Page 15 of The Five Stages of Courting Dalisay Ramos

Evan’s in the middle of chewing a bite ofputo, one of the rice cakes wrapped in banana leaves, when the man with the glasses approaches.

“Evan Saatchi,” the man says. His voice is low, level but friendly. He holds out his hand and Evan shakes it. “Nice to meet you. I’m Daniel Ramos.”

“Nice to meet you too, Daniel.”Ramos, as in related to Dalisay? Is this her brother?

Evan’s eyes are drawn toward Dalisay, who he notices is now deep in conversation with Pinky. She smiles and laughs,and Evan drags his gaze away from her to look at Daniel. He can see the family resemblance in his face.

As if reading his mind, Daniel says, “I’m Dalisay and Nicole’s older brother.” So Nicole must be Dalisay’s twin.

“No kidding!” Evan jokes.

Daniel has an easygoing air about him when he smiles and folds his arms over his chest. “Yup, it’s not an easy job but someone has to do it. Do you have siblings?”

“Nope, just me.”

Daniel clicks his tongue. “Lucky man. Bet your house was always quiet growing up.”

“Maybe a little too quiet! You’re not a fan of chaos?”

“Not when I’ve got a thesis due, and the family decides it’s time for a spontaneous dance party in the living room. I’m getting my doctorate at Stanford.”

“Oh, whoa. That’s awesome,” Evan says, genuinely impressed.

Daniel shrugs again, like it’s no big deal. “What about you? You in school?”

Evan’s eyes flick toward Dalisay again and he can’t help but smile. He wonders if the “teasing of friends” stage that JM and Pinky talked about goes both ways. Are JM and Pinky scoping out Dalisay like Daniel seems to be scoping out Evan?

“I actually work with Dalisay,” Evan says, testing to see how much Daniel knows.

“No way! At Overnight? Small world.” The way Daniel says it, with a small twinkle in his eye and a knowing smile, gives it all away.

“Yeah,” Evan says, amused. “Crazy running into her here.”

“Not exactly ideal, having a meet-cute at a clown birthday party, right?” Evan genuinely laughs at that. “I’m really proud of her, though. She’s worked hard for that spot at Overnight. She’s always been the word nerd.”

“Yeah? Me too.”

During the twenty minutes or so that they chat, Daniel drops information about Dalisay, telling Evan that her favorite novel isPride and Prejudiceby Jane Austen and that her favorite adaptation is the one with Kiera Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen; that she loves going to bookstores and has been known to spend hours perusing the aisles; and that she always orders a chai latte from any bookstore cafe. She’s got a big sweet tooth, and she loves anything with chocolate. They have a lot more in common than Evan thought. He feels like he should be taking notes for some reason.

“Daniel!” Nicole, Dalisay’s twin, calls over to him from the front door. “You need to move the car.”

“That’s what I get for double parking. It was good talking to you, Evan,” he says, shaking Evan’s hand again.

“Yeah, same. See you around.”

Daniel gives him a final, encouraging smile and while Evan eats some moreputo, Nicole takes his place at Evan’s side.

“Liking everything?” she asks with a smile, eyebrows lifted high enough to disappear behind her bangs.

“Yeah,” Evan says through a mouthful. Theputois sticky, practically gluing his jaw shut, and he covers his mouth so as not to be rude. “Really good.”

“Hi,” she says, extending her hand. “I’m Nicole. That one’s twin.” She tips her chin toward Dalisay.

“Which one of you is the evil one?” It’s a bad joke, and Nicole definitely isn’t laughing but she does grin a little wickedly. He has a habit of making jokes in awkward situations. “Sorry. I’m Evan,” he says, holding out his hand.

“Yeah, yeah, I know who you are, Evan Saatchi,” she says. “I knowallabout you.” Her voice is husky, casual, but betrays the sharpness in her eyes.

Evan swallows the rice cake with some difficulty. “So, uh, what do you do?”

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