Cosy Little Family Dinner– Tyler, tag Maggy & Phil

[Tyler Durnham]

Given it was the first time Tyler had ever officially met a girl’s parents, even he was a little nervous at first. He felt as though he should bring something, and his usual choice would be a bottle of wine. Except, given that he was in fact under the legal age to drink, he wasn’t sure how that would be received. Most people he socialised with wouldn’t blink at this, but Maggy wasn’t like anyone he knew, so it wasn’t a far stretch to assume her parents were the same, and wouldn’t appreciate the gesture in the way he intended them to. He may have never done this before, but he had seen enough movies to know that you did not want to annoy a girl’s father, especially if you wanted to keep seeing the girl. Tyler had no idea what he wanted with Maggy, his thoughts on that started to get fuzzy long ago. So he decided to just ride it out and see what happened. That never failed him so far. In the end he settled on a bouquet of roses for Maggy.

Getting dressed was another matter he had to give more thought to, even more than usual. He had already made quite the impression on Mrs Veloz, but fathers were generally harder to please, so he had to make sure he looked good, had to make sure he looked like someone the man would want his daughter to date. He realised that he didn’t even think to ask Maggy where they would be going, so what exactly to wear became an issue. The footballer would normally choose a suit, but he couldn’t imagine, with what he knew about Maggy, her parents choosing such a formal restaurant. He didn’t want to go underdressed either, especially given the occasion, so eventually settled on dress pants and a shirt, making sure to leave a jacket in his car’s boot, just in case.

So with those little issues sorted, and with the time nearing five, Tyler made his way over to the modest little house. He approached this as he would when he went out with Maggy alone, only this time there were two more people to impress. And he was actually grateful Lim would be there, it would help take some of the attention off of him. Knocking on the front door, the flowers in his hand, a small smile lit his face. This would be interesting.

[Magdalena "Maggy" Veloz]

Maggy sat on the edge of her seat, twisting the edge of her shirt nervously between her fingers. If she'd not invited Tyler she would have been fine; she was comfortable with him one on one, but she still wasn't sure how to interact with him when there were other people around. And how would he react to Phil being there? She glanced over at her friend, who had his fingers shoved into his pockets. Toying with his pipe, probably; he'd been so annoyed when she'd casually mentioned inviting Tyler and whenever he was annoyed he grabbed for his pipe. But they were dating, so she felt his presence ought to be expected.

A confident rap on the door sent her leaping to her feet. "I'll get it!" She called fretfully, hoping to reach the door before either of her parents, but failing. "Argh, dad! Did you camp out here?" She asked crossly, smoothing her facial features into a smile as her father grinned and opened the door.

"Hi!" She squeaked at the same time her father said "You must be Tyler."

He reached out a hand, scanning his daughter's date critically. He was well-dressed, remarkably more normal in appearance than anyone else Maggy had ever brought home, and clearly was trying to make a good impression or he wouldn't have brought flowers. But that didn't get him a pass; oh, no. He was still a teenage boy dating his daughter, which meant he likely had intentions that were, while normal for a teenage boy, entirely at odds with what any parent wanted for their teenage daughter.

Maggy hovered behind her father impatiently, giving Tyler a tiny wave. "Hi! I'mgladyoucouldmakeit." The words tumbled out all in a rush, before her dad could say anything over her again. "Come sit down?" She gestured toward the living room, hoping that sitting would be more comfortable for the inevitable interrogation than standing in the door was.

[Tyler Durnham]

Tyler had expected Maggy’s father to be the one greeting him, or preferably, Maggy herself. He didn’t expect both of them to be behind the door when it opened. “Hi.” he greeted the girl first, looking more pleased than he meant to show that she seemed just as pleased to see him. His relationship, for lack of a better term, with her was different to what he was used to after all, so he couldn’t be blamed for being a little unsure about her reaction tonight, in front of her family, despite the fact that she invited him in the first place. Unless most women, it took a long time to get her to warm up to him, and even now it was something he was still working at.

He then turned his attention to the man whom he felt was studying him, not at all bothered by the appraisal. He was Tyler Durnham, any father should be happy that someone of such standing was interested in their daughter. He took the outstretched hand, shaking it firmly. “I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr Veloz.” he smiled warmly, letting go of his grip.

When the older man moved back to let him inside, Tyler took a step forward, shutting the door behind him. And once more Maggy easily stole his attention. “Of course, I wasn’t going to miss your birthday.” he spoke softly to her, only her as he moved closer. Surprisingly, he wasn’t looking to impress her father now, he was just glad to see her. Odd. “These are for you, I wasn’t sure what you liked, hope these are fine. You really have to tell me your favourite flowers so I can get it right next time.” he chuckled, leaning close to press his lips to hers. He wasn’t quite sure how she felt about being kissed when her father was there watching, so he made it brief. He would have to steal a more private moment with her later tonight, so he could properly...wish her a happy birthday.

“Sure.” He let her lead him into the next room, deliberately taking her hand as they walked, feeling her father follow close behind. He was only just a little surprised to see that Lim was already there. “Phil.” he smiled, reaching out to greet the guy with a handshake, which seemed to surprise the other guy as much as his appearance surprised Tyler. “How are you going?” He wasn’t bothered by Phil as some at the school now were, given the events with Annie. Sure, it could have been handled much more tactfully, but it had nothing to do with him after all.

Keeping his fingers linked through Maggy’s, Tyler sat on the living room couch, pulling her down right next to him. “You look beautiful, by the way.” he murmured closed to her ear, before speaking louder so that everyone else in the room could hear. “So, where are we eating?”

[Magdalena "Maggy" Veloz]

"Ah, ummm. Favorite flowers?" Maggy asked. She'd never bothered to consider the differences between flowers, certainly hadn't given them enough thought to have a favorite. "Umm. These are fine. I mean, they're really pretty." She corrected herself, lest he think she didn't properly appreciate the gesdture. He danced back a step when he leaned in for a kiss, all too aware of her father's gaze lingering on them.

She was relieved that Tyler seemed unconcerned with Phil's presence, and while Phil was clearly surprised he accepted the handshake and muttered a more-or-less polite reply instead of tensing up like he'd been everytime anyone approached him the last few days. She wished he would resume his personable, eloquent persona soon, but she supposed that "Fine, and you?" was tolerable while he was still recovering from losing a friend. (Although it was his fault! The boys couldn't seem to understand that, and she didn't understand why they were both mad at Annie over this. How was telling someone their parents were going to hell a good idea, anyway?)

She could feel her face heat when Tyler complimented her, allowing herself to be pulled down beside him. The boy was definitely a charmer. "We're going to Olive Garden." She answered, deciding not to acknowledge the comment about her appearance. She did spend time on her appearance, but her effort was primarily concerned with aligning herself against whatever was popular, which meant no heels and no make up, and feminine skirts had to be offset with clunky boots and lots of spikes. She found it more than a little annoying that many of her fellow goth females went for the goth equivalent of the pop princess instead of embracing the androgyny and freedom from expected gender roles she wanted to embrace. She was in no danger of succumbing to the temptation of dressing up like one of the goth pinup girls!

Lorena Veloz swept down the stairs, greeting Tyler with more obvious enthusiasm than her daughter had shown. "Tyler! So nice of you to join us!" She beamed, taking her husband's hand. "Shall we? I believe the three of you kids can all squeeze into the back seat, unless one of you wants to take your own car?" She arched an eyebrow at Tyler, willing him to offer to drive, but Maggy hurriedly cut in with "No! We'll be fine, there are three seat belts." If they took another car, either Phil would be stuck alone with her parents, or he'd be stuck with her and Tyler, and neither scenario seemed all that fair. She wanted to celebrate with all of them, not just Tyler. She was glad he'd come, flattered he'd taken the time out, but that didn't mean she wanted to ditch her family and her best friend.

[Tyler Durnham]

He couldn’t help but grin at Maggy’s summary of the flowers. She was clearly not used to receiving them yet, even though Tyler started making a habit of making them a regular gift. Either that, or she wasn’t one for flowers at all. Most girls loved them, so, he realised, of course she probably didn’t. He would have to find something else then, or, he could just keep giving her flowers. Her reaction to it always amused him, like he had taken her by surprised, and she wasn’t quite sure how she should react. It was different to most girls, which, he had to admit, was what kept drawing him to her. He loved his usual women, but, even Tyler Durnham needed a change sometimes, needed something different, and Maggy was most certainly something different.

“Not too bad at all Phil. Glad to be going out actually, things have been pretty full on at home over the weekend, it’s nice to be getting a break from it, and spend the night with Maggy. Two birds with one stone.” he laughed softly, oblivious to any embarrassment the girl whose hand he was currently holding might be feeling. It was the truth, as enjoyable as certain parts of his weekend was, his unbelievable night spent with Aly (he believed the girl when she had told him she was a virgin at the start of the night, but if she hadn’t, he never would have guessed. The things that woman could do.), his date with Sarissa, even if it wasn’t as success as the date with Aly, and not to mention, the fact that he was now living with a younger sister, with all the added responsibilities that was sure to entail. So, a night out with Maggy, even with her family and best friend along for the ride, was a refreshing change. Not that he wouldn’t try to get the girl alone for some not so innocent fun, if he could miraculously talk her into it, during the course of the night. Maybe given the fact that she was now officially one year older, she was feeling a bit more willing. He could hope anyway.

The footballer was however completely aware of her blushing when he complimented her. He was well aware that she was prone to this, whenever he said something even remotely nice about her, she blushed. He, of course, abused this, taking every chance he could to make her blush. He liked it, she wasn’t as sure of herself as the girls he usually entertained himself with, didn’t take it for granted that she was beautiful. And beautiful was exactly what he found her to be, not like Aly or Sarissa was, not even in the way he considered Sloane or Bree to be. He couldn’t imagine any of them ever dressing the way Maggy, and if they did, he wouldn’t find it appealing in the slightest. The whole punk, emo, goth, whatever look it was that Maggy was aiming for, worked when it came to her. He must have had more diverse taste than he realised.

“Olive Garden? I’ve never been there before, good.” he decided with a slight grin. He hadn’t been there for good reason, if he wanted Italian, he could afford to eat somewhere more...high brow than the Olive Garden. But he was always open to new experiences, like that time during Spring Break with the twins and the hot tub. He let go of her hand, smoothly letting his drop to his side, between the two of them. And, out of view of anyone but Maggy, he let his fingers trail along her leg for a few moments, keeping his expression calm, but otherwise blank. He felt the goose bumps that formed under his touch, well aware of the effect he was having on her, or at least, the effect he hoped he was having on her. She had to give into him sometime soon. It was driving him crazy, how was it possible he could want a girl so bad, and yet she could resist him as much as Maggy was? It wasn’t possible that she wasn’t as interested in him, she had to be. He was Tyler frigging Durnham in the first place. If he couldn’t steal a moment with her tonight, he had to invite her over after school this week, finally see what he could do about getting more intimately involved.

He moved his hand away just as unnoticeably when her mother made an appearance, standing politely when she entered the room, pleased by the enthusiasm. At least he had one person close to Maggy on his side, that was sure to be a help. “It’s really my pleasure Mrs Veloz. I’m just glad to be able to spend some of Maggy’s birthday with her.” He considered her question for just a fraction of a second. And yes, taking his own car would be perfect, especially if he could just talk Maggy into riding with him. He’d been known to accomplish quite a lot in a car.

Besides, even though Maggy and Phil had considerably smaller builds, Tyler, was a footballer, wasn’t built to fit into the back seat of a car with two others. Which, as well as his main motivation to drive, was why he was considerably hesitant when Maggy spoke up before he could, declining the offer. One car it was then. He really hoped it wasn’t a small one. He wanted to get close to the girl, but this wasn’t exactly what he had in mind. “Ok, that’ll be fine.” he agreed reluctantly. Maybe he wasn’t getting as far with her as he had believed after all.

Tyler offered his hand to Maggy, helping her up, and once again he didn’t let go of it. He noticed the way that the elder female Veloz beamed at her daughter when she saw this, but he pretended not to notice. It was sure to be beneficial though, to have a new member of his fan club along for the ride. And it was sure to be helpful when he tried to charm her father to his side as well. Tyler could only imagine he was very different to any other guys Maggy might have ever brought home. And obviously her mother enjoyed the difference.

“Well, let’s get going.” he suggested, and being who he was, not one to settle with such platonic gesture, let go of her hand to slide his arm around Maggy’s waist instead.