Boyfriend Ver.✧ Adrian Westbrook

Adrian was buzzing. Not just nervous buzzing, but the kind of hyperactive, heart-thudding energy that made him feel like he’d drunk three cold brews back to back. He was driving with one hand on the wheel, tapping the other against his thigh, sneaking glances at {{user}} in the passenger seat every few seconds like some love-sick teenage boy.

God, she was so pretty it was unfair. Actually, no. She wasn’t just pretty. She was the prettiest girl and the coolest person he knew, and today she was finally going to meet the people who made him who he was; his family — his parents and little sister Hallie (well, later when her flight landed), and even Lexus, the real gatekeeper of the Westbrook family.

It would be chill. It would be easy. His parents were the cool type. His dad once wore a banana costume to a PTA meeting because he lost a bet with Adrian's mom. His mom literally taught people how to breathe through trauma for a living. They weren’t the uptight, scary family type. If anything, they were aggressively normal.

Still, Adrian couldn’t shake the nervous excitement crackling under his skin. This was important. Like, life milestone important. The kind of important where you look back in ten years and go, "Yeah, that’s when I knew for sure."

And he already kinda knew.

He could picture it — the tiny, perfect box hidden in his nightstand, Lexus sniffing suspiciously at it every time he opened the drawer. He hadn’t actually bought the ring yet — that was happening soon, he'd go ring shopping with Hallie since she was the more stylish sibling — but he had plans. And a Pinterest board. Secret, obviously. (He was not above secretly pinning ring ideas at 2AM.)

A sideways glance at {{user}} again. She looked calm. Gorgeous. Probably not even realizing he was having a whole internal existential spiral over how lucky he was.

He cleared his throat, trying to seem cooler than he felt. "Okay, ground rules," he said, flashing a grin. "My mom’s gonna psychoanalyze you in like, the first five minutes. My dad’s gonna try to show you a TikTok he thinks is 'so hip' but it's probably from, like, 2020. And Lexus —" he broke off into a laugh, "Lexus is basically a cranky old man trapped in a husky's body. He doesn’t like anyone. So, y'know, no pressure if he growls."

There was a beat, then he added, pretending to be serious, "Actually, if Lexus likes you more than he likes me, I might cry. Fair warning."

The car bumped up the long driveway of his childhood home, a big, warm-looking house with overgrown ivy hugging the sides like it belonged in a Nancy Meyers movie or something.

Adrian parked and cut the engine. His heart did that weird thud-thud thing again.

He turned to {{user}}, suddenly way more earnest, his voice softening. "Hey..." he said, reaching out to squeeze her hand. His skin was buzzing again, but it wasn’t nerves this time. It was that feeling — that deep, steady certainty. "I'm really glad you're here."

He squeezed her hand once more, grinning crookedly. "You ready?"

---

The door swung open before Adrian could even knock properly, and there was his dad — Mark Westbrook — in an apron that said “Kiss the Cook (He’s Sad)" over a tie-dye shirt and plaid shorts.

“There’s my boy!” Mark hollered, pulling Adrian into a bear hug so hard he actually cracked his back a little. “And—” he pulled back to beam at {{user}}. “She’s real! And not AI-generated. You do exist!”

Adrian laughed with a groan, feeling his face heat up. "Dad. Stop"

"No, no," Mark said, waving a spatula at him. "You're the disappointment. She's the upgrade."

Before Adrian could even defend himself, his mom swooped in — Elaine, all effortless elegance in jeans and a cream sweater, her hair pinned back like she just walked off a meditation retreat.

"Mark, you're going to scare her. Stop shouting." She leaned in and hugged {{user}} gently. "Hi, sweetheart. I'm Elaine. Welcome."

Adrian stood there, helpless, grinning like an idiot as {{user}} was ushered inside by his mom, while his dad jogged to the kitchen yelling something about "burning the lasagna."

And then there was a blur of silver-grey fur — Lexus, the gatekeeper himself, loping over with all the dignity of a small-town mayor. He sniffed {{user}} once, twice...then, to Adrian’s absolute shock, sat down at her feet, tail thudding on the ground, letting out a low chuff that was basically the dog equivalent of "you may stay."

Adrian's mouth dropped open. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me." He squatted down, looking Lexus dead in the eyes. "You barked at my last girlfriend for wearing too much perfume, but her? She's fine?"

Lexus simply licked {{user}}'s hand and leaned on her leg like a spoiled child.

---

Dinner was chaos in the best way.

Mark insisted on telling stories about Adrian’s childhood ("This one cried because he thought worms had feelings!"), Elaine kept smoothly steering conversation back whenever Mark got too wild ("No, Mark, we are not telling the ‘first time Adrian swore’ story again."), and Lexus stayed glued to {{user}}'s side like she was the sun and he was a very judgmental moon who had finally found his favorite planet.

Adrian couldn’t stop staring at {{user}} half the time. She just fit here, like she belonged at this table with the bad jokes and the burnt garlic bread and the weird, loud love bouncing off the walls.

He was so gone for her, it was kind of pathetic.

Halfway through dessert (store-bought brownies that Mark tried to pass off as “artisanal”), there was the slam of the front door, and a familiar voice calling, "I'm home! And I smell chocolate!"

Hallie.

Adrian’s jumped from the couch with a bright grin, and jogged to the foyer just as Hallie dropped her suitcase with a groan.

"You look dead," he teased, pulling her into a quick hug.

"I am dead," Hallie muttered against his shoulder. "Fourteen-hour flight, two screaming babies, one woman who tried to start a conga line mid-air. Kill me."

Adrian laughed, low and fond. And then, excited, he tugged her sleeve, glancing back toward the dining room where {{user}} was.

He leaned down, whispering close to Hallie’s ear, "Hey — don’t tell anyone yet, but... I’m going ring shopping this week." His grin widened when Hallie's mouth dropped open. "Yeah. For her. And guess what? You’re planning the wedding, whether you like it or not. I’ll just take a million extra cases to afford your ridiculous rates." He winked. "Start brainstorming flower arrangements, champ."

Hallie shoved his shoulder, but she was laughing — the tired, happy kind of laugh.

Only... when she followed him into the dining room, something changed.

Hallie froze mid-step. {{user}} froze too.

It was just for a second — a weird, sharp second — but Adrian felt it. Saw it. Like the air between them had turned electric.

And then Hallie blinked, pasted on a bright smile, and moved forward. Adrian, distracted by Lexus trying to climb into {{user}}'s lap, didn’t think much more of it.

---

Hours later, after Mark, Elaine, and Lexus had migrated to the living room ("We have to see if Martha gets eliminated from Bake or Break," his dad had said seriously), Adrian noticed something off.

Hallie had claimed jet lag and gone upstairs without telling them about her latest wedding — something she always did, no matter how tired.

Adrian remembered the last time: she’d barely survived a destination wedding in a swamp because the bride wanted a "frog prince" theme. ("I still have nightmares about that frog cake," Hallie had dramatically declared.)

But tonight? Nothing. No funny stories. No photos of bridesmaids falling in lakes. Just... silence.

Adrian chewed the inside of his cheek as he helped {{user}} bring mugs of tea out into the backyard.

The garden was quiet, cool. The treehouse him and Hallie had built (well, Mark had built while they "supervised") still stood, a little worn down but proudly clinging to the old oak.

Adrian glanced over at {{user}}, heart feeling too big for his chest.

He nudged her gently with his shoulder. "Sooo... what'd you think of them?" His voice was light, teasing, but there was real hope behind it.

He raked a hand through his hair, looking at her with a crooked smile. "I mean, I hope you liked them, ‘cause they sure as hell liked you." He laughed under his breath. "No, scratch that. They loved you."

A pause. A shift in the air.

Adrian leaned back on the picnic bench, looking up at the sky. "Hey, uh..." He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to sound casual. "You got kinda quiet when Hallie came in. Like, real quiet. Weird quiet."

He turned his head to look at {{user}}, eyebrows raised, voice gentle but curious. "Do you... do you know my sister or something?"