Page 25 of Just Another Meet Cute

“I can go around and ask the rest of the family if you want.” He nudged Ian’s side with a grin. “Hell, I could send a text in the family chat right now, and I bet they’ll all say the same thing.”

Megan shivered. “Please don’t.”

To my surprise, Ian didn’t say anything through their bickering. Not even when Ryan elbowed him. Curiously, I couldn’t help glancing over at him, but his face was blank, almost indifferent, like he wasn’t listening or didn’t care.

Did that mean that he felt the same way Megan did?

Or did he agree with Ryan—and apparently everyone else?

I guess it wasn’t that hard to believe. Even though we just met, I could already see how close the two of them were.

Every interaction, every touch or word they said, reflected how well they knew each other.

I didn’t know if I was jealous that I didn’t have someone like that in my life, or because of something else. Either way, I didn’t like the tight feeling in my chest.

Tearing my eyes away from them, I knelt down beside Kathy as she opened the box and started setting up the game pieces. “Do you need any help?”

“Oh, no, I’ve got it. You just need to sit on the other side,” she said, pointing away from her.

“Why?”

“You’re on the other team with Ian.”

At that, Ian snapped to attention. “Wait, what? Why?”

“Because you can’t be on a team with either Megan or Ryan,” she explained patiently, like it should have been common sense.

“You and Megan know each other so well that it’s almost like you can read each other’s minds.

And then you and Ryan have that twin thing going on, so you pretty much can read each other’s minds. Which I consider to be cheating.”

Ian spread his arms out wide and smirked. “ Or I’m awesome at Pictionary no matter who I play with.”

“No way. I refuse to believe that. But just in case, that’s why you’re going to start this game with a disadvantage.”

A little offended, my eyes widened. “You mean me?”

“Oh no! Not you!” Kathy patted my arm. “I mean, yeah, you are on Ian’s team, but I meant Ollie is the disadvantage.”

“Gee, I’m glad I stopped playing Fortnite for this.

” Ollie stooped down to sit cross-legged next to me.

He was shorter and stockier than the twins, but he had their easy, friendly smiles, minus the dimples.

His glasses made his eyes look wide and round, like an owl.

“As you can probably tell, I’m the nicer and more polite Nguyen cousin of the family.

And apparently also the official Pictionary disadvantage, even though I barely ever play. ”

Ryan chuckled as he came over. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s why Kathy considers you the disadvantage.”

“Watch, I’m going to be such a natural at this that you’re all going to eat your words.”

Laughing, Ian wrapped his arm around his younger cousin’s shoulders. “Come on, I’ll teach you how to play. You’re on the winning team anyway.”

After a few minutes of a refresher course for Ollie and me, we all sat down on the floor around the coffee table. Ian sat between Ollie and me so that I could draw first. Not that I wanted to go first, but Ian insisted on going second. I have no clue why.

Across from Ian, Kathy sat between Megan and Ryan, taking over the unspoken role as the leader. Her eyes were bright with excitement and her hands kept clenching and unclenching when we started the game.

Earlier, I couldn’t really believe that this simple game could cause so much drama in their family, but one look at Kathy changed my mind.

She seemed determined enough to ride off to battle.

And judging by how the rest of their family was during ph?, I can only imagine what it was like to play this with their uncle and aunts.

Only fifteen minutes or so of game time passed before it became painfully obvious to everyone which team was going to win.

It wasn’t even a close game. And unfortunately for Kathy, the winner wasn’t going to be her team.

We were already at the end of the game board while Ryan and Kathy’s team was only halfway.

Despite the fact that he was so reluctant to play at first, it was obvious that Ian was just as competitive as his sister.

He rocked back and forth on his heels throughout the game like he had too much pent-up energy.

His right knee rubbed against mine a bunch of times.

At first, I moved away, but it kept happening again and again no matter how much I scooted over.

After a while—when we continued to steal all the points—I just forgot about it.

At one point, I even accidentally grabbed his leg, but he didn’t react, so I figured he didn’t even notice.

With a loud whoop, Ian gave both Ollie and me a high five when we scored the next point. “Just two more spaces and we win!”

“Looks like I’m not such a disadvantage after all,” Ollie boasted with a giant grin. It covered his entire face and all you could see was shiny white teeth.

“Oh please, you aren’t even helping,” Ryan grumbled. “Ian and Nina are doing all the heavy lifting for your team.”

“It’s called teamwork. Moral support is important, too.”

I patted his arm with a light smile. “You also rolled the dice and got us all those lucky numbers.”

With a thoughtful face, Megan tapped on her chin with her index finger as she studied the board. “Seriously, how are you guys so good at this? Are you in a league or something?”

I could tell by her voice that she was only half joking, but I didn’t blame her.

Surprisingly, Ian and I were actually a pretty good team.

It had been a while since I had played, but I know I wasn’t that great at it.

Especially since I could barely draw a straight line.

But Ian was a really good artist. Not like a technical artist, but enough to draw exactly what he wanted to in record time.

That, combined with my ability to basically word vomit and blurt out whatever came into my head, made us a formidable team. The other team was barely halfway through drawing when we guessed the answers.

“It’s probably just luck,” I said with a shrug, trying not to look too happy when they were so miserable.

Ian’s face was glowing so brightly. Obviously, he had no problem being a sore winner.

“I don’t believe it.” Kathy narrowed her eyes at both of us as she crossed her arms. “This was definitely a hustle. There’s no way that you have never played together before. That’s the only explanation.”

“Guess some people have automatic chemistry.” Ian nudged his shoulder against mine and winked. “Plus, I already told you how awesome I was at this. It’s not my fault that you didn’t believe me.”

“And I still don’t believe it.”

“You can believe it after we win,” he gloated, picking up a card to draw.

Not sure if it was my imagination, but for a split second, he looked surprised at the word on the card. Instead of diving right in like he usually did, Ian leaned back against the arm of the sofa behind us and stared into space.

The only other person who noticed Ian’s hesitation was Ryan. Must have been the twin thing. Letting out a low whistle, Ryan flipped the tiny hourglass. “Time’s starting, bro.”

Chewing on his thumbnail another few seconds or so, Ian finally glanced over at me and Ollie and nodded. “We got this.”

Even though he said it to both of us, I had a feeling that he really meant it to me. Which wasn’t surprising since I had guessed every picture that Ian had drawn so far. Ollie wasn’t kidding when he said he was on the team for moral support.

With a determined look on his face, Ian picked up the pencil and immediately drew a large rectangle on the paper.

“Rectangle. Box. Present. Coffin,” I rambled.

A brief smile crossed his face. He shook his head and continued drawing. A couple of lines dissected the box. And tiny boxes in each section like—

“Windows. Building. Office building. Floors. Skyscraper.”

“Apartments,” Ollie offered.

Ian clapped his hands together and drew a person on top of the building.

“Contractor who fixes roofs,” I immediately said. “Daredevil. Bungee jumping.”

Letting out a loud snort, he coughed into his fist and shook his head. Then he moved to a different section on the paper and drew a simple airplane. Ian gave me a sharp look and then pointed at the drawing of the plane again.

“Me and a plane. Flights. Flying. Flying over a building.” I glanced over at the picture of the person on the roof. “A tall building. Heights.”

Ian’s eyes widened and he frantically nodded like a bobblehead. He jabbed the pencil at the drawing of the plane again, so hard that the lead point almost pierced the thin paper. He didn’t seem to notice though. He continued staring at me, mentally pushing me toward the right answer.

“Heights and planes. Heights and—” Wait, that sounded familiar … the list that Ian sent me suddenly popped into my head. “Nightmare. Worst nightmare.”

His hand reached out to grasp the top of my arm and motioned for me to continue.

“Biggest fear?”

“Yes!” Ian pulled me in for a tight hug. My face was squished against his neck, but in a nice way. Dang, he smelled good. Like clean soap with a tiny hint of cologne. I didn’t know exactly what kind, but it was fresh. I fought the urge to take another long whiff. “That’s it!”

Over our head, Ollie jumped up and down in triumph. “We win! We WIN!”

Ryan stared at us in disbelief through Kathy’s moaning. “How the hell did you get fear from a building and a plane?”

“I—” I broke off and glanced up at Ian. His arm was still wrapped around my shoulder as he grinned down at me. I couldn’t help smiling back at him. “Like I said. Luck. Lots of it.”