i'm so sick of myself: RC

Chapter 20: The Future

A couple of days later...

Sarah and Wheezie mix pancake batter in the kitchen, as Tayla cuts up some strawberries. They heard steps coming towards them, a couple of moments later they find Rafe in brown dress shoes, freshly pressed navy blue pants, and a white button-up shirt.

Rafe just gets off his phone from a call to find his sisters and girlfriend in the kitchen. Tayla eyes him up and down, completely taken by his look "Where are you going?" she says with an obvious smirk. 

The kook boy smiles "I have a business meeting to cover for dad".

"Oh yeah?" she says in a teasing tone, walking closer and wrapping her arms around him. 

Rafe chuckles, his face shows slight confusion "Mhm, what's up with you, heart eyes?". 

Tayla sloppily kisses his neck the way he likes, drifting towards his ear and softly whispering "You look so hot, I want to rip these clothes off of you right now".

His eyes widen as he kisses her forehead and talks quietly "You know how much I would like to do that but I really need to go to this meeting". 

Tayla pouts "5 minutes?". 

Rafe smirks "Stop enticing me, you know it's hard for me to say no". 

Wheezie turns her head "Say no to what?".

It's Tayla's turn for her eyes to widen "Oh... um I was just trying to convince him to stay for pancakes". Her awkward smile wasn't very convincing but Wheezie went on to move on towards the stove. 

Rafe pecks the girl's lips as he loosens his grip on her "Oh, I also wanted to tell you I called your parents".

"You did?" Tayla shows a look of concern. 

Rafe gives a comforting smile "Don't worry, everything's fine, they are coming home soon to have dinner with us". 

She furrows her brows in confusion "Dinner?". 

He nods slowly "I took the initiative to invite them here for dinner with all of us, you know I wanted to talk to them about you and me".

Tayla nods apprehensively as Rafe continues "I'm sure they'll have a great time talking to Rose and Ward as well". 

She answers with a shrug "Good luck at your meeting". 

Rafe sees through her body language "It'll be okay babe, have fun with Wheezie and Sarah, I love you" he says looking into her eyes.

She looks back, not being able to stay upset at him, Tayla smiles "I love you too". Rafe kisses her softly before walking out of the door. 

As Tayla turns around she sees Sarah giving her a knowing look "What?". 

Sarah shakes her head, laughing "Nothing, you are just such a simp".

The tan girl rolls her eyes and continues cutting the strawberries. Wheezie looks over to Tayla, concerned "How do you feel about seeing your parents?". 

Tayla shrugs "They're just people that I share genetics with".

Sarah frowns at her words "You really don't care?". 

She shrugs once again "I'm just doing it for Rafe because I know he cares about their thoughts on us". 

The blonde nods her head "Who knew he was so traditional".

Wheezie furrows in her brows in thought "What does he even want to talk to them about?". 

Sarah smirks "How much he lovvveeeesssss Tay". 

Tayla laughs "I love him more". 

Wheezie gives her a contradicting look "You sure?".

Next evening...

Rose and Ward got their kitchen staff to prepare a very nice meal for the Madison's arrival. Rose makes both Sarah and Wheezie help refresh the house with new decorations. Lucas and Elena Madison do not visit often so everyone was taking this very seriously.

Everyone except for Tayla, who hid under Rafe's sheets in his bed. Procrastinating to get ready for dinner with her parents. All she wanted to do was sleep to fast-forward the time away but she knew that wouldn't be an option as soon as she heard the bedroom door open.

Rafe opens the door to find a lump in his bed that he had made before leaving for the business meeting. He furrows his brows and lifts up the covers to find his girlfriend, covering her face with her hands. The kook boy sighs, already knowing what's going through her head "Babe, we need to get freshened up for dinner".

Tayla turns to her other side, away from Rafe to avoid eye contact "Why should I show up for them? They never did for me". 

He frowns, looking at the back of Tayla's head "I get it, you don't have to have a relationship with them if you don't want to but I would at least like you to be cordial with them".

She replies only with a scoff, covering herself up again with Rafe's comforter. Rafe frustratedly combs through his hair with his fingers "I want you to be cordial with them so when we have kids they can have more than one set of grandparents, I want our kids to know all their family and I want them to show up to the wedding as well".

Tayla sits up, blinking back the tears that she's been avoiding "I want that too but it just sucks to think that they won't put as much effort in as grandparents like Rose and Ward would and I don't want my dad to walk me down the aisle". 

Rafe nods as he intently listens "Some relationships are meant to be distant, maybe this is one of them and maybe it isn't".

The tan girl nods "I'm only doing this for our future kids". 

Rafe smiles and takes her hand "I'll accept that". The two get ready for the dinner that is about to come.