“It’s getting late, we should get going.” Leila stood up and beckoned for Nick to follow her.
“Alright.” Adrian moved to walk them out the door. “Drive safe guys.”
“Don’t worry. The snow isn’t that bad yet.” Nick donned his winter coat.
“Still, you never know.” Adrian shrugged as he waited by the front door.
Leila patted him on the back as if to say adieu. “I’ll see you later, kid.”
“You’re only a year older than me.”
“Meh.” She ignored his comment then held on to Nick’s arm.
Nick then extended out his hand for their bromance hug. “See you tomorrow, try not to think about it too much.”
“Thanks, man. You too.”
“Yeah, yeah, no worries.”
After he shut the front door, he immediately turned off the lights in the hallways. As he did so, Adrian could only hope that life would give him something less dramatic to work with; or at the very least, some confirmation that Aria didn’t hate his guts.
Chapter 16
Aria
It was strange seeing Evan again. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but he used to be such a shut-in back when they were neighbors. If she had thought that Henry was quiet then she must’ve forgotten about Evan’s existence.
“Wow, I never thought I’d see you again,” her dad said as he continued to cook dinner. “How’s life been?”
“Pretty good, Mr. Kham,” Evan replied as he sat at their dinner table and sipped some coffee at 6 PM like a good functioning adult.
“Uncle Ivan,” her dad corrected. “I practically watched you grow up from this—” Her dad made a gesture with a hand. “To now. You’ve gotten so big. It makes me wonder where all the time had gone.”
Oh the nostalgia in those words.
“How many years has it been?” Her dad tried to count. “Five? Six?”
“Close, about seven,” Evan said before he added, “And I’m doing well. I’m hoping to become an English professor at Seattle University, but I want to get my masters at UNR.”
“Where did you get your undergrad?”
“UNLV. Nothing too fancy, except I was almost a hospitality major.” Evan laughed. “They built a new building for them, and I was so in love with the building that I was almost willing to switch over.”
“That’s a career goal,” Aria said as she gave him a little sass.
“Yeah, but y’know, life.”
“So why Seattle?” Her dad wanted to know.
“I was up there with my frat for an event and I loved it there. Mountains on one side, the ocean on the other, and the culture. I really loved it up there,” Evan answered.
“So why teach? I thought you were into coding?” Aria also wanted to know. She wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted to do, so maybe a little bit of insight might help.
“There was a teacher back at UNLV who changed my outlook on some stuff. I also realized how much I hated coding by hand, and how much I enjoyed English, so I thought, ‘why not teach it?’”
“But a professor? Why not just a teacher?” her dad interjected.
“Because I want to teach people who actually want to be there.”
“Not everyone’s gonna wanna be there,” Aria pointed out while her dad brought some plates over to the table. The aroma of the cooked meat with fresh herbs hit her nose, and it made her mouth salivate.
“True, but most of them will take it seriously, or that’s the idea at least.”
“Fair.” She nodded. “So, what are you doing at my school?”
“I’m starting the master’s program at UNR, so it’s just a side job y’know, because tuition isn’t getting any cheaper.” Evan then looked at her dad. “Thanks for cooking.”
“Eat up while it’s hot, otherwise it’s not as good.” Was her dad’s only reply.
“What did you make, Mr.—Uncle Ivan?” Evan quickly recovered.
“Thai basil, my specialty.”
“Don’t worry, it’s not spicy,” Aria assured him after she took a bite from her plate and savored the flavors..
“It’s good, like really good.” Evan smiled and then her dad went into great detail about all the techniques and ingredients. He even went as far as to tell Evan the proper Asian grocery stores to go to, and the ones he needed to avoid like the plague.
The rest of the evening went through without any speed bumps. Evan might’ve been five years older, but that’s never stopped him from openly geeking out about random things, or telling her the best five ways to hack into a computer without getting caught. No matter how many years had passed, he was still her dorky neighbor she sort of grew up with.
It was nice to see an old face.
Once Evan left, Aria helped her dad clean up their dinner which was another bonus. Her dad was around a little more, and it wasn’t a massive change, but it was certainly nice.
After the Thanksgiving weekend, he had surprised her with a new schedule change. This one had better hours which meant she would at least get to see him for dinner on most nights. The only problem was the fact that she would now have to think of healthy and hearty dinner ideas from now on. After all, her usual diet of ‘whatever’s in the fridge’ won’t work for the both of them.
As she went into her room, the feelings that lingered from earlier in the day bothered her. Maybe she was a little too harsh at Adrian, and maybe she should apologize, because it was technically Nick’s fault; but on the other hand, they were the ones who were being stupid. Evan wasn’t the strongest guy around, so he could’ve gotten seriously hurt. That should be reason enough for her not to feel the need to apologize, but that same logic was
