Chapter 12:

A few days later in between meetings and bridezillas, Mina’s phone rings. *JOSH* flashes on the screen. 

“Hey Josh, sort of busy, what’s up?”

This was the first time he had contacted her after the other night. 

“Sorry- listen I know it’s last minute but remember I mentioned my parents coming to town?” JC states. Mina looks down at her desk calendar. It was the 8th. HIs birthday. 

“Of course, happy birthday by the way!” 

“Thanks Wills. I know it’s last minute but they’re throwing me a small barbeque at my house and I was wondering if you’d like to come?” JC asks. 

“I haven’t seen your parents in ages and I’m swamped with work and…” Mina pauses. JC checks to see if the call has dropped.

“Mina?” he asks, checking his phone one more time. His voice pulls her out of her thoughts.. 

“It’s his birthday Mina” her inner self argues “It would be a dick move to say no.”

“I’ll be there” she tells him

“Great! My place at 8:00. I’ll text you the address!”

She had almost forgotten that she had never been to his house before. What was she getting herself into. 

“I’ll let you get back to work,” JC adds, hanging up. Mina could hear the happiness in his voice. As she sets her phone down she sees movement outside her office. 

“Madi?” she calls out as Madison sneaks past her door. Madison freezes and slinks back. She pauses in Mina’s doorway. 

“Hey”

“Hey? You never called me back the other night and you just vanished on me yesterday! What’s going on?” 

“Nothing. Nothing is going on” Madison answers, avoiding Mina’s eyes. 

“Don’t lie to me Mads. You disappear at the party, leaving me to ride home with Josh and… and then you don’t show up for work yesterday!” 

“I’m fine” she grins at Mina “Promise! Got a meeting. Love you- later” Madi adds, walking off. 

Mina had known her long enough to know when Madison was lying. Her phone pings, distracting her from that situation. She heads back to her desk and picks it up. It was JC with his address “Dress Casual” he had added. Her phone pings as another message comes through. Great! A late meeting with a client. Thank goodness she kept a change of clothes at the office. 

Her meeting finishes early so around 7:30, Mina changes and gets ready to head over to JC’s. It was only a 15 minute drive, depending on the madness of LA traffic but she still didn’t want to be late. She locks her office door and notices Madison’s office is dark. Mina hoped everything with her was okay. It truly wasn’t like her to be so mysterious. She puts thoughts of Madison aside. Time to face the music- dinner with JC and his parents. 

Mina pulls onto JC’s private road in the Hollywood Hills. Thankfully the numbers were prominently placed on the outside gate of each residence. She slows to find his address. Locating it, she parks her Prius on the street behind a small SUV. Walking up to his front gate, she types in the code he had texted her. Mina glances around as she walks to the front door. His place was a bit more modern than she expected it to be but it was nice, very homey. 

“Who all would be at this dinner?” she thinks to herself as she rings the doorbell. Moments later the door opens, a smiling JC looking back at her. 

“Hey! Glad you could make it” he states, showing her inside. He was dressed very casually- plain tee, jeans, and wait… monster socks? Mina holds back a laugh.

“Oh here, I brought you this!” Mina speaks up, handing him a bottle of wine. 

“Thanks. Come on in” he replies, shutting the front door behind her. Mina follows him to the left out of the foyer. A few steps down lead to the living room, the kitchen behind it and the dining room off to the side. 

“So who else is here?” she asks, instantly hating herself for even asking. 

“Just you, my parents and me. Everyone else either couldn’t make it or had to cancel last minute” JC explains, walking into the kitchen and setting the wine on the counter. An older woman was standing next to the stove, stirring something in a pot. 

“Oh” Mina exclaims, as the woman looks over at them. 

“Mom, you remember Mina” JC states as the older woman smiles 

“Of course! Little Mina Morgan!” 

“Hi Ms. Karen” Mina blushes. Ms. Karen walks over and wraps her in a hug

“You’re all grown up!” she observes. Mina and JC laugh. “It’s so good to see you!” she adds, hugging Mina again. 

“Where’s dad?” JC asks

“Outside manning the grill” Ms. Karen states as JC chuckles.

“He likes doing it, he’s never trusted me” JC jokes as he leads Mina towards the back deck. Mr. Roy stands behind the grill, cooking steaks. Mina says hello. Being around JC and his parents suddenly makes her homesick for Bowie. She hadn’t visited her parents in forever. A feeling of nostalgia washes over her. Days of being a kid, weekend barbeques with the Chasezes, hanging out in the treehouse, playing tag with Tyler and Heather. 

“You okay?” JC asks, noticing her far off look. 

“Yeah. Sorry, was tucked in a memory. Missing the good old days in Maryland” she replies. JC smiles down at her and looks over at his dad. 

“I miss it too sometimes,” he tells her. Ms. Karen joins them outside and pulls Mina to the side. 

“Let’s leave the guys to it” she states “Have a nice glass of wine and catch up” she adds with a soft smile. She leads Mina back into the kitchen. 

Once dinner is ready, the four of them settle in at the kitchen table. The Chasezes on one side, JC at the end and Mina to his left. It was a typical family dinner, sharing stories, laughing, catching up. Mina was somewhat grateful no one else showed up and it was just the four of them. 

“How long have you been in LA?” Mr. Roy asks as JC excuses himself to get everyone drink refills. 

“Almost 3 years now. I was in New York before that” Mina explains, catching him up. 

“How are your parents?” Ms. Karen inquires

“Good! Mom calls me about once a week, or I try to call her. I’m not very good at keeping in touch, I’m a horrible child” Mina jokes “In all seriousness, they are good. Mom and Dad are both retired now, Dad wants to sell the house and drive around the country in an RV but Mom swears that it will happen over her dead body” she adds as the Chasezes laugh. 

“Are you seeing anyone?” Ms. Karen asks just as JC re-enters the room. 

“Mom!” 

“It’s fine,” Mina reassures him “I am actually. His name is Alex, he’s a pediatric oncologist. It’s still pretty casual, we’ve only been seeing each other for about a month now” she explains. JC starts to laugh. “What's so funny?” Mina demands. 

“Nothing… just remembering how I accidentally crashed your date!” JC tells her

“Joshua! You didn’t” Ms. Karen exclaims as Mina joins him in laughing. 

“He did. It was an accident though. We both just happened to be at the same place at the same time…speaking of dates. How is Charlotte?” Mina states. JC glares at her. 

“Charlotte?” 

“Didn’t Josh tell you he had a girlfriend?” 

“He doesn’t usually talk about that stuff” Mr. Roy chimes in. 

“It’s… she’s… not important. How about dessert? Mom didn’t you say you got cake?” JC changes the subject. 

After dessert Mina offers to clean up but Ms. Karen insists that she’s a guest and she and Mr. Roy would take care of it. Mina follows Josh to the living room. He pours them both another glass of wine and they drink in silence. 

“Uh sorry about what I said at dinner. I really put my foot in my mouth, huh?” Mina says

“It’s fine. The truth is… well you heard my dad, I really don’t talk to my parents about all that and well… Char and I broke up anyways” 

“What? When?” 

“Night of my party. It’s no big deal. It was going to happen at some point. All we did was argue all the time and I was just fed up with being in that situation” 

“Oh”

“She wanted me to go with her to Canada while she films some pilot for a CW series. She’s there now I think…”

“Happy Birthday!” Mina tells him, attempting to change the subject

“Thanks” he grins, running his hand through his hair. She raises her glass in a toast. The Chasezes appear in the living room. 

“We’re gonna call it a night and head back to our hotel” Mr. Roy announces

“We’ll see you in the morning honey” Ms. Karen adds, walking over to give Josh a hug goodbye. 

“You make your parents stay in a hotel?” Mina asks confused

“I don’t make them, they choose to but I cover the bill of course” Josh explains

“Seriously? That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard”

“In case he wants to have an overnight guest” Ms. Karen chimes in. “It was good to see you again Mina. Tell your parents we say hello. We will have to stop in Bowie one day and visit them” 

“Of course” Mina agress. They hug goodbye and Mina says her farewells. JC walks them to the front door. As she hears the front door close, she falls back onto the couch laughing hysterically. JC walks back into the living room and just stares at her. 

“What?” 

“Dude, your mom basically gave you permission to have a booty call” Mina says in between chuckles. 

“Shut up,” JC tells her, sitting down next to her. He playfully knocks her backwards. She falls against the throw pillows, still laughing. Mina sits up to take a sip of her wine after her laughter finally subsides. 

“Thanks for dinner. It was really great seeing your parents. I’ll have to tell Mom and Dad next time I call”

“Thanks for being here and again for the party. I appreciate it!” 

“I should get going, work in the morning! It’s a Tuesday after all” she states, setting her wine glass back on the coffee table. 

“Stay. Hangout, watch a movie… it’s my birthday” he pleads, giving her puppy dog eyes. 

“Really Josh, with that? You haven’t used that trick on me since we were ten! Okay fine. I’ll stay and I’ll even watch Indiana Jones for the millionth time- because its your birthday.”

JC thrusts his fists into the air in excitement. “Works like a charm every time!” he grins, turning on the tv and scrolling to his movie list. 

Mina wakes up on the couch, unsure of the time or even who’s couch she was on. She looks around, Josh is asleep next to her. His head leaning on her shoulder. She tries to reach for her phone the best she can without waking him. The TV screen was black, they must have fallen asleep during the movie. *5:02AM* her phone reads. JC begins to stir next to her. 

“Hmm” he mumbles

“Josh, wake up. We fell asleep on the couch” she states, raising her voice just a little

“Wills?” JC mutters, as he opens his eyes and stretches

“Yeah…I’ve got to be at work in a few hours…” she says, leaning over to shake him awake again. Her face moves closer to his and his lips suddenly press against hers. His eyes pop open as a phone rings. Mina jumps back and up from the couch as she realizes it’s hers. 

“Hey. Oh just woke up early today, had some work to finish up. Okay, go home and get some rest and I’ll see you later tonight” Mina states, hanging up quickly. 

“Mina… uhhh....” JC stammers 

“That was Alex. He just finished his shift. I um… I’ll see you around…” she explains. She grabs her purse and hurries towards the front door. 

“What the fuck just happened?” she mutters to herself as soon as she gets to her car.