Page 11 of Just Another Meet Cute

I knew what her decision would be before she even made it. I mean, this was the same girl who spent half her summer babysitting so she could buy the newest fancy Vitamix blender. And I swear, it was exactly the same as the old one except for a new button on the side.

“I could use it with my flatbread recipe. Or maybe the mushroom pizza with thyme …”

Barely listening to her rambling, I picked up a round little jar with a pearl sheen and a teal edge.

It fit in the palm of my hand and would be perfect to hold Mom’s scrunchies.

They were all over the house, yet she always complained about never finding one.

I could surprise her with it while we made dinner. It was our turn to cook tonight.

After I added it to the basket, my finger poked at a saltshaker in the shape of a turtle and giggled to myself.

Linh glanced over at me with a raised eyebrow. “Either that turtle told you the funniest joke or you’re thinking about that hottie Ryan again.”

“Maybe a little bit of both,” I admitted with a sheepish smile. “He told me a joke about a turtle the other day. You should hear it from him.”

“Don’t know if I’ll think it’s as funny as you do. After all, I’m not in love with the guy.”

After the Worst Date Ever ended up not being too bad, Ryan and I went on our second date to the movies a few days later.

And that one was way better. This time, I actually stayed awake.

Plus, he stopped by the house to meet everyone first. Not only did they not scare him off, but everyone loved him.

Even Aunt Sarah and Dad were able to swallow their animosity for each other and be on their best behavior.

Mom was already talking about how cute our prom pictures would look.

Everything was perfect. HE was perfect.

The only thing that wasn’t perfect was the nagging guilt I felt for lying to him. It would be easier if I didn’t like him so much. And if he wasn’t so sweet. The nicer he was, the more the guilt grew and grew. Like Pinocchio’s nose, and it poked at me all day long.

Stupid conscience.

But what were my choices? I could either tell the truth and possibly scare Ryan away or keep everything to myself and hope my guilt wouldn’t turn me into a nervous wreck.

Neither seemed very appealing to me.

“And now you’re frowning again.” Linh shook her head and put the bottle back onto the shelf. “I told you. Everything’s fine. You’re happy. Ryan’s happy. Just let it go.”

“I know, but—”

With a sigh, she covered my mouth with her hand to shut me up. “Look, you’re not even doing anything wrong. He doesn’t remember how you met, so you’re not going to remind him. Technically that barely counts as a little fib.”

I yanked her fingers away. “But he keeps talking about our meet cute and he thinks I’m this amazing person who saved his life and—”

“Uh, you did save his life. And you are amazing. Even if the way you met was staged, saving his life wasn’t. So give yourself a break.” Linh wiggled her eyebrows. “And next time he brings it up again, make out with him. I’m sure that will make him stop talking.”

“Ha, you’re full of great ideas.”

“I know. It’s a curse.” She picked up the truffle oil bottle again and stuck it into the shopping cart. “Now I’m going to ring this up, and then we have to go straight home because I can’t afford to shop for the rest of the week.”

As Linh disappeared between the aisles, my phone buzzed in my pocket. “Hello?”

“Hey, what are you doing?” Ryan’s warm voice over the phone already sounded like he was smiling.

My fingers traced the pastel porcelain plates and bowls on the shelf in front of me. “Just shopping with Linh. How about you?”

“I’m at home waiting to have lunch with my family. It’s kind of a family tradition to eat ph? together every Sunday.”

“Aw, that sounds like a lot of fun.”

He sighed loudly. “It’s not. At least not with my family. But it’s the price I have to pay to get my weekly dose of ph?. Otherwise, my entire week is screwed up.”

I laughed. “Well, we wouldn’t want that to happen, would we?”

“Definitely not.”

A low and muffled girl’s voice called out over on his end. “Ryan, what are you—wait, are you on the phone with her ?”

“Yes …”

“Let me—”

“No, you can’t—”

There was a loud thud noise and then silence. “Hello? Ryan?”

“Hi, Nina!” The girl’s voice was loud now and slightly high-pitched. “I’m Ryan’s sister, Kathy.”

“Uh, hi.”

“I’m so glad to finally talk to you. Ryan’s been going on and on about you since you two met.” There was a distinct low groan in the background. “And I seriously mean on and on. The dude won’t shut up about how awesome you are.”

My cheeks instantly flushed from her gushing. “Thanks, I guess.”

Kathy let out a gasp. “Why don’t you come over to the house now? I have to meet the heroine who saved my dear Anh. I’ll repay you with a homemade bowl of life-changing ph?. It’s only fair.”

“I don’t know if I should—”

“You know what? You’re right. Our ph? is better than saving Ryan’s measly life. Oh well, you should still come over anyway. I’ll text you our address!”

Before I could say no again, Ryan’s voice came back on the phone. “I’m sorry about her. She can be so annoying sometimes. No, wait, all the time.”

“Hey!”

I couldn’t help laughing. “It’s okay. She seems nice. I like her.”

Ryan let out a heavy sigh. “You may change your mind once you meet her later … or another day. You really don’t have to come over if you don’t want to.”

“Yes, you do!” Kathy piped up in the background.

“Would you shut—” There was some scuffling and muffled voices before his phone hung up on me.

Okay …

I waited another minute or two to see if Ryan would call me back, but he didn’t.

He did send me a text with a sad face and a tear though.

Two seconds later, my phone buzzed again as I received another text.

This time it was from an unknown number with an address with a ton of smiley emojis and exclamation points.

My finger fiddled with my phone as I debated what to do.

Somehow, this felt like a sign. Like this was the perfect opportunity to come clean.

I could go over to his house to return his jacket.

Just be like, “This ph? is delicious; by the way, remember this jacket? It’s a funny story.

It’s yours, and I’m the girl from the hike. Surprise!”

Okay, maybe not exactly like that.

Still, maybe everything would turn out okay. I mean, Ryan would probably understand. After all, the fact that we had met before wasn’t that big of a deal. Maybe he would even think it’s funny.

As long as I didn’t tell him everything , just enough to ease my guilt. The entire truth might be pushing it. Especially the gym stuff and three-day laundromat stakeout. Besides, like Linh said, stalking or not, I did save his life. I think I deserved to keep that little bit to myself as a reward.

Making my decision, I quickly texted Ryan that I’d be at his house in half an hour. “It should be okay. No, it will be okay,” I muttered to myself.

Hopefully if I said that enough times, then it would end up being true.

No turning back now.

Letting out a deep breath to calm my jittery nerves, I carefully draped the navy jacket over one arm. Then I quickly rang the doorbell to Ryan’s house before I could lose my nerve and bolt.

A pretty girl opened the door and beamed at me. “Hi! Are you Nina?”

“Yes …”

“I’m Kathy!” Reaching out, she grabbed my arm and tugged me to her side and into the house. “I’m so glad you came over!”

She was oozing with so much enthusiasm that I felt like I was obligated to show some excitement, too. I plastered a giant smile on my face. “I’m so excited to be here!”

“Come on. Everyone’s in the kitchen.”

As I followed a few steps behind her, I couldn’t help thinking how amazing it was that Kathy looked exactly how I imagined her.

She was a bit shorter than me—which was pretty unbelievable—and skinnier.

She had Ryan’s round eyes and broad smile, although she didn’t have his left dimple.

Her hair was a bit lighter than his, too, with honey-brown highlights.

And she was so full of energy that she practically bounced with each step she took, like an overeager puppy that you wanted to cuddle even if you didn’t like dogs.

I couldn’t help thinking that she and Chrissy would get along great together.

Ryan came down the stairs as I got to the living room. He leaned forward and gave me an awkward one-armed hug. “Sorry my little sister dragged you over here.”

“It’s okay. I wanted to come.” I cleared my throat and fumbled with his jacket still in my arms. “Do—do you think we could talk for a bit? Alone?”

Kathy poked her head between us, breaking us apart. She looped her arm through mine and shoved Ryan behind her. “You can talk after ph?. Come on. It’s getting cold!”

Looking over my shoulder, I shot Ryan a look for help. He gave me a sheepish smile as Kathy dragged me through the living room. For such a petite girl, she had a really tight grip.

I guess it didn’t hurt to push the conversation off a little longer.

Kathy finally let go of me as soon as we entered the kitchen. “Here we are!”

I stopped so suddenly that Ryan bumped into my back. He immediately apologized as his arm wrapped around my shoulders to steady me. I barely heard him, I was too busy staring at the twenty or so people who were crowded in the giant kitchen. And who were all currently staring right back at me.

“Uh, Ryan …?”

“Yeah?”

With wide eyes, I pressed back against his side like he could hide me from all the curious glances. “Who are all these people?”

“I told you my family always has ph? together on Sundays.”

“Yeah, but I thought you just meant your family . Not like your entire family.”