😭

I stood awkwardly as my parents walked around from the couch, studying Lee who was still standing at my front door, a pair of blue jean pants on and a black shirt. He wasn't wearing his baseball cap like he usually did, so when my mom locked eyes with him, her mouth fell open.

"No way. I'm dreaming." She said, pulling at my dad's shirt sleeve repeatedly. He brushed her hand away, shifting his eyes down at her.

"What is wrong with you?"

She pointed to Lee. "Simone, please tell me that this is your boyfriend," she pleaded shaking her head, "Okay, he has to be your boyfriend, because what other reason would he even be here for." She shrieked happily, clapping her hands together.

My dad frowned. "Hold up, boyfriend?" He asked skeptically, rolling the word around on his tongue, obviously not liking the way it tasted. "How long?" He questioned.

I rolled my eyes. "Mom, do you even know who this is?" I asked, not really expecting for her to have heard about Lee from the passengers, much less actually know what he looked like. I then turned to my dad. "and we've been dating for about a week." I said as bravely as I could.

My mom walked over to Lee. "Of course I know who this is! He's that little cutie pie that plays the drums in that band that your younger cousin Sharon is always watching when she stays the night." She said, inspecting him before she pinched his cheek. "I just knew my daughter had good taste."

"Mom!" I exclaimed.

She turned to me innocently, her hand still against Lee's cheek. "What?"

Lee laughed. "It's fine, Simone. I'm used to stuff like this." He replied, his eyes twinkling as he looked down at my mother. "I'm just happy you haven't tried to cut off any of my hair yet."

My mom dropped her hand, grinning. "See? He doesn't care whether I touch him or not." She replied, pulling out her phone. "Hey, can I get a picture."

"Mom," I said again, this time warningly. She dropped her phone, huffing.

"Fine, ruin all my fun why don't you." She said, putting her phone back into her purse just as my dad stepped forward.

"So..you're dating my daughter," he said slowly, "and you're famous." He said, trying to wrap his head around the whole situation.

"He's a rockstar, babe." My mom added.

I glared at her. "Not helping."

She simply shrugged.

My dad shook his head as if this whole thing wasn't actually happening.

"Dad," I called, "I was going to tell you. Lee and I just started dating, I just wanted to keep it quiet for awhile just in case things didn't work out." I tried to explain.

My dad raised his eyebrow at Lee. "And why does my daughter feel like things won't work out between you two?" He demanded, "You have a problem with groupies or something?"

Lee actually surprised me by sticking out his hand for my father to take. "Let me start off by introducing myself. My name's Lee, and yes, I am a rockstar in a band called, 'The Passengers,' and I play the drums, and no I don't have any groupies..well, at least none that I entertain, and I'm serious about this relationship with your daughter and would never give her any reason to doubt that." He said calmly, before adding, "and I'm also really sorry that you're just now finding out that I'm dating your daughter. I hope it isn't a problem." He finished, almost rushing out every work. Was Lee nervous? I thought.

My dad looked at his outstretched hand for awhile as he mulled over Lee's words before groaning. "Fine, fine," he gave up shaking Lee's hand, "you seem like a good guy," he replied, staring him down, "for now. Mess up and I'll be on you hotter than grease on a skillet." He promised, releasing his hand and then giving him a friendly pat on the back. "So, do you like barbecue?" He changed the subject, smiling.

Lee glanced at me, slightly confused. I shrugged. "My parents are weird." I mouthed back, and he seemed to take that.

"Yeah, I'm a fan." Lee replied.

My dad lead him to the kitchen. "Good, then you're staying for dinner. I have enough to go around."

My mom rolled her eyes at him. "So you were only going to play the macho dad for less than ten seconds?" She asked, "If you're gonna try to act hard, you need to at least keep it up for the first part of the night." She instructed as my dad glared at her.

"You're one to talk. Not even five seconds walking into the door and you were all over him." He retorted. "I'm actually surprised you didn't ask if you could smother him to death."

Lee and I sat down next to one another at the table as my dad passed around the food.

"So Lee, tell me a little bit about yourself." My dad handed him a plate. "Did you grow up around these parts?"

Lee day the plate down as my mom shoveled random sides onto his plate. "No, my parents are from China. Before I was born they had moved to the U.S. for a few years and then I was born in California. We then moved around a lot, so I didn't grow up there. However, after I got a little bit older and joined the band, and they saw that I was doing good, my father decided that he wanted to go back to China." Lee explained. "I stayed, and they left. They still come and visit from time to time."

"Have any siblings?" My mom asked.

Lee smiled. "Nope, only child. After my parents had me, they decided that one Lee was enough."

"Well, we have two children as you probably already know. Simone and our son." My dad said, taking a bite of one of his ribs, "I wanted to have another-" he started, turning his eyes over to my mother, "but that blood sucker over there was adamant that two was enough."

She rolled her eyes. "I already had three children. Why would I want one more?" She said sweetly, obviously referring to my dad. He laughed.

"I promise I love that woman." He grinned, turning back to Lee. "So how long are you in town for?"

As Lee and my dad talked about the band more, what my dad did for a living, and when my mom could go to one of his concerts - eye roll - time seemed to pass by quickly.

Before I knew it, I was standing outside the door of my apartment, as my parents were still on the inside cleaning up everything.

"Thanks for coming by." I told him, looking up to see that his dark eyes were staring back at me, almost as if he was in thought.

"Thanks for not putting me out." He laughed, "I had fun. It was nice meeting your parents. Hopefully you don't think that I'm trying to speed up the dating process or anything, but-" he stopped for a moment, as if he didn't know whether or not to say the words, "maybe one day you can meet mine." He finished simply.

I stared at him for a while. "I-I would like that." I said, "I think it's only fair sense you had to endure my parents tonight." I teased.

Lee smiled down at me, his smile making me catch my breath. "It's really no problem Simone. I had a great time tonight and wouldn't mind doing it again. The whole meeting your family part," he said, "plus, I got to spend some time with you."

We stood in silence for awhile. Lee said nothing, but I could tell that something was bothering him.

"Lee," I asked, "Is everything good?"

He seemed to snap out of his trance as he took my hand in his and intertwined our fingers, looking down at them. "Yeah, I'm just tired is all."

I simply shook my head at his comment, letting my gaze fall down to our hands.

"Simone?" Lee asked softly.

I glanced up at him. "Yeah?"

He had opened his mouth before closing it. Instead of saying what he had wanted to say, he squeezed my hand gently in his and placed a quick kiss on my forehead, the action causing heat to rise to my cheeks.

"I'll call you, okay?" He said, letting go of my hand.

I stood still, slightly dazed, yet confused.

"Okay, goodnight, Lee." I called, as he turned back towards his car. He glanced at me once more before waving and driving off.

I laid against my door for a moment before walking back in to help my parents finish cleaning up before they left to go to their hotel.

As I laid in my bed that night, staring at my plain white ceiling, my phone buzzed and I glanced over to my night stand. I grabbed my phone and looked back into the brightly lit screen as my heart twisted.

The black letters read back at me, making me frown as I tried to understand why Lee would even say that about himself. Just as I was about to start typing back, another message came through, and I felt as if my heart might actually explode this time.