Page 51 of Just Another Meet Cute
It wasn’twhathe said, but thewayhe said it that made me believe him. I was super grateful that he wasn’t pushing for more answers or asking more questions. Or, oh God, giving well-meaning but totally unwanted advice. That was the worst. Instead, he just accepted how I felt.
It was nice.
“If you ever need to escape from your family again, you can call me,” he said, holding out his hand. “No judgment. Promise.”
And despite the fact that he spent the last few days blackmailing me to keep my secret, my instincts told me that I could trust him.
I reached out and gave his hand a light squeeze. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” His hand squeezed mine back before he let go.
We fell back into the silence again.
“So, any more questions? Do you need to know about my fifth-grade teacher, too? Or maybe when I learned how to ride a bike?” I teased with a grin.
His lips pressed together, and I could see him holding back his grin. “Not right now.”
“Okay, so now it’s my turn. Why did you ask me all those questions in the first place?”
“To annoy you?”
“Well, if that was the only reason, then it definitely worked.”
Grinning, Ian shook his head. “Honestly, I didn’t know you. We only met that one time, and suddenly, poof! There you were at my house with Ryan, eating ph? with my family. Sitting next to my grandma. And then I realized that you tracked us—me—down, and it was so crazy and weird.”
“Oh, sure, but when Prince Charming does it to find Cinderella, nobody called him crazy and weird,” I muttered to myself.
“Yeah, well, I’m no Cinderella, and you’re no Prince Charming.”
I shrugged but didn’t say anything, because he was right. I know I would have freaked out if our situation was turned around. Still, the double standards in fairy tales were a bit annoying.
“So, I had to find out more about you. Make sure that you were normal and safe and right for Ryan. I didn’t want him to get hurt or anything. He’s important to me. Obviously.”
“And now? What’s your verdict?”
Ian slowly pulled to a stop at a red light and turned to fully look at me. His eyes examined me like he was looking at me for the first time, and I could feel myself turn a little pink under his intense gaze. That didn’t stop me from looking straight back at him though. Not sure if I could look away even if I wanted to. Not with him staring at me like that.
He was the first one to break eye contact. And that was only because the light turned green and the car behind us honked.
“I think … I’m glad that you found us.”
His words made me feel all warm and gooey. And the way he said the wordusmade me wonder if he wasn’t referring to Ryan. “I wasn’t sure at first, but I’m glad to be here, too.”
The grin that he sent me was different from the others. Like he read between the lines and knew that I was glad to be here. With him.
I didn’t know whether this secret bubble of ours would pop and tomorrow we’d go back to the way things were before. Maybe the Pictionary game was some kind of team-building activity. Building up friendships as easily as tearing down families. They should really put that on the box.
Probably not the best tagline for the game though.
“Do you ever wonder what would have happened if I didn’t have to leave the hike that day?” Ian suddenly asked.
“What?” Surprised, I turned to stare at him, but he was suddenlysuperfocused on his driving. His eyes narrowed a bit as he stared at the dark road like our lives depended on it. Which I suppose they did, but it wouldn’t hurt for himto glance at me for a second or two. Especially when he asked methatquestion. “I thought you didn’t like to think about what-ifs?”
“I don’t.”
And that’s all he said.
Would things be different? To be honest, I wasn’t sure. I mean, obviously itwouldbe different. I wouldn’t have met Ryan or have gone on those dates with him. But would something have happened between Ian and me? Would we still be in the car together like we were now, butnotlike now?
