Ruth’s eyes flicked to me, a disgusted expression on her face. Maybe she was mentally thinking of all the dirt or grime that I’d left in her daughter’s bed; it certainly looked like she was already planning on disinfecting her bedroom. “He stayed here…. all night?” she asked, with wide eyes.

Ellie nodded and I hated myself for putting her in his position. I needed to say something, something that would make this better. “Nothing happened, I swear,” I assured her. That was the truth; we’d not done much more than sleep last night.

Ruth made a little whimper sound as she closed her eyes, recoiling as if she’d just encountered something horrific. “I should hope not!” she snapped, shaking her head fiercely.

I gulped not knowing how to make this situation better. Ellie spoke first, “Sorry. I knew that if I asked that you would say no and I really just wanted to wake up in the bed with my boyfriend to make my birthday more special. It is my eighteenth.”

Ruth made a snorting sound on the word boyfriend. “Of course I would say no! You can’t have boys over in your bed, especially not that boy,” she snapped, nodding her head at me distastefully.

Ellie’s back stiffened. “That boy? ” she repeated sarcastically. “Are you kidding me right now, Mom? Jamie’s not just some random guy, he’s incredible and if you can’t see that then that’s your problem not mine,” she retorted. “I’m not having this ‘he’s not good enough for you’ conversation again. You have no idea what you’re talking about as far as he’s concerned, you’ve never even tried to give him a chance, you’re just being judgemental as always. We’re going to get breakfast!” She stepped away from me and tugged on my hand while her mom just stood there with her mouth open, her hands clenched into fists looking like she wanted to skin both of us alive.

Oh shit. Damn, my girlfriend was feisty at times. I loved that she would defend me like that, even after what I’d told her in the early hours of the morning.

I followed her down the stairs with Ruth marching along behind us silently. I hated myself for causing this friction, especially since it was Ellie’s birthday - I’d wanted to make this day special, not cause a family argument. I guess her eighteenth was going to be memorable for a different reason to what I intended. As we stepped into the kitchen I smiled weakly as Michael looked up from his newspaper, a huge grin on his face.

“Ahh, the birthday girl’s finally up!” he chirped happily.

Ellie laughed and nodded. “Yep! Do I get pancakes this morning?”

Michael bobbed his head in confirmation, his eyes settling on me. “Morning, Jamie. Didn’t hear you come in,” he said, pushing himself up from the chair and walking over, pulling Ellie into a hug.

“Of course you didn’t hear it. He snuck in last night!” Ruth barked behind us.

Slowly the smile fell from Michael’s face and I knew that I should have just taken the risk of getting put back inside. I’d broken his trust and that was something I never wanted to do. I loved that he trusted me with his daughter, was happy for us even, but right now he looked seriously pissed off.

“Last night?” he repeated, his tone hard and accusing.

I smiled apologetically and nodded. “Yeah. Sorry.” I winced, waiting for his reaction. He was perfectly within his rights to throw me out of his house for taking advantage of his hospitality.

His eyes flitted between me and Ellie, a shocked expression on his face like he was only just now realising that we were ‘together’, the look on his face clearly told me that he thought his daughter was some sweet innocent young child in a woman’s body. “You stayed with Ellie, in her bed?” he asked, his voice tight and controlled.

Ellie stepped forward slightly. “Daddy, nothing happened. I just wanted to wake up with him this morning. I asked him to come over. Stop looking at him like it’s his fault, it’s not. I practically had to beg him to stay because he didn’t want to go against your wishes,” she lied.

I really shouldn’t let her lie that much for me, I should man up and take the blame instead of her, but the words weren’t coming out of my mouth - probably because he looked like he was falling for it. Maybe his subconscious mind wanted to believe that Ellie was a virgin and that nothing really happened.

He frowned, running a hand through his hair. “You shouldn’t have had him over last night, Ellie.

You have to be responsible and think of Kelsey. She wanted to come in and wake you up this morning, thank God I stopped her! She’s only ten. Can you imagine what she would have thought if she’d have gone into your room to find Jamie in your bed?” he asked, shaking his head in frustration.

Ellie sighed and gave him the puppy dog face and I knew the guy was done for. She was a complete daddy’s girl; he stood no chance against that look. “Sorry, I didn’t think about Kels, I just wanted to have Jamie over for my birthday. I should have asked you, I’m sorry,” she said, pouting.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Just don’t let it happen again, alright? I’m not up for this staying over thing, not with Kelsey in the house. I don’t expect this to happen again.” Ellie and I both shook our heads quickly, confirming it was understood.

Ruth was watching the exchange with wide eyes and an even wider mouth. “What? That’s it? She just gets to sneak boys into her bed and you’re not even going to punish her for it? Wow, you really are a soft touch, Michael! I didn’t know you were so spineless,” she cried, throwing her hands up in exasperation.