That's me in the corner

 "I don't know, I just don't know," Jared could feel it all unraveling with Nori. He didn't think her parents liked him, but it felt like an all-day afair. He thought he was sweating under those conditions. It was all so foreign to him, yet he knew he was the outsider. 

He knew what kind of man they wanted, and he was too pale for them. For starters, they kept questioning him, constantly. They couldn't understand a word he said.

He fell back on the couch and hugged a pillow, while Randy was unmoved and stared at the TV. It had begun to snow outside, but Randy kept watching some old black and white TV western.

"How in the hell is this supposed to help you?" Jared yelped, evidently to no one. He just wanted to cry.

"Jesus, J, just chill, all right." Randy finally sighed, but he was investing his time in TV. Listening as if he were memorizing it.

Finally, the boy and his tall father hugged, show ended, and Randy clicked the TV off with the remote.

"You're just trying to scare yourself. You don't know anything." Randy tilted his head with a serious gaze.

"You don't know the half of it. I almost choked on collard greens and cornbread." Jared sat up as if it were some sort of initiation he didn't know he'd go through.

Randy yawned. "It probably won't be the last time you're there." He shrugged.

"Oh, God, don't say such rot."  Jared winced at the thought of ever seeing Charles and Vivian again. "How do you do it?" He knew Randy spent plenty of time at Monica's.

"You have to be helpful. Take out the trash. Wash the dishes. I've even mowed the lawn." He told him.

"Are you kidding me?" Jared practically shrieked.

Randy shook his head, no.

Jared nursed his bottom lip. That was a lot to take in.

"You need to show them that you are not afraid. You can be a part of their family."

It gave Jared the shivers. He wasn't sure he was ready for that.  Of course, Justin was still at Carmen's parents. "Did you tell Justin about this?"

"Well, yeah, he's just like you." Randy chuckled.