"Wait... what?" I asked him with a raised eyebrow. "We are going to what?"

"To have dinner with my parents, tomorrow," Jake answered with an innocent smile. "I don't really know why you are so worried."

It was the start of the weekend, Jake came over to spend the day with me. We planned on having a movie marathon with pizza and popcorn. But when we were cuddling and watching a movie, Jake surprised me by telling me that we were invited to have dinner with his parents tomorrow. And obviously, I wasn't ready for something like that.

"I'm not worried it's just..." I started but paused when I didn't know what to say.

"Em, it's going to be okay." Jake smiled warmly at me. "My parents are really nice."

"Yeah, but..." I tried to argue but paused again.

"You don't want to go?" he asked, starting to get upset.

"No, I do," I said quickly then I sighed. "Actually, I'm not really sure." Something about the whole thing made me uncomfortable.

"Trust me, it's going to be okay and we are going to have fun," he said, giving me that special smile of his that I adored.

"Fine." I sighed.

His smile grew even more, then he gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Yup, that damn smile had a lot of influence on me.

><><><><><><><

Now, we were on our way to Ithaca where Jake's parents lived. It usually took about four hours from Manhattan to Ithaca, and we were stuck in a never-ending line of traffic so indeed this was going to be a long ride.

"You are still worried," Jake said, breaking the silence.

"I'm not worried." I sighed. "I'm just not sure if your parents will, you know, like me."

Jake chuckled.

"What's funny?" I asked with an annoyed tone.

"Well, I know that they won't like you," he said, and I raised my eyebrows in alarm. He smiled before he continued. "They will love you."

I couldn't help but smile; he never failed to make me smile even when I didn't want to.

It was a few hours later when Jake parked the car in front of a two-floor house. He unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car; I did the same. My eyes traveled over the surroundings; the neighborhood was quiet and nice. And just by looking at the house in front of me, I knew for sure it was filled with lovely memories.

Jake sent me a reassuring smile before he gestured with his hand to the house. I gave him a slight smile then we started walking toward the house. Jake rang the doorbell, a lovely woman opened the door with a bright smile, and the same deep ocean blue eyes Jake had.

The woman pulled Jake into a tight hug before she said. "Oh Jake, it's so good to see you, Honey."

"It's so good to see you too, Mom." Jake hugged her back, then he looked at me. "Mom, this is Emma, my girlfriend."

"Hi Mrs. Parker, I'm..." I started to say but Jake's mother pulled me into a tight hug that prevented me from saying any other thing.

"It's so nice to finally meet you." She smiled, warmly. "And don't call me Mrs. Parker. It's Anne."

I nodded and gave her a smile, then a man with hazel eyes and dark brown hair came into view. He smiled at Jake before giving him a hug. "It's so good to see you, Son."

"You too, Dad." Jake smiled, then he gestured to me. "Dad, this is Emma. Emma this is my father, David."

I shook his extended hand with a polite smile.

"So, where's Hazel?" Jake asked his mother.

Anne was about to say something but then a brunette girl with the same hazel eyes as her father came into view and pulled Jake into a tight hug.

Jake chuckled as he hugged her back. "Oh, I missed you, Hazy."

"I missed you too, but you are the one who never visits," she hissed at him, then she noticed me, and her smile grew wider.

"Hi, Hazel." I smiled at her, but as her mother did, she pulled me into a hug.

"It's awesome to finally meet you. Jake never stops talking about you," she said when we broke the hug.

Jake shot her a glare and she grinned. I chuckled at them.

"Come on, the food is ready and it will get cold," Anne said, gesturing with her hands to the inside of the house.

><><><><

Everything was going smoothly, and we were all now sitting around the dining table.

"Wow, this is so delicious, Anne," I said, surprised by how amazing the food was.

"I'm glad you liked it, dear." She smiled kindly. "So tell me, how did you and Jake meet?"

I tensed a little when I remembered how we did actually meet. I cleared my throat before I answered. "It's a bit of clichè actually; we met at a coffee shop."

Jake sent me a smile, and I uneasily returned it to him.

"So, what do you do for a living?" David asked.

"I'm currently working as an art instructor at the Museum of Modern Art," I said, taking a sip of water.

"The MOMA, that's amazing!" Hazel exclaimed. "I'm also very interested in art, and I'm even thinking about studying it."

"Really?" I asked. "Well, you can visit me anytime you want, and I will take you on a tour there."

"I'm going to graduate soon; I can come after finishing school," she said happily, and I smiled at her.

"So, what about your family?" Anne asked with a smile.

I swallowed hard before I said. "Well, my brother and I are living here in New York, but my parents are not. They work in freelance so they have to travel a lot."

She nodded with a smile, and I was relieved that the subject was dropped.

The rest of the conversation went smoothly and I managed to survive too many personal questions. We had dessert, and we talked together for a while before it was time to say goodbye. Jake's family was so sweet and it ached my heart more. With every day passing, the number of people I was deceiving and conning increased.

"Are you okay?" Jake asked with concern, I was staring out of the window throughout the whole drive home, and he must have noticed.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I sent him a reassuring smile. "Your family is so lovely."

He smiled. "They absolutely loved you."

I sent him a smile before I returned to stare out of the window.

It was late when he parked the car in front of my building. I turned to him with a smile. "I really had an amazing day with your family."

"Yeah." He smiled, looking at me in the eye for a few moments without saying anything.

Something was wrong with him, I thought he wanted to say something.

It was dead silence before he started to speak, "Emma, I..."

I looked at him with interest, waiting for him to start speaking again.

"I love you," he said, looking at me in the eye. He took a deep breath before he spoke up again. "You made me feel things I have never experienced before. You're the only one who made me feel the most alive. Emma, I still fall for you every single day."

I was shocked, we have been dating for a while and we have admitted to liking each other but it was the first time for him to say those three special words. I was caught off guard, my heart pounded so fast and I felt that it was going to get out of my chest. A war was going inside of me because of the three magical words he just said. Every inch of my body wanted to scream that I loved him back but something was preventing me from admitting it.

Jake noticed that I was shocked and he took my hands in his and smiled at me. "I have never felt this way toward anyone before. And the only way I could describe it is that I love you, and everything about you."

Admit it too, you idiot. Tell him what you really feel. But, that would just make things worse. It would make it a hundred percent harder for both of us. I have to leave one day and face him with the truth, and then those three words would turn into a dagger that would shatter both of our hearts.

Jake kept looking at me in the eye for a good couple of minutes, his eyes were begging me to say something but I didn't know what to say; I was torn.

I took a long deep breath before I started to speak. "It's crazy how much you can affect me. I love you too, Jake."

His eyes lit up and he smiled at me before he placed a kiss on my hands that were still in his, then he closed the gap between us and crashed his lips on mine. My feelings were so conflicted, but one feeling ruled over the rest; the feeling of affection and love toward him.

I had no idea what I was going to do next, or how I was going to continue this, but that didn't matter. All that mattered to me right now was being with him and in his arms, nobody and nothing else mattered. I forgot the rest of my worries and the rest of the world, for now.

When you love someone, you just do, there are no but's, no maybe's, and no why's. When we first met, all I cared about was using him. I never planned for something like this to happen. I never planned to fall in love with him, but I did. I fell really hard for him. Now, my biggest fear was to lose him. I have never been so scared of losing something in my entire life like I was now, then again nothing in my life has ever meant as much to me as he did.

But what if he figured everything out? What if he knew the ugly truth?

God, I didn't know what to do anymore...