Toward the Walk of Shame

13 {Sehun}

There was a surprise waiting for me onshore after my morning surf that Saturday. Seulgi was lounging on a huge beach blanket with a carton of fresh strawberries and a jar of Nutella. Her long-sleeved cream dress barely skimmed her tights and was so transparent that I could see her bikini underneath. Small, stringy, and fitting in all the right places. And definitely not leaving much to the imagination. She lay on her stomach with her feet kicked up in the air behind her. "Hey, stranger."

"Hey." Propping my board on its side, I dropped down beside her with a surprised expression. "Why are you here so early, bearing gifts."

"I just thought we could hang out and have breakfast." She bit into a strawberry and licked at the juice than ran down her fingers. "Maybe sweeten you up a bit so you won't say no."

I grabbed a strawberry and used the tip to scoop a huge chunk of the chocolate spread. "Say no about what?"

"About going on a date tonight." She reached out a swiped a little bit of chocolate off my strawberry with a smile. "I have some concert tickets at the new club downtown. I figured we could have a couple of drinks before heading over there. And then, who knows what happens next."

It sounded tempting. Really tempting. Especially because I knew that Seulgi's ides of "what happens next" would probably have us in bed somewhere. Or in the back of a car.

I whistled low under my breath and turned away, avoiding her eyes. Her offer was so tempting, and who knows it had been so long since I'd had sex that I had practically forgotten how to do it. But I couldn't do that to Suzy. Fake relationship or not.

I had thought that having a steady, routine relationship would be the most boring thing in the world, and I'd rather jump off a cliff than be in one. Regular dates. Holding hands. Seeing the same person every day. Kissing the same lips all the time. Gosh, kill me now.

But it was . . . nice. And more fun than I expected it to be. I was even looking forward to the next time I would have dinner with Suzy's family. It was nice to sit through a family dinner. Eomma tried to get Mark and me to eat together all the time, but just seeing his face gave me indigestion.

At my hesitation, Seulgi pursed her lips together in annoyance. "Let me guess, you're busy tonight?"

I took a bite of the strawberry before answering. "Yeah, I actually am. I have a date with Suzy."

She rolled her eyes. "Figures. What's wrong with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you're always busy these days." Her eyes narrowed, and she sat up. Her arms crossed her chest. "Everybody knows about that picnic you two had at school. I thought you had a scared rule about not doing anything on Valentine's Day?"

I popped the rest of the strawberry in my mouth and tried to hide my goofy smile as I thought about our picnic. And the sweet kiss Suzy gave me afterward. No need to get Seulgi even more pissed than she already was.

All my rules were breaking for Suzy these days. Like today. I was supposed to come over and help her babysit Lucy so she could focus on some Student Council thing. Or a presentation. She was always doing so many things that it was hard for me to keep track of everything. But I didn't mind. Much. I never would admit it to anyone, but I wanted to hang out with Suzy. Even if it was just to be her assistant for the night. Plus, she had a way of taking my mind off missing dads, lying moms, and crap like that.

"I thought I told you before that Suzy's not like the other girls?"

That was definitely the wrong thing to say. Seulgi's face grew even colder. "So you're saying that she's different, but I'm just like one of the other girls."