Starting over {Damien Haas}

Chapter 17

August 22nd 1998, the day my little sister was born will be a day I never forget. I was just a couple months from my 4th birthday and I remember sitting in the car and talking to my parents about how cool it was that my little sisters birthday would be only 1 week before mine; that was the plan anyways. We were going to Courtneys house for dinner when suddenly my mom got a really bad stomach ache, Atleast that's what she thought it was. We got to my aunts house and my mom stepped out of the car only to find water and blood on her seat. My dad rushed her to the hospital and that night, my mom had my sister; exactly 2 months early. None of us thought she would make it and after a year in the hospital, she was perfectly healthy and a perfect pain in my ass.

"are you ready to meet them?" I asked the boys. Today is Sofia's family party so we're having all the cousins over. Courtney and I decided today was the perfect day for them to meet our boyfriend. Well, Shayne has meet a few of Courtney's siblings before and everyone at the office knows Kari but still, it's a big deal. We were sitting outside the house I grew up in and the knot in my stomach was growing tighter and tighter. What if they don't like him? What if they're still mad at me for what happened with my ex? What if they don't like what I do for work? I mean hell it took them years to accept what Courtney was doing. "ok, let's do this!" Courtney finally said, flinging her door open. Here goes nothing!

"Syd! Court!" Sofia said we she threw open the door to find the 4 of us standing on the porch. She let us in and gave me and Courtney a hug before turning towards the door. "Sofia, this is my boyfriend Damien, and that's Shayne, Courtneys boyfriend." I said pointing towards the boys. She pursed her lips and looked between all of us for a minute, making my stomach turn like a washing machine on the spin cycle. Suddenly she smiled and one at a time pulled them into a hug." I'm Sofia, Sydneys sister, Courtneys cousin and the coolest Miller." she laughed and I pinched her arm lightly. She yelped and rubbed her arm then went to go shove me.

Just then my mom walked into the room and whistled, catching all of our attention. "dinner time!" she smiled and came over to introduce herself to the boys. After a few minutes of small talk we made our way to the table where we introduced them to the rest of the family. Introductions were short but that was to be expected, I'm just glad everyone is being civil. Soon, small talk was sparked, everything from the food to how everyone's work lives were doing. This topic is what I was most nervous about but actually everyone was super supportive about it, actually saying how cool it was that we got to work together on something we both loved.

"so, shortstack, how does it feel to finally be an adult?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as I took a sip of my drink. "I'm going to ignore your short joke and answer your question genuinely." she said, standing up and hitting her glass with a fork like she was going to make a toast. "actually I do have an announcement. As everyone knows, I took a year off school to figure out what I wanted to do with my life and this may come as a shock to some of you but I've decided to follow in my big sisters foot steps and go into production!" she said smiling from ear to ear. Everyone clapped and I jumped up and ran over to her, pulling her in for a massive hug.

We handed out cake and a few of my older cousins left with their kids, leaving just my family, the boys, Courtney, Kari, Clarke and Conrad. By this point we've retired to the living room and it's that time of the night where my parents and cousins decided to tell every man in my life embarrassing stories about me as a kid. Fantastic. "Sydney had always wanted to be a gymnast, it all started when she was 6." my dad started and I instantly felt my face heating up, everyone but the boys started cracking up, "tell them the story mom, you tell it the best." my sister exclaimed, holding her stomach from laughing so hard. "ok so this happened actually on Sofia's second birthday. Courtney and Sydney wanted to go to cartwheels in the front yard so I went outside with Corey, Courtney's mom." my mom explained to the boys who just nodded, who were listening tentatively to the story.

"she was pregnant with Conrad at the time and had Clarke not long before so we brought the kids outside with us to supervise them. Everything was going fine at first so we weren't paying much attention until Courtney called for her mom to watch her, we looked over and she did a somersault. We clapped for her, you know, telling her how good it was until we noticed Sydney coming. She was doing a cartwheel, which lead into a another, and then another and before we could stop her, she fell right into Courtney who was still on the floor from doing her somersault. We jumped up and ran over only to find them laying there laughing at each other. From that point on we knew they'd be total goofballs." she laughed and now the boys were laughing hysterically with the rest of the family, leaving me to sink even further into the couch.

We ended up watching some old family videos who was equally as traumatizing if not more that the stories because of course they need the visual. At about 11 we decided that it was time to pack it in for the night. We was saying bye to my mom and sister when I noticed that behind them, my dad was talking to Damien. He had a serious face and Damien wore an anxious one. I walked over slowly as to not draw attention to myself. "you seem like a good man Damien, after that last poor excuse for a human being, she needs someone grounded and mature in her life. Thank you for everything you've done for my little girl." he said and pulled him into a hug, which startled Damien at first but he soon hugged back. I felt my heart beat quicken, today went better than I could have imagined.