It had been a long week for Mei-Li with working the later shift. Thankfully, by the following week, she was working daylight again. Thursday afternoon, when Morgan and Mei-Li were in surgery together, Morgan said, "So, Dr. Lim-Melendez, tomorrow after work, Claire and I are going bowling together along with Steve and Lydia. I was wondering if you wanted to join us as it would be just like old times."
"Um, Mom and Dad both have some sort of charity event to attend tomorrow night, so I'm on my own. I don't see why not? But who would even out the teams since Carlos is at school right now?"
"There is one person I'm sure you'd like me to ask," mentioned Morgan casually.
"Who?" asked Mei-Li.
"Come on, Dr. Lim-Melendez," said Morgan, "Cho doesn't immediately pop into your mind?"
"No," Mei-Li lied, "What are you getting at, Dr. Reznick?"
"Mei-Li, I watched your parents dance around each other, and then I watched Shaun and Claire dance around each other. You've liked Cho since you laid eyes on her."
"Dr. Reznick…" said Mei-Li.
"You know I just call it like I see it," said Morgan, "So do you want me to invite her or not?"
Mei-Li huffed and answered, "Fine, but only because I was thinking about inviting her to the Berkley-Stanford game and changed my mind because I couldn't stand the thought of sitting next to someone rooting against Stanford. It's bad enough my brother plays for Berkeley."
"Alright, I'll invite her then," said Morgan.
After her shift on Friday, Mei-Li went home to freshen up and change as she wasn't supposed to meet everyone at the bowling alley until 5:00. She arrived and Morgan's and Claire's cars were in the parking lot, so Mei-Li parked near them before entering the building. She rented her shoes and went over to the lanes where Morgan, Claire, Steven, and Lydia were warming up their bowling arms, "Mei-Li!" Lydia hugged her excitedly.
"Lydia, it's been so long since I've seen you," said Mei-Li, "So how's Steven?"
"You have a brother. You know what it's like to have a teenage boy live with you," said Lydia.
"That I do," Mei-Li sympathized.
Caroline arrived and hesitantly approached the group, "Hi," she smiled softly at Mei-Li.
"Hi," Mei-Li smiled back.
"Steven, Lydia, I'd like to introduce you to Dr. Caroline Cho. Dr. Cho, this is my son, Steven, and my daughter, Lydia," said Claire.
"Nice to meet you," said Steven.
"So I guess we'll do our usual: Claire, Steven, and Lydia vs. Cho, Lim-Melendez, and me?" said Morgan.
"Everyone will have an easy time beating Dr. Browne-Murphy. She's a terrible bowler," said Mei-Li.
"Now you sound like your father," said Claire.
"I must say, I'm not bad at bowling," said Caroline.
Mei-Li snickered and said, "I'll have you know that I've been bowling almost as long as I've been walking and dancing."
"And you're looking at the girl who was in a four time champion bowling league in college," said Caroline.
"Like mother and father, like daughter," said Morgan amusingly to Claire.
Claire rolled her eyes at Morgan and said, "Would you quit trying to play matchmaker so we can just bowl?"
"Who said I was trying to play matchmaker?" asked Morgan innocently.
"You purposefully did things to get me and Shaun together; hell, you even did little things here and there to get Dr. Melendez and Dr. Lim-Melendez to finally notice each other. Don't think I don't know that you set up this event for those two," Claire gestured towards Mei-Li and Caroline.
"Well, when it works, I want to hear how I was right," Morgan walked towards her team.
After three matches, to which both Lydia and Steven easily beat their mother and Caroline did prove how good of a bowler she was, Caroline changed into her sneakers and said, "Well, I better get going. I'll see you all at work on Monday. It was nice meeting you Steven, Lydia."
"You too," said Steven.
Mei-Li watched Caroline's retreating form and glanced between Caroline and Morgan before chasing Caroline outside, "Caroline, wait!"
Caroline turned to face Mei-Li, "What?"
"Caroline, I've been hiding my feelings since I first laid eyes on you, but I need to get this off of my chest. I like you."
"I like you too," Caroline chuckled.
"No, I mean I like like you," said Mei-Li. Caroline looked a little shocked, but Mei-Li continued, "And I don't care if you don't like me back, or if you're not into girls; we can just be friends, but…"
Caroline didn't say anything, but walked straight towards Mei-Li. Mei-Li was wondering what Caroline was planning on doing, so needless to say, she was thoroughly surprised when Caroline took her face in her hands and kissed her. Not that Mei-Li minded it. After a moment, the two women pulled apart and Caroline asked, "What took you so long to admit it?"
"I don't know. It's not exactly easy to walk up to someone and say, 'Hey, I like you'," said Mei-Li.
Caroline chuckled and laughed before she kissed Mei-Li again, "Well, I'm glad you finally worked up the nerve to say something. I was too shy to tell you."
"Blame the fact that I was raised by an outspoken woman," said Mei-Li.
Meanwhile, Morgan and Claire were both observing Mei-Li and Caroline finally admit their feelings for each other, so Morgan looked over at Claire and raised her eyebrows at her, "I'm not going to say it, Morgan," Claire went back into the bowling alley to get Steven and Lydia.
"I told you so," said Morgan.
When Mei-Li arrived home, the house was empty, so she changed into her pajamas and went back downstairs. She grabbed a pint of ice cream and pulled up Netflix through the Amazon Fire Stick, deciding to stream Parks and Recreation for the rest of the night. Melendez and Lim arrived home around ten that night, "Hi mija."
Mei-Li jumped when she heard her father's voice, but smiled and said, "Hi Dad."
"How was your evening?" asked Lim.
Mei-Li smiled when she recalled her and Caroline's kiss, but she said, "It was fine. I went bowling with Caroline, Morgan, Claire, Steven, and Lydia."
"Claire still a horrific bowler?" asked Melendez jokingly.
"Oh yes," Mei-Li laughed, "Caroline and Lydia actually did the best."
"Well, it sounds like it was a fun evening," Melendez laid his hand on Mei-Li's shoulder and went upstairs.
Lim turned to face her daughter once Melendez was out of earshot, "So what else happened?"
"What do you mean what else happened?" asked Mei-Li, sipping some water.
"Honey, I'm your mother; I know these things. Something else good happened," said Lim.
"You won't let it go until I tell you, will you?" Lim shook her head, "Well, I told Caroline how I feel and she kissed me," Lim smiled broadly, "And I'm terrified."
Lim's smile faded, "Why?"
"Because this is the first person I've liked since Jenny…" Mei-Li trailed off.
"Mei-Li," Lim hugged her, "Let me tell you something. You know how I was married to someone else before I married your father?" Mei-Li nodded, "Well, when Kashal and I divorced, I didn't want to get involved with anyone ever again. That was until…"
"The night Dr. Andrews screwed you and Dad over for Chief of Surgery and you had a drunken one night stand," said Mei-Li.
"Mei-Li Esmeralda!" Lim scolded jokingly.
"That's what it was, Mom," said Mei-Li.
"Anyways, you know I got sick then," said Lim.
"Mom, I don't expect you to talk about something you don't like to discuss," said Mei-Li.
"And I'm not going to," said Lim, "But the point is, I finally took a chance on your father and look at us now. So maybe it's time to take a chance again."
"But I'm scared, Mom. I really like her," Mei-Li admitted.
"And sometimes, the things that scare us the most turn out to be our greatest blessings in life," said Lim.
"Now you sound like Abuelita," commented Mei-Li.
"Who do you think gave me the same advice I'm giving you?" Lim stood and said, "Think about it, sweetheart." Lim went upstairs for the night, leaving Mei-Li to ponder her ambiguous feelings.
