I try to compose myself while in the with Melissa. I can't believe that's her sister. I try to put it out of my mind when we get home.
It's been a while since I had a crush or interest in someone, ever since Lisa I kinda steered clear from relationships.
Dad asks Melissa all kinds of questions. She seems nervous but she has a really good poker face. Even Audrey likes her.
After dinner she helps me in the kitchen, willingly.
"I'm going to bring some carrot cake to the living room, would you like some as well?"
"yes please, Adrian, Audrey and I are going to chill in the living room" she says as I hand her the cake .
I make a cup of coffee for dad and I. I heard up to my room and dad stops me.
"kiddo, she seems nice right" dad asks.
"yes she does and she even offered to bring dumplings over next time for dinner"
Dad scoffs. "she invited herself over again and she's bringing dumplings, I like her even more now"
Adam video calls me, prying in my personal life as usual.
"There's no one" I say.
"and what about the girl from the Cafe" he Sasha asks.
"what girl? Oh my God, I'm going to kill Max"
"I knew it! Tomorrow when Josh and I come to see you during your break, we want to hear all about her but bye now"
I didn't even realize that I fell asleep. I wake up to the sound of Adrian calling my name.
Shit. It's probably time for me to take Melissa home .
I get downstairs and she's waiting for me.
"goodnight and thank you for having me over Mr Reid"
"its a pleasure Melissa and I'm looking forward to to those dumplings you promised" dad says with a wink. Melissa laughs and hugs dad and the twins.
We drive in silence. Until Melissa says "your family's really cool, like your dad seems extremely chill and Audrey is the sweetest and you seemed super intimidating at first but you're just too yourself, I get that, my sister's like that as well"
I admire her honestly and straight to the point.
"I met your sister briefly and yes she is intimidating, she seems very serious and studious" I say.
Melissa laughs. "she is all of the above but if you met my mom you'd understand. Like mom and dad's parents both immigrated to America from Korea when mom and dad were really young and they've, mom especially has been hard on us to be and do better. Especially on Amelia. Dad's a Pilot and mom's a surgeon and they're always expecting excellence. I don't know why I'm telling you all this "
" hey, no it's okay. Sometimes it's easier to speak to someone you barely know, I get it .
We pull up to her house. "thanks for listening and for getting me home, see you soon".
I wait until she's inside and then I leave .
Dad sitting at the counter, busy on his computer. We're alone and I think this would be a good time to tell him about the internship to Turkey.
"hey, uh dad, can we talk".
"sure kiddo, sit down" he says closing his computer.
"so do you remember that Turkey internship with my professors I told you about, they only select 20 students. Well I applied for it last year and I got chosen".
He states at me for a while, gets up and hugs me. "I'm so happy for you Jessica, I know how much you wanted it and how hard you've worked".
"wait so you're okay with me being gone for the whole summer ?"
"I'm not thrilled that you'll be gone that long and abroad for that long but I want to be happy, that's all I've ever wanted".
We stay up till late talking about my plans and what the internship entails.
Dad eventually goes to bed while lay on the sofa and binge watch.
I wake up in the middle, realizing that I've falling asleep in the living room.
As I make my way to my bedroom, I hear what sounds like Audrey crying.
I knock on her door. "Audrey, can I come in?".
"sure" she responds. She's clearly been crying her eyes are all red.
"is everything okay"?
"yeah" she says and than stars crying again, I hug her and she starts sobbing.
"talk to me , did something happen"
"so I hooked up with Jordan". I'm stunned, I didn't even knew was seeing anyone.
"and you know his Adrian's best friend and he said that if Adrian ever fiund out it'll be the end of their friendship but he said this after we had sex, God, I'm so stupid!" she sobs.
"you're not stupid, far from it, I've known that you had a thing for Jordan a long time now and his a dick for doing that to you! If I see him, we're going to have serious talk, he took advantage of you and that's not cool "
"please don't tell Adrian" she pleads. "I won't, Jordan will be doing that, so I know it's late but do you wanna sleep in my room and we can have a movie night?"
"I'd love that" she beams and hugs me.
"only if you make popcorn and I know there's snickerdoodle cookie dough, could you make some for you heartbroken sister, also can we watch bring it on"
"only because you're sad I'm saying yes"
We head to the kitchen.