Page 17 of Just Another Meet Cute
“Come on. I’m dying to know.” I put down the ice and made the X sign in front of my heart. “I promise I won’t tell anyone.”
Ryan grimaced and let out a sigh. “Okay, I was listening to this audiobook mystery. It’s by E. Hahn, and it was almost at the end and … I guess I was so into it that I wasn’t paying attention to anything else. Like I said, it’s dumb.”
I tried not to laugh since he looked so embarrassed. It was super hard though. “I get it. Mysteries are addicting. At least the good ones are. And it pulls you along until you’re so invested that there’s no choice but to get to the ending.”
Ryan nodded eagerly. His dark hair flopped across his forehead. “Don’t tell me that you’re a mystery lover, too.”
I tried to think of something witty but my mind was blank. So I just playedit cool instead. “I like all sorts of books. But next time you should probably cross the street before you listen. To be on the safe side.”
He let out a booming laugh. “Yeah. Just in case you’re not around to save me again.”
“That’s a good idea.” Enough with the small talk. I shifted my weight back and forth on the bench and let out a deep breath before I took the plunge. “Are you sure we’ve never met before? Because you look very familiar.”
“No, I don’t think so.” His eyes flickered down to my empty coffee cup still on the seat between us. “Nina. That’s a pretty name. Now I’m sure I would have remembered you.”
Except he didn’t.
Narrowing my eyes, I searched his face for something—anything—but he continued to give me a small polite smile.
Then two things hit me at once.
First, maybe he didn’t recognize me because of my makeup. I mean, I was wearing more than I usually did. A lot more. I barely recognized myself when I looked in the mirror this morning. Plus, on my hike, I wore those huge sunglasses that covered half my face. And my hair was in a ponytail.
Second, if he didn’t remember me … then maybe this was my chance to make another first impression. A better one. Like WAY better. It wouldn’t even be hard. I was already off to a pretty good start. This was practically the definition of a rom-com meet cute, one that would make it into the theaters.
I mean, sure, I planned the whole thing, but a meet cute was still a meet cute, right? And it’s not like I planned the crazy car. That was a happy coincidence.
“So …”
I straightened on the bench. “Yes?”
Kicking his left foot at the sidewalk, Ryan jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “I was thinking, after we talk to the police do you—do you want to get some ice cream with me? I know this place nearby that makes awesome homemade waffle cones. It’s the least I could do, since you saved my life.”
For a split second, as he gazed down at me with such an earnest expression on his face, a pang of guilt seeped into my gut. He was such a nice guy, both now and on the hike. He probably wouldn’t mind if I told him the truth. After all, the more I lied to him now, the worse it was going to get.
But when I opened my mouth, nothing came out.
The thing is, it wasn’t every day that I got a chance to rewrite history. Instead of being the weird girl he met on the hike who got injured and wet her pants, I could be the cool girl from the coffee shop. The one who knew about Spider-Man comics and liked mystery novels. The one who went around saving people and probably had her entire life planned out. And definitely didn’t have any family issues. The girl I always wished I could be, at least for a little bit.
And this was something I was definitely going to take advantage of.
Plus, technically, I wasn’t doing anythingwrong. Not really. I was just tweaking our meet cute story ateensybit. Ifhedidn’t remember me, then it wasn’t reallymyfault.
I gave him a bright smile. “Make it a double scoop and you’ve got yourself a date.”
“Nina, are you ready?”
“Yeah, pretty much. Thanks for dropping me—” I stopped short at the front door and let out an involuntary gasp. All I could do was blink at Linh and the huge brown dog next to her on the front step. A dog that was so fluffy that it resembled a giant teddy bear more than an actual dog. “What’s that?”
She stooped down to scratch between its ears. The dog cocked its head to the side and nuzzled against her arm. “Nina, I want you to meet Chrissy. Chrissy, this is Nina.”
I still didn’t move. “Uh, hi. So, why—why exactly are you introducing me to Chrissy?”
“Well, you need to get to know each other before you go on your walk. Don’t worry. I borrowed her from my neighbor for the entire day so you can take your time.”
With a cough, I automatically took a few steps back. My fingers reached behind me to grasp the doorknob. “Excuse me? Who is taking what for a walk?”
Linh let out a heavy sigh. “Come on! We know that Ryan is a dog person because of the key chain he had. So, you can bring Chrissy along when you meet him at the park. Bond over your mutual love for canines. He’ll fall in love with both herandyou. Boom. You’re dating by dinner time.” She jumped to her feet and shoved the navy leash at me, or at least tried to. “It’s the perfect plan.”
