Su-Lin was onEllensix years ago, which sounds like about the right time frame if Grandma doesn’t know cousin Derek is married. I’m a little alarmed that I know who all these people are and roughly what’s been going on in their lives, but I do listen to Su-Lin chatter for an average of, like, ten hours a day, and like the pathetic, lovesick fool that I am, I remember just about every word.
Su-Lin laughs. “Maybe. But I think you’re still coming in second for favorite grandchild. I’m down somewhere below Mei-Ling.”
“Nah,”Tate says. “Not since you got her that phone with the enormous numbers so she can actually make phone calls.” He sticks his hand out toward me, and Su-Lin is forced to break her grip on mine so I can shake it. “Hey, I’mTate.”
“Brendan Pike.” I fidget, a nervous thing I do whenever I meet someone. Su-Lin gives me a comforting smile. She’s noticed—of course she has. She’s also around me for more than half of her waking hours, and she knows I’m not great with new people.
“Nice hair, man,”Tate says. “What made you go with that color?”
Ah yes.The hair. Something I can talk about like a competent person. “Thanks,” I say.
“Tate’s done some pretty bright hair streaks in the past,” Su-Lin says. “He used to date my friend Emily, and she said he was the only guy she’d ever think was hot with frosted tips.”
I laugh, but it sounds awkward, especially to me. I know perfectly well thatTate and Emily—who now does our social media—used to date, so Su-Lin’s not saying that for my benefit. Su-Lin has been crowing about having set up her sister with her brand-new husband, and given her question for me, she clearly has dating on the brain.
Tate looks fond at the mention of Emily, and I wonder if he realizes Su-Lin is about to pull him into one of her crazy schemes. If he goes along with it, I guess I can’t blame him. Not after what I just agreed to.
My brain falls back on the concept of dating other people—which I had quickly buried under the prospect of kissing Su-Lin,mySu-Lin, the girl who lights my life up like a thousand-watt bulb—and stutters there.
That’s when I realize that they’re both staring at me, waiting for me to respond to his comment on my hair.
“Um.” I cringe. So much for being competent with this subject—which is the main reason I keep my hair pink after all these years. It basically guarantees that the first topic of any new conversation will be one I’ve already got an answer to.Though apparently not when I’m fantasizing about putting my tongue in my best friend’s mouth. “I actually lost a bet with a friend years ago. Joke’s on him, though, because I liked it, so I just keep dyeing it.”
Tate grins. “Sweet. You two work together, yeah? My mom says you’re putting out a new show. Another season ofReal Sockwives?”
Su-Lin’s Aunt Alice is his mom, who I have met a couple times, and who I regularly want to punch for her constant droning about how great her sons are, and how much better they are at everything than everyone else in the family, and how maybe Su-Lin and her sisters could be as great as them if they’d been raised with a firmer hand. Or a mom.
Yep. Still want to punch her. ButTate seems cool enough, even if he’s keeping me from kissing the girl I’ve been dreaming about since the day we met on the one night that the idea of making a move doesn’t make me feel like I’m going into cardiac arrest.
What can I say? Dancing with her feelssodamn good.
“Sort of,” Su-Lin says, apparently better able to focus than I currently am, what with all my blood settling . . . elsewhere. “Brendan and I are doing a total revamp of the show. Some of the same characters—still sock puppets, of course—”
“Of course,”Tate says, with a hint of amusement. He better not be mocking her. Maybe we should just tell him we’re busy and go . . .
What? Make out in my car? Get a room in this hotel? Where the hellwerewe going to go?
“—but with sketches that parody lots of different shows. You know,Sockton Abbey,Socks and the City.Sock and Order, because we needed a courtroom drama—that was all Brendan, he’s a genius—and we’re actually premiering the first episode at YouCon in a couple days, and hey, you’re in sound-mixing or something, yeah?”
Tate doesn’t even blink at all of that, which tells me he knows his cousin pretty well.
“Yep,”Tate says. “I actually moved back to get into doing some sound work forTV or film. It hasn’t been easy. You really have to know people.”
“You should join us at the con!” Su-Lin bounces with excitement, the kind she gets when she has a new Plan.
Su-Lin Plans are always insane, and they also almost always work, which does not discourage her. Or me, apparently.
God, did I really agree todate? People who arenother?
“Yeah?”Tate asks.
“Yes.” Su-Lin nods firmly. “We could use some extra help at the booth, and I can introduce you to lots of YouTubers, some of whom need a good sound guy. You could probably make decent money just with them, but it’d give you a good lead into more traditionalTV or film.”
Su-Lin is sounding even more Su-Lin-like than normal, and I reach for her hand again. I don’t think I’m the only one who’s all wound up from our dancing. We’ve been flirting and hanging all over each other and passing innuendos back and forth for four months, and now we’ve just talked about crossing over that line, the one that makes my chest tight now just thinking about it but also somehow makes my heart feelso good—
Tate looks impressed. “Actually, that could be awesome.”
“And, you know, Emily will be at the booth, too.”
