Page 38 of The Sitcom Star
“Okay, I’ll do it, but Mom, you can’t just agree to things on my behalf.”
“And Phoebe had a great idea for an episode, which I said I would tell you—”
“Mom!”
“It really is a good idea!I know you’re so smart, you probably have many ideas yourself, but…” Mrs.Ng seemed to lose her train of thought as her gaze turned back to Adrian.“Who is this?”
“Why do you sound so accusatory?”
“Wah, I’m not accusatory!Why are you accusing me of being accusatory?”
In different circumstances, Adrian might have laughed.
“You look familiar,” Maddie’s father said to Adrian.
“This is Adrian,” Maddie said.“We went to school together.”She pointed in the direction of said school.
“Yes, I remember you,” Mrs.Ng said.“You played trombone in grade seven and eight.You were the short kid, who always sat in the front row in school pictures, and one year your hair looked so ugly!I asked Maddie what happened, and she said you spiked it without your mother’s permission.”
“Yeah, that was me.”Adrian forced a smile.
Maddie’s parents looked between the two of them, the question they wanted to ask evident in their expressions:What’s going on between the two of you?
Maddie, however, did not answer that question.
“What do you do?”Mrs.Ng asked Adrian.
“I’m a web developer,” he said.
“Maddie is on the TV now, you know.”
“Yes, she’s great.”
The look in Mrs.Ng’s eyes was easy to interpret:You’re not good enough for my daughter.Or maybe:You’re not good enough for my daughter, but she’s getting old, and she’s too busy to meet men, so perhaps you’ll do.
Adrian reminded himself that this woman’s opinions didn’t matter.After all, she’d greatly favored Maddie’s sister over her, and Maddie was, well, incredible.Mrs.Ng probably wanted him to be a doctor, probably had very specific ideas about what was acceptable, but he had a career and made decent money—not enough to buy a house in Toronto, but few people could these days.Or possibly Mrs.Ng was holding his childhood antics against him.
He could be reading too much into this, but given that Janine, his last girlfriend, had literally told him that he wasn’t good enough for her, it was hard to get it out of his mind.
Besides, he’d always coasted in life.Put in the minimum effort.That much was true.
For a brief, shining moment, he desperately wanted to change.He’d be a success, in one way or another.He would find the ambition and drive that he’d never possessed, certainly not to the degree of someone like Maddie, and make it happen.He’d be one of those men who built an empire just to prove people wrong.
Except…nah.That wasn’t him.Could he be doing a lot better with his degree?Sure, but he valued his free time.
“Are you busy now?”Mrs.Ng asked her daughter.“We should have dinner.Get to know Adrian.”
“Sorry, we have plans,” Maddie said.“But it was nice to see you.”
“You haven’t called in two weeks.Why not?”
“I’ll call you tomorrow.Promise.But we really have to get going.We’re late.”
Maddie grabbed Adrian’s hand and practically dragged him in the direction of his car, tea in her other hand.
“Oh my God,” she whispered.“Oh my God.I can’t believe that happened.”They were far enough away from her parents that there was zero possibility of them overhearing, but she clearly didn’t want to take any chances.“I’m so sorry.Dealing with my mother is best handled with a good amount of mental preparation, which I didnothave.”
“It’s okay.”He wasn’t entirely calm, not yet, but he felt the need to reassure her.“No big deal.It’s not like you tried to drag me to dinner when she suggested it.”
