I could feel Ben’s eyes on me. I knew exactly how the meal would play out if I joined them; he’d charm every last one of them and Mrs. Chen would corner me in the kitchen to tell me how wonderful he was, and how handsome we look together.
As if I needed more people on Team Martino.
Still, if they were planning on me being there it would be rude if I didn’t show up. And I hadn’t spent time with the Chens in ages.
“Come on.” Ben pushed me. “You have to eat.”
He’d promised to leave my schedule unchanged, but little speed bumps kept popping up.
“And my mom is already making all your favorites,” Zoey added. “Just in case you can make it.”
I sighed. This was yet another Ben-induced deviation to my schedule, with a side of Zoey.
He stalked closer to me, like I wouldn’t be able to say no if I was in his force field.
Which was half true.
“Listen, I get the need to stick to your routines,” he began. “Discipline is everything.”
“Which means that I can’t—”
He put his hand up to stop me. “Which meansthat your discipline also allows you to shake things up now and then. If you’regood ninety-five percent of the time, you can cut loose on that remaining five percent. Listen to your elder. I know things.”
“And it’s not like dinner with Mom and Pop Chen is equivalent to a night on the town,” Zoey added. “They’ll feed you and get you out the door in an hour and a half if you want.”
They were double-teaming me into a dinner that I actually sort of wanted to attend.
“Fine,” I finally replied.
Zoey yipped and Ben gave me a satisfied nod.
“Wait, if Quinn’s going do I have to be there to shoot it?” Neil asked, looking panicked.
“Definitely not,” Zoe grimaced. “My parents hate being on camera.”
“Okay, good, because we’ve got tickets to a ScreenX show tonight,” he said. “That new Marvel movie.”
“‘We’ who?” Ben asked, clearly stirring the pot.
“No, I meant to sayIhave tickets.Ido, not we,” Neil sputtered.
I glanced at Hailey and she seemed very focused on unspooling mic wires.
Zoey chattered away as Ben helped break down the equipment, as cheerful as a puppy.
I sighed, because it was suddenly clear to me that the two were on the verge of forming an unholy alliance.
Chapter Seventeen
The predictability of the Chen household never failed to comfort me. It didn’t matter how many years passed, I could always count on everything staying constant in my surrogate home. Unlike my mother, Mrs. Chen didn’t feel the need to switch out her perfectly good furniture every three years for a “décor refresh,” which was why the place had a comfortable, well-loved patina.
The five of us were gathered around the dining-room table, which was reserved for honored guests, pushed back in our chairs and clutching our overfull stomachs. I’d worried that the mix of vibes would make the dinner awkward, but Ben’s good-guy appeal and Mr. Chen’s unabashed fangirling over him took the pressure off.
“I found this old interview of you,” he said to Ben as he pulled his phone from his breast pocket. “You were very young. Just a boy. Maybe eight or nine years old?”
“Oh no,” Ben groaned good-naturedly. “Those old clips are so embarrassing.”
“No, this one is very good,” he insisted. “Your drive was evident, even then.”
