Baby's On The Way - Luke Bryan

Chapter 14 - Arms Wide Open

Luke and I took turns this time. Instead of one of us driving most way. We had fun singing songs, and playing piddidle. I beat him at it. We were getting closer and Luke had to take a nap. I decided just to keep driving instead of stopping. I changed the radio and it went onto a rock metal station. It was playing Metallica's Nothing Else Matters. I remember this song extremely well. My ex would play it knowing it was one of my favorite metal songs. I got into it because he was extremely into it since his band was in fact metal. I just pushed the memory of him with song out of my head and sang along.
"Never care for what they dooooo. Never care for what they knowwwwwoooww but I know…..So close no matter how farrrrrrrr. Couldn't be much more from the heart. Forever trust in who we areeeee and nothing else mattersssss. Never care for what they dooooooo. Never care for what they knooooowwwoow but I know." I smiled when the guitar started playing the middle of the song. I just thought of playing it on the guitar. It was so much fun when I was younger and rebel."Trust I seek and I find in you. Every day for us something newwww. Open mind for a different view and nothing else matters."Never care for what they say, never care for games they play, never care for what they dooo, never care for what they knowooow and I know. Yeahhhhahhh" The solo came in and I hummed it all the way through. I didn't notice but Luke woke up and was staring at me.
"So close no matter how far…… Couldn't be much more from the heart. Forever trust in who we are and nothing else matters." I finished up the song and looked over to him. I got rosy cheeks in seconds. I looked quickly back to the road.
"I didn't know you liked metal music." Luke said.
"I like everything and anything. This is just a song that is one of my favorite metal songs. My ex introduced me to this band. This song means so much more though. I almost forgot about it. It gives me hope of love and nothing else matters then the love you'll have with someone." I said looking at him. He smiled. He grabbed my one hand and kissed it.
"Well it's a nice song. I heard of them before. I was more of a Motley Crew kind of guy. You know. 'GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS, dancing down on the sunset strip!'" Luke sung and I giggled.
"So you like def leopard, you know 'I see your face every time I dream!'" I tried singing with the voice they had and we busted out laughing.
 
We were in Georgia and close to his parent's house. He told me to turn off the GPS and he'll drive. He was driving and we had it back on the country station. One of his songs came on. He sang along to it and I just smiled looking at all the scenery being happy. I then noticed we pulled into one of the farms. I looked at him and he knew I wanted to know if this was his parent's house. All he did was nod his head. He parked the truck and helped me out the side. I heard a dog and it was on the front porch with a man sitting drinking tea. Luke grabbed my hand and walked me up with him to the porch. The dog stayed next to the man who was standing by the stairs. When we got closer he walked down the steps and had a huge smile.
"Luke!" He said. Luke let go of my hand and hugged the man.
"Hey Pa." Luke said. "This is Nikki. Nikki this is my papa" Luke said. I put out my hand but he hugged me.
"Girl, you're dating my son. We hug around here." He said. He let go of me."Leclair! You're son and his girlfriends here!"Yelling to the door of the house. "So how was the drive from Texas?" He asked.
"Very long, very tiring." Luke said rubbing my back then putting his hand on my shoulder opposite of him.
"I would expect." A smaller lady walked out she had white hair and looked at us. She had such a huge smile on her face.
"Thomas Luther!" His mom yelled and came up and hugged Luke. Then to me. "You must be Nikki. I heard such wonderful things about you." She said. I smiled at her. I don't know why but I felt kind of shy around them. I wanted to impress them because I was dating their son.
"Are you two hungry?" His father asked. We both shook our heads rapidly. His parents laughed.
"It will be done any minute now. I just got to set up the table and check on it. I'll call y'all in when it's done." His mother said.
"Would you like any help Mrs. Bryan?" I asked her. She turned around and thought about it.
"Sure honey. Call me mama." She said with a smile. I followed her into the house. Luke grabbed my hand before I got too far. He hugged me and kissed my forehead. I smiled to him and went inside to find his mother.
His mom was really nice. She showed me where the dishes and forks and knives were. I set up the table while she kept checking on the food. I went back into the kitchen and complemented the smell. We did little small talk. She was really sweet. I helped her bring the food to the table. She asked me to go get the boys. I saw Luke sitting with his father outside and the dog was at Luke's feet.
"Dinner is ready gentlemen." I said sweetly. They looked at me and both smiled the same way.
They followed me in. Leclair sat across from Luke. I sat on his right. His father was at the head of the table. His mother got us drinks of sweet tea which tasted delicious. We all ate what she cooked. In the middle of the meal they decided to bring up conversation.
"So Nikki tell us a little about yourself." I took the napkin and wiped my face.
"Well, I'm from Texas. I went to University of Southern California. I moved to Nashville about 7 months ago. I worked on a Rodeo most of my life. I currently write lyrics and I'm trying to get into production."
"Rodeo huh. What did you do there?" His father sounded really interested.
"I took care of the animals mostly. I cleaned the horses. I fed them. I also fed the bulls. We also had cows so I milked them when they needed milking. My uncles own the farm." I said taking a sip of sweet tea.
"So you grew up with your Uncles?" Luke's mother asked me.
"Uh, well my father and I lived with them since I was born. I grew up with my father and my uncles." I said eating more food.
"What does your father do?" Mr. Bryan asked.
"He was a preacher. After my mother died he went and tried to become one. He worked on the rodeo and preached at his church. He passed away a little over a year ago. "I said staring down at my food I felt Luke grab my hand and squeeze it.
"I'm sorry honey." His mother said. I looked up and smiled.
"It's fine. I know him and mama are staring down at me and proud. "I was actually not about to cry. I felt like these people were genuine and wonderful to be around.
"So enough with questioning her…" Luke said staring his parents down. "Is their dessert mama?" He asked and gave her like a child wanting candy. It was so cute.
"Yes dear. Homemade apple pie." My eyes lit up. She looked at me and smiled.
She didn't want me to help her clean the table. She served us all a piece of pie and I dug in. It was as delicious as the one I make. I enjoyed it all the way to the last bite. We had small talk. Luke was talking about how he was going on tour. He said that since he just got a CD out that he was going on tour with Blake. He parent's seemed so proud of him.
"So Nikki are you going with him?" Mama asked.
"Uh?" I looked over at Luke who looked at me.
"We haven't talked about that yet mama."Luke said it for me.
"Oh." She looked at us who were looked at each other questioningly.
We finished our food. His father suggested that Luke showed me the property. I looked joyful. I wanted to check out Georgia. We got up from the table hand in hand and he showed me all around the peanut farm. He explained things to me and I was fascinated. We got back to the house and he started showing me the house. He went all around downstairs. Then we went upstairs and he showed me rooms. We got to his room and he said that he's had this room most of his life. I looked and it has pictures all over it. He had a nice sized bed. There was a desk in there with a lamp. It looked like a nice teenage kid's room. He came up behind me and hugged me. He kissed my neck and rested his chin on my shoulder.

"My parent's like you. My mom thinks you're extremely sweet. My father like's that you still have goals and ambitions. They also both like you because you make me happy." He said making me smile.
"I'm just so happy they like me." I said turning around to face him.
"If I like you then they will. "I kissed him. We heard his father clear his throat.
"You're mother and I am going to bed. If you guys are gonna go out to the lake watch out. There have been a lot of foxes out there." His father said. Luke smiled at me and turned around.
"Thanks pa. I think we will head out there. Goodnight." Luke said hugging his father.
"Goodnight Mr. Bryan." I said. He came over and hugged me. Luke's ma appeared. He must have been saying goodnight to her.
"Take care of my boy. He seriously likes you and you make him so happy. Thank you." His father said and stood up from hugging me.
"I will Mr. Bryan."
"Call me Tommy or pa." He said smiling. His mother came over and hugged me too.
We all said goodnight. Then Luke and I brought our luggage in finally.