Imagine meeting Jeffs family but his mum not liking you because you’ve had a rough past with drugs, jail and you have anger issues. She’s worried you’re gonna be a bad influence on him and possibly get him back into all that stuff. But Jeff keeps trying to tell her that you’ve moved on and getting help for your issues
Sorry this took so long darling!!!💕
It’s obvious in the way she only offers to shake your hand, greeting curt and cold in comparison to the welcoming embrace offered by her husband and Jeff’s older sister.
You hope and pray it’s a reluctance born from protective love for her only son, though her distaste only becomes more obvious as the evening progresses.
She knows, about the drugs, the arrest and probation. Those fears bounce around in your head, heart racing as you venture into the kitchen nervously.
‘Can I help you with anything?’ you’re hoping the offer to assist with making dinner gets you in her good books somehow.
It proves futile, the dismissive hand gestures and lack of response answer enough. Later that night, when you wake up without Jeff by your side and sleepily stumble down the stairs in search for your boyfriend you overhear a whispered discussion.
He’s stood in the living room, voice passionate and filled with the conviction that always reminds you why you love him so much.
‘She’s no good for y-’ ‘Wrong mom. She’s the best part of me. I fucked up too alright? Remember that? But it’s different now and y/n...I love her. We both messed up and fell into the wrong crowd but that’s not who she is..I hope you can open your eyes and try to see that tomorrow cause I’m not ready to give up on that, on her just like that.’
He’s blinded by anger, natural instinct to defend you against all judgement and harm, from judgemental fans and gossip sites, hateful comments on his socials and now his own mother, heart aching as he turns the corner and almost runs into you in the corridor.
You envelop him in your arms before Jeff can say anything, begin to apologise at the way your eyes lined with tears earlier after dinner when his mom rejected everyone’s intentions for a family game night.
‘I’m so sorry baby-’ you interject, reply soft and reassuring as you rub his back in comforting motions, ‘Don’t...it’s okay, I love you, she does too.’
It’s an attempt to settle his pain, tension escaping in the way his shoulder loosen and hands wrap around you to pull you tighter in the dark of the hallway.
Jeff’s mother carefully watches from afar. Sees the way your eyes soften and her son’s brighten while you hold each other close, like nothing else matters like he’s the best part of you.
The next day you try to hide your shock when she offers you a cup of coffee on the porch, both of you initially shy in this path of trial and error of getting to know one another, intent on trying your best for Jeff who watches on in wonder as his mother leans down to whisper something akin to a secret of a story from his childhood in your ear, laughter a welcome sound.
Yeah, everything’s going to be alright if two of the most important women in his life can smile together like that.
