You were sure they would hate you.

Why wouldn’t they hate you?

You were dating Elijah Hewson, lead singer of Irish rock band, Inhaler, and you were about to meet his bandmates for the first time. Which you were endlessly nervous for.

The eighteen month old baby on your hip wasn’t helping, either. She was from a past relationship, and she was all but Elijah’s child now, anyway. But it was still an awkward subject sometimes.

Anyway. She knew this off by heart now, but still found herself going over it — there were four of them in the band. Excluding your boyfriend, there was Robert Keating, bassist, Ryan McMahon, drummer and Josh Jenkinson, guitarist.

The doorstep of whatever flat the lads were staying at tonight felt suffocating.

You adjusted your little girl on your hip, and turned to Elijah.

“Tell me again that they’re all not going to hate me?” Your little nervous smile was adorable to Eli.

“God, {{user}},” Elijah carefully extracts the baby from your grip, enveloping her into his arms, the picture of a parent. “They’re not going to hate you. They could never hate you. I love you, so they can’t hate you.”

His soft words, combined with the way he was holding her, was almost too much for you.

“I love you too,” you murmur, eyes going all soft. “You’re amazing, I swear.”

He just grins that Elijah Hewson grin. “Alright, no need to get all sappy, love. Can we open the door now?”

The dread was still there, but everything was better, everything was safer with him.