Page 75 of First Impressions of You

“Sunshine, Ali has had to hear me talking about you since the day you auditioned.”

“Oh boy,” I tease. “So, she can’t have a good image of me.”

“On the contrary.” He looks at me with a smile on his face. “She’s dying to meet, and I quote, ‘the girl that has finally thawed Winter’s heart.’”

“Ha,” I snicker. “I knew it.”

“What?”

“I knew there was a good reason why your name is Winter.”

“You know what? I don’t think I want to introduce you two.”

“Oh, now you have to. I already know I’m gonna like her.”

I was right. Ali Hoang is the best.

We met her at her place because, unlike Winter, she never left the public eye, and trying to go out for a simple dinner always ends up in a headache and lots of paparazzi following her.

When she opened the door to let us in, I realized my mistake was not googling her. Maybe I could’ve avoided the “Oh my god” I squealed when I saw that she was the protagonist of Olivia’s and my favorite show. Her stage name is Alice Soo, so I never made the connection.

A couple of hours later, and now I’m almost used to the idea of hanging out with someone I see every week on TV. She makes it easy, though.

Ali acts like we’ve been friends forever.

She tells me so many stories of Winter’s childhood, it’s almost as if he lived two parallel lives. The one with his father making his life miserable, and another where he could be a kid, or as close to it as a Hollywood star gets to be.

When a few hours later we decide we’re all craving pizza, Ali asks Winter to go to a very specific place to bring her favorite food.

“It’s literally just a window where you pick up your food. Super low profile. They don’t deliver. They’re not on any apps. You have to go grab your order yourself,” she explains after he’s left promising to be quick.

“How did you find out about it?”

“An ex,” she spits the word out with disgust. “Only good thing he did for me was introducing me to Pepe’s Pizza.”

I laugh at her dismissive tone, and soon she’s sharing stories of exes, and they get worse and worse.

“Oh my God, Ali,” I cry after she tells me of a guy who only communicated in dialogue from a movie she had just done. “Did he memorize it all?”

“Yeah. It was actually quite impressive because for a long time I didn’t even notice he was doing it. He’d find lines that fit in the conversation. It was only when he said something—I don’t even remember what, but it was an iconic line from the movie—that I started catching on.”

“Jesus, I thought being hot and famous was supposed to make dating easier.”

“Oh, it’s the opposite. Winter has some horrible stories too to prove me right.”

“He does?” I ask impulsively.

“Uhm, where to start?” She places a hand on her temple as if trying to choose what to say. “Okay, I’m not gonna name names, but once there was an actress, she was new to the scene. She’d been in a couple of episodes of some procedural shows, but she hadn’t had her break yet. Winter was seventeen or eighteen then, and she was a bit older. You already know how this goes, right? Older woman paying a teenager attention? He didn’t stand a chance. I was the one who had to open his eyes and show him she was selling their stories to the tabloid to make her name.”

“Jesus, that’s…” I don’t have words for it. An overwhelming rush of anger for what this woman did to him crashes on me, followed close by the hit of a sudden realization.

His father, this woman, Graham, his college girlfriend. They all used him for their own benefits, not caring for him at all. And worst of all, they all made him feel like he wasn’t in control of his own life.

Winter returns with the pizzas soon after, and I can’t help but look at him in a different way. Like a fog has finally cleared. Like I’ve found the missing piece to his puzzle.

Chapter 22

Winter’s unwavering patience is starting to grit on my nerves. Especially when it keeps me tossing and turning in bed after he insisted on taking me home when we left Ali’s.

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