Chris Lane Will Introduce Lauren Bushnell to Family as His Hit Song Takes on a 'Whole New Meaning'
Chris Lane is taking his girl back home!
The “Fix” singer tells PEOPLE that he and his new girlfriend Lauren Bushnell are heading back home to his hometown of Kernersville, North Carolina, on Monday, where Bushnell will meet Lane’s family for the first time.
“I’m actually a little nervous because I know how my dad is — I’ve already given her the pre-warning,” he says. “He’s just a funny guy. He’ll probably ask her some tough questions.”
“I feel like I should video it,” he adds. “I want to just leave her sitting in the living room for an hour by herself and have a camera in the wall and video it because there’s no telling what’s going to come out of his mouth. But [my family is] super excited.”
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PEOPLE confirmed the pair were dating in November after they appeared together at the 66th annual BMI Music Awards in Nashville. “It’s brand new and they are enjoying spending time together,” a rep for Lane told PEOPLE at the time.
Lane says the move for Bushnell, 28, to meet his parents, is a “good step” in moving his and The Bachelor alum’s relationship forward, and says they’ve already planned for him to go meet her parents before the new year.
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On Thursday, Lane, 34, scored his first-ever platinum single for his hit song, “Take Back Home Girl” and was presented with a plaque on stage at his concert in New York City.
“I’m literally at a loss for words,” Lane said to the crowd before thanking those who supported the song. “It takes a whole team of everybody, and Country radio I love you guys. Thank you so much for believing in me. To the fans, thank you so much for this. I love you guys. This is special. I can’t wait to hang this up in my house.”
Although he’s loved the song since the beginning and feels “lucky” to have landed Tori Kelly as a duet partner on the track, Lane says the song has taken on a new meaning now that he’s met Bushnell and she’s heading back to North Carolina with him.
“When I released that song I did not realize I would end up meeting somebody that I cared so much about,” he says. “I’ve been so career-focused and career-driven that I haven’t put a whole lot of time into trying to find a relationship. It just hasn’t been my mindset.”
However, he admits that his parents constantly “talk so much junk” to him, asking him when he’s going to bring someone into his life that could potentially be their daughter-in-law.
“I’m just like, when it happens it happens,” Lane says. “[Lauren] and I have been hanging out not even that long, but realized we both like each other. We’ve been friends for literally several years and just kept in touch here and there, but she went with me to the Bahamas on a random trip. We had no idea we were going to end up liking each other and it spawned into what it is now. ‘Take Back Home Girl’ took on a whole new meaning for me, especially now that she’s going to meet my parents.”
Because the pair are long distance for now — he resides in Nashville, while she lives in L.A. — Lane says they’re still working through nailing down their schedules, but he enjoys when they get to spend time together.
“We have to plan ahead a little bit because she is busy doing her own thing,” Lane says. “She’s not used to dating an artist and the whole lifestyle that it brings — you’re constantly on the road doing something — but we both decided we would do whatever to make it work.”
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On Friday, Lane also announced that he’s extending his Laps Around the Sun tour — adding four more shows throughout January in Dubuque, Iowa, Athens, Georgia, and Greenville, South Carolina, before a final show in his college town of Charlotte, North Carolina before gearing up to join Dan + Shay on tour in spring 2019.
“You always love being able to go home and do a show for the people who supported you from the very beginning,” Lane says. “The coolest part about it is knowing that my parents and my grandma will get to come out there and hang out. They don’t get to come to many shows, so it’s always special when they do.”