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“I hate it.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Uh, yeah, Becks, I actually do.” Darryl huffed and crossed his arms as he pouted at his girlfriend. “You know how much I hate going to these kinds of things with your family.”
Becky Krespe sighed and rolled her eyes as she reached over to adjust her boyfriend’s tie, something he had fought her about wearing for a solid hour this morning before giving in. “You love my dad and Matty, though. And you know that they’ll appreciate you being there.”
“But I hate having to interact with your mom,” he told her, looking up and catching her eye. “And I swear, if she says even one thing about how you look, I’m really gonna lose it this time.”
“I know, I know,” Becky nodded, finishing with his tie before giving him a tight smile. “But please try to refrain. I don’t want her to have something else to throw in my face about our relationship.”
It was no secret to anyone that Darryl hated Kelly Krespe with a passion, and his animosity was returned tenfold by the woman. Ever since they’d met, they clashed heads on almost every little thing. Kelly especially despised Darryl for being brought up Muslim instead of Christian, believing the boy to be trying to lure her daughter into a life of sin despite him not actively practicing Islam. Most of Darryl’s dislike came from the way that Kelly tended to criticize every tiny minute thing her daughter did, including but not limited to the way she dressed, spoke, acted and even ate.
Darryl had been helping Becky make great leaps and bounds when it came to her self confidence and her relationship with food, and he’d be damned if he let her mother set back any of their progress.
Before Beck could pull away, Darryl gently took her hands and pulled her closer so that he could lean up to kiss her. The girl squeaked in surprise but quickly returned the affection, her hands going up to rest on his chest as his cupped her waist. When they pulled away, he murmured, “No matter what she says, you look beautiful today. Okay?” He tugged lightly at the green dress she was wearing, a shit-eating grin on his face. “And I can’t wait to get you out of it.”
In return, the girl blushed bright red and lightly slapped at his chest. “Don’t be a pervert,” she scolded him, though he could see the pleased glimmer in her eyes.
God, he loved this girl. If she asked for it, he would have spent his whole life trying to lasso the moon to pull it down and give to her. He’d been down bad for her since day one and he wasn’t even sorry.
They left shortly after, driving to the fancy restaurant her mother had reserved for the family reunion. It was the nicest place Darryl had eaten at since junior prom and it definitely wasn’t his style, but he kept his mouth shut and went along with it for Becky’s sake. This would be the first time he met Kelly’s side of the family and thought it pained him to admit, he
did
want to make a good impression. He could only hope that they weren’t as terrible as Kelly.
He wasn’t holding his breath, though.
They walked in and were immediately waved over to a large table by Kelly. The first time Darryl had met her, he’d done a double take because of how much she looked like his girlfriend. Same blonde curls, same green eyes, even the same tiny beauty mark on their left temples. The main differences were the deep frown lines on Kelly’s face and the way her mouth seemed to be permanently turned down, while Becky’s sweet lips were always slightly turned up. Also the misery practically radiating off of Kelly was impossible to miss, though he didn’t feel sorry for her.
She was the only one making her and her family’s lives hell.
They walked over and Darryl could feel Becky stiffen the closer they got. When they reached the table, she gave her mom a strained smile. “Hi, Mom. Are we too early?”
“No,” Kelly shook her head, though of course she couldn’t resist adding, “You’re actually on time for once, Rebecca.”
He was going to end up throwing hands with this woman one day, Darryl swore. “Hey, Kelly, good to see you,” he inserted himself between the two women, ever so subtly pushing Becky behind him. “It’s been a hot minute, huh?”
“Hello, Darryl,” Kelly replied with a stiff politeness that made Darryl want to pat himself on the back. “So glad you could join us.”
“I figured I should probably meet the fam, since I’m gonna be around for a while,” he told her, internally cheering when he saw the distress that went across her eyes.
“Indeed.” Then the woman quickly turned from them, going over to where her eldest daughter Margot was sitting at the end of the table with her husband and three young, unruly children. They interested Darryl even less than Kelly did and he saw no point in interacting with them when they came down from New York to visit. They were only around maybe once or twice a year and Margot was mostly apathetic towards him. He could handle that.
Becky sighed and he turned to see her brow furrow. But instead of lingering on the interaction, she just took his hand with a small smile. “Come on, let’s go sit by my dad and Matty.”
Darryl nodded and gave her hand a squeeze before letting her lead him to the other end of the table where her father and little brother were sitting. George Krespe immediately drew him into a discussion about their latest DnD campaigns while Matt showed Becky the new game he was playing on his Nintendo DS. This was familiar territory, easily navigated, so Darryl was able to relax and actually enjoy the conversations. While his hatred for Kelly ran deep, his affection for Becky’s dad and brother ran even deeper. They were good people who loved Becky – even if Matt was a typical little brother and pretended not to sometimes. But when push came to shove they were there for Becky, and he appreciated that.
Not long after Kelly’s family arrived, and Darryl had to do a double take when he saw Becky’s grandmother. Outside of the snow white curls, the woman looked just like her daughter and granddaughter, though Kelly had been the only one to inherit the old woman’s frown lines. Becky got up to greet the woman, who responded with narrowed eyes and something that Darryl couldn’t hear but made Becky tense up and her smile turn stiff.
Darryl nearly got up but was kept in place by Matt grabbing his wrist. He looked over at the kid and frowned. “What?”
Matt just shook his head as one corner of his mouth turned down. “It’s not worth it,” he muttered, letting go of Darryl and going back to his DS. “Grams is as much of a pain in the butt as Mom. You don’t wanna get caught up in it, trust me.”
“I can’t just let them tear Becky down,” Darryl argued back.
“She can handle it,” Matt said with a shrug. “That’s what she always says, at least.”
And she probably could handle it, but that didn’t mean he had to let her do it alone. Darryl got up, ignoring Matt’s warning grunt as he made his way over to where his girlfriend was standing with her family.
“You’ve gained weight, Rebecca,” her grandmother was saying, looking the girl up and down. “I suppose what they say about the freshmen fifteen is true.”
“I’m not a freshman, Grams, I’m in my second year,” Becky said quietly, her hands turning to fists at her side.
“Hey,
toli
,” Darryl said as he came to stand by her side, his hand on her hip as he leaned up to peck her cheek. The alarm in Kelly’s eyes nearly made him do it again, but he resisted for Becky’s sake. Then he turned to the old Krespe woman with a smug grin. “Name’s Darryl, nice to meet you,” he said, holding out a hand to her.
The white-haired woman looked at his hand as if it was diseased before her eyes went back to his, full of confusion. “Anne. And you are…?”
“Oh, they didn’t tell you?” He pulled Becky closer to him, pretending like he didn’t see his girlfriend glance at him with wide eyes. “I’m Becky’s boyfriend.”
Alarm went across Anne’s face before it was replaced with fury, and she turned to her daughter with gleaming eyes. “Kelly. A word.” She grabbed her daughter’s wrist and yanked her aside, already talking in low, fierce whispers as they walked away from the table.
Becky groaned and her hands flew up to cover her face. “Oh my gosh, she’s gonna kill me.”
“Who? Your mom or that old bag?”
“Darryl!” She slapped him again with a warning look, which he acknowledged with a wince. “Can you not start anything right now please?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t help it,” he shrugged, unable to even feign any remorse. “Maybe if they weren’t such miserable people, I wouldn’t have to say anything.”
A long sigh left his girlfriend and she rubbed at her face. “You’re lucky I love you.”
“Believe me, I know.” He pecked the corner of her mouth, grinning when it made her blush.
The girl shook her head before taking his hand, pulling him towards the other members of her family. “Come on, let me introduce you to Gramps. He’s actually pretty cool, promise.”
And she was right, Patrick Pierce was a pretty cool dude. For pushing seventy, he still ran his own chiropractic business and adjusted people. He offered Darryl a free adjustment, which Darryl said he’d think about it. The rest of Becky’s family seemed much more chill than her mother and grandmother, with three uncles and one aunt and their spouses. By the time Anne and Kelly returned from their talk they were all seated at the table. A waitress came around to take their drink orders and Darryl made sure to be especially polite to make up for any rudeness the others might show.
As their drinks were brought to them, Kelly turned her attention to her daughter. “Rebecca, what did you get?”
“Just water, Mom,” Becky answered, sounding a little exasperated.
“Good,” Kelly nodded, sipping at her own water. “You don’t need the extra calories.”
Darryl had just about had it with her stupid fucking comments. “It wouldn’t kill her to gain a pound or two,” he remarked, impressed at his ability to control his temper. “A light breeze could blow her over.”
“That’s a bit of an exaggeration,” Kelly huffed.
“Not really,” Darryl said back, giving the woman a look.
“What would you know?” Kelly shot back, now glaring at him. “A woman needs to keep her figure if she ever wants to have any hope of attracting a good husband.”
That was a low fucking blow. “Who says she hasn’t already?” he snapped back, glaring back at her.
A shocked silence fell over the table and Darryl could feel his ears turning red, but he didn’t back down. Not this time. He’d let his cowardice keep him silent at Becky’s expense for too fucking long now.
“Excuse me??” Kelly gasped, incensed. “You cannot possibly be serious!”
“And what if I am?”
The woman gaped at him, her face turning scarlett. “You–you–!”
“Kelly,” Anne said sharply, drawing her daughter out of whatever shock she’d been in. “Tell him what we discussed.”
That seemed to snap Kelly out of it and she sat up straight, her chin lifting as she tried to literally look down her nose at Darryl. “Listen to me, boy,” she hissed. “You and my daughter may be having fun now, but there’s no way you could ever stay together. You’re unequally yoked. She is a Christian, you are a Muslim. The two do not mix and it would never work between you in the long run.”
Okay,
that
pissed him off. He and Becky had fought long and hard to make their relationship work, waiting until he’d graduated from high school to officially date after two years of uncertainty and misunderstandings. For the last year he’d been working his ass off to prove that he loved her and intended on providing for her. Everyone knew that, even fucking Kelly. To say that things could never work out between them…
“Mom, that’s enough,” Becky spoke up, shooting her mother a warning look. “This is supposed to be a day for family. We can talk about this later if you want, but I don’t want to hear it right now.”
This seemed to be familiar territory for Kelly, since her lip turned up in that sneer that Darryl wanted to slap off of her face. “For goodness sake, Rebecca, I know your standards are low but surely this is beneath even you. Although,” she rolled her eyes and shook her head, “I always knew that you’d need help getting your MRS degree.”
And even though she tried not to show much that hurt her, Darryl saw a thin sheen of tears cover Becky’s eyes and her hands clenched tight in her dress.
That was it.
He stood up abruptly, the chair dragging loud across the floor as it was pushed back. “You know what, we’re done here.” He looked down at his girlfriend and offered her his hand. “Let’s go.”
Becky’s eyes darted up at him, filled with confusion. “What?”
“Let’s go,” he repeated. “We don’t have to take this.”
“Rebecca Anne Krespe, so help me God if you get up from that chair,” Kelly started to say sharply.
Darryl rounded on her then. “Or what? She’s a grown ass adult, she can do whatever the fuck she wants,” he snapped, pleased when his cussing made Kelly gasp. “And she most certainly doesn’t have to sit here and take your abuse.”
“How dare you–!”
“You’re a shitty mother and she deserves better than you.” He looked down at Becky, searching her face. “Well?”
Slowly, more confidence blooming on her face as she took his hand, Becky nodded at him. “Okay.” She allowed him to pull her to her feet and gave him another tiny nod. “Let’s go.”
Without looking back, Darryl led Becky out of the restaurant, though he didn’t miss the way Matty grinned from ear to ear as he watched them go. When they got out to the parking lot, anxiety washed over him and he turned to her with a furrowed brow. “Shit, was that too much?? I’m so sorry, I–”
Before he could say anything else, Becky grabbed him by the tie and pulled him in for a deep kiss that sucked all the air from his lungs. He was still stunned when she pulled away, blinking rapidly at her. “Whoa,” he breathed. “Wh-what was that for?”
“For being the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” she said with a grin that nearly blinded him. “No one has ever talked to my mom like that. It was so hot.”
“Yeah?” he asked, feeling his face heat up.
She nodded eagerly, pulling him for another shorter but no less fierce kiss. “I love you,” she murmured into his mouth.
“Love you, too,” he managed to get out before focusing on kissing her back with as much fervor as she was giving. When they pulled away, he grinned and took her hands in his. “What do you say we blow this popsicle stand?”
“Can we go see your mom?” Becky asked. “After that disaster, I need another woman to bitch to.”
It still thrilled him every single time she cussed. It was such a small way of breaking her mother’s hold on her and he was so fucking proud. “Hell yeah,” he nodded, taking her hand and leading her over to the car, feeling on top of the world.