“Sort of dating, Della? What does that even mean? And with the likes of him? Maybe you haven’t progressed as much as we thought. I knew you should have been living with us so we could keep a better eye on you. In fact-”
“Now, Harold,” Grams interrupted calmly. “I’m sure if Della is seeing this boy, then he’s perfectly nice. Della’s mature enough to choose who she dates.” I did a silent cheer in my head for at least having Grams on my side. I knew she was always my favorite. “But I think we should meet this boy, if that’s all right with you.” Wait, what? Never mind Grams, you’re no longer my favorite.
I bit my tongue before I could argue the fact that I was a big girl and could make my own dating decisions, with or without their approval. But I swallowed over the nerves in my stomach and decided just to give in. No reason to ruin their night by arguing.
“Okay, I’ll see if he’s not too busy, and maybe he can come out to meet you guys. I’m going to go put your order in, and it should be right up.”
I walked away and put in the order, reluctantly turning towards the kitchen once I was done. It wasn’t that I was ashamed that I was dating Justin or whatever we were doing. Grandpa was just stuck in his ways and would think he was trouble with his tattoos and piercings. I mean, he tended to be a little trouble, but all in all, he was fun to be around and a nice guy when he wanted to be.
“What’s going on, princess? Caught up on your work, so we can have a little quickie in the storage room?” He threw down his towel and began removing his apron quickly.
The other guys laughed loudly as Justin gripped my hips, pushing me towards the back. “Very funny,” I replied, pushing on his chest. I knew he was just teasing, mostly anyway. We hadn’t made it much past the heavy make out sessions, and I think I was actually a little afraid to go any further.
“Nope, sorry, not tonight. I was hoping you would come out front with me for a sec. I have someone I need you to meet, two someones actually.”
“Anything for you,” he followed closely behind me, and I swatted at his hand that was guiding me forward by pushing my ass along. “Please don’t be a jackass.”
I stopped at the table, and Grams and Grandpa immediately looked up at the two of us. Grams eyes lit up when she saw Justin up close. It was hard not to feel that way when you saw him for the first time. Past the tattoos and piercings, Justin was really beautiful.
His messy brown hair, that was so dark it was almost black, was pushed back, revealing his sculpted cheekbones and the two dimples that rested in each of them. Even his nose was perfect in the way that it was just the right size for his face and had a tiny little bump right at the bridge. He was clean shaven tonight, but I loved when he had just a little stubble running over his face.
“Justin, these are my grandparents. They wanted to meet you. I told them we were…dating.” He cleared his throat, standing up straighter and stuck his hand out to Grandpa. “Nice to meet you, sir. Della talks about the two of you all the time.”
“Mmm hmm,” Grandpa mumbled as he gave Justin a firm handshake. I saw Justin slightly grimace by the death grip Grandpa was giving to him, and I felt kind of bad. “Strange, we haven’t heard much about you, up until now. Is there a reason for that?”
“Not that I’m aware of sir. Della must have been wanting to keep me a surprise, I guess.”
“Surprise indeed. What are you doing with yourself young man, besides working here? We can’t have our Della around someone with no motivation.”
“Harold,” Grams said in a warning tone, still giving Justin a flirty smile. Geez, I always thought I had gotten that from my mother but now I was sort of rethinking that one.
“Well, sir, I work here in between going to school. I’m in my last year, and I’ll be finished up soon with my Criminal Justice degree. I’ve all ready applied for the police academy this summer.” I looked sideways at Justin in shock.
We hadn’t really talked much about school, since things were never really serious when we were together. So to hear Justin would someday be a police officer was like hearing that I was about to be elected as the next Pope.
I could tell my grandpa was just as shocked as I watched in amusement as his eyebrows shot up. “That’s…wonderful to hear then, son. You’re very ambitious for being so young. You’ll have to come over to the house for dinner one night, so we can discuss this more.” Son? Really, Grandpa, laying it on a little thick now, aren’t we?
“Sounds great,” Justin replied before squeezing my hand lightly. “I’ve got to get back into the kitchen before all of the orders back up. You two have a lovely night.”