to have dreams, ambition, and be career-driven. Which is great, I think it's amazing that girls and women focus on themselves, but when a girl's dream is her family and settling down, then it's assumed that she's weak or that she's taking the easy way out by not achieving anything for herself. But just because you're married young or have kids at a young age, doesn't mean you can't accomplish anything. 

"You want to get married at 20?" he looked at me wide-eyed. 

"Yeah," I nodded, "Which you probably think is weird but..." I shrugged, trailing off. I'm not gonna fantasize about our relationship and picture us getting married and having kids. He may be the one or he may not. No promises. 

"How many kids do you want?" he asked. 

"2, a boy and a girl." That's the generic answer and I'm generic that way. I can't go through labor more than twice. 

"You think you can go through labor at 23?" He's shocked because of that? "How does... how do you do that?" he stared at me wide-eyed. 

I laughed, "My mom did." She had me at 23. "I want one kid at 23, the other at most by 26," I explained. 

"That's what we wanted but after going through labor once, I called quits," Mom said, writing down her points before the turn went to my dad. 

"At 23?!" he exclaimed. 

"You're not the one going through it," my mom and I said in sync. 

"Jesus Christ," he mumbled, making all of us laugh. 

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"At 23?!" he whisper-yelled as he lay beside me in bed. It's nearly midnight and he's still just talking about labor at 23. 

I laughed, "Nathan, stop. Seriously." 

"At 23? You're gonna give birth to a child? At 23!" 

"You've been going on about this for a hot minute. Why don't you tell me when you want kids?" I asked, lying on my side to face him. 

"Before 25. But my job is so easy. Yours is pushing a baby out of you." 

"Well, to make up for the whole pushing-a-baby-out-of-me thing, make sure you're good in bed. It's the least you can do for your future wife," I chuckled. 

"I'm good in bed," he shrugged. 

"Mmm," I eyed him. 

"I am," he nodded. 

"Okay." 

"I am!" 

"Okay," I laughed, "I'm not saying you're not but I can't agree with you, how would I know if you are or not?" 

"You can find out," he smirked. 

"Haha," I said sarcastically. 

"Someday. You can find out someday." 

"Right," I nodded, "Someday." We fell into silence after that. 

I was staring at him while he lay flat on his back, staring at the ceiling. "What if we get married?" 

I shrugged, "What happens if we get married?" I asked, not knowing how to answer him. 

"Where would you wanna go for the honeymoon. Don't say something stupid like Paris," he closed his eyes, shaking his head. 

"It's not Paris," I laughed. "Maybe to London?" 

"God," he groaned. 

"I'm kidding," I chuckled. I fell into thought for a minute. "I don't know. Maybe..." 

"Greece?" we said in sync. We looked at each other, both of us breaking out into smiles. "Why Greece?" he asked. 

"It's pretty and romantic, what else do you need for a honeymoon?" 

"Maybe we'll go together. Or run into each other." 

"I'll be married before you if I'm not getting married to you," I scoffed, "I wanna be married young, remember?" 

"It's not so weird, you know. I wanna be married at 21. Maybe I'll drop a year."

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Chapter 33

20 is so young to get married but like... I wanna get married at 20 so...

look at me talking about marriage even tho I've never had a bf wtf

next chapter: commitment