Chapter 5: Parents, right?

July 10, 2017

"You can't control my life!" I hear Nora screaming and crying when me and dad step into their house. We exchange glances and wait for the fight to be over, suddenly feeling like this time we should've rang the doorbell too.

Whatever Nora's mom or dad says, it really pisses her off, because the next thing I know, some plate is being thrown on the ground in the kitchen. "Stop saying that, it's not true!" she cries and then appears in front of us in the hallway and runs upstairs, literally sobbing, not noticing us.

"That girl's gonna be the death of me," her dad sighs in the kitchen as we're almost there now. When we do get there, I see Mary sitting behind the table, face in her hands, looking really stressed and Conner squatting down and cleaning up the fragments of a blue cup, some kind of juice splattered all over the floor.

"Here, let me help you," my dad says and they both look at us. Just as I thought, Mary isn't crying, just really stressed. She gives me a mad look for some reason and drops her head back onto her hands.

I frown. "What happened?"

"She threw it on the ground," Conner tells me, still cleaning up, my dad now helping him.

"She's never aggressive, there had to be a reason," my dad states/asks them. Nora's parents both sigh and look at each other.

"She got mad when we told her she can't... go to the camp," Mary says and her eyes flicker at me for a moment and then back at her husband.

"What?" me and my dad ask in unison. "Why?" Conner's eyes go on me for a moment and I feel myself tensing up. "For fuck's sake," I say under my breath and turn around to go upstairs.

"Don't g-" Mary starts, but I look at her with my angry face and that makes her to shut up.

"I don't give a crap about what you say," I throw back at her and run up the stairs. Dad calls my name after me, but I'm already gone so they can't stop me either.

I stop in front of Nora's door when I hear quiet sobs coming from there. If I can hear them through the closed door that clearly then she must be crying pretty hard. I feel sorry for her. Her parents are kind and all, but they're so fucking strict it sometimes makes her want to hurt them. She's told me that and she always feels so bad for saying it, but it's true.

I softly knock on the door and just as I'm about to open it, she screams at me. "Go away!" I smile a little and open it, she glaring at me. Her face goes soft the exact moment she sees it's me and she just lowers her head to face the bed in defeat and embarrassment. I close the door behind me and make my way to her on her bed.

My butt flops down on the edge of her bed immediately and I let my back fall down as well before I pull her into my arms. She curls into my side immediately, my arms around her, hand rubbing her back softly. I feel her leg curling around my torso and the other one clinging off the edge of the bed the same way mine are. She rests her head onto my biceps, calming down slowly as she's staring at her hands gripping my shirt.

My eyes stay on her all the time; when she wipes away her tears, tries to hold her sobs back but fails, when her fingers trace over my abdomen above my grey shirt, when she sniffles and later nuzzles her nose into my shirt and breathes me in. All of it.

"Run away with me," she whispers about half an hour later I came into the room. A small smile appears on my face and she looks up at me with the same one, my eyebrows raising. "I just wanna go. Maybe then my mom would stop obsessing over you and want me back instead."

I chuckle sadly. "She loves you, baby. She's just too worried and damn controlling all the time, that's it." My hand starts fondling her hair softly.

"She doesn't understand me," she says quietly and looks back down again. "I don't get why she's so freaked out by me dating someone."

"I get it if she was freaked out by you dating someone, but it's me," I say, making her giggle and look up at me.

"Maybe that's what she's so freaked out about. We've been sleeping in the same bed before," she smirks.

"Right," I say sarcastically and kiss her forehead. "Why didn't you drink that juice before breaking the glass?" I smirk.

She frowns and looks up at me. "You saw that?"

"Yeah and I heard that too," I say with a frown of my own now. "Why did you yell at them? I mean besides the fact they won't let you go to the camp everyone is going and waiting for."

She sighs. "We can't sleep over anymore."

"What?!" I exclaim in confusion. "Why?"

She looks at me with raised eyebrows. "Because you let me kiss you," she says, her fingers moving over my suddenly too dry lips.

"Because I love you," I say.

She smiles at that and looks back into my eyes from my lips. "You better, if I can't get out of my home anymore it at least be worth it."

We both chuckle and I kiss her lips just for a second before I pull away, having another better idea. "You wanna go swimming?"

She frowns. "I can't. I don't wanna see them."

"We have a ladder. Edwin and Layla should be by the river," I offer, only wanting to make her smile and hopefully forget everything just for a few hours.

She smiles and nods. After giving me a peck on my cheek, we get up and she opens one of her drawers to take out her bathing suit and my second swim trunks I keep here. But before we could open the window, someone knocks on her door.

Nora lets out a groan. "I don't want to talk to you!" she shouts while opening the window.

"I don't either!" my dad shouts back, making me chuckle and Nora smile. He opens the door carefully and narrows his eyes as he sees Nora sitting on the window seat. He knows she would've chosen the bed. "You're not going anywhere," he says, pointing his finger at Nora when he comes to us. He closes the window after that, making us sigh. "Where are the band aids, your dad cut himself."

Nora's eyes go wide and I can see the sadness and regret in them. "In their bathroom," she says quietly and drops her head.

"It was their own fault, Norey. Stop," I say, raising her head up only to find her eyes glassy, about to start crying again. I sigh and take her back into my arms, holding her head on my chest and giving it a soft kiss while glaring at my dad.

"I just needed to know where they were," he smirks and touches Nora's hair. "Honey these two downstairs are idiots, don't feel bad."

"I'm an idiot for breaking that glass in the first place," she murmurs in my shirt.

"That's true," my dad says, making me smirk at first and when I feel Nora chuckling too, I allow myself to laugh out loud. "Come on, they wanna talk to you."

"I don't wanna talk to them," she says, wiping away her tears.

"You have to," he says, pushing her a little towards the door and motioning me to come with them.

I narrow my eyes at my dad. "I am not gonna apologize."

"Yes, you are," he sighs, pulling me with him.

#

"That's what you're afraid of?" Nora laughs at her mom.

"No, I'm just saying," she says, obviously lying.

Nora chuckles. "Mom. I'm never ever going to wait until marriage, but I'm also not going to have sex in the first couple of months."

I feel so fucking awkward. My dad seems even more awkward and Nora's dad is just staring at the ground, probably shutting us all out with his own thoughts (that's where Nora got it from).

"How are you even supposed to get married if you don't know if the person is good in bed?" I wonder out aloud, making all of them look at me now.

"Right?" Nora asks with a small smile on her face. She bites her laugh back when she sees my embarrassed face and I give her my narrowed eyes, which make her giggle.

"Relationships aren't only about sex," her mom says, face inside her hands again.

"No, but it's a part of it," Nora says, being the only one who's not even slightly awkward in this room. "So..." she says after a few moments of silence. "You'll let me go?" Mary sighs and looks at Conner who is out of his trans. He gives her a small nod and they both look at Nora next to me who is smiling so big now. "And let me sleep over anywhere I want?"

"No," they say in unison, making me and my dad chuckle.

"But you're..." I start and look at Nora for a moment. She's looking at me with these beautiful green eyes, which make me smile. "Okay with us now?"

Conner shrugs like it didn't really matter to him, but Mary seems skeptical. "Al, they'll be fine," dad smirks and looks at us. "Go to wherever you planned on sneaking away to before they change their minds."

We quickly stand up and are almost out of the door when we hear Mary say that she hasn't even made her mind yet.

"Where to?" Nora asks with a big smile as we're out of her front yard and I take her hand, intertwining our fingers.

"As long as you're with me I really don't care," I say, kissing the back of the hand I'm holding. She smiles adorably and stands on her tip toes to give my cheek a kiss.

"I'm hungry, I choose Pop's," she announces.

I smile at that. "Best choice ever made."

#

July 14, 2017

"Guys, they're all here," Nora's mom says as she comes into her room. We quickly pull away and I look away from both of them while Nora probably does the same, wiping her remaining mushy lipstick off of her face. "Great," her mom sighs sarcastically.

"Sorry," I murmur, standing up from the window seat and pulling my jacket on.

"It's warm inside," Mary says, not sounding angry though. She has tried to accept us being a couple for a few days now. It's going better than I thought it would, honestly.

"Really?" I ask, narrowing my eyes at her. She smirks and rolls her eyes just like Nora does. "I don't believe you," I smile and go out of the room, still taking my jacket with me.

I go downstairs and see Sophia and Daniel with their parents here already. We do this in every few months. Our parents are all childhood best friends and now so are we so we just get together at someone's place sometimes and just hang out. Which also means our siblings, so Reni and Zoey have to stick around every single time as well.

"Hey kid," I say while ruffling Reni's hair. She pushes my hand away with a grin. I smirk at Zoey next to her and ruffle her hair as well. "Hey kid."

"Who are you calling a kid?" she smirks, hitting me with her leg. I chuckle and start to sit down between Sophia and Luke but get pulled up by Nora who is now in the room apparently.

"I need to talk to you," she says and starts pulling me out of the room by my hand. I start smiling, knowing the 'talking' she needs to do.

"Nuh-uh," Dan says, standing in front of us and stopping us. "We agreed. No relationships tonight, only friends."

Nora groans and lets go of my hand, walking back to the living room. I look after her and she pouts as she sits next to Sophia and rests her head onto her shoulder. Nora looks cute and beautiful in her outfit. She's wearing white jean shorts with a pink t-shirt tucked inside it.

I sigh and look back at Daniel "You're always making out. At least I wanna do it in the kitchen."

"Not today, dude," he says, patting my shoulder and follows Nora back to everyone else. I sigh and still go into the kitchen, just alone this time. I grab a huge bag of tex-mex Doritos that someone has brought from the counter and also a can of coke from the fridge.

When I go back into the living room, everyone smirks at the food I have with me. "There's dinner," my mom says, taking the bag of chips from me.

I frown and look at her pleadingly. "I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry," Reni smirks at me. I sigh and roll my eyes, opening the coke. I drink half of it with the first sip and then Nora grabs it out of my hands making me groan. She drinks it and then when she's done, her eyes go on me and she starts smiling.

"Can I?" she asks teasingly, making me chuckle this time. She gives me a peck on the cheek, making Sophia raise her eyebrows and Nora give her the finger. "Okay, come on, Soph." She pulls the raven-haired girl up with her. "We're gonna do a dance battle since we're all here anyways,' she announces.

"Nora, no offence, but I'm not gonna dance," Jorge smirks.

"Yes you are," Nora smiles, connecting her phone as the PS4 remote. She and Zoey got it for Christmas in 2013 when it came out, before that we had PS3. We've played Just Dance on them like forever now.

"Which one?" Norey asks the three of us.

"4," Sophia smirks knowingly. Nora giggles and puts Just Dance 4 in. Sophia immediately starts looking for a certain song.

"Oh god no," I groan.

"Girls," Daniel whines too, but they already choose our characters and Nora grabs our hands and pulls us up. "I'm not doing that in front of everyone."

"I agree," I frown, crossing my arms on my chest.

"Good luck losing then," Sophia grins, turning on our song 'What makes you beautiful' by one direction. I know literally all the words and moves. But I hate the song.

"You guys dance after One Direction?" Zoey laughs so hard.

"Don't act like you don't have the posters under your bed," Nora smirks at her who seems embarrassed immediately. "Feel free to sing along."

"Go on," Mary chuckles, not letting me sit down, but pushes me up instead. I groan but with a smirk take my pose between Nora and Daniel. The song starts, we start doing the hideous moves, everyone starts laughing and Sophia and Nora start singing/screaming the lyrics.

When this one is done, everyone claps and I'm not even embarrassed anymore. I literally don't care.

"Oh oh oh," Nora says and pats Sophia's shoulder. "Let's do the..." She starts singing Copacabana and Sophia joins her, both of them doing really weird moves with their shoulders, dancing cha-cha, and singing with extremely weird voices. I laugh at them.

"Stoop," Daniel laughs.

Nora looks at me while keeping doing it and I smirk. "Why is this so sexual?" And for that I earn a slap on my arm. My hands grip her waist and I pull her close to me to press my lips on hers. She kisses me back softly, everyone shutting up, but when I pull away, her shoulders start moving again and she keeps singing after another soft peck, making me groan and the others laugh. "Fine."

#

"Come on," Daniel sighs. "Can we not watch Disney just once? The youngest person in here is 11 and even she wants to watch a horror movie."

"Well everyone here can't handle horror movies," Sophia smirks, head fully turned at Nora. I chuckle quietly, her head already on my chest.

"I can watch it, I just need someone to sleep next to," she smiles back and looks up at me for a moment. I give her a kiss on the forehead and my eyes go at smirking Sophia and Daniel.

"You two really think we're asleep when you act all cute with each other?" Soph smirks.

I raise my eyebrows. "You're not allowed to listen to our private talk, jerks," I say, hitting Sophia's foot with mine. Our parents are just watching and trying to understand what we're talking about. "Plus, I saw you Soph. You were scared to watch that shit too."

She narrows her eyes at me. "I was not."

"Right," Nora smirks while Daniel puts on the Conjuring.

"Maybe you're too then? You never watch until the ending," she throws back at me.

"I prefer my ice cream and talks with Nora over some unrealistic horror movie," I say, letting Nora climb onto my lap.

Daniel grins as he's put the movie on and sits back on the ground, his back resting against the couch. "Let's go."

"I still prefer Disney," Nora murmurs so that only I could hear, making me laugh and everyone look at us.

"Do you really, huh?" I smirk, looking at her. She nods, her hands resting on my thighs, back against my chest, my arms wrapped around her. I rest my chin onto her shoulder and kiss her ear carefully a few times before kissing her temple. She just lets me do it, looking scared already. "You sure you wanna watch this? You won't be able to sleep."

"I'm fine, just sleep with me."

I smirk. "I can manage that." I wink at her. She hits my chest with a grin and both of our eyes go on her mom, who is smirking and looking away.

"Well you've gotten over that," Norey chuckles and nudges her foot. She looks at us with a little narrowed eyes and a disapproving face. "He will stay over though."

"Yeah," she sighs, making the both of us smile and I kiss Nora's cheek, still holding her in my arms. She leans onto my chest and our eyes go on the screen.

We're not even 10 minutes in the movie when she starts murmuring to me that she's scared and can't sleep at night.

"Why did you even agree to watch it?" I ask quietly, my chin on her shoulder.

"Cause you can sleep in my bed then," she says the same way. I smile and give the corner of her lips a soft kiss.

We keep watching the movie and she keeps wincing at the jump scares and hiding her face into my chest when she gets too scared or doesn't want to see the blood. When she has kept her face against me for too long, I just lean down a little and tilt my head to see if she's asleep. Her eyes look at me and we both start grinning. I give her a soft kiss.

"Ice cream?" she asks with a smirk, already pushing herself up. I playfully roll my eyes at her but let her pull me up and follow her to the kitchen.