Page 17 of Don’t Be A Stranger

Now I know what he carries in there, I guess.

“Well, I guess you don’t want these then?” River asks, smug.

I groan longingly at the sight in front of me. The blue can of sugar-free Red Bull. Winter Berry to be exact.

The condensation tells me it’s cold and my mouth is already salivating at the phantom taste of it. Almost like a blue raspberry snow cone.

I quickly snatch it from his hand. “Okay, fine. You’re forgiven.”

“Forgiven?” River asks. “For what? I haven’t even done anything.”

“Yet.” I crack open the can, not wasting time in taking a big gulp. The stinging from the carbonation sliding down the back of my throat doesn’t deter me.

This is what it’s like to consume heaven itself, I’m sure.

I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. “It’s preemptive. I just know you’re going to do something to piss me off.”

River hums as if that makes perfect sense. “Yeah, this next thing I’m about to say might have that potential.”

Why must he take my temporary solitude away from me?

He continues. “So I did want to see you and bring your lunch, but I also wanted to tell you not to make any plans tonight.”

“Why not?” I begin digging through the snacks and wondering if the crash that’ll inevitably happen later is worth it.

“Well…you see…” River hesitates for a moment, his tone catching my attention. “I signed up for a cooking class.”

I sit up in my seat, already invested in wherever this is going.

“I was on the phone with Bora the other day and she was showing me all these dish ideas she was doing a trial run on, and I realized I live off of ramen and beef jerky because I have no cooking skills. Hence the class.”

I take another sip of my Red Bull, trying to savor it and not drink the whole thing in one go. “Why don’t you just ask Bora? She doesn’t live that far and guess what? It’d be free.”

River sighs and flops his arms dramatically to his sides. “I tried asking her, but then she started talking about this guy she went on a date with and how she thought he was a serial killer but she put out anyway.”

He cringes at the words leaving his mouth.

“She likes to share an awful lot,” I say.

The Choi siblings tend to like to do so—or at least River and Bora do—which is funny because their parents are the complete opposite.

River taps his fingers against the table to some internal music, I’m sure. “Yeah, she does but what can I do?”

“Not answer her calls?” My half-hearted solution is preposterous to River, apparently.

“You’re an only child,” he says, as if that explains everything. “You don’t understand. I can’t just not answer.”

He’s right. I might have grown up with River and Lily but I know it’s not the same thing as having siblings around.

“Okay, so wait—” I bring the conversation back to what the original point was. “Why do I have to go to this cooking class? I’m fine with my lack of skills.”

“Oh, yeah. I signed up but I didn’t know it was for a couples date night type of thing.”

“How on earth do you miss that?”

River winces. “I kinda just clicked on the first thing that popped up, booked a spot, and called it a day.”

“So then cancel it,” I say, because the last thing I want to do is be in a class full of couples with my best friend who—