Page 7 of The Sitcom Star
God, he couldn’t believe he’d spilled taro milk tea all over Maddie Ng, as if he was Hugh Grant spilling orange juice on Julia Roberts.It was just likeNotting Hill, aside from the fact that he didn’t have a bookstore or floppy brown hair or a weird roommate.
And she hadn’t kissed him afterward.
I wish she had.
Twenty years later, he still liked her.She was the same Maddie Ng—as in, rather different from the character she was known for playing on TV—but all grown up.He was even more attracted to her when he saw her up close than when he came across big ads with her face on them.
It didn’t matter, though.She was clearly far, far out of his league.It wasn’t that he was down on himself; it was just a statement of fact.If that was true of Janine—who’d said almost those exact words when she dumped him—then it was definitely true of Maddie.
And he’d given her his number?How embarrassing, even if he hadn’t implied that he wanted herlike that.
At least, he hoped he hadn’t sounded at all suggestive.He hoped he hadn’t made her uncomfortable.But they’d gotten along reasonably well while they were eating…so he thought?
When he’d first dumped his drink on her, she’d honestly looked like she was about to cry, like that little accident had put her over the edge.Given he hadn’t seen her in years and didn’t know her well, he hadn’t wanted to mention her expression, which he suspected had something to do with her being severely overworked.There were also circles under her eyes, and the tension in her body had been evident.
But she’d seemed to enjoy his impromptu suggestion of late-night food and bubble tea on the patio—and she’d appeared less tense as they started eating.He’d enjoyed himself, too, and it wasn’t just the novelty of seeing her again, now that she was famous.
And she’dworn his shirt.
There was something rather intimate about that, and he couldn’t help wondering whether she’d toss it as soon as she got home or keep it to wear about the house or…
He really needed to stop thinking about Maddie Ng in his shirt, but he couldn’t help himself from going to his closet and pulling out a box from the top shelf—a box of childhood memories.He flipped to his grade eight yearbook and ran his finger over a picture of thirteen-year-old Maddie Ng.She’d had braces then, and her hair was pushed back with a headband.These pages of the yearbook were in black and white, but he remembered that headband—it had been red.He might not have been detail-oriented when it came to his schoolwork, but little things about Maddie had stuck in his mind.
Adrian picked up his phone and opened the group chat he had with Sydney, Devon, and Noah.He took a photo of the yearbook page and sent it, then started typing.
The Most Awesomest Group Chat
ADRIAN:You won’t believe what happened.I saw Maddie Ng last night.
ADRIAN:Well, technically, I didn’t see her at first.I walked into her with my bubble tea and spilled it all over her.
NOAH:hahaha
SYDNEY:OMG ARE YOU SERIOUS????
SYDNEY:I must have magical powers.
ADRIAN:Magical powers?
SYDNEY:Yeah!I brought up the show, you said she was your childhood crush, and then you saw her!I, like, willed it into existence.Or maybe it’s a sign?
NOAH:A sign that Adrian is a clumsy ass?
SYDNEY:A sign that he’s in a Canadian remake of Notting Hill!
SYDNEY:Shit.Literally.Sadie had a poop explosion.Might be a while.
Sydney had probably been up for hours, whereas Adrian was…oh, crap!He needed to place the dim sum order and head to his parents’ house in Markham.
Adrian used to go out for dim sum with his family every month.They’d alternated between two restaurants, one in Scarborough and one in Markham—the former was his father’s favorite, and the latter was his mother’s favorite.
But then, when the pandemic had hit, a bunch of things had happened.
First of all, his sister and her son had moved back in with their parents.Colleen had recently gone back to work after her year-long maternity leave, and her job had switched to remote—as had Adrian’s—but that didn’t solve her childcare issue.She needed someone to look after Ryder during the day, since she was unable to do her job while looking after him.So, Adrian had also moved back home to help his parents and sister…and because being alone for weeks at a time had been a struggle for him.
Until June of 2021, there’d been five of them living under one roof, and on occasion, Adrian would pick up a big dim sum order from his mother’s favorite dim sum restaurant, the other restaurant having closed fairly early on in the pandemic.
Adrian and his sister no longer lived with their parents.They saw each other about twice a month, and they continued to get takeout and eat at their parents’ home.
