Cousins - Episode 3

 

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POV TROY

I’ve always heard the saying “fake it ‘til you make it.” That has never worked for me, but what’s wrong with lying to yourself that things are fine? That’s what I told myself as I stood in awkward silence, facing my cousin. This was going so much worse than I thought it would. 

“Hey Lottie… long time no see,” I finally said, hoping that would make this less painfully awkward. 

“Yeah. Long time no see, Troy,” she replied. So much for hoping we’d hit off. 

Grasping for straws, I asked: “How’s life?”

“Good.” 

“That’s good. My life has been good too.” In truth, there was a lot I could tell Lottie about my life in the past few years, but I wasn’t about to unleash my whole life story on the poor girl when the most she was giving me was a one-word answer. 

“Um, I have to go,” she said awkwardly.

“You do?”

“Yeah… I have to go walk my goldfish.”

I blinked, taken aback by Lottie’s interesting choice of obvious lie. “Oh… have fun with that?” 

Lottie turned and went inside my house. I stood alone on the front porch, wondering how I always manage to find myself in the worst possible situations. Well, that might actually be a little dramatic, but I have been told that I am a very dramatic person. Or maybe it’s just what my mom calls “The Everhart Curse” because of my family’s amazing ability to have bad luck. Either way, I avoided Lottie for the rest of the night. This is surprisingly easy to do over a plate of Cacio e Pepe while your mom talks about true crime cases at dinner. (Yes, my whole family is strange. It is not worth questioning.) 

After dinner, I was able to slip away from Lottie and the parents. As soon as I escaped to my bedroom, I got on Facetime with Min-Ji. 

“Hey, Troy. How’re things with your cousin?” Min-Ji asked.

“Awkward.” I sighed. “I don’t think she was too interested in talking to me.” 

“What makes you say that?”

“She made up some excuse about having to walk her goldfish.” 

“Oof. That’s rough.”

“Tell me about it.” 

“Well, just because that interaction didn’t go exactly how you planned, doesn’t mean it’s completely hopeless. It’s probably super weird for her to see you again, plus she’s probably overwhelmed with moving.”

“You’re right. You’re always right.” I nodded. Min-Ji always knew what to say. I considered her my unofficial therapist, which was funny when you took into account how often the two of us were playfully insulting each other. 

After a little while more of talking, Min-Ji had to hang up. I felt a lot better after our conversation, and I decided to give Lottie the benefit of the doubt. Now, if only I could somehow manage to befriend Lottie and finish my art project… 

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    Okay, I'm realizing this is a short filler episode and I did not take very many photos...

    And it's late.

    Oh well, at least it's here. Have a great week and remember to eat your veggies! Bye! <3