Page 28 of Just Another Meet Cute

Just as I promised Mom, we had our talk with ice cream the next day. It wasn’t a long deep talk or any secrets spilling. I explained to her that Ian and Ryan were twins and I had mixed them up in the beginning. Pretty much the short non-stalkerish version without any of the complicated feelings.

Nice and simple.

To be honest, things did seem better once I was finally able to get some sleep.

It took me a while. I stared at the shadows on my ceiling for hours as I listened to Linh snore.

She swore that she didn’t, but she totally did.

Not a loud and obnoxious snore, just really heavy breathing.

It was kind of soothing actually. My room at home was too quiet.

But seriously, now that it was a new day, I could see everything so much better.

Clearer. And it was obvious that I was swept up in the moment last night.

Ian was being nice and sweet, and I got carried away.

Plus, let’s face it: He’s pretty easy on the eyes, so it’s not hard to get fluttery around him.

But there was nothing going on between us except the fact that we were friends now.

Something that he made very clear before he left.

But I wasn’t mad about that. I was happy. Content. Delighted. Jovial.

In fact, I was happy enough to help Mom polish off the carton of boba ice cream and a couple of Girl Scout cookies that Linh had stashed away in the back of the pantry.

Along with the shrimp chips that Aunt Sarah loved.

It sounds gross, but the salty and sweet snack was pretty delicious, and it hit the spot.

Mom licked the back of her spoon before tossing it in the sink. “So, I was hoping to talk to you about your dad.”

“What about him?”

“It’s … you know that we’re engaged. And while we’re not in a rush to get married or anything, we were hoping—well, planning—to move in together. Maybe even get a house instead of renting another condo. Those are getting too small for us anyway.”

“Move in together,” I repeated with a blank look on her face. My half-eaten cookie was forgotten in my hand. I could feel the chocolate melting on my warm fingers. “All of us?”

“Well, yeah, unless you were planning to move out next month,” she joked half-heartedly. “And then maybe, when we’re living together, things can change.”

Her voice may have been casual, but she had that determined look in her eye. The look that indicated that she wanted to have the TALK. Last time she had the TALK about our future, she convinced me to start calling him Dad. The time before that, we moved to Houston to be closer to him.

I didn’t want to know what she had up her sleeve now.

“I don’t know. Maybe I should get my own place. The real estate market is really hot right now. And the interest rates are low, so that’s always good,” I said, changing the subject to distract her.

It worked like a charm. She loved to talk about houses. Sometimes it helped to know her so well.

Mom laughed. “And what do you know about the real estate market and interest rates?”

“Only what they say on HGTV. I only understand half of it, but I figure that people on those shows are always buying new places, so it can’t be that bad, right?”

“You can barely afford a car, and now you want your own place?”

“It’s an investment, Mom. All the cool kids are doing it.”

She patted the top of my head and swept my bangs off my face like I was ten again. “Please stick to high school for now and leave the real estate stuff to the actual Realtor in the family.”

Letting out a heavy sigh, I propped my chin on my palm. “And I thought you would be happy if I joined in on the family business.”

“Right now, I would be thrilled if we could be one big happy family.”

I knew that she meant with her and Dad. But when she said happy family, I only pictured our life here before Dad.

Linh and I would hang out in the kitchen all day while B á cooked.

Mom and Aunt Sarah would stay up on the weekends to binge-watch their shows.

Sometimes Linh and I stayed up with them as we did our nails, or we read in the living room.

The Lifetime movies weren’t my thing, but I didn’t mind the cop shows.

It was better than the nights when they caught up on The Bachelor .

B á would always pop in midway, and they’d have to explain the entire plot to her. And then she would get bored and leave before it ended.

The times when we were actually a big happy family.

Mom and I tried to keep up with the movie night tradition when we moved, but it wasn’t the same. And Dad always ended up watching his sports or game shows instead.

Although we’ve been here for nearly two weeks now, Mom and Aunt Sarah hadn’t watched anything together. Maybe because everyone knew that things were different now.

But that didn’t mean we couldn’t try.

“Do you think there are any Lifetime movies on this weekend?”

She chewed on her lower lip. “I don’t know.” My face must have dropped, because Mom grabbed her phone. “But I could always look. Or we could stream it on the TV. Maybe there’s a special Christmas-in-July thing. Although I know you don’t like the Christmas ones—”

“I don’t mind,” I quickly said. “I miss it. How there’s always that one person who adores Christmas and has to show the other person the spirit of Christmas through shiny tinsel and fudgy hot chocolate.”

She laughed. “Don’t forget the gingerbread contests and light festivals.”

“And ice sculptures. Those are the best.”

Looking almost excited now, she got up and started packing away the snacks. “We’ll need to restock the snacks if we’re going to have a movie night. If your aunt finds out we ate all her stuff, she’s going to freak out.”

“I can pick some up tomorrow.” My phone buzzed and I dug into my pocket. “Linh needs more chicken to marinate for the lunch boxes next week, so we were going to go to the store anyway.”

To my surprise, I got a text from Ian. Just two short sentences.

My favorite meal would have to be bun bo hue. With lots of sate and pig’s feet, the way my mom makes it.

Okay, that was super random. Why would he—

Buzz. Another text.

I have two older sisters, Anh and Grace. One younger twin brother, Ryan, who is exactly seven minutes younger than me. We were born around midnight, so we actually have different birthdays. And I have one younger sister, who you already know too well.

And I agree with you. This question is a bit of a waste, but you answered it so I have to, too.

That’s all you get for today.

I had to reread his texts over a few times to be sure. But once I realized what he was doing, a reluctant smile crossed my face. I picked up my phone to text him back, but I couldn’t figure out what to say.

Seeing my smile, Mom peered over my shoulder. “Who’s that?”

My hand shifted a bit to cover the screen. “Oh, Ian. He was texting me about something we talked about yesterday.”

Her right eyebrow lifted into a perfect arch. “Uh-huh. So let me get this straight again. He’s the one you met on the hike and liked at first.”

“I didn’t like him. I thought he was nice. And funny. And kind of cute.”

“But you’re dating his brother, Ryan, now. After you saved his life.”

Not liking where this conversation was going, I gathered up the bowls and moved toward the sink. “Sort of …”

“Yet Ian was the one who drove you home yesterday and walked you to the porch. And he’s texting you now.” She cleared her throat a few times. “And none of this is weird to you?”

“No, because he’s my friend .” At least he was as of yesterday, but she didn’t need to know that.

Mom didn’t say anything else. Not until I turned around to face her. Her arms were crossed against her chest and she smirked at me. “Friend, huh?”

My eyes narrowed. “What?”

One of her shoulders rose innocently. “I think it’s interesting, that’s all. Can’t I take an interest in my favorite daughter’s life?”

“I’m your only daughter. And no, not with that look on your face.”

“What look? This is my face!”

Before I could explain to her exactly what the look was, Linh poked her head into the kitchen. Her hair was swept up into a messy bun that flopped back and forth behind her head. “Hey, Nina, someone’s here to see you.”

“Who?”

“Ryan.”

Beside me, Mom snorted loudly. Twice. “Of course. That sounds right.”

Deliberately NOT looking at her, I pulled my hair out of the ponytail and combed my fingers through my hair. “I’ll go talk to him. You two stay here.”

“But—”

I whipped around and pointed my finger at Mom. “And don’t watch us on the doorbell camera. Yesterday was bad enough.”

Linh’s eyes widened, and she slid in the kitchen closer to Mom. “Wait, what happened yesterday?”

Shooting a quick glance at me, Mom shook her head. “Nothing happened. What should we eat for dinner? Do you think we should call your mom? Or maybe order some pizza?”

“Oh, I don’t know if she’ll—”

She didn’t fool me one bit. I knew that as soon as I left the kitchen, Mom would tell Linh everything. But at least the gossiping would distract them enough so they wouldn’t spy on me. It was the lesser of two evils.

Ironically, Ryan was leaning on the porch banister in the exact position that Ian was in last night.

Even though I knew they looked different—that they were different—there was no denying that there were times when they looked the same.

The way they lifted their head to look at me.

The little smile on their faces that were mirror images of each other.

Even the way they shoved their hands in their pockets was the same.

Okay, Mom was right. This was a little weird.

I carefully shut the door behind me and stood right in front of the doorbell, blocking the camera with my back. Just in case. “Hey, what’s going on? Was everything all right with Ollie?”

A confused look crossed his handsome face. “Why would anything be wrong with Ollie?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, you guys seemed so secretive after I left.”