Page 15 of Just Another Meet Cute
Even though this wasn’t exactly a date, I felt like I had been stood up. Now all I wanted to do was drown my disappointment in a tub of red velvet ice cream.
Glancing around the partially empty street, I waited for the light to turn before I went to my parked car. Well, Linh’s parked car.
Maybe I should tell Mom that Ryan stood me up. That was better than telling her the truth, and embarrassing enough that she and Dad probably won’t ask any questions. Almost as embarrassing as the truth itself.
Why did I think this was going to work? I mean, it’s not like my life was a plot in a cheesy romantic movie. Not even a Lifetime movie that premiered at eleven o’clock at night on a Wednesday or something. And believe me, I’ve seenalotof those growing up. Mom and Aunt Sarah had traditional movie nights at least twice a month. Some weekends it was binging cop shows likeLaw & Order. Other days it was Lifetime movies. In November, it was always Hallmark Christmas movies. Those had an extra dose of cheesiness.
But movies were definitely not real life. I mean, just because Ryan said he wasplanningto come by didn’t mean that he would. Maybe he was busy. Or maybe one of his other sisters came already. I didn’t think to keep a lookout for them.
Digging into my bag for the keys, my arm bumped into someone standing next to me. “I’m so sorry, I—” My mouth flopped open and I blinked once. Twice. And then all I could do was gape because suddenlytherehe was right in front of me. Barely a foot away.
Ryan.
My hand flew to my mouth. “Oh my God, it’s you!”
He glanced over at me, gave me a polite smile, and then … turned away.
Okay …
Over the past few days, I’d imagined a hundred scenarios of how we’d meet again. I’d look great, thanks to the additional hour of primping in the bathroom. Especially since Linh lent me her fancy makeup that she usually reserved for special occasions. And Ryan would look handsome and surprised, but extra excited to see me.
But now … okay, he was still handsome, but the excitement was a bit lacking. In fact, he barely seemed to notice me at all. Which was weird.
Tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, I glanced over at him out of thecorner of my eye again. He bobbed his head and adjusted one of the earphones he was wearing. And he still. Didn’t. Look. At. Me.
Should I say hi? Reintroduce myself again? Give up entirely? It seemed like such a waste of an entire week of searching only to give up with him a few feet away.
But I didn’t have a plan for this. It’s just …howcould he not remember me? I thought we had a connection. Hadsomething, at least. Did I imagine it? Maybe I wasn’t as memorable as I hoped, but he still should have rememberedhowwe met. At least that was pretty memorable, humiliating as it was.
Unless he was used to handing out tampons to girls every weekend.
My fingers slowly reached out to touch his sleeve. Inch by inch. A little shaky. Just when he was within reach, Ryan suddenly moved away.
For a split second, my heart stopped. I automatically backed up a few steps before realizing that Ryan had only moved because the light decided to turn green at the worst possible moment.
Seriously bad timing.
Still debating whether or not to follow him, I looked up at a loud honk. Followed by two shorter but equally loud honks. A navy car barreled down the street and weaved between two cars in front of it. It swerved a little into the left lane and didn’t slow down, even though the light was red. Instead it shot straight at Ryan.
And he kept walking.
Oh my God.
OH. MY. GOD.
“Look out! Ryan!” I yelled out so loud that it felt like my lungs were about to burst, but he kept moving forward. What kind of song could he be listening to?
In a moment of panic, I lunged forward and shoved him out of the way. As I plunged to the ground, it almost felt like I was falling in slow motion. I didn’t even have time to brace myself for the fall. Yet somehow, like in the movies, Ryan immediately turned in the air midway and caught me in his arms. There was a surprised look on his face as we both tumbled to the ground together. His hands and forearms cradled my head, but my elbow still scraped against the pavement and instantly stung.
Thankfully, the car swerved in the opposite direction and narrowly missed us. It barely slowed down before barreling down the next street. Tires squealed as it turned the corner.
My heart was pounding so loudly that it was practically ringing in my ears. It took a minute or two for me to realize that Ryan was talking and snapping his fingers in my face.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah … yeah, I’m fine.” I pushed myself upright. My carefully styled hair flopped to the side. I shoved it off my face. “Wait, areyouokay?”
He looked relieved and a little in awe. “I’m good, thanks to you.”
