“Chris!” That was Daria, reprimanding her brother.
But he didn’t pay attention to her. “So basically you want to compose classical music for movies about classical music, following all these supposed rules that people like me are too dumb to understand. That sounds…interesting.”
How dare he come into her home and argue with her about her music?
She ignored the prideful part of her that wanted to grab his attention—the part that had written the song she’d been playing right before he had shown up. She ignored how much she wanted to talk to him about it.
He sighed. “Do you really think that, as long as you make your work conform to the expectations of all the musically educated, snotty, theater-going masses, you can’t lose? While you also compose actually fantastic, cool, different music that you then completely deny creating, for some inexplicable reason?”
Oh, no he didn’t. How dare he call her out on that?
She opened her mouth to tell him to get out and never come back, but before she could get a word out, Daria jumped in again, sounding desperate. “Hey, so, I love your place. And it’s right in my budget. Would you—”
Oh, God. No. No way could she handle having that guy around all the time. Now that she knew for sure that he was an irreverent simpleton who happened to also drive her body crazy.
Calm yourself. Calm down, be rational, be polite. Don’t call attention to yourself.
Minh interrupted in the nicest way possible, unclenching her fists and smoothing her suddenly sweaty palms over her khaki skirt. “Well! That’s so nice to hear. Thank you for coming out and looking at it. We do—we have a couple other people coming by today. Can we let you know our decision tomorrow?”
She didn’t dare look at Gali. It was bad enough that she was lying for the second time that morning.
Daria seemed like a really nice person, and it made Minh feel awful, but that man…ten minutes in his company and he was already getting under her skin, making her feel angry and turned on and completely confused. Seeing him all the time, in her personal space, would threaten her sanity. She was barely hanging on to the little she had left.
“Oh, sure. Yeah. Sure.” Daria gave a tight shrug, and her lips curved up in a way that made it clear she was forcing the smile. “I’ll just wait to hear from you, then. Just…I know you have to see more people, but do you mind if I look at the kitchen before we go?”
“No problem.” Gali chirped brightly. “Look at whatever you’d like. I’ll just take a moment to talk to Minh, if that’s okay.” Gali hauled Minh off to her bedroom, leaving Chris and Daria alone in the living room.
The second the door shut, Gali whirled on her. “What is wrong with you? You just lied, Minh. You never lie. I like Daria, and you didn’t even ask me what I thought before you blew her off? What’s up?”
Aw, jeez. She hadn’t even thought about how Gali would feel. She’d just been so muddled because of Chris. That was exactly why they had to say no to Daria.
“I’m sorry. Really, I’m just—I don’t know what it is about him, but—”
“Wait. Daria’s brother? I know he’s kind of forward and intense, but he’s not going to be the one living with us. Unless…did he do something bad while I was showing Daria the apartment? Should I kick his ass?”
Minh rolled her eyes. “No, he didn’t do anything bad. Except for being a jerk! You heard him out there, insulting me!”
Gali stopped fuming and furrowed her brow. “I didn’t think what he said was that bad. He didn’t really insult you. Just brought up some, uh, different perspective. In a really awkward way. Besides, what do you care so much what he thinks?”
How could she admit that she was desperately attracted to him even though he went against everything she believed in? That he made her want to take a chance again, and that would take her down a path she’d abandoned a long time ago?
He was a hipster and a bad boy, and he made fun of her work!
“I don’t like being disrespected,” she managed to say. There. Not a lie, but not the whole truth.
Gali stared, making Minh bristle.
“What?”
But Gali just kept staring.
“For God’s sake, Gali. Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You want him. I thought you were all over him last night because you wanted to hurt him. But it wasn’t fighting, was it?”
“I was not all over him.” Minh pffed in an attempt at dismissing her friend’s words, but even she could tell it came out flat.
“Oh my God. You actually want this guy. Button-down, classically-trained, model citizen Minh Jackson wants a tattoo-rocking, fedora-wearing hipster.” Gali hooted with laughter. “This is hilarious. Holy shit, this is making my day.”
Minh crossed her arms. “It’s not funny.”
“It is so funny.”
“No, it’s torture.”