my delilah

04

"My family is coming to visit," Delilah muttered as she and Wick sat in his Mustang. The engine purred loudly, and Delilah couldn't help but enjoy the car, even though she'd never tell Wick that. The man driving looked over at her, a crease between his eyebrows.

"Really?" he said, to which she nodded. "When?"

"Next week," she muttered as a response, glancing up at Wick cautiously. "They're traveling through the country; said they'd stop by for a couple days."

"Whoa," he said, glancing over at his girl while still focusing on the road. It was still dark out, though the sun was starting to peak out over the horizon. Wick was completely drained of energy, apparent by his tired eyes and blank expression, but he'd promised to drive Delilah to work, and he wasn't about to break that promise. "How do you feel about it?"

She sighed, shaking her head briefly. "I just..." she began, but quickly silenced. "I don't know. It's been years since I saw them last. I guess it feels good to prove to them that things are going well for me now, whatever they think of it," she huffed when she thought of the last argument she'd had with her mother. "Will you stay with me when they come over?"

"Or course, darling," he said, nodding.

"Thank you," she said, placing a hand on his, before moving to pick up her phone from her tote bag. "I'll just text them a response now, saying that it's cool," she muttered, looking at the bright screen that cut through the dimly lit car sharply. "Formalities, address, schedule, yada, yada."

"What address are you giving them, then?" Wick asked, and she looked at him with a crooked eyebrow. "I'm just saying, if you're trying to prove a point, my apartment is sure as hell going to be more successful on that part."

She thought for a moment, looking at Wick with furrowed eyebrows. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, just two days ago-"

"Relax, I'm not asking you to move in permanently, unless you want to of course," he said, grinning in her direction. "I just know that it's a big deal for you when your parents come over, and I know you want them to be proud. I thought, maybe an upgrade in apartment would help, so they won't have to squeeze into your 300 square feet flat."

"350," she said with a playful frown on her face, which Wick repeated slyly with a roll of his eyes.

In all honesty it was a great idea, apart from one factor – her family truly disliked Wick. It'd never been anything personal, and she'd even go as far as to say that they'd have probably gotten along great if things were different, but just the idea of Delilah dating a man much older than herself had caused a huge tear in their relationship as a family. It didn't matter that they'd stuck together for more than three years – all they saw were numbers, and it didn't go over well with their beliefs.

Most of her siblings had always supported her, and she loved them for it. Diana, her kind older sister, who always protected her – if it hadn't been for Diana finding her one true love across the country, the two would've been inseparable. Delilah pondered, and recognized that she could at the least be excited to meet her sister again, after years without her.

She came from a big family, and they'd always been close. She could remember how lively things had been when she was younger – people were always over at their house, aunts and uncles, cousins, other distant relatives. Things had changed when she entered adolescence, and her mother developed a problem with alcohol. Everything seemed to slow down, and soon enough, people stopped coming over. The always lively household then only housed her and her five siblings and her father, and the once happy and joyful family faded into comfortable silence.

"Offer stands," he said as he pulled his car into the parking lot of Open Mind Records, causing Delilah to leave her train of thoughts behind as she was yanked back into the present. "Might come by later today, darling – maybe you can pick something for me to read. Besides, I need some new discs for the car, I'm getting tired of listening to Queen every damn time we're going somewhere."