Page 14 of Beauty and the Nerd

“There’s no reason to be nervous Emma,” Ben said pushing open the door to his house, ushering her inside out of the cold. He gave her a soft smile as he helped her with her coat brushing a few strands of hair from her eyes. “Don’t worry, my parents will love you.”

“I hope so.” She leaned into his side as a slightly smaller body rushed down the stairs towards them.

She tightened her hold on Ben’s hand, her other lightly touching his arm needing a little more connection in order to meet his family.

She’d never had a good meet and greet with any of the moms of guys she’d dated.

It never really bothered her before, but Ben was different, the way she felt about him was different, and she didn’t want his family hating her.

“Whoa, who’s the babe?” the boy questioned, and she could easily see the resemblance between him and Ben.

“Watch it,” Ben warned before glancing over to Emma with a smile. “This is my brother Adam, and that’s his twin Daphne,” he added seeing her coming around the corner with his aunt and uncle.

“You’re so annoying always calling us the twins,” Daphne said rolling her eyes before looking at her. “Wow big brother, you have seriously good tastes but why the heck are you with him?”

“Daphne,” Ben heard his mother say as she came out from the kitchen with his father. He watched the smile slip from her face when she saw Emma in his arms, and he knew things weren’t going to go as he’d hoped with her.

“Mom, Dad, this is my friend Emma,” he stated, wanting to jump over the worst of it. “Emma, this is my mom Tara, my dad Simon, my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jordan,” he added feeling her hand tighten in his again sensing the disapproval coming from his mother.

“Why don’t we all head to the dining room?” his mom suggested putting her hands onto Adam’s shoulders to turn him that way.

He walked Emma into the room and sat her down next to him as his mother moved into the kitchen for the rest of the food.

It was a complete let down to realize this wasn’t going to be as pleasant as the dinners with her parents who’d never had an issue with him being in Emma’s life, not even as her boyfriend now.

He’d wanted the same to be true about his family but that was clearly not happening yet.

Hopefully his mom would see the real her, not just what she looked like and get over it fast.

“So, are you two dating or just friends?” Adam asked into the straining silence.

“There’s no way they’re dating. She’s way too gorgeous to be with our brother,” Daphne said, and Emma shook her head with a half-smile.

“Looks aren’t everything, sometimes they’re the last thing you should be looking for,” she stated, as Ben gently took her hurt hand into his.

“Wait, so you two are dating?” Daphne asked as their mom came into the room with a dish.

“Yes Daphne, we’re dating,” Ben stated, meeting his mother’s gaze as her mouth pursed in irritation over the news.

“Ben, can you help me with the last couple dishes?” she questioned, and he pressed a soft kiss to Emma’s temple before heading into the kitchen with her. “What on earth are you thinking?” she demanded the instant they were through the door. “That girl…”

“Her name is Emma, Mom, not that girl,” Ben said trying to stop her before she got going. Her displeasure with the situation was quite evident.

“I don’t need to know her name because that sort of girl is only after one thing Ben.

She’s the one you’ve been helping all semester, isn’t she?

And now she’s probably just stringing you along in order for it to continue, for you to do her work so she can go goof off with the boys on the basketball team. ”

He lowered his voice hoping that she would as well as he told her, “Mom, stop it.”

“That sort of girl will only string you along to hurt you or humiliate you later Benjamin. I will not let that happen. You tell her to get out of my house and stay away from you. You do not need that type of girl in your life. I will not have you sleeping with her just so she can fool you into doing whatever homework she wants you to do for her.”

“Stop it!” Ben sighed, holding in a groan, hating that this was the first thing she thought when he introduced someone as incredible as Emma to them. “You know nothing about Emma so stop it.”

“No, that sort of girl…”

“For god’s sake Mom, stop it! Look, I don’t know what the pretty, popular girls at your school were like, probably a lot like most of the others at mine, but that’s not Emma.

Yes, she is gorgeous and popular. She won Homecoming Queen, but there’s so much more to Emma than just her looks.

Give her a chance,” Ben said not budging as his mom planted her hands on her hips.

“Give her a chance because I love her and I’m not going to lose her by allowing anyone, but especially not you, to treat her like shit, Mom. ”

“That girl is playing you Ben; you’ve spent more time helping her this last semester than on your own schoolwork. It’s a wonder you kept your grades up with her keeping you out to all hours of the night. I don’t care what you think you feel. It’s just sexual attraction and it stops now.”

“You want to know who Emma is?” he demanded, as she grabbed the last dish to take to the table, following her out finding Emma’s seat empty.

“I think she went to the bathroom; it looked like she was about to cry,” Daphne said as he sent a glare at his mother.

“Thanks Mom. I mean really, thank you for being so freaking judgmental towards the most incredible girl I’ve ever known, who was already nervous about meeting you, the moment you laid eyes on her.

God, I told you last night that she was special to me and to be nice, give her a chance, and this is what you do?

Then you wonder why I never bring people over to the house,” he fumed, glaring at her because it wasn’t the first time she’d been judgmental towards someone, but at least then it was just one of his friends, not someone that he loved with his whole being.

“Oh, and FYI, Emma’s the girl I told you about in my texts while I was at NYU this summer.

She’s been on at least the B Honor Roll all during high school and the only reason she even went to the tutor center was so we could spend time together without everyone acting like you just did.

And the reason my grades didn’t slip is because we would do our homework together in half the time it would have taken me on my own.

Emma aced every single one of her classes this past semester with little actual help from me beyond setting up times for us to get together and study instead of her trying to cram it in whenever she had two seconds to spare around all of her other obligations.

The rest of the time we spent together was simply for us to be together.

“So, thanks for telling me who Emma supposedly is, and thanks for having such confidence in my ability to know if a girl’s actually into me or not.

And really…thanks for taking one look at her and jumping to the totally wrong conclusion because also FYI, we’re not sleeping together.

Emma’s still a virgin and I absolutely love the fact that she has never let a guy push her or talk her into letting go of something she feels is meant to be special, shared with the right person and not just anyone or everyone.

And hell, while I’m on a roll, regarding a subject that really is none of your damn business, whether you’re my mother or not, I’m not a fucking virgin so stop thinking you know everything because you don’t,” he added, before storming from the room as her jaw dropped along with his siblings at his last bit of information.

He saw the shut bathroom door and knocked lightly on it calling out her name. She didn’t respond, and he tried the knob, finding it unlocked. It slid open a hair, and he peeked around it, spotting her at the sink, leaning against it with her weight braced on her arms.

A little push opened it further and he moved to her, noting the track of tears that’d slid down her cheeks, marring even the soft makeup she wore, telling him they’d fallen hard and fast. The fact that his mother, his own mother, made her cry, upset her like this made every potentially harsh word he’d uttered to the woman suddenly seem not harsh enough.

He pulled her around into his chest and cupped the back of her head as she tried to stop the new set from falling.

“Shh, I’m so sorry Em.” He hushed her softly, unable to believe his mother would purposely speak so loudly to ensure Emma overheard the awful, untrue things she said.

Even when he’d brought over some friends she didn’t like when he was younger, she’d always waited until after they left to let her displeasure be known.

She’d never said it where they could overhear or even treated them unkindly to their faces.

Well, not with her words at least, her disapproving looks said a lot but never had the actual words come out while someone else was here.

“You didn’t deserve any of that and if I’d known…

I never would have brought you here if I’d thought my mom would be so rude to you, baby. ”

“She was just trying to protect you the same way my dad does with me,” she said, and he shook his head amazed that she’d be that nice about it.