We sat next to each other near the front row, his mom on his other side as we waited for the music to start. I was assuming that they’d do some kind of traditional Chinese dance, which was what their entire dance group focused on year-round but instead, they had a different surprise for us. All the girls around Jia’s height and age stood side by side in two rows, wearing the same colored shirt with their hair all done up in the same style. Though they looked uniform, Jia’s excited smile made her stand out from everyone else. She was in the front middle, looking ecstatic even before the music started. She knew exactly where we were in the crowd and her eyes were burning into mine, as if she wanted to say “Be sure to watch me”.

            Before the music played I looked back, turning my head to the side Tao wasn’t sitting on, and caught sight of Amber at the back talking with Chen. She saw me immediately and gave me a kind of despising glare. I didn’t want to lure her over to where I was so I pretended I didn’t notice her and turned back to the front.

            We all stared forward as we heard the first note sound from the mobile speakers placed on each side of the stage. All the girls stayed in their same positions as if they were glued, and their instructor knelt near by the front row of seats to guide them in the actions. The song had no lyrics but homed a very serene melody. It didn’t help that I was already sleepy, but because Jia was watching me closely I could not let myself drift off. They performed to the music in sign language. It was the first time I’d ever seen something like this, a performance so peaceful yet whole-hearted. I never understood sign language but I always appreciated the beauty of it. The way their hands and fingers flowed from one gesture to another, all perfectly in sync fascinated me beyond measure. If it wasn’t for Tao yawning, I wouldn’t have noticed that he was no longer watching the ‘dance’, but me. Why was he staring at me? I was afraid to give him eye contact, so I watched his unchanging gaze with my peripheral vision. I knew for the fact there was nothing interesting on my face, yet he kept his stare steady.

            “Hey Erika, do you know him?” Tao suddenly asked halfway through the performance. He nodded his chin in a direction and I followed with my eyes, leading straight to Chen who stood beside Amber at the end of the parking lot. Chen was indeed watching me, and I suddenly felt embarrassed. Tao wasn’t looking at me—he was curious about Chen. What I couldn’t understand was why Chen was staring in our direction. Amber too, was watching us.

            “He’s a classmate, and the girl beside her is my best friend…” I confirmed, wishing they would just stop looking at us. It wasn’t like we were doing anything. Tao shrugged it off immediately and finished with a joking comment,

            “They look good together.” I laughed awkwardly along with him. He didn’t even know the half of it. Rather than being thrilled that Chen was here today like Amber had hoped, I was more annoyed and secretly wanted him to leave early. My unspoken wish unknowingly came true. When I found the courage to turn around again, Chen was getting into a red van with a sliding door and Amber was waving goodbye to him. I suddenly felt like the biggest jerk in the world. I was so caught up in this mess I didn’t even notice that the song had ended. The adult dance group was now teaching the audience how to line dance, and Jia was walking back to us with her shoulders drooped down in a disappointed manner.

            “Tao I hate you.” She growled. It was the first time I’d seen her glare with such immense dislike in a long time and it frightened me a little. Tao yawned again, looking back at her unfazed.

            “You weren’t even watching!” She whined, looking like she was ready to hit him. She reminded me a little of myself when I was younger. Whenever I threw a fit for attention, Kris would always scold me and make me feel like complete trash.

            “I watched most of it.” Tao lied, trying to get her to calm down. She wasn’t so easily fooled.

            “Liar!” She accused. Before the tears started pouring, their mom came to her side and calmed her down.

            “It was beautiful, Jia. Really,” The light-hearted compliment seemed to satisfy her enough. She went from enraged to content in a matter of seconds. She then turned to me with a bright and childish smile.

            “Did you like it, Erika?” she was clearly fishing for compliments, but I didn’t mind feeding her ego today.

            “Yes it was cool!” I pet her on the head; and she gushed silently. I couldn’t help but laugh at how cute she was.

            “Oh Erika,” Their mom sounded a lot more serious now, “Is your parent’s restaurant doing well?” It was a question all adults liked to ask; things about finances and business, and all those other things that young people generally had no interest in.

            “It’s pretty good I think,” I gave her the usual thoughtless answer, because I honestly didn’t know and didn’t really care. She nodded, accepting my answer as true. It was then that I had another good idea.

            “Do you guys want to come for a free dinner tonight? I think my mom would really like that.” I offered, knowing that my mom probably missed her dear friend gravely. Once I asked, Jia’s face lit up immediately.

            “Yes, please can we go?! We never got to eat out in forever!” Jia begged excitedly again. It was hard to resist Jia when she acted like that, but her mom seemed to still be contemplating. Maybe they already had plans?

            “We’re not doing anything today anyway,” Jia answered my question without me even having to ask. Their mom bit her lip before answering,

            “Maybe not today—“

            “I only work on Saturdays…” I felt bad for interrupting her, but I really wanted to be there when they came to visit. If we really wanted to have a reunion, then my mom and my brother had to be there or it just wasn’t right. When we were younger, we’d go to a buffet restaurant together as two families at least once a month or to celebrate birthdays. It would be just like old times; but free. My mom loved giving free meals to friends.

            “Alright,” Their mom finally gave in with a sigh, “But!”

            “But what?!” Jia was now complaining mindlessly, but she was still just a kid so we didn’t mind. She was like the younger side of me who spoke my thoughts I don’t have the guts to ask out loud personally.

            “We’re going to drive Lu Han to see the doctor first.” She was scheduling in her mind, but because we already had her word Jia didn’t mind. I gave them a business card because strangely, I was carrying one around. They said they’d come around dinner time, but in exchange they’d have to leave right now for the doctors to check up on Lu Han. Jia rushed towards the car after giving me a goodbye hug. I was never a huggable person but when it came to Jia, there was no rejecting her.

            “Remember to call your mom to let her know, okay?” Their mom called out from the driver’s window of their car.

            “Yep, I’ll call her right away.” I already had my phone out with our home number dialed. I only had to press call.

            “Bye Erika, I’ll see you later then.” Tao waved from the passenger seat and I waved back. Today was filled with so many surprises, and I couldn’t believe that it was still early in the morning. If I had only slept in until 2pm like I usually did on Saturdays, I would’ve never had the opportunity to see them again. At least not like this. I called my mom quickly and just as I predicted, she was overjoyed to hear the news I had for her. After she hung up she said she would go straight to the grocery store and buy some fresh seafood to cook them a special dinner. Hesitantly, I called my brother next. He grew out of the fondness of gatherings years ago. He stopped going to family gatherings too, so I was skeptical as to whether he’d come today, just to see Tao and Lu Han again.

            “Ayo Wassup?” Kris picked up after three rings. I could hear loud noises behind him, so I knew he wasn’t at home.

            “Are you busy today?”

            “Depends, why?” He sounded uninterested already, but because I already called him I had to at least ask.

            “You remember Tao, right?” To be honest I was sometimes scared of talking to Kris. Even without seeing his face, he was intimidating.

            “Your kid crush? Yeah, why?” He said it so uncaringly that I just shook it off as one of his stupid impulses.

            “He and his family are coming to our restaurant today. Do you want to see them?” There was a long pause after I’d asked the question, allowing me to guess that he might even agree. But as my older brother, I knew he was skilled at crushing my anticipations.

            “Maybe next time,” With that, he hung up on me. I shouldn’t have expected anything more. I slid my phone back into my pocket and looked up. An angry Amber was walking straight towards me. After taking one big gulp, I began contemplating if and where I should run away to. 

A/N: Yes for double updates! Sorry for using the Kris jokes... clearly I'm an EXOTIC lol!  I like humour.