A college student. I should have known. I meet so many of them that you’d think I could recognize their shared identifiers a mile away. Jeans, hoodie, Chucks, a sling bag. Long straight hair, natural dewy blush on her smooth, luminous skin.
“Hope you’re passing,” I say. “Otherwise, I recommend Beyoncé.”
Another laugh bubbles out of her, a sweet tinkling sound that makes her that much more endearing. I totally understand what Ryan sees in her—she’s a beam of light, the kind of person who just feels good to be around.
“I’m so excited that you have a book out now too. I asked Ry to bring me a copy, but he totally flaked.” She smacks his shoulder playfully.
Ry,who has been as silent as a sentry, finally speaks. “I’ll send you one as soon as I get back to the office.”
Celine rolls her eyes at me, like,Can you believe this guy?“I’m so glad he was able to come on the tour with you, otherwise it would have been Thanksgiving before we saw each other!”
Thanksgiving. They celebrate holidays together? I feel sick.
“It was nice to meet you,” I say, my manners making an appearance at last. “I’m going to…go.”
“Wait!” Celine cries, looking anxiously atRy. “Um, we’re about to go for lunch. Please—we’d love for you to join us.”
I can’t think of a less appetizing way to spend lunch than to third-wheel with this angel and the man who’s had me tangled in horned knots for days. And even though he shot her a look as soon as she said it, I can’t believe Ryan didn’t immediately shut down Celine’s request. Is he a total psycho? Kissing me one night, meeting up with her days later, and then having the nerve to be cool with us all just sitting down for lunch together?Barf.
“No,” I say, “I couldn’t—”
“Oh!” she says. “I know you probably want to shower and change. I should have said, we don’t mind waiting! Take however long you need. We’ll just pop up to Ry’s room in the meantime.”
Double barf.
“No,” I blurt. “I insist. You two go—enjoy your date.”
A guffaw bursts out of her, loud enough to ring in my ears. She can barely catch her breath, bending over at the waist and clutching her stomach.
“Date,” Celine wheezes, as if the word is the funniest thing she’s ever heard. “Ew!”
I look from her to Ryan, alarmed, and see a dusting of pink on his cheeks. His expression shifts, from a dawning understanding to something that looks almost like anger.
“Ana,” he says, “Celine’s my sister.”
Chapter 10
I didn’t exactly have a leg to stand on after that, so I agreed to join them for lunch.
His sister. Celine is Ryan’s fuckingsister.
I wish Ryan had said as much when Maral asked him if it was his girlfriend blowing up his phone. Or told me he had to miss the stock signing this morning because he had to meet up with hissister. Could have saved me from climbing the fucking walls.
Did he not want us to know he has a family? Is it also a conflict of interest for me to know he’s a human with a life outside of work?
If I was hoping for an opportunity to dig, I’m out of luck, because from the moment I meet them downstairs after I’ve showered and changed until we’re seated at a local sandwich shop that she describes asout of this world,Celine doesn’t stop talking. She’s majoring in environmental engineering at UC Berkeley, “like your cousin!” She barely takes a breath as she tells me all about her classes this year (lots of math and science courses that sound very familiar), the dilapidated student housing that she and her three roommates have rented for the year and how it compares to the dorm they lived in for their first two years (much shittier), and her favorite spots for cheap eats in the city (including this shop, wherewe just placed our orders—she insisted I try the Reuben, and who am I to argue with my de facto tour guide).
Ryan watches on good-humoredly, leaning back in his chair, returning a smile or making an appropriate noise when she turns to him in the midst of her monologue. But she’s mostly laser-focused on me, rambling at a pace that betrays her excitement, asking questions and not letting me finish my answers before interrupting with a follow-up or launching into some new story of her own.
She reminds me of me.
“How long have you lived in New York?” Celine asks around a mouthful of Reuben. “I miss it. I miss how crowded it is and how many different kinds of people you see every day. Where I live, it’s all students and app developers. I miss seeing people dressed in nice clothes! There’s so much good fashion in New York. Here it’s all fleece vests, bo-o-ring.”
It’s true. You see exceptional fashion everywhere you look in Manhattan. Even the dogs—sometimesespeciallythe dogs—are dressed to the nines.
“I moved there about five years ago,” I say.
“Is it hard to be away from your family?”
