Page 5 of Just Another Meet Cute
“Rosemary or thyme?”
“Whatever you want.” Barely listening to Linh, I hummed to myself as I scrolled through Instagram. My finger automatically clicked on Lucy’s name in the search bar. Huh, she went skiing with her family a few weeks ago. The swirling, lush snow made her pictures look like a scenic postcard. Especially the one of her and Adam having a snowball fight. It wasalmostas adorable as the one where the entire family posed by the rocky fireplace.
The familiar pit in my stomach grew. Was it weird to be jealous of someone you’ve never met? Probably. I don’t even know exactly what I was jealous of. Their picturesque family. The carefree joy on their faces. How gorgeous Lucy looked. I mean, we both had the same shade of dark brown hair like Dad, but why was hers in perfect curls while mine was wavy and slightly flat on the top like wilted lettuce?
And seriously, where did they even find snow in the summer?
My head jerked back when Linh shoved a spoonful of something thick and creamy at me. “What is this?”
“Mushroom and kale risotto.” Her hand followed me back and forth as I dodged her attempts to force-feed me. “Something is missing, but I can’t figure it out. Just try it for me. I need your golden tongue.”
“You know it sort of sounds dirty when you call it that.”
“Only if you have a dirty mind. What are you doing anyway?”
Snap!I quickly shut the laptop. “Nothing.”
Pursing her lips, she eyed me suspiciously. In case she decided to lunge for it, I gave her a wide smile as my right hand subtly pushed the laptop away.
Linh and I never really had secrets growing up. She was more like a sister than a cousin. Before Dad came back into our lives, we shared a room for over fourteen years, so it’s not like we were able to keep anything from each other anyway. We even got our first periods around the same time, even though she was nearly a year younger than me.
But I couldn’t tell her the truth now. I mean, what was I going to say? “Oh, I’m cyberstalking my half sister who doesn’t even know that I exist. No biggie. Want some chips?”
Even I knew that made me sound … a bit loony. Like Batman Joker loony.
“Give me that spoon again.” I sniffed the risotto a few times before I stuck it in my mouth, chewing slowly. “It’s not bad. Could probably use a few more minutes on the stove. And maybe a different type of mushroom? Something that doesn’t blend in as much …”
“I used regular mushrooms, but I could get some portobello or porcini mushrooms next time.” With one hand on the counter, she leaned in to stare at me intently. “What else?”
“I don’t know.” I scratched the top of my head. “Maybe lemon or something?”
Linh clapped her hands together. Her eyes were so wide in excitement that they dwarfed her face, like an anime character. “Lemon! Yes! So it could have some freshness to it. That’s exactly what it needs to break up the heaviness. Brilliant.”
With a wry grin, I handed her back the spoon. “Glad to be of help.”
“I’m so glad that you’re here. Mom can’t help with any of my recipes. She always tells me to add fish sauce. For someone who doesn’t know how to cook Vietnamese food, she sure puts fish sauce in everything.”
“Sometimes it does work. I mean, the spaghetti with fish sauce the other night wasn’tthatbad,” I teased.
“Don’t remind me.” Shuddering to herself, Linh waved the creamy ladle in my direction. “You’re seriously going to have to move to New York with me someday. I need you as my muse if I’m going to work at a Michelin-starred restaurant. Think of all the Broadway shows we could see and bagels we could eat. Think of the dim sum and ramen.”
“Yeah, moving across the country to be your taste tester isn’t exactly my career goal.”
“Well, it’s not like you have an actual career goal anyway.”
Ouch.
I would have been annoyed if anyone else had said that, but I knew that Linh wasn’t being intentionally mean. She was just being her brutally honest self, and sadly itwasthe truth. I didn’t have a career goal. I didn’t even have aninterest inanything. There were plenty of things that I liked or was semi-good at, but nothing that I wasgreatat. And definitely nothing that I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
To be honest, I was a little jealous that Linh had a passion that consumed her. All I had were a bunch of interests that fizzled out. While Linh spent her allowance on cookware and ingredients, I splurged on all kinds of books and beginner class fees for random stuff. Countless hours were wasted on YouTube tutorials and reading articles on everything and anything, but nothing sparked me.
If only I could major in random facts in college, then all my problems would be solved. Useless Information 101. I’d probably make the dean’s list.
The funny thing was that it wasn’t such a problem before. One minute I was a junior and too young to understand “adult stuff.” Then suddenly this summer—the summer before senior year—careers and college majors were all anyone ever seemed to talk about. It even trumped prom. And the question of what to do next hovered over me like an invisible gloomy cloud.
“You’re going to have to learn how to survive without me.” I smirked. “Besides, what if you get onTop Chef? I can’t go on the show with you and be your crutch. What will Tom think?”
She let out a sigh. “That’s true. I can’t disappoint him.”
