Don't Cry Over Phở

Chapter 13: Hard Truths

I sighed, throwing my hands up in frustration. "Okay, do you a have a better idea then?"

It had been almost an hour and Luca argued against every idea I had on the list. At this point it seemed like we were getting no where. Each idea was either too expensive, too complicated, or too much work.

My patience and energy were waning more and more by the second!! I made a point to sit far away from Luca so I would avoid seeing his disappointed look every time he rejected another one of my ideas.

Without looking up, Luca was writing something in my notebook. "Come closer so you can read my idea," he said, patting the spot next to him.

With a slight inhale, I hesitated before moving closer to him on the bed even though my mind was yelling at me not to. The thought of being even closer to him made my insides churn.

Sneaking subtle glances at him, I noticed that the sunlight from his window casted a warm glow on his hair and skin. Despite his dark hair looking so disheveled and messy most of the time, the sun made it look silky and smooth to the touch. His face was drawn in concentration, causing him to not notice some of the hair that flopped over his forehead. My hands itched to brush them away.

"Alright, done!" he announced, breaking that small moment. He handed me the notebook and I glanced down to read it.

Scrunching my eyebrows a bit in confusion, I asked, "You want to design flyers to hang around and give to people? Isn't that a bit too simple?"

"That's the thing Allison. You're overthinking this too much. Advertising goes a long way. If we make nice looking flyers and offer them a discount if they show it to us, then it would encourage more people to come."

Hmm he had a point. This whole time I was thinking of elaborate schemes, but something simple like flyers were easy to do. Plus Luca and I were only high schoolers anyway. Our resources were limited.

"I guess I could also retake some photos of the dishes to put on the menus and flyers. They're pretty outdated anyways," I added.

He smiled and leaned back on his headboard, resting an arm behind his head and never once breaking his eye contact with me. "That's a good idea."

I gulped as I tried not to ogle the slight flexing of his bicep. It did NOT help that I was only like 5 inches away from him. Focus on the restaurant Allison. Focus on the restaurant!!

Scared he would notice the sudden pink tinge to my cheeks, I coughed and looked away. "You need this job that badly huh?"

He sat up from his relaxed posture, his smile fading as he grew serious. "Yes. It's important to me because I need the money."

I nodded, understanding his reasons. It was probably for his Harvard tuition or something. He was the perfect straight-A student after all.

He leaned a little forward. "Why do you care so much about saving the restaurant?" he asked. His tone had a small hint of accusation.

Feeling a little offended by his question because I thought my reasons were obvious, I leaned back and hardened my gaze at him. "What do you mean? It's my parents' restaurant. Why wouldn't I care?"

"Well.. it's just that it's no secret that you cheated on the Physics test in Mr.Porter's class and working at the restaurant was obviously your punishment."

My mind was reeling from the fact that he knew. "And how do you know that?" I said, my voice growing more high-pitched as shame and embarrassment flooded my body.

"Word gets around," Luca said, shrugging a little. He hesitated before adding, "It also seems like you have little regard for your culture. If anything I thought you'd be happy that the restaurant could close."

He said it so nonchalantly, but tears were stinging at the back of my eyes. I clenched my fist, turning my face away so he couldn't see me cry. "That's not true," I said back, my voice quivering a little. God I hated how pathetic I looked right now.

"I'll still help you promo-" he paused, noticing my upset state, "I- are you crying?"

Glaring at him through a blur of tears, I quickly wiped my dripping nose, too upset to care about how gross it probably looked. Refusing to answer him, I started packing my notebook into my backpack.

Luca grabbed my arm. "Allison wait. I'm sorry I didn't mean-" I looked up at him, surprised to see that he had a guilty and apologetic look on his face.

I shrugged him off, wiping my tears with my jacket sleeve as I ran out of there as fast as I could. I felt bad about rushing past his confused aunt as I left, but I felt so pathetic right now I didn't care.

Deciding to take a bus ride home, I sat in the very back and took the opportunity to clean my messy state with some random restaurant napkins I had stuffed in my backpack. My face was red and blotchy from crying, but luckily there was no one sitting near me to see.

How dare Luca assume things about me like that. I hated that a part of what he said was right. I admit that in the beginning I was ashamed of my parents's poor English skills. I pushed my culture away by refusing to eat ethnic food in public and avoided being grouped in with the other Asian kids at school.

I felt guilty seeing my parents work hard at the restaurant I didn't even care about. Not until now at least. I gazed out the window seeing familiar houses and buildings. My stop was almost here.

The bus came to a slow stop as the doors automatically opened. I got off feeling a bit better that my tears dried on the way home so my parents wouldn't question my crying.

As I entered my house, I was shocked to see my parents sitting at the dinner table. "Mẹ, Ba I thought you guys were working at the restaurant! Why are you guys home so early? It's only-" I glanced down at my phone, "7:30 pm."

My mom laughed a little and said gently, "We close restaurant early today. No customers."

They both looked calm and nonchalant about it, but I knew they were upset because of how much the restaurant meant to them. I could tell they didn't want to worry me, but if anything I was more determined than ever.

Luca and I had to work fast.