Page 23 of Just Another Meet Cute
Letting out a deep breath to calm my jittery nerves, I carefully draped the navy jacket over one arm. Then I quickly rang the doorbell to Ryan’s house before I could lose my nerve and bolt.
A pretty girl opened the door and beamed at me. “Hi! Are you Nina?”
“Yes …”
“I’m Kathy!” Reaching out, she grabbed my arm and tugged me to her side and into the house. “I’m so glad you came over!”
She was oozing with so much enthusiasm that I felt like I was obligated to show some excitement, too. I plastered a giant smile on my face. “I’m so excited to be here!”
“Come on. Everyone’s in the kitchen.”
As I followed a few steps behind her, I couldn’t help thinking how amazing it was that Kathy looked exactly how I imagined her. She was a bit shorter than me—which was pretty unbelievable—and skinnier. She had Ryan’s round eyes and broad smile, although she didn’t have his left dimple. Her hair was a bit lighter than his, too, with honey-brown highlights. And she was so full of energy that she practically bounced with each step she took, like an overeager puppy that you wanted to cuddle even if you didn’t like dogs. I couldn’t help thinking that she and Chrissy would get along great together.
Ryan came down the stairs as I got to the living room. He leaned forward and gave me an awkward one-armed hug. “Sorry my little sister dragged you over here.”
“It’s okay. I wanted to come.” I cleared my throat and fumbled with his jacket still in my arms. “Do—do you think we could talk for a bit? Alone?”
Kathy poked her head between us, breaking us apart. She looped her arm through mine and shoved Ryan behind her. “You can talk after ph?. Come on. It’s getting cold!”
Looking over my shoulder, I shot Ryan a look for help. He gave me a sheepish smile as Kathy dragged me through the living room. For such a petite girl, she had a really tight grip.
I guess it didn’t hurt to push the conversation off a little longer.
Kathy finally let go of me as soon as we entered the kitchen. “Here we are!”
I stopped so suddenly that Ryan bumped into my back. He immediately apologized as his arm wrapped around my shoulders to steady me. I barely heard him, I was too busy staring at the twenty or so people whowere crowded in the giant kitchen. And who were all currently staring right back at me.
“Uh, Ryan …?”
“Yeah?”
With wide eyes, I pressed back against his side like he could hide me from all the curious glances. “Who are all these people?”
“I told you my family always has ph? together on Sundays.”
“Yeah, but I thought you just meant yourfamily. Not like yourentirefamily.”
Looking confused, he glanced around the room before smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand. “I’m sorry, I’m so used to all of this being normal that I completely forgot to explain. My grandma usually cooks ph? every Sunday, and all my uncles and aunts come over to eat it at our house because we have the biggest kitchen.” He leaned down until his lips were inches from my ear. “You can still run off if you want,” he muttered the last sentence under his breath. “I’ll cover you.”
Fat chance. Not with everyone’s eyes glued on my every move.
Letting out a deep breath, I squared my shoulders. “No, I’m fine.”
Ryan grinned down at me and squeezed my arm. “That’s my girl.”
Even though I was still fighting the urge to escape, my stomach fluttered at his words and they gave me the courage to take a couple of steps forward.
The kitchen was huge, but it felt smaller with all the people and tables squished in it. There were a total of three tables and a whole bunch of folding chairs. And they looked like they were sorted out according to age group. A nearly full table of adults was right by the stove. Behind it was a table of olderteens and maybe a couple of women in their twenties. And the last table by the door was full of preteens and kids.
Kathy immediately grabbed two bowls by the stove and started scooping noodles into them with a pair of chopsticks. Behind her, I could see an assembly line of bowls and plates of veggies and meat all laid out on the counter.
“I would introduce you to everyone, but I’m sure you won’t remember their names anyway. I’ll take you to the most important person first.” His hand slid down from my shoulders to lace his fingers through mine. Ryan nudged me toward the farthest table, where an old woman in a purple sweater and long skirt was sitting. “Nina, this beautiful lady right here is my grandma. Bá, this is Nina; she’s my friend.”
I shyly tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and kind of bobbed my head. “Chào Bá.”
Her head jerked up to look at Ryan in surprise. “You teach her that?”
“Nope, she did that herself.”
