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Would've been uploaded sooner, but I was watching One Direction things with my sister/best friend :)

Yeah, I like One Direction. Come at me, bro.

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"Do you like barbeque?"

"What?" I asked, looking up from the history homework that I was furiously trying to finish. Griffin laughed and plopped down next to me at the table I was sitting at in the library.

"My family is barbequing this Saturday, and my mom wanted to know if you could come," Griffin explained.

"Saturday?" I asked, suddenly uncomfortable, and Griffin nodded in confirmation. I frowned, "I don't know. I think Grandma Aggie wanted to do something this weekend."

"Oh," Griffin replied with disappointment, and I felt a pang of guilt. "Well, I guess you should just talk to her and then let me know for sure."

"Alright," I said, giving him a smile. Griffin returned it, and he gave me a kiss on the cheek before getting up and walking away. As I watched him go, I sighed loudly and let my head drop to the cool table top.

I'd lied when I'd said that Grandma Aggie wanted to do something. Her copper enameling class was having a sale, and she had told me that she wasn't going to be home for most of the weekend.

The real reason I wasn't all gung-ho for a barbeque with Griffin's family was because I wasn't sure I could handle it. I mean, being with Griffin or Norah was different; I could just relax and enjoy myself.

However, with Griffin's mom or siblings, I'd be under a microscope, and that seemed to trigger my freak outs. Plus, we'd only been official for the past three weeks. Wasn't this a bit soon?

Sawyer, you're over thinking this, I thought to myself. I slung my backpack on my shoulder and pulled my phone out of my pocket. As I hurried out of the library, I dialed Norah's number, since I knew she had a free period, and I pressed the phone to my ear.

After a few rings, she finally picked up. "Hello?"

"I need advice," I blurted, and I traced my fingers along the locker-lined wall as I walked down the hallway. "Griffin invited me to go to a barbeque at his house with his family."

"Okay," Norah replied, "What's the problem?"

I sighed. "Isn't it soon? I mean, shouldn't we be together for at least two months before I meet his family?"

"Not really," Norah replied matter-of-factly, "You guys are together in high school, so it's not as big a deal. Plus, if he wants you to meet his family, it means he really likes you." Norah paused, and then she said, "Do you not want to go because you don't want to answer questions about your past?"

"Uh," I said, leaning against a locker, "Maybe."

Norah chuckled. "I don't think that they're going to sit you down and interrogate you. Sure, they're going to ask questions, but they have a right to if you're dating Griffin. The way I see it, you're going to end up meeting his family, so might as well meet them sooner rather than later."

I groaned but saw her logic, and it made sense. "You make a good point," I replied, running a hand through my hair. "Thanks, Norah."

"No problem. I'll see you at lunch," she said, and then the phone clicked, telling me that she'd hung up. I flipped my phone shut, stared at it, and then reopened it and typed a quick text to Griffin, telling him that I'd just checked with Grandma Aggie and I could go.

As I hit send, I felt my stomach tighten, and I sighed. Ideas of questions that I thought might be asked floated through my head, and I cringed. How was I going to do this without freaking out?

I couldn't.

I grabbed my phone to text to Griffin and cancel, but I found that I'd gotten a message from him. I opened it and read how he was really excited at he couldn't wait to introduce me to his family. My fingers froze over my keypad, and I could type the words to tell him I wasn't going to be able to make it. I swallowed

hard and punched in a smiley face and hit send.

I made a deal with myself. I would go, and I would try my best to enjoy myself. I would answer the questions asked me as honestly as I could. This was something I needed to do both for Griffin and myself.

*

"Are you coming?" Griffin asked, and I let out a deep breath. I slipped my hand in Griffin's outstretched one, and pushed myself out of the car. As we walked up the front steps of Griffin's house, I tugged at the turquoise cardigan I was wearing self-consciously. I'd put great effort into my outfit in the hopes that Griffin's family would approve.

Griffin led me around the side of the house to the backyard, and I found myself face to face with a seven-year-old. "Hi," she said, sticking out her hand, "My name is Amelia Marie Jefferson, but you can call me Mia."

I blinked, a bit taken aback by this sudden introduction. Griffin chuckled next to me, and I smiled and relaxed. "Nice to meet you, Mia," I said, taking her hand. "My name's Sawyer."

"Oh, I know you," Mia replied, and instead of letting go of my hand, she started to drag me away from Griffin. I turned to look at him helplessly, but he was practically bent over laughing. So, I was left to the whims of a talkative child.

Mia pulled me over to the patio and tugged on the shirt of a man who looked a couple years older than Griffin, who was standing at the barbeque grill. "Jake, this is Griffin's girlfriend Sawyer," she stated as the boy turned around. He was the spitting image of Griffin, and it was slightly creepy.

"Oh," Jake said, smiling, "Hi there. I see you've met our Mia."

"Yeah," I replied, and Mia beamed at the both of us.

"Mia," Griffin said, coming up behind us, "Why don't you go get mom and Tom." Mia nodded vigorously and sprinted past us into the sliding glass door.

"She's energetic," I noted, leaning into Griffin's open arms.

Jake laughed. "Mia's been excited to meet you ever since Griffin said you were coming this afternoon." I smiled and Jake turned back to working on the grill, and the sliding glass door opened. A woman and man followed Mia out of the house and I knew they were Griffin's mom and stepdad.

"Mom, Tom," Griffin said, "This is Sawyer." He squeezed me, and even though I don't know if he meant it to be, the hug was reassuring.

"Hey," I said, waving awkwardly.

"Hello Sawyer," said Griffin's mom, and we shook each other's hands. "You can just call me Emily." I nodded, and then shook Tom's outstretched hand.

"I'm Tom, Griffin's stepdad," he said, smiling.

"Nice to meet you all," I replied, "Thanks for inviting me to lunch."

"No problem," Emily said. She opened her mouth and started to say something else, but Jake announced that lunch was ready. We all sat down at the already set patio table and Jake brought over the plate of burgers and hotdogs.

Emily told me to help myself, and I pulled a hamburger onto my plate along with watermelon and potato salad. Griffin poured me a glass of fruit punch and I gave him a thankful glance.

As everyone got comfortable, Tom asked, "So where are you from, Sawyer? Griffin tells us that you're new this year."

This was a safe question that I could give a straight answer to, since I'd already told Griffin that. "I used to live just outside of New York City before I moved here," I said. "Sometimes, when I was bored, I would take a train to the city and explore."

"That sounds like fun!" Emily replied, looking genuinely interested. "Did your parents go with you, or did you go by yourself?"

I paused before saying, "Well, my mom died when I was little, and my dad worked a lot. So, I would either go by myself or with friends." Those friends were technically bodyguards assigned by my dad, but I didn't think that was something smart to mention.

"I'm sorry about your mom," Jake said solemnly, and I shrugged.

"I didn't really know her, but thanks," I replied with a smile, and I took a big bite of the juicy hamburger, the tangy barbeque sauce exploding on my taste buds.

"What about your dad?"

I froze and glanced over at Griffin, whose jaw I saw tighten. "What about him?" I asked finally, trying to sound as normal and calm as possible.

"Well, you guys must've been close if it was just the two of you," Emily said simply.

I contemplated how to answer this. "He was really emerged in his job," I concluded. "When we were together, though, he was the best father I could've asked for. He tried his best to look out for me." I looked at Griffin when I said this, and found his eyes locked on me.

We had talked about a lot of stuff since our first botched date, but my dad wasn't one of them. So, this new information was to everybody at the table. Griffin gave me a nod, and I knew that he understood that I was opening up.

Lunch turned out to be so much more fun than I'd expected. The conversation could get a tad uncomfortable sometimes, but Griffin would either change the subject, or I would just answer the question vaguely. A lot of the questions were about Grandma Aggie or New York City, or even generic questions like my hobbies.

I also learned a lot about Griffin's family. Apparently, Jake was going to the local college and still living home; much to the dismay of Emily. Mia spent a good half hour telling me all about her My Little Pony collection and I found myself conned into a play date with the little girl. I also got to hear the insanely romantic story of how Emily and Tom met at a coffee shop.

As I laughed and talked with this family, I found an unexpected emotion creep into my system. Jealously. I was jealous that Griffin had a completely normal family that could be this carefree. With my dad, we couldn't go anywhere together without being alert. Even though I truly did love my dad, I found myself wishing that I could've had a family like this.

However, I told myself that I wasn't going to let the jealously get in the way of the relationship between Griffin and me. I'd come too far to screw this up on something stupid like daddy issues.

A rumble of thunder rippled throughout the sky, causing me to jump and shake out of my thoughts. I looked up at the sky to see dark clouds forming, and I glanced at Griffin, who said; "It's probably going to rain soon."

Tom nodded. "Why don't we move this party inside and maybe watch a movie or something?"

"Actually," I said, checking the time on my phone, "I should probably get going."

"Why?" Mia whined, slouching in her seat. "We could watch the Little Mermaid!"

"Sorry," I said, smiling apologetically at her. "I've got an English paper due on Monday along with a physics test, and I should probably get started on working on them."

"Who do you have for English?" Griffin asked curiously.

"Haper," I replied, and Griffin jumped out of his chair.

"Yeah," he said, "I should take you home. Haper is a harsh grader."

"Tell me about it," I responded in agreement. I pushed out of the patio chair and said, "Thank you again for inviting me over. I had a lot of fun!"

"No problem," Emily replied with a dismissive wave of the hand. She got up from the table and pulled me into a surprising hug. "Be good to my boy," she whispered into my ear, and I nodded with a small smile. We pulled apart and Griffin and I started walking around to the front of the house.

"Bye guys!" I called over my shoulder, giving a final wave. However, as Griffin and I reached his car, I heard a child's voice screaming our names. I turned around only to be grabbed around the middle by Mia.

"Promise you'll come back and play with me?" she asked, "Promise? Promise? Promise?"

"Sure!" I said with an amused voice, "As long as I get to be Fluttershy."

Mia giggled. "Okie dokie," she said, and then she skipped back into the house as more thunder rumbled through the sky.

Griffin and I ducked into his car, and as we started driving towards my house, our hands gripped each other comfortably. "Mia was really cute," I said as I glanced out at the ever darkening sky.

"Yeah," Griffin replied, "She's a sweet one. I can tell she likes you because she doesn't give up Fluttershy for just anyone; not even me." I laughed, and after a few minutes of discussing lunch, Griffin and I settled into a sweet silence. Neither of us had to say anything, yet it felt like we were

communicating.

As we drove, however, I glanced in the side view mirror, and my eyes widened. I recognized the car behind us, and the driver, and I could only come to one conclusion.

We were being followed.

I frowned and bit my lip, thinking of what to do. After a few moments, I turned to Griffin and said, "Pull over."

"What?" Griffin asked confusedly, "Sawyer, there's nowhere I can go; this isn't that wide a road."

"Just pull over!" I insisted, "Please!" Griffin tried to protest more, but I gave him one look and he

begrudgingly obliged. Griffin put it in park, and I saw as he noticed the car behind us pull over as well.

"Sawyer, what's going on?" he asked suspiciously.

I ignored his question and said, "I'll be right back; just stay here."

"No," Griffin said bluntly.

"Please," I replied, "I'll be okay, I promise."

"I'm not comfortable with-"

I ducked out of Griffin's car and took a deep breath before walking over to the small black car with its tinted windows. I knocked on the blackened glass and waited patiently as the driver rolled down the windows. As I saw his face, my mouth curved into a giant grin.

"Hey Danny."

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SO, here is the new chapter! It's longer than usual because I decided that nothing super exciting has happened, and you've had enough dumb fillers, so, I made this longer.

Oh my God... this really weird planned parent hood commercial just came on... sorry, that was random... okay, byes.

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