He held Hanne's hand, squeezing it as she kept their hands on her lap. He didn't know what to do right now since everyone around him was speaking Dutch and the only person not talking at all was Willem, and he thought it was going to be a bit strange to be talking with his girlfriend's brother again. And sure, Erik was already socially awkward, but this was a whole new level that he hadn't experienced at all.
"I'm, uh, I'm Erik Durm," he blurted out the exact moment when it seemed like everyone's conversations muted. Almost everyone on their side of the table turned heads to look at him, being surprised when Hanne smiled and kissed his cheek.
"Hanne! When the hell did you get a boyfriend?" someone yelled from the middle of the table. They were standing up, eyebrows furrowed as the look of shock overtook them.
"They started dating a while ago. Don't you read, dumbass?" another yelled in response.
Honestly, everyone else but the German footballer and Dutch photographer were in complete shock that Hanne is dating someone in general. It didn't matter to them that her boyfriend was Erik Durm—although it does to the couple—what mattered is that somehow, she didn't seem all that hopeless anymore.
Anneliese shook her head and sighed. "You know," she said to get her best friend off the topic of her not being wretched for once, "Cathelijn, she kind of forced Thies to propose to her."
"How the fuck do you force someone to propose to you when you've been dating for like what, three years?"
I mean, the whole idea of Cathelijn using force to get what she wants wasn't new to the scene, but marriage? That was taking everything to the next level.
"You know how she is," Anneliese said, "it doesn't matter if the world is ending, she still gets what she wants. So you better watch out before she tries to snatch your man."
That was very much true. If Cathelijn wanted a one million dollar dress, she would get the dress. If she wanted to relocate to a new city, she would move to a new city. If she wanted to take Thies for herself, she would do that.
"So are we here to crash their wedding or be happy that they're getting married?" Erik asked, placing the tall glass of ice water back on the white tablecloth after he took a sip.
The two Dutch women looked at each other then to Erik then to Willem then to the soon-to-be married couple and then back to each other.
"Both."
-
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
