A not so fake Christmas

Chapter 7

"We're going to be at Jace's and Frankie's place tonight." Alex explains while keeping her eyes on the road.

She picked me up a few minutes ago and now we're headed to the family dinner. Describing my state as nervous would be an understatement.
I am very nervous and maybe even a little bit anxious. All eyes will be on me tonight and I'm not sure how to feel about that.
Maybe it would be different if I was coming as a friend but I'm not. I have to make them believe that I am dating their sister.

Well, it's not just me who has to convince them, Alex also has to act accordingly but still. I don't want to mess this up and make a fool of myself.

"Jace is your oldest brother, I met him last week." I recollect and Alex nods. She seems to be able to keep her wits about her because she shows no sign of nervousness. At least nothing big. Sometimes I notice her tapping the steering wheel with her fingers but that's all and could just be a reaction to the traffic.

"Exactly. Frankie is his wife. Then we have my sister Emily and her husband Flynn. They'll bring their daughter Sasha but she's only nine months old, so we don't have to worry about her figuring anything out. My brother Gabe will bring his fiancée Holly, who is currently pregnant. The wedding is supposed to be in April, two month before the baby will be born. If you bring up the wedding, there's a good chance of them talking about it for at least half an hour, so that's always a safe topic." Alex briefs me on her family and I try my best to follow. But there are so many different names that I have trouble remembering them all.

The only people I will for sure recognize will be Jace and Sasha. The rest will just have to work out. Or I stick with the good old strategy of avoiding saying any names. If I'm lucky, her siblings look like her and I can differentiate them from their partners.

"Okay, so the flowers we got are for Frankie?" I try to follow and Alex nods. Well, at least I remembered that.

"What about your parents?" I ask.

The thought of meeting them makes me even more nervous because it's a whole other level than meeting someone's siblings. And with six and a half people already there, I don't need anyone else looking at me and asking me how I met Alex.

That we got straight though. We stayed close to reality because that's easier. We just changed the running over to bumping into, sounds less dramatic. We've been dating for four months now and wanted to surprise everyone at Christmas, that's our history.

"They won't be there. They live outside the city and driving here for a dinner would be too much trouble." Alex replies and I take a deep breath. No parents, that's calming to know.

"What else should I know?" I ask. If this was a normal relationship and we would be together for four months already, I'd already know more because you talk while dating and family is a topic that usually comes up.

"There isn't much more to know about them. Maybe that Gabe is the youngest of my older siblings. Our age difference is six years. Then there's Emily with eight years and Jace with ten." Alex states. I take mental notes on that, even though it probably won't really come up but that's still good to know.

"Don't worry too much about it, they'll probably be busy talking about their family plans." Alex tries to comfort me. She sounds annoyed by that and I wonder what that's about but don't ask, we don't need to bring the mood down before arriving.
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It turns out they do not talk much about their family plans because they want to know all about me and Alex. Apparently, I am the first person she brought home in years.

If I had known that, I might have worn something else or prepared myself for that mentally.
After everyone introduced themselves, I still can't tell exactly who is who, we move into the living room.
Frankie tells us dinner will take another half hour so we're good to talk until then.