Page 41 of Just Another Meet Cute
I spotted Ryan’s broad back as soon as I walked into the lobby. He was standing halfway across the room at the popcorn topping station. His body was angled away from me and his face was turned downward as he concentrated on drizzling the butter throughout the popcorn tub with the plastic straw, like it was an art piece.
“Hey, there you are.” He turned around, and my smile immediately morphed into a scowl. “What areyoudoing here?”
Ian froze for a second or two before glancing around. His hair flopped against his forehead with each movement. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, why are you here? Where’s Ryan?”
He gave me a funny look as he picked up the giant tub of popcorn. “What makes you think I’mnotRyan?”
I gave him a look and continued scanning the lobby. “Ha!”
“Fine, Ryan’s parking the car. But seriously, people usually can’t tell us apart. Even friends who’ve gone to school with us for years.” With a slight frown, Ian peered down at me like he’d never seen me before.
He was totally joking, right? He had to be. “I don’t know why not. You two are completely different. Like night and day. Soy sauce and water.”
Looking surprised, the corner of his mouth quirked into a tiny smile. “You couldn’t at first.”
My mouth opened for a split second before snapping shut. He was right. Mixing them up was the whole reason I was in this mess to begin with.
At first glance, Iguessthey looked the same. They were twins after all. But there were subtle differences that made it glaringly obvious there were two of them. The dimples on opposite sides of their faces like mirror images. The way Ian’s hair was a shade darker and always flopped over his forehead, while Ryan had his hair perfectly styled. Ryan’s eyes also had a few more creases around the edges, like he smiled more. And the expressions in their eyes were different. Ian always looked like he knew something, like he was hiding a secret.Even the way Ian stood was completely different from Ryan. He didn’t stand as straight. He didn’t slouch or anything, but he was laid back. More relaxed.
Now that I was standing right next to him, I had no idea how I could have confused them. All I could see in front of me was Ian, and he was just … Ian.
“It was sunny that day. I couldn’t see clearly,” I finally said lamely.
Ian shifted his weight from foot to foot like he was lightly bouncing. “Well, most people whocansee clearly still can’t tell the difference between us. I mean, even our girlfriends mixed us up once.”
As though to prove his point, Linh came up behind us and waved. “Hi, Ryan!”
“Hi.” He turned his head to me with his eyebrow raised as though sayingSee?
I rolled my eyes. “You don’t need to be nice to him. This is Ian, not Ryan.”
“Oh.Oh.” She looked him up and down like she was examining him. The index finger tapped her upper lip. “So this is Ian?TheIan? Mr. Unicorn?”
“Mr. Unicorn?”
Resisting the urge to groan out loud, I nudged her side with my elbow instead. Hard. “Don’t ask.”
“Okay.” Ian coughed and tried to keep a straight face. “Judging by the way you said my name, I have a feeling Nina’s been talking about me.”
Linh giggled. “Oh, you have no idea.”
My cheeks flushed. “Well, considering how often I had to borrow Linh’s car to run your errands, of course she would know who you are. By the way, you owe her a tank of gas.”
“Oh, you don’t have to—”
This time he did laugh. “Well, in that case, how about I buy you a slushie? Any flavor you want. My treat.”
To my surprise, Linhblushedinstead of replying with some smart-ass comment. “If you make it a large slushie and toss in a box of Milk Duds, then you can borrow Nina and my car whenever you want.”
Unable to help myself, I let out a heavy groan.
Ian glanced over at me with a wide grin. “Well, I can’t turn down that deal. Come on, I’ll get you the biggest box of Milk Duds that they have.” He motioned toward the concession stand on the other side of the room.
With a snicker, Linh leaned over until her lips were right by my ear. “He’s so cute. I can see why we spent all that effort tracking him down.” She dodged my hand as I reached out to hit her and slid over to Ian’s side. “On second thought, I think I might want some Raisinets instead.”
“Blah. And here I was just starting to like you.”
