amsterdam ( central cee )

19

Hanne drives through the hobbly roads of the suburbs of her city. We're in her hometown and the way she flips the indicator tells me she is nervous as fuck, shit it's even making me nervous.

This shit is not a big deal anyway and I hate how she makes it a big deal. It's nothing special, I'm just meeting her folks.

The last few hours have been a blur since the horses, she frantically drove us back to the hotel and made me change clothes three times. After that, she tried to put some shit on the tats on my face, trying to hide them.

I told her it was no point in hiding them and that they'd see it anyways. We had a short fight about that which lasted half an hour longer than I wished it would. 

The car slings sharply when we make the turn for her street. Her house is bigger than I expected and when we pull up on the driveway there already are two Porsches one in beige and one in black. I take a moment to take in the walls of the mansion and the rest of the environment. Her house is secluded yet not, the neighbor she talked about, Mohammed's parents, live right beside her and that's about it for the next mile or two.

"Baby," I call out, realizing we've been parked for two minutes but neither of us has moved yet. "You sure 'bout this?"

"No," she says. "This is all going faster than I planned to."

I turn to her and place my hand on her thigh. "If you're gonna be my girl I'd have to meet them anyway."

She sighs and rolls her head on her shoulders. "Yeah, you're right about that. Quickly before we go inside: Don't talk to my dad about his plants he'll never stop talking. Compliment my mom's food or she'll call me for the next week asking us if we really liked it. Don't mention Valentine until they do."

I smile at her nerves and nod. "Understood."

"Anything else?"

"That's about it." She tries to shrug the tenseness off her shoulders and clicks off her seatbelt. I do the same and follow her lead. For a moment we stand in front of the rental, staring at the mansion.

Her hand reaches for mine and I gradually take it, giving her a squeeze that said. 'It'll be okay.'

Marisol grabbed the key from her purse and unlocked the door. I'm instantly met with the smell of fried onions and warm air, which is evidence Hanne's mom had been cooking. Hanne takes off her shoes and I follow her lead.

"Mama?" She calls out and suddenly the beats of my heart intensify. Why the fuck am I nervous?

The patter of footsteps comes near and Hanne squeals when a Corgi rounds the corner. She lifts him up and showers his snout with kisses while walking further into the house again, I follow behind her.

"Hanne?" We meet her mom first and God fucking damn this lady is tall. Her hair is wispy and blond, falling in front of her widened blue eyes. Hanne' doesn't look like her at all. When she smiles she does so with all her teeth showing. "You guys are already here!?"The switch from Dutch to English is a bit rough for her but at least the woman tries, am I right?

I give my nicest smile and hold out my hand. "Hello miss I'm Oakley--..." She slaps my hand away and pulls me in a hug.

I returned her hug, a little taken aback. This lady is squeezing my shit hard as fuck.

"Oh cut it out, why be so formal huh?" She pulls back and looks down at me, and this is not at all intimidating. "My name is Linda."

"Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. Hanne didn't tell me she had such a handsome boyfriend." She pulls away from me and I fucking blush.

Did Hanne's mom just make me blush?