Sincerely, Sinclair || Sinclair Bryant x Reader ||

Chapter 11: Meeting the Parents

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"I think you're underestimating them."

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Don't get me wrong, I love my parents dearly.

My mother has been there for me at every stage of my life. She supports my decisions (despite how much she may or may not agree with them), she checks in on me regularly, and she does everything she possibly can to be the best parent she can possibly be. The same goes for my father, and I'm convinced that their never ending amount of love is what shaped me into the person I am.

But my parents are very...spirited people.

I mentioned earlier that my mother could be a bit smothering sometimes. I first started noticing it when I was in my early teens. I was just like any other adolescent. I was beginning to discover that I could make my own way and that independence was becoming more and more available to me. Mum and Dad were never suffocating as far as ALLOWING me to be independent. No, they were very good about letting me test out the waters and learn from my own mistakes.

The choke hold they had on me usually came from the RESULTS of my independence. Particularly when it came to (and in this story that I'm about to tell you), the people that I chose to have relationships with...romantic or not. You would not believe some of things my parents have said to guys that I've brought home or friends that I've decided to let them meet.

On more than one occasion, I've had a guy break it off with me literally the morning after meeting my parents. None of them ever explicitly said that was why, but trust me when I say that I had been going steady with all of those guys, only for them to break up with me after they've just so happened to get a taste of my family.

My mum and dad are in no way rude or mean or hateful people. As a matter of fact, Mum and Dad are two of the kindest, warmhearted people that you'll ever have the pleasure (or displeasure) of meeting. The problem lies with the fact that they simply don't have a filter. In their eyes, there's no question that's too bold to ask.

To be honest, it's more of Mum than Dad, but Dad allows Mum to ask the questions that she does...so that's just as bad.

I've had boyfriends that were completely disturbed to the core just from entering my mum and dad's house...then I've had some that managed to almost make it to the end of the night without even a HINT of discomfort...before my mum delivered the final blow.

You might be wondering what my mum's favorite topic is when it comes to my romantic partners. I bet you could guess it within 30 seconds.

Grandchildren.

You can imagine my horror when 16 year old me brought home my first boyfriend and (literally) her second question to him was how he felt about kids. And not even in a general sense. She asked him how he felt about having kids and having kids with ME.

So, yeah, it's pretty rare for me to let many of the people that I associate myself with meet my parents.

Audrey and Jade obviously knew my parents extremely well, and even they sometimes still got a little uncomfortable around them. One of the reasons that I was so sure that Travis was the one for me was because of how he wasn't even remotely rattled by my parents' shenanigans. I had originally thought he was being polite by not reacting badly at all, but he assured me over and over that it hadn't bothered him in the slightest. I ended up learning that Travis' reaction to my parents had nothing to do with whether or not he was who I was supposed to end up with.

I was SO nervous when Tuesday came around. Sinclair and I were supposed to be at my parents' house at 6:00, and I had anxious butterflies the entire day. I could hardly get much of anything done because I was stressing myself out about what my dear parents were going to say to him.