Kian

THE MOMENT I knock on the Olsen’s front door, my stomach drops.

While waiting, I try to push the nerves away by counting up to ten. Before letting out a breath, I send a text message my mom.



With a huge smile on his face, Colton’s bouncing. He excitedly says, “I want Kian’s lemonade!”

We’re greeted by Adalyn and Sid Olsen. I offer her my pie and she excitedly takes it. While standing near the door frame, the sweet smell of roast beef and corn rushes through my nostrils. They give us a small tour of their home before taking us into the dining room.

I see seven plates set up. The table is filled with everything I smelt as I walked through the door. It all looks so good.

Kian’s sitting in the center with Giovanni by his side. They both stand up to greet Colton and me.

Kian's sporting a black t-shirt, something he tends to only wear, and ripped jeans. He smiles, showing off his signature uneven dimple.

Giovanni’s wearing a jean jacket with a striped tee inside. His golden hair is slightly pushed to the side. He greets me with a smile before sitting back down.

“I don't think we talked much before college, but hey, great seeing you again,” Giovanni politely says. He's smiling, showing off his uneven teeth.

I sit across Giovanni while Colton hugs Kian. Adalyn and Sid take the seats near the head of the table. While Adalyn pushes in her chair, she and Giovanni exchange a look.

Adalyn mutters, “Looks like John is running late. I can always save a plate for him.”

“I'll text him,” Giovanni starts to say before she tells him to do that later.

We start to dig in, and the moment my mouth is filled with the roast beef, a smile creeps on my lips. Colton’s stuffing his face in the sweet potato mash.

“Bethany, I hear you're interning at Jet Industry. How’s that going?” Sid asks while cutting up his roast. His voice bounces off the walls, sharp as it can get.

Giovanni and Kian continue to chew on their food, waiting for me to speak.

“So far, I think it's been okay. Everyone has been nice,” I say, swallowing my bite.

“How's the commute? It’s a 30-minute drive out of town, right?” Sid asks, raising a bushy eyebrow.

“Right,” Adalyn nods, “it's quite a drive, huh?”

“I've been driving to work. And to be fair, if I leave by seven, I miss rush hour,” I explain, “so, commuting’s not too bad.”

“What do you do?” Giovanni suddenly asks.

“Mostly marketing and customer service things,” I say, “I'm one of the three interns so the workload isn't too bad right now. We've been getting individual projects so we’ve all been doing our own thing.”

Giovanni nods, swallowing. “What's your major, again?”

“Travel Industry Management.” I watch Giovanni nod before I add, “I'm also thinking of adding Economics but I'm not too sure yet.”

“Oh, you should do it,” Giovanni says promptly, popping another slice of meat into his mouth. “I'm about to graduate with an Economics degree with a double major in Management. And with TIM, I think Economics will go hand in hand.”

He's staring at me, nodding. I'm honestly surprised with this amount of interaction I'm getting from Giovanni Olsen.

I'm silent for a second, probably making it obvious.

“What school did you say you go to?” Giovanni asks.

After Adalyn swallows, she interrupts Giovanni and answers, “She goes to Loyola.”

“Yeah?” Giovanni smiles. “I'm about two hours away from you. I'm at UC Santa Barbara.”

“UCSB made both my sons distant from me,” Adalyn says while glaring at Giovanni. He only shrugs. She adds, “Especially the eldest twin.”

“John’s majoring in Asian American Studies,” Giovanni says, “He wants to go to Law School after getting his B.S.”

“John’s probably on his way,” Kian adds, pulling the attention on him.

“How's school going, dude?” Giovanni asks while nibbling on his corn. He looks at Kian and says, “You're still majoring in Communication, right?”

Kian nods, sipping on water before saying, “I started on my capstone classes last semester, and they were kind of challenging because my professors were difficult, but overall, I liked those classes. I like how everything now it's just applying what I know, y'know?”

Giovanni nods, “Oh, yeah. Same.”

“I might graduate early too. Hopefully I can start filling out papers for graduate school.”

“Are you looking into University of San Francisco’s graduate school or are you thinking of applying elsewhere?”

“Not sure,” Kian shrugs. He pauses before continuing, “That's still in the air.”

Everyone is finishing up their meals, asking questions. It's interesting because it's like everyone here is trying to get to know each other as if we've all met for the first time. In the small town of Beasley, I thought everyone knew everyone.

All of a sudden, Colton swallows his last bite of roast beef and says, “Kiannnn, I’d like some of your lemonade, please?”

Giovanni lifts his chin and whispers, “I wouldn't drink Kian’s lemonade if it were the last thing on earth.”

Adalyn and Sid snickers, shaking their heads. Kian lets out a laugh, biting on his corn.

Everyone’s bursting into laughter until Jonathan walks through the door. His golden hair is covering his eyes but I can tell that his right eye is puffy and bruised. He slams the door, squinting at us as if we’re the one interrupting.

It becomes silent amongst us until Jonathan looks me in the eyes and snorts, “Nice to meat you.”