Page 8 of Alice Chen's Reality Check

But I don’t need home-cooked meals. I need my mother. I need her alive. I can’t bring myself to say that, though. It’d be like turning down a hug from her. Food has always been her love language, for better and for worse.

I kneel so that I’m eye to eye with her, and switch to Chinese. “Mama, you have to take care of yourself. That’s your job now. I can take care of everything else,” I promise, even though I can barely take care of myself some days.

Speaking of which, we never had dinner, and my mom can’t afford to be skipping meals. “I’m going to get dinner for you, okay?”

Because she’s stubborn as hell, I can tell my mom’s about to object and say she doesn’t need anything. But instead, she starts coughing. I offer her a sip of water, but she flaps her hand at us, motioning for us to go.

“I’m going to rest now,” my mom announces, like she’s making a royal proclamation. At the door, I look back, and she’s already falling asleep. She looks so small in her bed, her wispy gray hair falling over her face. Her wrinkled hands are curled into her blanket, and her mouth is pinched, like she’s about to fight someone over the price of eggs. Despite her nagging and her smiles earlier, she looks more fragile than ever. My chest squeezes at the sight, and I close the door before the feeling overwhelms me.

There are egregiously high prices posted outside the hospital cafeteria, so instead of going in, I steer Chase past it, toward the vending machines.

“Vending machine dinner?” he asks.

“Vending machine dinner,” I confirm.

“Just like in the dorms. Good times,” Chase says. He genuinely means it, and I love him for that. “What are you feeling? Oreos or ramen?”

I scan the machine for something nourishing for my mom. In addition to borrowing all those cookbooks, I joined a Reddit group when my mother first got diagnosed. There’s a whole subsection devoted to the ideal diet for battling cancer—fresh vegetables, expensive mushrooms, the works. Some people swear by a brand of olive oil from Italy that costs over three hundred dollars a bottle. But right now, I’m balking at a five-dollar granola bar. Frustrated, I knock my fist softly against the glass.

To hell with it. I’m getting her something from the hospital cafeteria. Something filling and nutritious, no matter the cost. And in that moment, I decide.

“Chase?” I say as I bring up the waiver on my phone.

“Yeah, babe? You want some of these Oreos? They’ve gotStar Warsflavor.”

“I’m in,” I say, showing him the waiver. I skip to the end and sign it, right then and there. “But if we do this, we’d better win.”

[FILE #B045 AUDITION TRANSCRIPT: CHASE DE LANCEY AND ALICE CHEN]

INTERVIEWER:Tell us a bit about yourselves. How did you meet?

CHASE DE LANCEY:Alice and I met in college during our senior year. She was a math major—

ALICE CHEN:With a minor in public health, thank you very much—

CHASE DE LANCEY:And I was majoring in communications. I kept seeing her at the Campus Grind, the café near the university library, and she was always so busy studying.

ALICE CHEN:Look, not all of us are brilliant auditory learners.

CHASE DE LANCEY:She would take up a whole table and cover it in textbooks. You ever see the movieA Beautiful Mind? It was like that. I thought she was cute, so I asked if I could get her a coffee, which didn’t go so well.

ALICE CHEN:I thought he was just a very hardworking barista. I had no idea he was asking me out!

CHASE DE LANCEY:So anyway, I took her order, hopped behind the bar and—

ALICE:And made me the absoluteworstcup of coffee that I’ve ever had. And then the manager came over and kicked him out.

CHASE DE LANCEY:But not before I left my number on her receipt.

ALICE CHEN:The whole thing was so funny that I ended up texting him just to find out what his deal was.

INTERVIEWER:Can you tell us more about your relationship? Chase, what do you love about Alice?

CHASE DE LANCEY:Alice is cool. She’s fun to hang out with, and she has an answer for everything. And she’s got, like, survival skills. Did you know if you don’t empty the little lint trap in the dryer, it catches on fire?

INTERVIEWER:And Alice, what do you love about Chase?

ALICE CHEN:Chase…well, he’s just impossible not to like. He collects friends like those katamari balls. Every time we go somewhere, he makes a new friend. And I’m a natural worrier, so it’s nice to be around someone who’s so confident and positive. Even when things are going wrong, he’s there with a joke to lighten the mood.

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