InsaneJournal

Tina waited anxiously for Mike to pick her up from her home, Saturday evening. It was a bizarre experience, but she was also pretty excited. She was also surprised that her parents were both there to see her off, and to meet Mike. She knew that her father knew Mike’s parents well, and he seemed pretty pleased about this entire situation. Her mother on the other hand, was iffy. And was pretty insistent on this meeting. She fiddled with her phone nervously before sending him a quick text. Hope to see you soon, was all it said. She didn’t want to seem to anxious.

Mike was nervous. Ok, that was perhaps a weak word. This was important. He felt that tonight was going to affect whether he or Tina would ever start actually dating. He stopped his car in front of Tina´s house, taking a deep breath. His phone made a beep as a new message arrived and he looked at it, wondering what he should think about Tina´s words. Was he late? No, he wasn´t… Was she looking forward to seeing him? Was he overthinking things too much? Should he reply? I´ll be right there, , he typed. That was true, wasn´t it? He considered adding something more, but he didn´t have the right words. He hit the send button, took a deep breath and got out off the car.

Tina felt herself smile and relax when she got his text. “Oh, he’s here... I think,” she said out loud, smiling at her parents. Looking herself over in the hall way mirror, she smoothed her hands over her dress before checking to make sure her make up was still nice and in place.

“I think you should let your mother answer the door,” her father joked.

“Oh god. I actually want him to take me to the dance. I’m not trying to scare him away,” Tina said, a little more dramatically then she meant to, before giving her mother a small, apologetic smile. Rushing over the door herself, she opened it and smiled brightly when she saw Mike coming up the walk. “Uh... hi!”

Mike hoped he managed to cover quickly enough that Tina startled him a little by opening the door before he could reach it. He smiled at her, trying to hide his nervousness. She looked... absolutely beautiful. "Hi," he answered, stopping a step away from her. "You´re... you look great," he said, wondering if she could hear his heart beating.

“Hi,” Tina said again, before realizing she already had. “I mean...” she laughed nervously, before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. He looked really great as well. She silently thanked Kurt for his handiwork. “So do you,” she said, before sensing two other people coming to stand behind her, and feeling her smile become a little more forced. “Mike, these are my parents,” she said, turning to introduce them. “Mom, Dad, this is Mike,” she said, watching at her father extended his hand to Mike, a welcoming smile on his face.

Mike wanted to say that all compliments on how he looked tonight should be delivered to Kurt, really – though he was pleased Tina liked his look – but Tina´s parents appeared before he could and he suddenly had to fight the urge to turn around and run away. Somehow he hadn´t though about her parents at all before. He accepted the handshake a little awkwardly. "Um... good evening," he said. Oh Mike, try to actually make a good impression, will you? "It´s, um, nice to meet you." Inside, he did an imaginary facepalm, because honestly, that wasn´t smooth at all.

Tina couldn’t help but smile at how adorably awkward he was being. Wait, adorable..? Her father seemed pleased enough, but looking at her mother, she frowned at the less than thrilled expression on her face as she looked him up and down. Even though Mike was being so polite. “Good evening,” she said finally, giving him a polite enough smile. “Please, come in. We’d like to take some pictures if that’s okay.”

So, it seemed Mike didn´t offend Tina´s father, but her mother apparently disliked him for some reason. What had he done? But at least she didn´t push him out of the door and close it behind him, right? That was something. He smiled back at her politely, even though he was pretty certain they were both faking it. He nodded slowly, deciding that pictures were probably a good enough sign that they would let him actually take Tina to the dance.

Tina bit her lip nervously, glancing back and forth between Mike and her mom. She knew that once her mom got to know him, she would like him. At least her father was being receptive. And it was kinda nice to see him looking so pleased. Taking Mike lightly by the arm, she brought him over to stand in the middle of the foyer, placing her arm around his waist. “Smile,” she said, glancing up at him quickly as her father raised the camera.

Mike tried to relax, because he really wanted those pictures to go well and he really didn´t want Tina´s mother to have a reason to dislike him more than she already had, but Tina was touching him and he felt her mother´s eyes on him... At least Tina´s father seemed to approve of him. He put his hand Tina´s back, hoping it was a safe place and he wouldn´t offend anyone by doing it. He smiled, attempting to make it look natural, and wished for the things to start moving faster. He wanted to be at the dance already. Or at least in his car with Tina without her parents.

After her father happily snapped a few pictures, Tina convinced them both to let them leave. “Have fun you two,” her father said happily, after shaking Mike’s hand one more time. She gave her mom a quick hug and kiss before grabbing her leather jacket and practically pulling Mike out the front door. “Oh my god,” Tina said, laughing to break the awkwardness. “Why are parents so weird?” she asked, more to herself, but totally willing to listen to Mike if he had an explanation.

Mike shrugged, grinning a little, relieved that the parents part of the evening was over already. "I have no idea," he admitted. "Maybe they take special courses or something? Maybe it´s written somewhere that you can´t be a parent until you´re somewhat weird?" Or maybe he should have said Tina´s parents weren´t weird at all? They weren´t that horrible... They, or at least her mother, just managed to scare him. Quite a lot.

“Or it’s in some kind of parenting rule book. That someone wrote as a joke,” she suggested as she walked up to Mike’s car. She wondered if she should be all lady like and wait for him to open the door and stuff. That was normal date stuff. And this was technically a date. Wasn’t it? She hoped so anyway. She was certainly coming into it like it was. “They mean well though.” And they did. “Sorry about my mom. She can be kind of...well, she’s not as bad as my dad. Just be glad he likes you. He’s... usually harder to please.”

Mike walked over to the passenger side of the car, opening the door for Tina, smiling at her. "I... don´t think I made the best impression," he admitted with a sigh. "I´m not good at this... stuff." Not that he ever had to impress anyone´s parents before. Did she actually mean that? That her father was the worse one? It was hard to believe. "Still, it could have probably gone worse..." Well, there had been a moment when he feared they wouldn´t let Tina go anywhere with him.

Smiling at him, Tina climbed into the front seat and waited for him to run around and get inside himself. “It definitely could have gone worse,” she agreed, once he was situated. “And we didn’t really get a chance to stick around and let them get to know you. Maybe some other time,” she said, without realizing that she was basically agreeing to going on another date with Mike. If he asked. Which he might not even want to. Except he liked her, right? This was getting confusing. She gave him another smile, hoping he didn’t notice her blushing again.

Some other time? Did that mean they could... go on another date? If this was date, that is... Was this a date? "Maybe," Mike said, a little more enthusiastically than he had planned. "I´ll persuade them I´m absolutely perfect..." Only I really am not… And he´d have to impress Tina, first…Though it seemed she did like him... "I…" He really wanted to tell her how happy he was that she had agreed to go with him, but he wasn´t certain how. He smiled at her instead, before switching his attention to the steering wheel and his car keys, turning the engine on. The more he was looking at Tina, the more he wanted to kiss her, because she really looked absolutely stunning and also because it was her, and that could end badly...


Amused by Mike’s enthusiasm, Tina felt her lips curl into a tiny smirk. “Perfect, huh?” she asked him. Tina was still trying to decide exactly how she felt about him herself. On one hand, she did like him. And she felt kind of... drawn to him in a way she didn’t really understand. But she was still freshly out of a relationship, and didn’t want to use him as a distraction. Especially since she knew just how much he liked her. But what she did know was that it was a lot easier to smile whenever he was around. Which had to mean something. “Well, I can definitely put in a good word for you.”

"Well, it doesn´t have to be true as long as they believe it," Mike grinned. "Though, naturally, it is true," he added. He was feelling so much more comfortable now that they were away from the parents and on their way to the dance. "Though if you did put a word in for me, it´d be appreciated," he added, taking his eyes away from the road for long enough to look and smile at Tina.

Laughing, Tina nodded. “If you say so,” she teased, winking at him. She was also feeling more comfortable now that they were on their way to the dance. “Then I most definitely will,” she told him. Just in case they did end up going on more dates. Which she wouldn’t say no to.

Mike turned his attention back to driving, still smiling. "Looking forward to the dance?" he asked. "We´re going to be the most awesome... pair, there," he said, avoiding the word "couple", because he wasn´t sure how far from that they were.

“I am,” she said, deciding to ignore the pause before he’d decided on the word “pair” because she didn’t quite know what they were either. “We’re easily gonna blow everyone away with our fancy footwork,” she said, only half joking. Her and Mike really did dance well together.

Mike laughed. "Totally. We´ll need the whole dance floor to ourselves, anyway... not like anyone else will want to do anything but watch while we´re there, of course!"

“Oh of course,” Tina said, smiling easily at him. She was definitely looking forward to the dance more now. “Alright. Let’s do this.”