The fact Ashley was as nervous as she was at the moment, was so stupid, because she’d known Mercedes’ mom and brother for years, and hell, you could almost say Mercedes’ mom was like a second mother to Ashley, given how close she’d grown to the older woman over the years. That was the thing, however, she’d grown close to Mercedes’ family, because she’d been so close to Mercedes, as a friend, but this was the first time she’d be visiting everyone, as Mercedes’ girlfriend, and no matter how many times Mercedes told her everything was going to be fine, Ashley still couldn’t get those nervous butterflies out of her tummy. “I don’t know, Cedes. Maybe now isn’t the time to spring the news on everyone. I mean, it’s Christmas Eve, and we have kept our relationship on the low for so long now, what if everyone gets mad because we kept it to ourselves for so long? I just don’t want to risk ruining the holiday for your family.”
"Would you calm down?” Mercedes asked and her voice was a little more stern than normal. Far from sounding mean but she wanted Ashley to understand that she was trying to be serious. “For one, you act like my family is huge. It’s literally just going to be the two of us, my mom and my brother. You know my brother and you know he’s the sweetest man on this planet and if you make me happy then he’ll be happy. And my mom? The same could be said about her. Religious or not, she’ll know you make me happy which is what counts but she might just be a little confused since she doesn’t know I’m bisexual.” she revealed and it’s not like it was something she tried to hide from her mother. It was just one of those things that had yet to come up. Her brother knew. He was well aware of that. Cedes looked down to the two gift bags she had held in each hand - each of them holding smaller presents in the bag that she had gotten for them over the last couple weeks during her travels from city to city. “Secondly, no one is forcing us to come out. If you wanna wait a little longer, baby, than just say so. I want to say something but I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable.”