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“I’m on it.” She hopped off her stool, tossed her book on the counter, and opened the cupboard. She pulled out three plates and walked to the table.
She paused before setting them down. “I’ve been dying to find out how you two finally got together. Because I know you’ve known each other for years, but last I knew you were dating someone else.” Brielle raised one eyebrow at Nara. “So, how did it happen?”
Nara shot a look at Derek, who cringed. “You know,” he said, turning off the heat to the burner. “That’s a long story for another day.”
“Oh, come on. We have time. Tell me.” She rummaged through the silverware drawer.
Derek gave Nara a look that said, “Oh, crap. Now what?”
Nara shrugged, which meant, “It’s okay. Lie to her.”
A panicked expression on Derek’s face read as, “I can’t lie. I’m terrible at it.”
Nara gave him a pointed look that said, “Well, say something. She’s waiting.”
Derek flicked his hand at her, which she interpreted as, “You go first.”
“Okay,” Nara said. “I’ll tell you. It’s a funny story, actually.”
“Funny?” Brielle smiled as she placed the silverware on the dark wooden table. “Why?”
“Because…of all the funny things that happened.” Nara wracked her brain for something humorous she could say, and then cursed herself for telling Brielle it was amusing. Her mind was completely blank. To cover it up, she grabbed three glasses from the cupboard above the stove.
Derek pulled out a trivet and placed the pan on the table. “Yeah, it was a scream.”
“What happened?” Brielle did a little hopping thing, as if she couldn’t stand not knowing any more. “Did you guys chat online?”
Brilliant. Nara jumped on it as she grabbed the pitcher of water from the fridge. “Yes! We talked online.” Except that wasn’t funny. At all. She grasped at straws. “But the funny thing was…we didn’t know it was each other.”
Derek clapped his hands together and pointed at Nara. “Yes,” he said. Nara internally groaned. He was so right. He sucked at lying.
“That’s it,” Derek said. “We met in a chat room and started talking, not knowing it was each other.”
Brielle made a face, her nose wrinkled. “A chat room? Does anyone use those anymore? I thought those went away in the 1990’s.”
Crud. Nara needed to salvage this. “He means we met on Tinder.”
“Oh, okay.” Brielle nodded. Then she cocked her head to the side. “But, didn’t you guys have your picture on there? Wouldn’t you have known who each other was?”
Oh, boy. How could Nara say Tinder? She knew it was a swipe-right-if-you-like-the-picture kind of app. She should have said something else. Anything else. Or just gone with the stupid chat room thing. Her hand shook as she poured the water. “Well, I had used a fake picture,” Nara blurted out, trying to cover up her mistake.
“And mine was blurry,” Derek said. “It didn’t look like me.”
“So, when did you realize you were talking to each other?”
Nara needed to end this quiz session. “Not too long after. It was funny, because I was like, ‘Hey, wait, I know you.’ And he was like, ‘Hey, I know you, too.’ We laughed. A bunch.” To emphasize how funny it was, Nara forced a laugh. It sounded a bit like she was deranged so she stopped.
Brielle smiled. “And you had this long-distance relationship for how long?”
How long? How long was believable for them to now be married? Derek just looked at her, waiting for her to say something. “Over a year,” Nara said, slipping into her seat at the table.
“But you dated that one guy…right?” Brielle scooped up a helping from the skillet. Then she served the other plates.
“Yep. And so that’s why Derek and I didn’t get serious. Because I was dating Fathead…uh, I mean, Cameron.”
Brielle snorted at that. “I get that.”
“Yeah, so after Fathead dumped me, we started talking more seriously. And then it was just this whirlwind of things that happened, and here we are. Married.” Nara grinned and Derek nodded his head up and down like he was watching a tennis ball bouncing.
