Blended Ch 25

The diner isn’t busy; it’s past peak lunchtime once everyone shows up.

“Getting together on a weekday,” Cassie says in that annoying, valley girl voice that she does when she’s being ironic. “Scandalous unstructured summertime.” She slides into the booth across from Piper and Bella, where Ying is already seated.

There are no shades; everything is bathed in bright sunlight. Formica and stainless steel gleam while red vinyl looks cartoonishly vibrant. The breakfast smells are gone, replaced by sliced turkey and pepper jack cheese; the club is what most people order for lunch. They’ve all already eaten; there just aren’t many good places to sit down in Gurlberg, and they can get four slices of pie and four cups of coffee at the diner for the price of two Starbucks drinks.

“Just makes me miss Apple,” Cassie says. “She always starts yapping about Twin Peaks when we’re here. I still don’t know what that is, and at this point, I’m afraid to ask.”

“She’s not dead. She just went home for the summer,” Ying says, then locks onto Bella. “Did you have fun last night?”

“I didn’t come here to answer questions. I came here so you could share confidential information,” Bella replies with a straight face.

Ying smiles and eats a bite of pie. “No one talks about you, Bella. They talk about Piper a lot.”

“Why me?” Piper asks mildly, sipping coffee. “You know, they’d make a killing if they did iced coffee here.”

“We can walk down to that place right there,” Cassie says, pointing with her fork.

“You sound like someone with money,” Piper replies.

“Because of Kylie, Piper. Sheesh. I don’t even have to live there,” Cassie says with a snort. “Kylie used to be the protagonist of that place. Then some asshole broke her heart. Now she’s a bitter, brooding drunk, and not even in a sexy way that makes you think you can fix her. She’s just awful. She used to be fun.”

Everyone looks to Ying for confirmation. Ying just drinks her coffee. She doesn’t refute what Cassie said.

“I know I’m not fun, but neither are you,” Bella says quietly, glaring at Ying. “How did you get in?”

“I’m fun,” Ying replies without hesitation.

Bella stares.

Ying shrugs. “I’m Chinese. They all want to marry me so I can take them home with me.”

“Not all of them. Most of them,” Piper corrects her. “Including me, although I think we’re all underestimating how hard it is to learn Mandarin for a Westerner. How about it?”

“Ironically, Wendy doesn’t care about that,” Ying says with a little smile.

“That’s because her family has money.”

“Oh, do they?” Ying asks innocently.

Cassie almost does a spit take and turns to Piper. “You talk to Ines?”

“Yeah, she was asking about you.”

“Fine. Be that way.” Cassie pointedly takes a bite of Piper’s pie.

“How are your sisters?” Ying asks. She hasn’t taken her eyes off Piper since she sat down.

“I’m worried,” Piper admits, and that gets Bella’s attention.

“Uh, about which one?” she asks.

Piper sighs. “Both of them.”