He wasn’t sure how to breach the topic with her. After all, they barely knew each other.
But somehow, Brian knew that despite this fact, hedidknow her. He couldn’t explain how, or why, but it did not negate the fact that he knew she was a most precious gift, something to be cherished and worshiped as the day is long.
Because any woman who could make him feel like he was the hero in one of his comics, deserved all the riches this world had to offer. He wasn’t certain he could deliver them, but he’d try.
For Athena, he knew he would do anything.
“What are you afraid of?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re not visiting a comatose wife or something are you?” She raised an eyebrow.
It was Brian’s turn to look shocked.
“Um... no. I assure you I’m not living in a soap opera,” he said with a light laugh. “And I’m certainly not married. Not that I’m against marriage, I...”
He cleared his throat, trying not to ramble. His mind was running a mile a minute. He took a breath, before letting the words fall out of his mouth.
A comatose wife would be a lot easier...
“No, it’s just... my parents.”
Athena looked at him with a hint of concern.
“My dad can be a little bit... much.” He let out a sigh, the words coming strangely easily to him.
It was as if for the first time in his life, he couldn’t shut up.
“He’s from Ireland, so he’s got a little bit of a temper and he can be kind of hard-edged, and my mom and him tend to bicker, and then there’s my sister Tellulah who’s a giant pain in my ass, and...”
Athena smiled sweetly. “You could have told me you were bringing me to meet the parents. I would have dressed nicer.”
Brian’s nerves settled a fraction as a slow smile fell on his face.
“I mean, most girls like it to take slow... no parents until like, the sixth date.”
“I’m not most girls, Brian. But I think you know that.”
Something about her words felt off, but he dismissed it. He did know.
“That you’re not. But I don’t want to scare you away.” The vulnerability in his voice was alarming to him, but the words would not cease.
It felt good to talk to someone. Someone who wasn’t his sister or his co-workers, someone who he knew without a doubt would catch him if he fell. Though such thoughts and understandings were radically sound to him, he knew in reality such things were ludicrous. But he didn’t care.
The tightrope he walked was a lonely one, but he was no longer alone.
“Doubt it,” she said with a smile as she opened the door.
“Now come on, or we’ll be late.”
Brian took slow breaths as he walked through the door, with Athena behind him. He was equal parts nervous and excited, both because he felt better with her near him, but also slightly terrified because he had never brought a girl home to meet his parents, aside from his high school prom date. The reality of such things should have been frightening, but instead it was comforting.
His mother’s eyes widened as his father set his gaze on them.
“I was worried you wouldn’t make it...” his mother said as she stood from her chair.
Brian could feel the beginnings of sweat on his forehead. Athena stayed by the door, guarding it like a getaway car.
Just in case he needed to run.
“Yeah, well, something came up, but...” He cleared his throat, his gaze dancing between his father’s grin and his mother’s shock. At that moment, Tellulah came busting through the bathroom door.
