"No, hell no."

"And why not?" Tori snaps exasperated. Carter laughs loudly as the five of us all shake our heads at them. Carter and Tori are perched on our counter proposing that we go line dancing with them. Although Carter has been oddly quiet about this whole ordeal. I lean against the far side counter appreciating my girl. Her short skirt and lacey top with Nike Blazers. She looks fucking hot.

"You got me fucked up if you think I'm going," Trey says shaking his head as he tosses his smoothie cup in the garbage. They not only tried convincing us with words but smoothies.

"It'll be fun! And you guys can drink," she says giving Carter a nudge. Carter sips her smoothie staring down at her dangling feet on the counter. Tori shoves her again and she looks upsetting her smoothie down.

"Oh right! Yes, line dancing, it'll be fun," Carter says in a very unconvincing tone. Braden gives her a funny look while I glance over her. Her knee is still badly bruised and cut up. But, I put brand new Finding Nemo band-aids on it after I forced her to cover it.

"See, Carter doesn't even wanna go!" Robbie states pointing in my direction. Tori rolls her eyes at Carter while she gasps in protest.

"I so do, it's dollar tequila shot night," she says crossing her arms over her chest. She flicks her eyes to me as I make my way over to her. She smiles up at me, "Hi."

"As much as I enjoyed the smoothies and watching you with your Finding Nemo band-aids, I am not going line dancing," I tell her as I press my lips against hers. She frowns as I pull away and she playfully shoves me away.

"No fun! Please," she asks giving me her famous puppy dog eyes. Her big brown eyes look up at me as she juts out her bottom lip. I look away because I know that once I look at her face I will cave. I always do.

"Only if you tell me what's wrong," I press her going to her eye level. She narrows her eyes at me shaking her head. I can tell something is bothering her I just don't know what.

"Only if you tell me," she responds leaning closer to my face. I inhale her coconut scent and feel comfortable with it. My parents are coming this weekend and if that doesn't scream stress I don't know what does.

"Later," I tell her pressing a small kiss to her lips. She nods her head smiling before looking back at the boys and Tori, who are still arguing about line dancing.

"I got a date with Raelyn, sorry but even if I didn't, I wouldn't do it," Robbie states grabbing his gym bag from the ground. We all just came back from practice and Coach is absolutely running us. With our first game in March Madness coming up and us having home-court advantage, he needs us to win.

"And I gotta um shave my balls," Braden mumbles as Carter scrunches up her nose. Tori gags next to her while Braden rushes out of the kitchen.

"Could have lived my whole life not knowing that!" Tori yells leaning her palms on the counter. She smirks at Jeremy, Trey, and me. "But that leaves you three."

I flick my eyes back at Carter as she holds her puppy dog eyes at me once again. I sigh before nodding my head at Tori. She claps her hands excitedly before grabbing ahold of Trey.

"Julie's going," Tori says as Trey keeps his annoyed look on his face. I swear I almost see him smirk at the comment but he doesn't show it. He takes a deep breath glancing at Carter and I.

"Fuck, fine, whatever," he says pointing at Tori as she smiles happily. "You, owe me."

"Oh fuck you, I need to go get ready!" she exclaims hopping off of the counter. I glance at Carter and she seems to be pretty content staying here.

"Hey Tor, can I meet up with you later?" Carter asks her as I eye her suspiciously. Tori looks in between the two of us confused before realization crosses over her face.

"Oh yeah for sure, bye guys!" she yells loudly. She grabs her purse off of the counter before speed walking in the direction of the front door. Carter chuckles in front of me as she hears the door shut.

"So, are you going to tell me what's wrong?" I ask her tilting my head up at her. She sighs nodding her head. I offer her a hand to help her off the counter and she accepts it. She intertwines her fingers with mine as we walk in the direction of the stairs. We walk up the stairs in silence as I hear the boys in Trey's room yelling at each other.

I push open my door for her as she lets go of my hand running to Sixer. Her floppy ears are starting to stand up on their own as she hops off of my bed to Carter.

"My baby," Carter says kneeling down in front of her. I can see some of the stress fall off of Carter's face as she scratches behind Sixer's ear but it's still there. I shut my door and sit down on my bed leaning my back against the wall. Carter stands up as Sixer happily follows her.

"What's wrong?" I ask her as I lightly place her onto my lap. She shifts turning to face me her hands digging into my hair. I pull her closer at the feeling with a smile at her.

"School, I forgot it actually existed," she sighs as she plays with my hair. I nod my head at her. Things have been crazy, basketball, school, and let's never forget all the fucking drama. "Plus, you didn't tell me your parents were coming up this weekend."

She pulls away at her statement and I give her a funny look. How the fuck does she even know that? It's not like I make it a public statement that they are coming. Hell, I don't even want people to know about it.

"How do you know that?" I ask her genuinely curious. The only people who know is the boys and now I guess her.

"Your roommate thought you told me," she says crossing her arms over her chest. I roll my eyes at that comment knowing it was probably fucking Trey. I love him but man does he sometimes say the wrong shit at the wrong time. 

"Let me guess, Trey?"

She looks away from me but has a smirk playing on her lips. Sixer sets her head on my calf looking up at the two of us.

"I'm not going to say that and it's not the point. It's the fact that you didn't say anything," she says poking my chest. I grab her hand lightly and place a kiss on the top of it. She pulls it away from me crossing her arms over her chest. I frown up at her and she glared back down at me. "I am supposed to be mad at you."

I sigh pulling her closer, "Because it's not that big of a deal."

She clicks her tongue at me and narrows her eyes, "Not that big of a deal my ass, Fletcher. You and I both know you are stressed about seeing him."

She knows fucking everything. I don't even know why I bother not telling her shit because she always finds out. My father is the last person on my list I want to see. I haven't faced him in a while and I really don't feel like we should ever be face to face again.

"I don't have to see him," I tell her simply. And I really fucking don't. The only person I even want Carter near is my mom. My mom raised me, not my douche bag dad.

"Oh my god," she says hopping off of my lap. I look up at her confused and slightly annoyed as to why she is pushing this. She knows that I don't want him anywhere near her. So why the fuck is she mad?

"What? You can't just accept the fact that you and I aren't going to see him?" I ask her getting up off the bed. She rolls her eyes at me crossing her arms over her chest.

"I understand Asher, I do. But you can't hide from him forever. You can't hide me from him forever," she says looking up at me with her pretty eyes. I try not to get lost in her light eyes as she looks up at me stressed. I look away from her and try to relax a little. We just got back together and I am not fighting her about this right now. I can and will hide her from my father for as long as I can.

"This conversation is over," I tell her taking a couple of steps in her direction. She rolls her eyes again but doesn't say anything else. I can tell she's mad but I can also tell she is holding her tongue.

"Fine," she says grabbing my hand. She gives it a light tug as I raise my eyebrows at her.

"You really aren't going to fight me?" I ask her skeptically. Carter always puts up a fight, always. She shakes her head at me tugging me again. I let her this time as she checks her phone.

"Let's go to the bar and maybe with a drink in you, you'll tell me," she says guiding us to my door. I look at her with eyes narrowed as she shoots me her beautiful smile. Dimples and all.

"Are you trying to take advantage of me, Miller?" I ask her as she laughs. She rolls her eyes at me opening the door. I hear Tori and Trey bickering down the stairs.

"Just order the fucking Uber," I hear Tori snap at Trey. Carter is laughing at the two of them as we step down from the stairs.

"No because if they don't come down here in ten seconds, we are not going," Trey states as we walk into the kitchen. Tori is about to come back at Trey but pauses when she motions in our direction.

"See they are here, order the Uber," Tori says snapping her fingers at Trey. He glances at the two of us before grumbling a 'thanks a lot' looking down at his phone. Carter drops my hand and heads over to Tori. This should be an amazing night at a line dance bar with one person who doesn't wanna be there and one person who is pissed at me. The pissed off person being my girlfriend.

Great.

•••

Trey is so into this it's embarrassing. Once Tori got him started on green tea shots he was down for the count. The man has been doing everything from the Cotton Eye Joe to whatever is playing right now. Carter and Tori are hanging onto each other and following the steps of the people in front of them. I am not going to lie Carter is actually pretty good at this whole line dancing thing. She holds her tequila soda in her other hand and she seems to be okay. We haven't really spoken to each other since we got here. I ordered her drink and she was off to the dance floor. I decided to stay at the bar and watch, for now.

I take a sip from my beer watching as my girl downs the rest of her drink. She says something to Tori before heading my way. She shoots me a smile but it doesn't reach her eyes. The barstool next to me is empty as she hops up, well attempts, to hop up. I lightly grip her hips and help her up.

"Thanks," she says sitting on the barstool. She turns and looks at me then back to the dance floor. "Are you going to sulk all night or are you going to dance with me?"

"I'm not sulking I'm thinking," I tell her as she flags down the bartender. She glances at me but doesn't say anything else. She's probably right. I am most definitely just sitting here sulking. I let my eyes wander over her to calm myself down from snapping at her. She grabs the bartender and orders her drink before looking at me. "Another Miller."

"About your dad."

"No, fuck him. You're mad because I said no," I tell her as she sits up straighter. I know I hit a nerve because whenever someone tells her what she doesn't want to hear she becomes as straight as a board.

"I'm not," she says as the bartender hands us our drinks. I reach a hand out and rest it on her thigh glancing over her black top.

"You're not meeting him," I say it again. She sighs looking at me defeated. She twists a piece of hair around her finger, thinking.

"I'm not gonna push you," Carter says crossing her legs. I shoot her a look but she ignores me as she sips on her tequila sprite. Do I want her to meet my dad? Should I really put her through that? Fuck, all I wanted to do was have her meet at least my mom and my brother. Now, my dad is coming.

"So you're not gonna be mad?" I ask her with raised eyebrows. She shrugs her shoulders still not looking in my direction.

"Well, I won't necessarily be happy but if that's what you want," she tells me looking back in my direction. Her big brown eyes are staring at me intently and I know exactly what I have to do. I have to let her into my shit storm of a dad.

"Fine."

"Fine what?" she asks tilting her head at me. A smirk plays on her lips. She knows she's getting exactly what she wanted all along.

"You can come, but don't say I didn't warn you." I watch as her pink lips curl into a smile. She knew she was getting her way whether I wanted her to come or not. Truth is, I did want her there. Carter grounds me when I don't know I need her. And if there is any time I would need someone to ground me it would be with my father. I brought from my thoughts as she plants herself on my lap. I bring my hands to her thighs as she presses a kiss on my cheek.

"As long as you don't flip a table or anything and I will still be your girlfriend just the same," she says as I squeeze her thigh. I adjust her on my lap giving her a smirk. "Don't even think about it, we still have to dance."

"Mmm dancing can wait," I say nipping the side of her neck. Her head tilts slightly as I move to press a kiss to her jawline. She turns her face towards mine so our noses are touching as she smirks.

"No, hell no. You two do not get to feel each other up while I am being forced to take care of drunko," Trey yells grabbing Carter off of my lap. Carter, very gracefully, flies off of my lap and is dragged towards Tori. I groan as she shoots me a wink leaving me with a semi.

"You so fucking owe me," I say sliding off of the barstool to join my girlfriend. I really need to relax with my parents coming and Carter. I know she will keep me grounded for this dinner and make sure I do not flip any tables. My only worry is my douchebag dad. He definitely has a way of getting under people's skin and if I know anything, Carter will flip on him. Especially if she is drinking prior to the game.

Carter tugs me into line with Trey and Tori as the song changes. I glance at her as she continues to hold my hand and listen to the song.

I follow her steps and concentrate on not running over the little old lady in front of me. Tori is swinging Trey around next to Carter while Carter takes it slower. She looks so cute watching me as I watch her. She's smiling contently. I can and go to move right but step on her foot. I jump back and catch her before she falls flat on her ass as laughter comes out of her.

"Are you okay?" I ask her as she wraps her arms around my neck. She's laughing so hard I think she's crying or from the pain of my dumbass crushing her foot.

"You are a horrible dancer," she laughs as I lightly sway her to the upbeat song. I laugh too because she is definitely right. I gaze down at her gorgeous hazel eyes in the disco lights and her amazing smile.

"Guess I should stick to basketball?" I ask her leaning closer to her face. She chuckles again before pushing up on her tippy toes.

"No shit," she says pressing her lips to mine. In this moment, I know we'll be okay. Even if her meeting my dad scares the shit out of me or that she'll leave me when she meets him. She's here and I think, I hope, she always will be.