Page 101 of Some Things Never Change

Uncle Gary shook his head. “You kids are so slow. It was obvious that both Julie and Andy were in love with each other.”

“Dad, what do you mean? If you knew this, then why didn’t you say anything?” stated Anthony.

Uncle Gary shrugged. “The only one that should’ve told Julie that Andy liked her was Andy himself,” he said. “The only thing I should be doing as a parent is to try to push them in the same direction. I mean, I tried to drop hints for both of them to figure out, but neither of them seemed to catch on. Especially Julie.”

I felt my body violently flush as it did at the spa. “Look! How do you expect me to know when Andy never said anything until we were adults. You can’t expect me to read his mind.”

“But still! What about his body language, all that dumb flirting, the nice Christmas gifts, and more?” asked Jonathan. “We’re always gagging whenever he flirts with you. How is it that you never even noticed?”

Andy laughed as I continued to be beet red. “I just thought we were best friends, and he was just teasing me. I didn’t know he was actually in love with me,” I answered.

“Jesus, Julie. You’re a mess,” retorted Jonathan. He looked Andy square in the eyes. “You sure you still want her?”

“Come on, Jonathan. You know me better than that,” he laughed. “I’ll always love your sister.”

My brother shook his head as he looked between the two of us. “Well, she’s your problem now.”

“Andy’s your problem now, too, Julie,” laughed Anthony. “You both are a mess together.”

“Come on, sons. Let’s get back into the game before one of your moms comes out to yell at us to get ready for the fancy dinner in a few hours,” said Uncle Gary.

As everyone else took their last swigs of water before another game, Andy turned to me with a huge smirk. He glanced over his shoulder again, causing me to do the same. Uncle Gary, Anthony, and Jonathan were distracted as they took huge gulps from their water bottles.

Andy’s smile grew wider as he took his chance and quickly leaned in to sneak a quick peck on the lips. I happily obliged, kissing him back. I held back the urge to tug him into an intense make out session as he pulled away with an adorable lopsided grin.

“Hey! No making out!” said Anthony from behind us.

Andy rolled his eyes at his twin. “Calm down, old man. It was just a peck,” he said, squeezing my hip gently.

I smiled back. He leaned in again and quickly planted a kiss on my cheek before whispering, “Remember to stay up late tonight. Alright?”

My body tingled eagerly, and I nodded.

Chapter

Forty-Four

I woke up to my phone vibrating and, without another glance at it, I denied the call through the slits of my eyes. It was probably midnight, and I didn’t have time to deal with another random call in the middle of the night. Again.

I was exhausted. We woke up early for our drive from the city and I spent all day up with my mom and Auntie Gao without a proper afternoon nap. My phone suddenly started to vibrate again fiercely by my pillow, and I reached for it.

“Stop calling me,” I muttered. With a solid hold on the power button, I turned off my phone without opening my eyes once.

With my covers tugged to my chin, I tossed to my side and felt myself slip back into slumber until I woke myself up with my snoring some time later. I groaned and was about to relax into the mattress when I heard something tapping at my bedroom window.

What in the hell was that?

My eyes immediately shut tighter as I threw the covers over my head. I doubted it would do anything, but it was for my peace of mind. I just wanted to go back to sleep.

Whatever was at my window began tapping again. “Julie,” I heard it called my name. “Julie, wake up.”

I finally opened my eyes, suddenly remembering how Andy had asked me to come out to meet him in the front yard at midnight after our Mother’s Day dinner with our parents. For what? He didn’t disclose the details, but I agreed and ended up falling asleep. I didn’t look at my phone, but everything suddenly made sense. He was probably the one calling me for probably the last half hour.

I sat up in bed to see the silhouette of someone’s shadow by my window, startling me. I pulled back the curtains to reveal a disheveled Andy with messy hair and irritated red cheeks. From the annoyed look he gave me, it was long past midnight already.

I quickly cracked my window open as fresh air blew lightly into my room. “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry. I was exhausted, so I fell asleep right after I showered,” I immediately said, feeling guilty. I glanced at the light brown dusting on his white shirt and then at our tall wooden fences. “Did you climb over the fence?”

He continued to shoot me an irritated look, wordlessly answering my question.

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