Crashed

I

"You're parents are here! Are you ready babe?" Eric walks into the bedroom to find me putting on my heels. "Do we really have to go?" I moan at him. "Stop with the self pitty, it will be fun. I'm with you alllll night." He strokes my arm and kisses my head. I am so gratefull for him. Eric and I have been together for almost 4 years now and he makes our stupid annual christmas get togethers with them a lot better. "You look stunning by the way!" He winks at me and I follow him downstairs. "Ah there she is. My beautiful daughter" my dad walks up to greet me. "Well we need to get going, we'll be late due to someone taking forever to get ready." He gives me a strict look. Eric chuckles from behind him.

We arrive at their house. It's so big, as a kid I always got lost a lot. I don't remember always hating them. I actually don't hate them, I just hate him. He makes my blood boil. Everytime he finds something to piss me off. Thank god Eric and him get along. Eric really tries to keep me calm, and it helps. And besides, he is contstantly talking with him, which gives him zero oportunities to get under my skin. His sister is sweet tho. Her and I always got along well. She recently got a baby and I'm so excited to see the sweet little boy for the first time. I bought him a gift as well and hope she likes it too.

My dad opens my cardoor and we walk up to the front door. I take a deep breath in before the door opens. His mother greets me. "Oh sweetie it is so good to see you" She brings me in for a tight hug. I smile at her when she finally releases me. She turns to Eric. "Ah Eric, you look even more handsome than last year." He smiles and responds to the hug of the woman. "Go inside quickly, I'm sure you wanna see the baby." She's so proud and glows "Look at you glowing, grandma" I joke at her. "Ah get lost you." The woman is so sweet, she sometimes feels like a second mom. "You know where to find the kids right?" I laugh. Although we're all adults she still refers to us as 'the kids'. "I think we'll be fine!"

Eric and I walk into the living room. I look around and can't find him. A slight smile appears on my face. Eric notices it too and squeezes my hand. I see her sitting with the sweet little baby. "Oh my god look at that sweet little face." I almost run over to her. "Ah babe, I missed you so much." "I missed you too." I give her a kiss on her cheek. "Oh god, he's so adorable." "And he is asleep finally. So if you guys can keep your cat-dog fight a little less heated this time, would love that!" I roll my eyes at her "Speaking of the devil, where is he?" "I think we have about 10 minutes of peace left. He had to get something for mom at the store so he and his girlfriend went out to get it." "Look at that, what a gentleman, doing chores for his sweet mother." Eric nudges me and mouths "Stop it, be nice." "So I'm going to get something to drink. Can I can bring you girls something?" I smile at him. He comes back with a glass of wine for me.

We share a laugh and I'm holding the sweet little baby boy when I hear the front door. I sigh. Let's get ready for a show. I put on an amazing fake smile. He walks in and completely ignores me, he walks straight to Eric. "Eric my man, good to see you again." The boys catch up. I don't really care he didn't greet me. The baby starts crying a little and his sister comes to take him over. Shit now I don't have a reason anymore to ignore him. Eric shoots me a look and I walk up to them. "Hi Zoë." "Evil spawn, great to see you again." "Zo, civil" Eric interrupts me. "How have you been lately?" I fake my smile at him. "Amazing. And you?" "Couldn't been better." It get's silent again. "I'm going to look if our parents need some help in the kitchen." I tell them as I leave the room.

Dinner was awfull. But, on the positive note, we also didn't scream at eachother this time. Will he finally grow up? "You did great! No screaming, no fighting." Eric wakes me up from my mind. We were already back home, in bed. "I don't get why you hate him so much. I think you could really get along." I smile at him "I think that ship has sailed a long time ago." Nothing really happened, we were really great friends when we were young. Always karting together. I got a bit bitter when he went to race at higher levels, there was no such thing as a womans or girls racing league yet. And when he started winning more, well he became arrogant about it. I think we just grew apart when he started to travel for racing."

The boy

"Are the Janssen's coming again for Christmas?" I ask my mother when she walks in the kitchen. She nods and gives me a stern look "As every year, they are. And so is Zoë. Can you please just act nice to her this year? She had a really hard time with her studies this year and it would be nice if you acted extra nice to her." I smile at her "I'll be on my best behaviour, just for you." Zoë was studying engineering, a male dominant subject. She somehow always found herself in male dominant environments. When we were little kids we went karting together, that's when our families got to know eachother. She actually was really good. She's an only child but sometimes felt like my bonus sister. When we got older our lifes grew apart and we only saw eachother with the annual Christmas dinner our parents arranged. Her having no siblings and spending the majority of her life around boys made her like this total douchebag. The sweet little girl she once was faded away over the years. And I hated her for that, especially after that one time when we both had just turned 16. That escelated so badly, we never spoke again to eachother unless we needed to.

This Christmas will be different. My sister had a baby recently, so I think Zoë will throw herself on him and I can hang with her boyfriend Eric. He's a cool guy, I have no idea how such a bitch as she is got together with him. I got myself ready and see mum rushing in the kitchen. "Oh no, I forgot to get those Christmas merengues, Zoë will be so disappointed! And they can arrive any minute now!" I roll my eyes. We're both 25 in the meantime, and my mother still buys those stupid candy things for her every year. I see my mom almost has tears in her eyes and sigh. "I will get them. No worries." Her eyes light up.

Me and my girlfriend get back. I see their car is already in the driveway and prepare myself for a long night of fake smiling and keeping my mouth shut. I walk in and see her sitting with my newborn nephew. I immediatly walk to Eric, not looking at her. "Ah great to have you around another year mate. I still don't know how you can live with her." I joke at him. "She's actually quiet amazing if you give her a chance." He responds. I don't want to admit it but I always thought she was amazing. Well, untill the incident happened.