Saturday morning I woke up with a feeling of dread. It was the day of my mom's party and I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I figured most of my nerves were because Reed would be meeting my family. If he wasn't ready to run for the hills, this could be the thing that sent him packing.

I made myself a quick breakfast before starting my beauty routine. I needed to make sure everything was on point to decrease the number of times my mother would insult me. There was no eliminating it completely because there was always something wrong with me in her eyes. Sometimes if I played my cards right things weren't as bad as normal. It may help that I was bringing a guy with me too. She was so hung up on the fact that Alec and I didn't work out.

I took the time to define my naturally curly hair. Then I sat down to apply my makeup. I wore makeup most days, but today I was going for the full beat. Nothing less than the best for mommy dearest. Finally, I slipped on the yellow sundress I picked up earlier that week. I paired it with black wedge heels. I looked pretty darn good if you asked me.

There was a knock at the door. Reed had insisted on picking me up for the occasion. I made my way to the door and took a deep breath before I opened it. A few seconds late I was face to face with him. Boy did he look yummy in a pair of grey dress slacks paired with a baby blue shirt. There was a slim black belt tying the look together. He looked good enough to eat.

When I finally made eye contact with him, he was smirking at me..

"Like what you see?" He chuckled.

"Yes, yes I do." No point in lying.

He handed me a bouquet of tulips in purple, yellow, and orange.

"These are beautiful, thank you."

He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me in for a kiss. 

"You're welcome, but they aren't as beautiful as you. You look gorgeous."

Talk about swooning. I was on cloud freaking nine.

“Oh stop it.”

He placed his hand under my chin and raised it until my eyes met his.

"I'll never stop telling you how beautiful you are."

Forget the party, I was ready to lay down and let him have his wicked way with me. Alas, I had a crazy mother that would probably send a bounty hunter to find me if I didn't show up.

I put the flowers in a vase and we headed to his car.

"Are you nervous?"

Reed briefly glanced from the road ahead to me.

"A little. It's always nerve-wracking to meet the person you’re dating’s parents. Add on the fact that their friends and possibly other family members will be there, I'd say anyone would be."

"Is that what we're doing? Dating?"

He reached over and placed his hand on my thigh. Tingles shot from his hand up through my body.

"Yes, we are dating. I'm hoping you will officially agree to be my girlfriend soon."

I turned my head toward the window so he couldn't see the big grin that I couldn't stop from spreading.

When we pulled up to my parent's house there were already a few cars in the driveway. Reed pulled out a bag from the back.

"What's that?"

"Wine, a gift for the host."

"Good thinking, miss hoity-toity will love that."

Reed grasped my hand in his free one. I appreciated the support. We were going in as a united front. I led the way to the door and knocked. A few seconds later my mother appeared. She stared at me, then Reed, and then down at our hands.

"Penelope, who's this?"

Before I could answer Reed stuck his hand out to my mother.

"Hello, Mrs. Crowder. I'm Reed Colston. I dating your daughter."

My mother took his hand and shook it with a look mixed with shock and confusion.

“Reed, it's nice to meet you. My daughter didn't tell me she was bringing anyone. She certainly didn't mention she was dating anyone.” She gave me a pointed look.

Reed handed her the bottle of wine.

"This is for you. Thank you for allowing me to join your party."

"Thank you, Reed. That's very thoughtful."

My mother's eyes kept darting between the two of us. I did my best to avoid direct eye contact.

"Come in you two. Everyone is out back."

I led Reed through the house to the back yard. There were several tables set up with linens and utensils. Colorful floral centerpieces sat in the middle of each table. My mother had gone all out for this affair.

I spotted my dad talking to my uncle Mike. I grabbed Reed's hand and pulled him with me.

"Hey, Daddy!"

"Hey, Henny Penny. How's my girl?" My dad wrapped me up in one of his bear hugs.

"I'm good. Dad, this is Reed Colston. Reed this is my dad Raymond Crowder."

Reed shook my father's hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you sir."

"It's nice to meet you too, Reed. Are you a friend of my Penny?"

"Yes, sir we’re friends. We recently started dating."

My dad smiled at Reed.

"You picked a good one with my Penny. I expect you to treat her right."

"Of course, sir. I plan to treat her like the lady she is."

My dad clapped him on the back. "I think you'll do just fine son."

"I'm going to show Reed around the house Dad. We'll find you later and you guys can talk some more."

"Alright, sweetpea. You kids have fun."

I led Reed back into the house.

"I'll give you the grand tour."

I took Reed to the kitchen where caterers were setting up food and drinks. We went around to the media room and the sitting room. Then we headed upstairs to my old childhood room.

"This is my old room." I opened the door and revealed teenage Penelope.

It was just how I had left it with posters of N'sync, Backstreet boys, and Usher.

"I can tell so much about you by this room."

Reed walked around looking on my bookshelves, my books, and trophies. He picked up one of my yearbooks and sat down on the twin bed.

"It seems like you were involved in a lot of stuff in high school. You’re all over the yearbook."

"Yeah, I was involved in a few things. My mom was all about her kids being well rounded."

"I'd say you succeeded. You were in band, choir, and on the debate team. How did you have time to study?"

"Lots of coffee and very little social life."

"Were you involved in anything in high school?"

"I played baseball for a while. I had to work a lot in highschool so I didn't really get to do too much."

He closed the yearbook and set it beside him on the bed. I took that as him wanting to change the subject. He seemed a little touchy when it came to his childhood. I tried not to pry. I hoped that in due time he would open up to me about it.

"A guy could really live out his high school fantasy in here. A beautiful girl alone in her bedroom." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Reed Colston, are you trying to get fresh with me in my parent's house?"

"No, maybe. Just a little kiss."

He held his hands out and motioned for me to move close to him. I took several steps until he could reach my hands and pulled me the rest of the way. I toppled into his lap.  He leaned over and pressed his lips into mine. A little kiss turned into a full blown make-out session. He eased me back onto the bed and began running his hand along my side. Moans of pure pleasure escaped my lips. His hand roamed further down until it was under the skirt of my dress on my bare thigh. His kisses moved from my lips down my jaw to my neck. My breath was heavy and my self-control was diminishing. The sound of the doorbell brought me back to reality.

"We'd better stop before someone comes looking for us. Someone like my mother."

He placed a few more kisses on my neck.

"I don't want to stop, but you're probably right."

He helped me off of the bed. I smoothed my dress out and fixed my hair in the full-length mirror on the door. Reed came behind me and gripped my hips.

"You look gorgeous."

I smiled at our reflection in the mirror.

"Alright, it's show time. Let's get this over with. Then we can go back to my place and have some real fun."

We headed down the stairs. I heard voices at the bottom. One of them sounded very familiar. My heart started beating erratically in my chest. My foot faltered, but Reed caught me.

"You ok.?"

I couldn't reply. When we came around the corner on the last steps I was met with a face I’d never wanted to see again. We locked eyes.

Barely able to speak my voice came out in a whisper.

"Alec."