Awkward stories tend to be, well, awkward. A majority of the stories tend to revolve around a family gathering like Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. Naturally, I asked one of my friends if he had an awkward story and he did.

Alex’s story takes place during Christmas of 2014. He had recently broken up with his girlfriend, “Amanda,” but had met a different girl through a mutual friend. They hit it off and were sort of “unofficially dating each other.” His words. “Emily” suggested she meet his parents.

Alex felt slightly uncomfortable in this situation since he wanted take things slowly. Meeting the parents of the person you’re dating takes the relationship to the next level. Both people should be ready for that step before moving forward.

On Christmas Eve, Alex decided to let his mom know he had company coming, after Emily suggested it would be a good idea to be together for the holidays.

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“My mom told me Amanda pretty much assumed that she’d be joining them for Christmas,” he said. This was something that came unexpected to Alex, since they had broken up.

When Christmas Eve finally arrived, the beginning of the Christmas dinner wasn’t too awkward. To Alex's relief, the topic of football arose between him and his dad. His mother was in the kitchen, attempting to avoid the oncoming onslaught.

When it came to dinner though, passive-aggressiveness ensued. Both Emily and Amanda wanted to help with setting the table. Unfortunately, they got on each other's nerves.

“It started with seemingly innocent comments about which dress was sluttier,” Alex said.

The comments escalated from there. Amanda made territorial jabs at Emily as to who had been with Alex longer. Jabs of who was more attractive than the other one ensued until a comment that was made by Alex’s father that stopped all of the conversation in its tracks.

He essentially said that Emily was the more attractive of the two.

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“Now, this was a pretty embarrassing experience for me, but I think I found some joy in seeing Emily’s face slowly turn pink to a very dark red. I actually found the blushing to be incredibly cute,” Alex said.

Emily and Alex ended up going back to her place to end Christmas Eve.

Years later, Alex is no longer with Emily, but they're still good friends.

“It’s the kind of thing that binds people to each other for life,” Alex added.

Also as far as ex-girlfriends go, the relationship with Alex and Amanda is touch and go, but things have gotten better.

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“At least I know that if I ever need an awkward Christmas story, I just need to visit home to make one.”