This would bea breeze.
Not that he’d ever call himself cocky, but he definitely would rate his confidence level about this whole dinner thing pretty high.
Though it wasn’t all that frequent of an occurrence, meeting a girl’s parents was kind of his thing. Parents loved him.
After they’d showered and gotten ready, they were on their way to her parents’ home.
“Just let me know where to go,” he murmured, pulling the car out of her apartment complex.
“First head to Trader Joe’s.”
“What?” He glanced at her.
“Well, if you’re going to meet someone’s Korean parents, you should probably bring a gift. I mean, you don’t have to, but—”
“It’s a great idea. Let’s do it. What are you thinking?”
“We could grab some oranges. Oh, and maybe a live plant.”
“Okay.” His mind roared to life. There were cultural rules, and he desperately wanted a crash course in them. “What else do I need to know?”
She glanced at him, surprise flickering in her eyes. “Really?”
“I want to make a good impression.”
Even if they thought he was just a friend, he wanted to be more. The last thing he wanted was to offend them.
“Okay. You want the big stuff or the little stuff?”
“Give me it all and I’ll try and remember.”
“Okay.” She took a breath and seemed to think about it. “Here’s one. When you’re given a drink, use two hands to take it.”
“Easy enough.”
“And say thank you a lot. Like at least five times throughout dinner.”
“Five? If you haven’t said it at least ten, are you even really trying?” he quipped.
She went on, completely ignoring his attempt at humor. “Oh, here’s a big one. Don’t start eating until after my dad does.”
Okay, now he was starting to get nervous. He ran through the rules she’d laid down and tried to keep them in line. So maybe this wasn’t going to be such a breeze after all.
“It’s a lot, I know.” She grimaced and cast him a sideways look. “Honestly, this is why I didn’t bring a lot of my non-Korean friends over. James eventually figured it out, but honestly, it took a while.”
He stiffened. Both at the reminder of James and that his friend could’ve botched winning over her parents for so long.
“I’m freaking you out.” She sighed and touched his arm. “Don’t worry too much. They’ll cut you some slack since you’re not Korean.”
Maybe he wasn’t, but he wasn’t completely naïve to the culture, having taken Taekwondo for so long. And from her uncle at that.
Just the reminder still tripped him out a bit.
He shook his head. “Hopefully, I’ll impress them enough that they won’t need to cut me any.”
A quick glance over at her showed the skepticism in her eyes was mixed with a dose of admiration.
“The fact that you’re willing to try this hard is seriously amazing.” She touched his knee and leaned over to kiss his neck. “And kind of a turn-on if I’m honest.”