Katie

"I really appreciate this Tina," I say gratefully. I was struggling to get anything done in preparation for brunch; getting dressed, doing my hair, putting on makeup. I ended up calling Tina on the verge of tears and a mental breakdown and she immediately drove over.

"Don't worry about it Katie," she smiles as she curls my hair into loose waves. She managed to do my makeup exactly how I wanted it, probably even nicer than what I described in fact. We look through my closet, and we're a bit limited, it has to be something that I can get my casts through. We decide on a lace maroon dress, one that I can pull over, rather than step into. Tina carefully helps me maneuver into it. "You look really pretty," she says, smiling at me proudly in the mirror.

"Yeah you do!" Stephanie insisted she join in over face time.

"Thanks you guys," I say shyly.

"I'm so excited for you Katie. It was only last week when I told him to tell you about his feelings, and now you're already meeting his family!" she says cheerfully.

"I'm so nervous." I groan.

"Hey, Ray was nervous too but my family likes him! Right Ray?" The phone turns a bit to show Ray sitting across the room with who I assume is Stephanie's dad. "Yes Steph," he laughs.

"I'm sure everything will be fine." Tina gives me a reassuring smile, as she finishes up with some hairspray.

My phone buzzes, she picks it up from the dresser and hands it to me. It's a text from Lincoln. "Oh, Lincoln's here. I gotta go now Steph."

She waves enthusiastically. "Good luck!"

"Tina, would you mind pushing me to the elevator?"

"Of course not," she smiles, and helps me put my winter coat on, before pushing me down the hall and into the elevator. "Hey Lincoln," Tina says, as we walk outside. It's freezing, but it hasn't snowed, luckily.

"I can take over from here, thanks a lot Tina, happy holidays," he says, hugging her.

It takes a bit of lifting and shuffling, but Lincoln helps me get into the passenger seat.

"Alright, tell me about your family, I need to be ready." I didn't get much sleep last night, partly because of how uncomfortable it is to sleep in two casts, but also because of the stress in anticipation of brunch today.

"Aw, don't worry about it too much Katie," he laughs. He turns and sees the serious look on my face. "OK OK. Well, I guess we can start with my dad. He's an accountant, likes hockey, and just a pretty laid back guy. I can't imagine there's anything out of the ordinary you might say that would make him dislike you."

"OK, and your mom?" I ask, slightly less nervous now.

"She can be a bit forward, but she's very kind and sweet. She's an elementary school teacher, so she's pretty patient as well."

"Alright, and your sister?"

He looks a bit nervous. "Well...honestly I don't know how my parents ended up with such an uptight daughter," he laughs.

"Not helpful," I scowl.

"Alright, alright sorry," he regains his composure. "Jasmine is two years older than me, and tends to have very high standards on...hell, everything."

"I don't like where this is going," I let my head thump back against the headrest.

"Hey, don't worry OK, I'm sure she'll like you. She's in law school right now, she's studying at Harvard."

My eyes widen. "You're kidding right?"

"Yes." He chuckles.

If my left arm weren't injured I'd hit him right now.

"Aw I'm sorry Katie, I'm just trying to get you to loosen up. She actually is studying law though. I think she just wants to see that her brother is dating someone smart, nice, intelligent, and competent," he says calmly, "and you're all of those things."

I sure don't feel like it right now. I'm not thrilled at the idea of meeting my boyfriend's family for the first time in a wheelchair with broken bones and a still slightly broken heart.

"By the way, would you mind not going into the specifics of my accident? I don't exactly feel like they'd be too happy to hear that their son/brother's new girlfriend is severely injured because she drank too much alcohol over another guy and then got into an accident." I feel like even more of an idiot hearing that out loud.

"Yeah, no problem. I let them know that you're injured and in a wheelchair, but I didn't say why,"he reassures me.

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We go into the restaurant. It's a pretty expensive and classy place. He spots his family sitting at a table by the side. I feel very out of place for various reasons. The staff are nice though, and help move things out of the way so Lincoln can help wheel me through.

"Katie! It's so nice to meet you!" Lincoln's mom says, taking my uninjured hand in her warm soft ones and giving me a big smile. She has brown shoulder length hair, and warm, friendly brown eyes. She's wearing a dark purple dress with various pieces of jewelry.

"It's nice to meet you too Mrs. Hayle," I say, returning the smile.

"Oh please, call me Angela," she said with a casual wave. "This is my husband John."

He looks a lot more like Lincoln. Light blonde hair that's slightly graying on the sides, and icy blue eyes. "Hello Katie, we've been looking forward to meeting you."

"Thank you, it's nice to meet you John," I say.

"And, this is Jasmine," Lincoln says, nodding to the girl next to his mom.

She has long blonde hair, straight and shiny, not a single strand out of place. Her eyes are brown like her mom's, but they don't have the same warmth that hers do. She's wearing a red velvet dress, and matching lipstick. "Hi Katie. So what happened to you?"

I'm a bit taken aback. Lincoln frowns a bit at her. "Come on Jas, we just got here."

"I'm just curious." She shrugs, "I'm sure we're all thinking that anyways."

"Jasmine," John says in a warning tone, "that's enough."

She just scoffs.

"It's alright, I, uh," I stammer, trying to untie my tongue. Lincoln places his hand on my thigh with a concerned look that says are you sure? but I just nod. "I got into a drunk driving accident."

"Oh my goodness," Angela exclaims, placing her hand on her cheek, "when did it happen?"

"A couple days ago, I just got discharged from the hospital yesterday afternoon," I say, not sure whether I'm supposed to be proud about that or not.

John chuckles. "What a trooper. I didn't expect someone to be that determined to meet us."

Jasmine narrows her eyes, "Wait, so were you the one who was drunk?"

"Jasmine." Lincoln says in an angry tone I've never heard him use before. "Leave her alone."

This is going to be a long afternoon.

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Jasmine is intense 😂

Thanks for reading!