Stay With Me (Merome)

Chapter 14 (Happy 15th Chapter! :P)

Jerome's POV

"Jerome. Can I talk to you?" Mrs Hughes asked, and I immediately got off my chair, and moving my suitcase out of the way, followed her.

I was due to fly out with Mitch in several hours, and it was almost time to go.

"Jerome, I know you love my son." Mrs Hughes said matter-of-factly as soon as we were out of the radius of anyone else hearing, and I immediately looked at her in shock. "What?"

"Please don't attempt to deny it, I can see it in your eyes. You worship the ground he walks on."

"Maybe." I muttered, embarrassed, looking at the floor. I didn't realise his family would know so soon, and I respected Mrs. Hughes too much to lie to her. She rested a light, caring hand on my shoulder. "I hope you're successful." She said quietly. I looked up at her. "What?"

"I love you Jerome. I love you like a son, and I know that you'd never try to hurt Mitch. You'd probably put him first, and that is the sort of partner I'd like him to have. Lia... I don't know about the girl, but she gives me a bad feeling. Call it women's intuition, but I don't think she matches Mitch as well as you." I stared at her, relief in my veins. "I know Connor tried to talk to Mitch about it, but he didn't want to listen, so I wanted you to know that if Mitch ever wants to be with you, we, his family, are ready to accept you as soon as we can. You'll both just have to say the wo-" Mrs Hughes stopped abruptly, then looked over my shoulder. "What's going on?" I heard Mitch ask, and I leapt back guiltily. Mitch's mom came to our rescue however, and spoke smoothly. "Oh honey, don't worry! I'm just bonding with my favourite non blood-related son."

"Hey! I thought I was your only one!" I yelped, trying to deflect suspicion, and it seemed to work. Mitch relaxed, and I headed for my suitcase. "Jerome, we're leaving now. Grab your stuff, and leggooo!"

(Time skip all the way to when they touch down in New Jersey because talking about their WiFi usage doesn't interest me too much.)

We hailed down a taxi, one that had the faint scent of tobacco, and gave them my address, then got in. "Look Mitch, I really wanted to ask you, why did you think I was dating Ashley?"

"Because since she left, you've mopey, and you guys spent a lot of time together."

"It was because you were with Lia!"

"Oh. Really?" Mitch asked, but it wasn't with a challenge in his tone. Instead, he sounded a little sheepish. "Yeah. Can we move on now?" I asked, exasperated. He nodded, and we started generalised conversation until we hit my house, before Mitch got out of the car. I started shaffling out as well, before I heard the taxi driver mutter quietly, "I'd say that boy sure is in love." I quickly got out after with a burning face, and handed over appropriate change and tip. "Thank you." I muttered curtly. The taxi driver looked at me. "I wasn't talking about you." He pointed a finger at Mitch, now fetching his stuff out of the boot. "I meant him."

"Why?"

"Because he cares for you boy. He just doesn't know it yet." He muttered gruffly, then took a long inhale on his cigarette. "Stay safe boy." He advised, and I bowed me head. "Thanks." In reality, his words gave me no hope, but he had shared them, and I had to respect that.

I walked in and instantly, my parents were hugging us, and Mitch smiled. "I'm going to get changed for Disney." He grinned, and I smiled back. "Go for it."

As soon as he was up the stairs, I pulled on my parents arms and led them into the kitchen. "I'm gonna do it." They froze. "Do what Jerome?"

"Mitch."

"Jerome, you know we still don't think you should be having sex yet..."

"But... I- wait. What?" I looked at my mom, confused, and she raised an eyebrow. "Oh crap. You're seriously going to take my answer that way? I mean it's related to him!"