Page 8 of Just Another Meet Cute
Digging out my laptop, I stuck the flash drive into the USB slot. As I waited for it to load, I curled on the bench in Linh’s reading nook. It used to be my closet growing up, but after I moved out, she took the door off, built a little bench, and put shelves on the wall. She even sewed a couple of velvet pillows to hide the fact that the bench was pretty crooked.
After we left, Linh could have taken over both closets or even moved intoBá’s old room, but she claimed that it was too much trouble to move. And it was easier to get dressed with her clothes all over the place. She was obviously lying, but I didn’t call her out. For the same reason that I slept in her room instead of in Bá’s empty room. It felt nice to have things back to normal. Even if it was just for a few weeks.
Linh flopped backward until her head was halfway off the bed. “By the way, how’s it going with your dad? Are things any better?”
My eyes were glued to the colorful spinning circle on the screen. “Depends on what you mean by ‘better.’ ”
“Guess that’s a no then.”
It’s no secret that Dad and I weren’t exactly pals. Not even pen pals who emailed once every couple of months to “check in.” I mean, I just recently started calling himDad,mainly because Mom’s been nagging me about it since they got engaged.
It wasn’t even that hard since that word literally didn’t mean anything to me in the first place. It was just a word. One I’ve barely used my entire life. So I called him Dad, instead of David like Mom did. It didn’tmeananything. Likelollygagormalarkey.
To be honest, part of the reason I didn’t talk to Dad was because of how he completely abandoned his other family. One minute he was with them and now he was with us. Switched families as easily as switching to a different phone plan. And if he did it once, then he could easily do it again.
Wise ol’ Sylvester Stallone once said that love is absolute loyalty. Everything can fade except loyalty. You can depend on loyal people. And I’m not sure Dadwas one of them. So why should I bother trying to fit him into my life if he may be a temporary piece?
Plus, my life was fine the way it was without him. I wasn’t missing out on anything. I had everything I needed. Everyone I needed. But he’s here now, and Mom kept trying. And I do want to make her happy …
“I mean, it’s notbetter, but it’s also not worse? It’s … complicated.” My fingers drummed against the side of my laptop. “Like really complicated.”
“Maybe things will get better later on, ” Linh said with a hopeful grin.
“Like when your mom and my dad stop making snide comments to each other?” My face scrunched up for a minute and I shrugged. “Or, you know, when we get world peace.”
“So, basically, never.” She shook her head and turned back to her phone. “You make me glad that my deadbeat dad never tried to come back.”
My eyebrow rose. “You act like your mom would everlethim come back.”
“That’s true. He is pretty much the source of her man hatred after all. The origin story.” Linh shook her head. “Oh well, back to business.”
When the flash drive finally loaded, I was surprised to see only a few files on it. A history paper on the Civil War. A PDF comic ofThe Amazing Spider-Man, Vol 1. And a folder that was labeledEssays. Only one file was on in it though and it was barely a page.
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Family is something that I’ve always considered to be one of my biggest strengths. It’s the one thing that makes me feel special. Different. They’re thereason I’m able to strive to do my best. To push myself to go the extra mile. Coming from a huge family, they’ve been my identity for my entire life. They’re my past and my present.
?homework nights at the kitchen table
?weekly hiking trips
?family vacations (specifically the road trip to Minnesota and Pennsylvania)
But are they my future?
If I’m completely honest, I feel like my family can also be considered my weakness. They can be my biggest cheerleaders, but they’re also my crutch. I don’t know how to be on my own. I mean, who am I without my family? What could I—How could I do anything on my own?
Yet somehow lately, even when I’m with them, I feel like I’m by myself. Alone. Like I don’t belong anymore and now I’m forced to figure out who I am. Sometimes I’m afraid that—
I stopped reading mid-sentence. There were still a couple of paragraphs left, but I—I had to stop. This wasn’t just an innocent college essay; it was something else. It was raw and personal. Anddefinitelyprivate. I felt like I was snooping in Ian’s diary or something. Me. A complete stranger. I didn’t even know his last name. I didn’t have a right to know about his strengths and weaknesses and especiallynothis fears.
Yet somehow, his words felt so familiar to me. Having a family but feeling lost. Not knowing who you were and not belonging. I could understand that on so many levels.
Even when we moved to Houston to be near Dad, I couldn’t jump into this little family that Mom wanted us to be in. No matter how much time passed or how hard she wanted for us to get along. It had been almost two years, and Dad and I still tiptoed around each other like we were strangers. Sometimes it could be so exhausting. All I wanted to do was go back home to Bá, Aunt Sarah, and Linh.
Yet now that I was finally here, things were different. And not in a good way. It wasn’t just because Báwas gone or because everything in the house was still exactly the same. I knew every inch of this house, every creaking floorboard and scratch on the walls, but it didn’t feel likemyhouse anymore. It didn’t feel the same. And I didn’t know what I could do to fix it.
“Did you find anything?”
