“Yes.”
I toss the comforter aside and swing my feet over to the ground. “I’ll see who’s available, but I can’t guarantee they’ll come.”
It’s Sunday morning, Alli goes to church and has a family lunch afterwards. Priya told me she’s working her morning shift at Books and Records and Grant went to Greensboro for a family reunion.
I exhale a heavy sigh, dreading the thought of making egg rolls with the biggest headache of my life. After getting ready for the day in black leggings and an oversized white Skyline Vikings shirt, I head downstairs to quickly eat my noodle soup, knowing that I’ll soon be transformed into an eggroll machine. I settle at the dining table with a warm and hearty bowl ofkhao piekand shortly after, my stepbrother joins me at the table for his bowl.
Jared mindlessly grabs the container of chili oil and scoops a small amount into his bowl. “I’m so fucking hungover.”
“Ditto,” I chime, “I don’t know how you go to parties every weekend.”
Jared shrugs and starts mixing his bowl with his chopsticks. “I could say the same for Tyler. I’m surprised he even showed up last night.”
I look up. “What are you talking about?”
Jared picks up a few strands of noodles. “Tyler stopped going to parties for a reason. He avoids them now like the plague.”
Tyler hates parties?
“Any plans today?” I ask, shaking off the burning question in my mind.
Jared takes a bite of his noodles and shakes his head, “No plans. I think I’m just going to chill.”
“Well, well, well, brother. You have plans now.” Jared gives me a suspicious look. “You,” I point my chopstick at him, “owe me for abandoning your Uber duties.”
“What do you need?”
“Well,” I set my utensils down after finishing my food. “Aunt Lina messed up one of her orders, so we need to make three hundred egg rolls in the next few hours.”
Jared chokes on his food and instinctively taps on his chest. “That’s impossible, you know that?”
“Nothing is impossible as long asyoucall up some reinforcements,” I say as I’m washing my empty bowl at the sink. “Alli’s coming over after church, but that’s all I could scrounge up.”
Jared continues to eat his noodles, “Fine. I’ll call around. But I’m not sure who’s going to make it after last night’s party.” He picks up his phone and starts tapping on the screen.
I stand in the open kitchen, gathering the ingredients we need to make egg rolls. Aunt Lina is taking a “pregnancy nap”, as she’d started calling them, while Ralph has secluded himself in his home office due to a client emergency. This leaves just Jared and me to take charge of the kitchen for now. I organize the sliced vegetables, the stack of egg roll wrappers, the mixed egg concoction, and the filling Aunt Lina made earlier.
With a deep breath, I attempt to tame the stray hairs that have escaped my messy top bun. Just as I begin to lay out the first wrapper, the doorbell rings, making me sigh in relief that Alli’s here. Jared just finishes his lunch and scurries off to answer the door.
Seconds later, I hear Tyler’s voice echo through the hallway as he greets Jared. I instantly duck down in full panic mode. I start flicking the leather bracelet he gave me off and on my wrist.
I hear their muffled conversations, and my palms start to get sweaty. Why the fuck am I sweating hard at Tyler’s voice?
Because you like him, you idiot.
I rise from my hiding spot and school my expression before Tyler and Jared walk in. I focus on the current egg roll, trying to keep my composure while trying to not think about how hot Tyler looks. The tattoo. The way the gray tee fits him too damn well. The way–
I feel a slight drool from the corner of my mouth. Crap, I’m drooling.
Tyler walks into my line of sight, I try to act as cool as possible by giving him a friendly smile despite how hot it is in the kitchen. Mental reminder to tell Ralph to fix the AC. Jared excuses himself upstairs to clean up before he can help me, leaving the two of us… alone.
“Hi,” I say, quietly.
“Hey.”
I finish one egg roll and set it on the tray. I look out of the kitchen, making sure no one’s listening. “Tyler Westman, what are you doing here?”
Tyler leans against the kitchen island where I’m preparing the egg rolls. “Jared asked me to come over and help.”
