Page 46 of Just Another Meet Cute
Ryan smacked Ian’s arm, making him grunt. “C?u Luke? What about Bác Julie? She finally stopped glaring at us all the time.”
“Wait, I don’t get it.” My forehead creased in confusion. “What’s wrong with Pictionary?”
They all got so quiet that I thought I said something wrong. Which only added even more to my confusion. What the heck was going on?
Finally, Ryan cleared his throat and spoke up. “Pictionary is, uh, kind of banned in our family. Like forever.”
“Why?”
“Because it tests marriages, causes betrayal among siblings, and nearly broke our family apart a year ago,” Kathy said with a dramatic hand to her forehead as she stared up at the ceiling. “So our family decided to never play it again. It wasn’t worth the trouble and heartache.”
I laughed because I thought they were joking. It only took me a few seconds to realize that no one was laughing with me. “Wait, you’re serious?”
A grim look crossed Ian’s face. “It was like any other night. Our whole family came over for Nathan’s birthday, and we decided to play Pictionary. After dinner. Boys against girls—”
“Our first mistake,” Kathy added.
“And we set up the teams next to each other.”
“Our second mistake. A big-ass one.”
Ignoring her, Ian continued, “And the guysmayhave bent the rules a bit. There was a lot of finger-pointing and yelling. And both teams ended up getting really pissed at each other.”
With a scowl, Kathy tossed the box onto the couch and put both hands on her slim hips. “Cheated. The word ischeated.”
“Hey, we didn’t cheat,” Ian said, pointing at her face. “We guessedsecret servicebefore you guys did. So we won fair and square.”
She knocked his hand away. “Uh, you mean you guessed the word when Bác Noah only had two stick figures drawn, while we drew the entire White House and the president with people surrounding him. You copied our guesses!”
“But you still didn’t say it first.” Ryan shook his head and attempted to look innocent. “I mean, it’s not our fault that weheardyour guesses. There are no rules about eavesdropping on the other team. Besides, if it’s anyone’s fault, then it’s yours for being so loud.”
“Oh, now you sound exactly like our uncles!”
“Thank you.”
Stepping in between them, Ian held up both hands like he was breaking up a fight. Which made me think that this wasn’t the first—or even tenth time—this came up. “Tr?ioi, we all know what happened. And we know that this argument will go on forever.” He smiled wryly at me. “Now do you believe us?”
My eyes flickered between the three of them. “Yes. And to be honest, I’m a little scared now.”
Letting out a deep breath, Kathy shook her head. “We’ll be fine. We’re more mature now. And I think our uncles are the main troublemakers anyway. Without them, it should be a nice and fun game.”
Instead of answering, Ian gave her a skeptical look.
“We don’t have enough people to play right now anyway,” Ryan pointed out.
“Ollie said he’ll play with us. He’s not scared of his parents. And Megan—”
At her words, Ian’s head whipped up. “Megan’s here?”
Before Kathy could answer him, a tall girl came down the stairs with an excited smile. Actually, it was almost like she glided down the stairs. She was so leggy and graceful. Her hair was pulled off her face into a high bun like a ballerina. When she got to the bottom step, she leaped forward and almost tackled Ian.
With a laugh, he easily caught her and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. The tips of her toes barely brushed the ground as he squeezed her in a giant bear hug.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were already in town.” Her voice was muffled against his shoulder. “You’re such an asshole.”
“Sorry, I thought you were still in Florida visiting your aunt. I was going to text you later tonight though.”
“Sure, that’s what you say now. Kathy said you’ve already been here for nearly two weeks. Weeks!” The girl—who I assumed was the mysterious Megan—finally noticed me looking at her and pushed Ian away slightly. “Uh, hi.”
