Page 54 of Just Another Meet Cute
“Which is crazy because we’re friends now, right?” I quickly added with a laugh before daring to look up.
To my surprise, Ian wasn’t across the porch leaning on the banister anymore. Now he was in front of me. Barely five feet away. He was too close but also not close enough. If I reached out and stretched, then I could almost touch him. Almost. His eyes pierced me like he was trying to figure something out, figure me out. I felt like he could almost see what I was thinking.
With every ounce of willpower I had, I forced my gaze down to his throat. I had to. After all, I barely understood what I was feeling. I didn’t needhimto figure it out before me.
Suddenly his throat was much closer than before. Did he lean toward me or did I lean toward him? Or maybe we both did. Either way, we went from being five feet apart to being two feet. Then one foot. Then … then …
“Right.”
My head jerked up. “Right what?”
He swallowed before answering again. “Right. Wearefriends.”
Pop!
And just like that, his words woke me up. They popped our little bubble and unraveled our cozy cocoon and brought both of us right back down to reality.
Of course we were friends. I don’t know what I was thinking. For a second there, I was being stupid. There was no way that I had feelings—could everlikeIan. And he definitely didn’t like me. After all, he had Megan, and she wasawesome. Plus, I had Ryan and he was awesome, too. In more ways than I could ever count.
Maybe it was the adrenaline of winning the Pictionary game. That had to be the only reason why my emotions were going crazy.
“Did you forget your key or something? The camera in the driveway said you’ve been home for—oh!” Mom poked her head out the front door and clapped a hand to her mouth when she saw us standing there. Still too close together. “Sorry, I didn’t know that you were out here with somebody.”
My feet shuffled backward. “It’s okay. Ian was just leaving.”
Immediately taking the hint, he stumbled backward. “Uh, right. Bye, Nina. Chao Co.”
Mom nodded and waved at him until he was across the lawn. The smile on her face didn’t even budge when she asked, “Ian? So now there’s an Ian again?”
“Don’t ask.”
“It’s still early. There’s a carton of brown sugar boba ice cream in the freezer if you want to talk.”
Unlike Dad’s invitation to get ice cream and hang out earlier, Mom’s invitation was much more appealing. But Ididn’twant to talk about Ian or Ryan. “Maybe tomorrow. I’m kind of tired.”
“Okay.” Taking my left hand between hers, Mom played with the tip of my ring finger, massaging the soft skin like she’s done thousands of times before to comfort me. Except I didn’t need comfort this time because there was nothing going on. “Nina, what’s wrong?”
“It’s funny,” I said, watching as Ian got back into the car and drove off without a second look or a wave in my direction. “But I just realized that Ryan’s uncles were right.”
“Right about what?”
Pushing down my disappointment, I pasted a bright smile on my face. “A game of Pictionary really isn’t worth the trouble and heartache.”
Just as I promised Mom, we had our talk with ice cream the next day. It wasn’t a long deep talk or any secrets spilling. I explained to her that Ian and Ryan were twins and I had mixed them up in the beginning. Pretty much the short non-stalkerish version without any of the complicated feelings.
Nice and simple.
To be honest, things did seem better once I was finally able to get some sleep. It took me a while. I stared at the shadows on my ceiling for hours as I listened to Linh snore. She swore that she didn’t, but she totally did. Not a loud and obnoxious snore, just really heavy breathing. It was kind of soothing actually. My room at home was too quiet.
But seriously, now that it was a new day, I could see everything so much better. Clearer. And it was obvious that I was swept up in the moment last night. Ian was being nice and sweet, and I got carried away. Plus, let’s face it: He’s pretty easy on the eyes, so it’s not hard to get fluttery around him. But there was nothing going on between us except the fact that we were friends now. Something that he madeveryclear before he left.
But I wasn’t mad about that. I was happy.Content. Delighted. Jovial.
In fact, I was happy enough to help Mom polish off the carton of boba ice cream and a couple of Girl Scout cookies that Linh had stashed away in the back of the pantry. Along with the shrimp chips that Aunt Sarah loved. It sounds gross, but the salty and sweet snack was pretty delicious, and it hit the spot.
Mom licked the back of her spoon before tossing it in the sink. “So, I was hoping to talk to you about your dad.”
“What about him?”
