“Until I Found You” is a song by American singer-songwriter Stephen Sanchez. Stephen wrote the song about a love interest he had initially pushed away to shield her from family issues. [Source: Wikipedia, Genius]

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FFANC: Nathan finds it funny when people write love songs about their relationship and then they break up.

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Chapter Twelve: Until I Found You

The world might've been ending while we were eating dumplings.

“Why would the world be ending?” Nathan asked as I sat down on the pavement, forgetting all about my dress and myself, holding my head in my hands.

“And why are you reacting this way, looking at Wong’s date?”

It was all my fault. I had done this. I made this happen.

“Shouldn't we be happy if Wong’s on a date? If he's getting laid, that'd mean-”

“Oh no!” I looked up at him in horror, “Don't say that, don't you dare say that. No getting laid for anyone, Oh God. Oh, kill me now.”

Nathan had one of his hands on his hips, “Why? If he gets laid, that means he'll be less grumpy in class, don't you think? I think that's great.”

“No, it's terrible. It's the worst. Nothing worse had ever happened,” I was shaking my head.

“Please tell me why it is so terrible.”

“That's my mom, Nathan,” I said, “My mother!”

He stared at me. I saw him registering the words to his brain. I saw him pressing his lips together and struggling.

“Oh my god, Nathan! If you laugh now, I'd never forgive you!” I said, punching his legs, “I’d never talk to you ever again.”

He cleared his throat and then covered his mouth with hands. I looked away and could feel my world crumbling.

My mother with my teacher Mr.Wong.

My chemistry professor mother with my high school chemistry teacher Wong.

This was why she was asking for my Ruby Woo. She was wearing it. I saw it when I looked at her. She was looking prettier than ever because she had put in the effort. She wanted this date to work. Or else, she would never even agree to come out on a date.

Oh, no.

She wanted it to work with Wong.

Oh, hell no.

I was going to die. I realized as I stood up.

“Kingsley, I realized, you might never have to study chemistry again,” Nathan said.

I had told Nathan in our chemistry session that my mother is a chemistry professor. He remembered that.

“I can already see the A’s on your test copies,” He murmured as he looked at the restaurant, “The series of A’s.”

I glared at him, “You're not helping, Nathan.”

“And if you ever have siblings, they'll start spouting out periodic tables even before alphabets, probably.” Nathan shook his head and looked at me, “Like, can you imagine?”

And so I imagined my mother marrying Wong, and I almost collapsed back onto the pavement. Nathan caught me.

“You're not helping at all!” I said, into his chest as he straightened me up, “How could this even happen?”

I was going to start crying.

“You know, didn't you say, you downloaded Tinder for your mom-”

“Yes, I know how this happened!” I punched him in the chest, which was probably not even hurtful. But it was soothing to me somehow. So I kept punching. “Why did I ever-”

“Wong probably had some chem pun on his bio that caught your mom’s eye,” Nathan reasoned for me. He was smoothing the back of my hair.

I fisted my hands and placed them on his chest, “Screw all chemistry puns.”

“Something like, do you have 11 protons cause you're sodium fine.”

I grabbed his shirt and bumped my head against his chest, “Stop. You're making it worse.”

“Sorry,” he muttered.

We stayed like that for a while. I whispered, “My mom will actually like that stupid pun.”

Nathan laughed. He couldn't stop it this time. So I started laughing too. I hid my head in his chest and laughed out my sorrows and my bad luck.

“Of course I'd open my mom Tinder so she can find love, and of course she'd find my chem teacher of all people,” I said.

“I didn't even know Wong was single,” Nathan commented.

“He is. Like you said, you could tell from how grumpy he was.”

“Well yeah,” He leaned back. So I looked up and he looked down on me.

I was still holding onto his shirt. He was practically hugging me.

So I stepped back, cleared my throat and said, “We should get out of here. I don't wanna see them again. Or let them see us.”

Nathan nodded. We walked towards his car.

We climbed into our seats and buckled our seatbelts. He started driving. I had no idea where we could go. I didn't even care where he was taking me. I wanted to be away from here.

I looked at the time on my phone, and it was 10 p.m.

“My curfew is at eleven,” I said quietly. “We have an hour to kill.”

Nathan spared me a glance, and I rephrased what I'd said, “I have an hour to kill. It's a school night. You'd probably want to go home. You can drop me off at Leanna's.”

As soon as I said that, I looked down at my outfit and remembered that I was wearing makeup. If I went to Leanna’s now, she'd definitely ask a few questions. I was in no mood to answer them and see her disapproving Nathan.

He drove around as I stared outside the window. But I didn't see anything because I was deep inside my head, thinking, and over-thinking.

Then the car stopped. I turned to him, and behind him through the window, I saw the neon lights that read ‘Scoops’ or basically the best ice cream shop in town.

I knew the condition of my purse, so I looked at him in confusion. The ice cream here was the best and also the most expensive too.

“My treat.”

He unlocked the seatbelt and went out without waiting for me. The door to my side opened next, and he loomed over me.

“Get out, Kingsley.”

“But-”

“I already said my treat, didn't I? Gotta put my mafia money to good use.”

I refrained from rolling my eyes and got out. He closed the door after me. Then he managed to beat me to the door and open it. I followed him.

The shop was brightly illuminated; pink walls, pastel seats, bright lights. There were high stools around thin tables that were in front of the big glass facing the road.

Nathan gestured to me to sit on one before he went to order.

“What about what I want?” I asked.

He gave me a look, “I lost my faith in you after you got yourself the plain popcorn.”

“There's nothing wrong -” Nathan walked away before I could finish.

I closed my mouth and took my seat. I had no mental energy to spar with him.

I stared out the glass, losing myself in my thoughts again.

“Amazing Spider-Man had the worst plot.”

He said it like he had been thinking about it for a while.

I knew what he was doing with the ice cream shop and the amazing Spider-Man bluff.

I turned his way. Nathan had returned with two cones, each of which had three scoops of ice cream. Mine was probably butterscotch, pistachio, and strawberry. His had chocolate, a blueberry layer I assumed, and something that might be the bubblegum flavor with pastel green and pink swirls.

“You are crazy,” I muttered.

His smile took up his whole face, “If you had the opportunity to travel the whole world, wouldn't you take it?”

I narrowed my eyes, “How’s that relevant?”

“I figured you can do it through food.” He licked his ice cream, “You can explore as much as you want. All you need to do is order outside your comfort zone, and try new shops every time.”

“But all of them are rarely good,” I tasted mine, and I was right. Butterscotch. “What if it's a waste?”

“Risk outweighs the benefits,” Nathan savored his ice cream, “Pros over cons. One bad restaurant. One bad food truck. 20 good restaurants. 10 good food trucks.”

“And the money?” I was skeptical.

“Mafia money. Boxing money,” he said with a smirk.

I kicked his shin under the table, “Be serious.”

“I think I mowed everyone's lawn last summer,” he finally replied, “Along with babysitting Bear and his friends and his friends’ friends.”

“Wow,” I was impressed, “And all that for-”

He nodded as he finished his second scoop. I was still on my first. “And all I did was stand in the grocery register for minimum wage and tutor a whiny ten-year-old. I bought an album, though.” The cheapest version.

“Good for you,” he said, right onto his third, which was chocolate.

I tasted strawberry, and I realized I had almost forgotten about mom’s tinder date.

“You know-” he started casually as I looked at him, his brow furrowed seeing something in my face, and he leaned closer, “I did watch an insane amount of-” his thumb pressed on my lower lip, and he wiped, my eyes widened, and he didn't even notice before he put his thumb inside his mouth, “kid’s movies.”

I blinked. And then I blinked again.

“But kids really like Peppa Pig, I have to tell you.”

Did he realize what he just did? Did Nathan realize he pulled a cliche movie thing on me?

My breath was shaky. My knees buckled even though I was seated. My lips trembled a bit too. And it felt hot where he had touched.

And I realized he was talking about National Geographic and Animal Planet. Something about his brother being obsessed with real bears.

He wiped my lips. And then put that same finger inside his mouth.

Maybe I was the weird one for freaking out. Maybe I had watched and read too many romances. Maybe people did stuff like that without a second thought.

I swallowed and stared at my melting scoop.

“Are you done with that?” He asked me once he was finished.

And I wasn't done. But I also wasn't hungry anymore.

“Actually, yeah,” I said absentmindedly.

Then I watched him take my ice cream from my hand and finish eating it.

“You just-” I stared at him as Nathan tipped the last bit of cone inside his mouth and crunched, looking relished.

“You said you were done,” he reasoned. He used the napkin and offered me one.

I should stop thinking about his finger on my lips.

That was when I noticed the pad of his thumb. It had a really small streak of red, from my lipstick earlier.

I was going to have a stroke.

“We have effectively killed 45 minutes. If we start now, we'll reach your house at 11.”

He always did this. He moved without hesitation, talked without hesitation, as if his actions had no consequences, on him or anyone around him, while I second-guessed everything I said and did.

It made me angry.

I slowly breathed out. I decided I’d live. “Yeah, let's go.”

*****

The next day at school, I tried not to look at Nathan when he was around. It was hard considering that he was in almost every class; Algebra, English Lit, Geography, PE. I sat at our usual table at lunch, and finally glanced at him. He was eating his lunch alone, like always. He didn't spare me a glance.

I was grateful for that. I would die rather than have him throw pitying looks at me.

The girls chatted and kept the chaos going at the table. Apparently, Malti had a crush on a guy she had seen in the library, and that guy turned out to be a sophomore. Malti would never date a sophomore.

The girls were making fun of her while also sighing at how the options for dates were dwindling. They talked about the fact that Prom was drawing near.

“Hey, date or not,” Malti started, “We should definitely get a limo and come to prom together and have a great girl's night, wearing cute dresses with full-on makeup. It will be so much fun. It's been a long time since I had dressed up all glam and cute.”

Azra nodded vigorously, “Yes, please. Let's do that. It will be great.”

“If anyone doesn't ask out any of us,” Erika said, “wouldn't that be kind of sad?”

Uyen sat forward, “Let's face it, I don't really like any boys here. And Erika would rather die than say yes to Chris, who keeps asking her out.”

Erika tried to stop her.

“Then there is Leanna, who is always texting some guy, but that guy is all good for taking her out on a few dates and saying no,” Uyen said sheepishly.

“Oh, burn,” I added.

Leanna grumbled besides me.

“Then there is Azra and Malti, who have crushes on a new guy every single day, but they'd rather die than ask any of them out,” Uyen said.

Azra scoffed, “I'd never.”

Malti nodded, “Yes, I am going to sit here and wait until the right guy arrives. Ain't never gon’ tell a man I like him first.”

We laughed. “I mean, do you know about their egos? They have enough confidence without really being something, and if someone as pretty as me tells a guy he is hot and I like him, he'd never come down to the ground again.”

Leanna laughed, “But you gotta tell sometimes.”

Erika countered, “Like you do?”

I came to Leanna's rescue, “Hey, leave my girl alone. She had enough guys dumping her as it is.”

That earned me a smack on my back as we laughed. I was thankful for them to cheer me up. I was almost forgetting what I witnessed yesterday.

“Hey, what about Emily, though?” Azra said.

“What about me?”

“Yes, Ms. Romantic,” Leanna said, “the expert on all things romance. Prom must be a bigger deal to you than any of us. What do you think?”

I weighed my options and then decided to go with the truth, “I don't know. Leanna is right. Prom is a big deal to me. But if I don't have a date, I'd rather not come.”

“Whoa,” Malti replied, “do you have a guy who could be asking you out? How come you didn't tell us?”

Leanna waved her off, “She doesn't. If she did, I'd know.”

I nodded, “Yup.”

The one I wanted as a prom date, would never ask me out. That thought made my mood plummet again.

“Well,” Azra said, “then you are not coming to prom?”

I shrugged, “I dunno.”

Leanna rolled her eyes. The girls went back to their conversation, and I looked around, finishing my fries. This time, I found Nathan looking at me. He gave me a brief smirk and a raised eyebrow, just like he would any other day.

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