-- Chapter Eighteen --

"Ryder, you have got to be kidding me," I said desperately.

I honestly didn't know whether to laugh at the absurdity of our situation, or break down in tears because, well, I was meeting Ryder's parents, damn it! His father and his step-mother! Jasper Brown, prominent rock star, and…

…Damn it, I realized I didn't know his step-mother's name.

"I'm not kidding you!" he replied with what could only be described as a sadistic grin. "C'mon, it's only fair, and they're assholes, but they're not that bad."

I sighed and banged my head against the window closest to me. We were in his car, on our way to his parents' house. According to him, it was a half-hour drive, so I hoped that by the end of it, I'd be ready to face his parents' wrath (yeah, so I was being a little overdramatic. Sue me).

"Yeah, Ryder, that really makes me feel better," I muttered angrily. "Stupid, idiotic, asinine—"

"—You're being redundant," he pointed out, effectively cutting me off.

I ignored him and went on with my speech, "—careless excuse for a male homosapien."

"It's okay, I won't take that to heart," he grinned disarmingly. "I know you secretly love me to no extent."

I glared at him, ignoring the fact that my nostrils were flaring (something that tends to happen when I'm mad). "Not really. Right now I just want you to die."

"Look, calm down. We'll talk to them for fifteen minutes and then—"

"Who the hell promises someone ice-cream and then doesn't deliver? Huh?" I challenged as I poked him really hard.

"—we can go get ice-cream," he finished lamely.

Needless to say, I felt like an idiot. But it wasn't like I was going to show him that. At least Ryder knew he was going to meet my parents; I'd been given nothing but half-an-hour's warning. My inner-Layal told me that I was being stupid, and that I was overreacting to the situation, so I calmed myself down a bit (or at least tried to). I was going to meet his parents and there was nothing I could do about it, so I could at least make the best out of a bad situation.

Hey, like Grandma always said. When life throws you oranges, make orange juice.

…Or was that lemons and lemonade?

But whatever. I digress.

"Okay," I agreed simply. "As long as there's chocolate ice-cream involved later on, I'm game."

I was looking out of the window when I said that, staring unabashedly at the passing cars and their drivers, so I felt rather than saw Ryder's confused gaze upon me.

"I thought you wanted to kill me," he said, obviously confused.

"Don't get me wrong, babe," I cringed inwardly at that awful term of endearment, "I still want to kill you."

"But you won't," he clarified.

"Not now."

He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Erm, okay."

And just like that, we sat in a companiable silence for the next half-hour. Sneaking glimpses at him throughout the ride to his parents' place, I saw that although he put on a nonchalant air about going to meet his father and stepmother (who, might I add, had been married for about a month), his knuckles were white, seeing as how he'd been gripping the steering wheel so tightly. There was a little smirk on his face, but its effect was countered by the fact that there was also a frown marring his forehead.

I sighed. Ryder was such a huge contradiction.

Ten minutes after my third sigh and Chevelle's fifth song, we were at the Brown residence.

For some reason, I'd expected something fancier. In my mind, there was an image of a vivacious blond and Ryder's father greeting us infront of a sprawling mansion complete with peacocks strutting around next to the entrance. I thought there would be a million servants scurrying about everywhere, like in Annie.

Overactive imagination? Me? Naaah.

Instead of the huge manor I'd imagined in my head, we were greeted with a house only slightly bigger than ours. There was no pool. There were no tennis courts. There were no peacocks.

I was severely disappointed.

After we'd stepped out of the car, Ryder gave me a little grin. "Yeah, they rented this place for the month. Their normal house is more… rock star-ish."

"Ahh," I nodded my head sagely. "Figures."

He just gave an amused shake of the head, took my hand, and off we headed to the door. Funnily enough, the house hadn't intimidated me as I thought it would (maybe it was the lack of peacocks?), so I was feeling considerably less tense, and was actually looking forward to meeting Ryder's dad and stepmom.

Ryder knocked on the door, and while we waited, I remembered something. "Hey, Ry? What's your stepmom's name?"

He frowned as he tried to remember. "Estelle something. She's a French model. She's pretty nice, but it's a shame she's such a whore."

Before I could reply, however, the door was flung open by a pneumatic blonde with a puppy in her hands. "Hi!" she squealed enthusiastically. She engulfed Ryder in what seemed to be a surprisingly tight hug. I had to hand it to her, the girl (yeah, she was like, twenty-five) had muscles.

When she was done squealing over how big Ryder had gotten (I know), she turned towards me. "And you must be Layal!" she grinned. "I'm Estelle Brown, but call me Estie, okay? We'll be the best of friends, I can tell!"

Well, she's nice. I'll give her that.

"It's nice to meet you, Estie," I said awkwardly, sticking out my hand for her to shake it.

She waved a hand around in the air, signaling impatience. "No handshakes with me, darling! Hugs only!" and with that, she embraced me (quite painfully, might I add).

"Estie, let go of her, you'll give her a heart attack," boomed a gruff voice that came from behind Estie.

Estie finally let go of me, and with Ryder holding my hand, I turned around to face the one and only Jasper Brown.

"Hey, Layal, how are you?" he grinned at me.

"I'm good," was my awkward response. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

He then directed his attention towards his son. Instead of a stiff handshake, which was what I expected (today was apparently Shatter-Layal's-Expectations Day), the two did the man half-handshake half-hug thing, and before I could say 'antidisestablishmentarianism' we were off to the living room.

(A/N): So. This is the incomplete version of chapter 18. I promised I'd post it by the 20th, and so here it is! :D

After this, there probably won't be any more updates, but I have a couple things to say:

Do you think I should skip the meeting-the-parents part? Because honestly, that's the thing that has me suffering from writer's block.

Thank you guys so much for sticking with the story this far. I WILL update soon, depending on whether or not I decide to keep in the meeting-the parents thing.

Love you guys!