Page 31 of No Summer Hotter than You

I was suddenly very aware of how far Shoua was from me. She was more than an arm’s length away, where she typically stood. I was sad to realize we had fallen into our usual habits instead of performing like we were supposed to.

I shuffled closer to her as she did the same, and the heat around me rose up a notch. My throat became dry while my body tensed up. I was too conscious about how we were supposed to be together now.

“Keep smiling at each other like you were doing earlier. It’s pretty convincing when you are doing that,” Jonathan said.

Convincing? But we weren’t even acting earlier. We were just laughing over something I couldn’t even remember anymore. The line started to move, and our hands brushed against each other as we stepped up.

“There you go,” Jonathan said in a low whisper. I didn’t even have to glance back to know he was wearing a wide, smug smirk. Conniving asshole. “Oh, shit. Evelyn and Kelvin are walking this way.”

From the corner of my eyes, I could see the silhouette of two figures similar to Evelyn and Kelvin. They headed straight toward us.

“Hey! We finally moved up,” Evelyn said, smiling sweetly.

When we were waiting for the corn dogs twenty minutes earlier, Evelyn commented on how the line was too long. She said she wanted to go look around the fair and asked Kelvin to go with her, which was fine. But I couldn’t help but notice how they decided to come back now that we were second in line.

“Yeah,” I beamed, stiffly. “Finally.”

An awkward silence fell over the five of us. Jonathan was usually chatty, but not with Evelyn or Kelvin. I couldn’t tell whether he liked Kelvin or not. But he was strangely quiet with the guy.

“So, Evelyn, how’s your PhD going?” Shoua asked, trying to make small talk. “Your mom was telling us that your program’s got you spread out too thin or something.”

She shrugged nonchalantly. “Nothing’s changed much with me. It’s the same old, same old,” she said, looking right at me instead of Shoua and ignoring her existence entirely. She smiled brightly. “But my mom sure loves to be overly dramatic now that I don’t live with her anymore. School is hardly anything I can’t handle and I’m not going to bore you all with the details.”

“Your mom’s probably just worried about you. Getting a doctorate isn’t easy,” Jonathan said.

The big grin on her face fell to a small one as she turned to him with a hum. “It’s honestly not even as hard as everyone makes it seem,” she answered confidently. “This is probably the easiest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

“Right,” said Jonathan dryly.

We were all quiet again for a moment.

“This is your first time in California, right, Kelvin?” I asked, turning our attention to him. “How are you enjoying it so far?”

“I love it here,” he replied softly. “I love the warm weather, the people, and most importantly—I love the view.”

His eyes immediately landed on Shoua as this tiny, sick smile crossed his lips. Watching him smile at her like that left a bitter tang in my mouth and I moved closer to her.

“Auntie Gao told me that you guys went up to Sequoia National Park yesterday,” Shoua said. “Did you enjoy Giant Forest?”

Giant Forest is an expanse of land in the national park of large sequoias. The sights there are amazing, but I’m far too traumatized by how my parents used to take Andy, Julie, Jonathan, Shoua, and me there every other summer to hike when we were kids. We all hated it and complained the whole every time so I couldn’t say I’d enjoy it if I went back.

Kelvin’s smile grew at her question. “It was amazing! I didn’t even know California had this kind of terrain,” he said. “The only thing I can think of when it comes to this state are the big cities, which isn’t really my thing. But I’d love to move here to Sunset Valley.”

I immediately raised a brow at him as Evelyn spoke up. “Me too! I may consider it after graduating. California seems like an amazing place to live.”

“That’s . . . great,” Jonathan said before I could. His enthusiasm was lacking as he glanced at me. “The more, the merrier. Right, Anthony?”

I usually tried to be neutral, but I couldn’t help but plaster on a tight smile. I could hardly mutter a response as I let out a forced chuckle. “Nah, you two wouldn’t want to do that. It’s getting overpopulated here and housing prices are skyrocketing. If I were you, I’d rather stay in the Midwest and get more bang for my buck.”

“That’s what Californians always say,” Kelvin said as he raised his brows at me. His glare had a sharpness to them, almost as if he was challenging me. “But I think that’s exactly what you do to keep the rest of us from having all the fun.”

He glanced back at Shoua, his eyes lingering a little too long for my liking.

Evelyn giggled and said, “Exactly, Anthony. Why try to keep us out of all the fun? We’re going to be here whether you like it or not.”

In perfect unison, the two cousins flashed me a smug look as the corner of their lips pulled into the same irritating smile.

CHAPTER 13

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