Flawless Attraction

Chapter 15 - Cubs Game

TAEHYUNG POV

One thing in life is certain--I am not making out with Park LaJimin.

Thankfully Mrs. Epperson had us busy doing experiments all week, giving us no time to talk except about who's going to light the Bunsen burner. Although every time I looked at Jimin's bandaged arm it reminded me of when I whacked him.

I'm trying not to think about him while I gloss my lips for my date with Chanyeol. It's Friday night and we're going to dinner and a movie.

After double-checking and triple-checking myself in the mirror, and attaching the soccer bracelet he gave me for our anniversary last year, I head to the backyard, where my brother Mark is in our pool with his girlfriend Amanda. My mom, wearing her pink velour cover-up, is lounging on a chaise reading some home-design magazine.

"It's pretty quiet, except for the loud SPLASHES AMANDA AND MARK ARE MAKING." I yell.

Mom puts down her magazine, her face tight and stern. "Tae, don't be out past ten thirty."

 "Chanyeol and I are seeing an eight-o'clock movie, Eomma. We'll be home after that."

"You heard what I said. No later than ten thirty. If you have to leave the movie early to get home on time, so be it."

Our doorbell rings. "That's probably him," I say.

"You better hurry up and get it."

I rush to the front door before my mom does it for me and makes a fool out of both of us. Chanyeol is standing on our front stoop with a dozen red roses in his hand.

"For you," he says, surprising me.

Wow! I'm feeling stupid for thinking about Jimin so much this past week. I hug Chanyeol and give him a kiss, a real one on the lips.

"Let me put these in water," I say, stepping back.

I hum happily as I walk to the kitchen, smelling their sweet fragrance. Putting water in a vase, I wonder if Jimin ever brought his girlfriend flowers. Jimin probably brings his dates sharp knives as gifts, in case she'll need one when she's out on a date with him. I wonder if he's even been with a guy before... Being with Chanyeol is so . . .

Boring?

No. We're not boring. We're safe. Comfortable. Cute.

After cutting the bottoms off the roses and placing them in the vase, I find Chanyeol chatting with my mom on the patio, something I really don't want him doing.

"Ready?" I say.

Chanyeol flashes me his super white million-dollar smile. "Yep."

"Have her back by ten thirty," my Dad also calls out. As if a boy with a curfew equals high morals. It's ridiculous.

"Sure thing, Mr. Kim and Mrs. Kim" Chanyeol responds.

When we're in his Mercedes, I ask, "What movie are we seeing?"

"Change in plans. My dad's firm got tickets to the Cubs game. In a suite right behind home plate. Baby, we're goin' to watch the Cubbies."

"How cool. Will we be back by ten thirty?" Because I know without a doubt my dad will be waiting at the door for me.

"If they don't go into extra innings. Do your parents think you'll turn into a pumpkin or something?"

I take hold of his hand. "No. It's just that, well, I don't want to upset them."

"No offense, but your dad is strange. He's a hot DILF, but totally off the wall."

I take my hand back. "Eww! Chanyeol, you just called my dad a DILF! I'm completely grossed out."

"Please, Taehyung." He glances in my direction. "Your dad looks more like your twin brother than your dad. He's hot."

He works out so much, I admit his body looks more like a thirty-year-old's than a forty-five-year-old's. But to think my boyfriend is hot for my dad is plain yuck.

At the game, Chanyeol leads me to his dad's corporate suite at Wrigley Field. The box is crowded with people from a bunch of downtown law firms. Chanyeol's parents greet us. His mom hugs me and gives me an air-kiss before leaving us to mingle with other people.

I watch as Chanyeol talks with the other people in the suite. He's so at home here; he's in his element. He shakes hands, smiles wide, and laughs at everyone's jokes whether they're funny or not.

"Let's watch the game in the seats over there," he says, leading me to the suite's seats after we get hot dogs and drinks from the food bar.

"I'm hoping to get an internship at Harris, Lundstrom, and Wallace next summer," he says quietly, "so I gotta get face time with these guys."

When Mr. Lundstrom appears next to us, Chanyeol goes into full-on business mode. I watch in admiration as he talks with Mr. Lundstrom as if they're old friends. My boyfriend definitely has a knack for schmoozing people.

"I hear you want to follow in your father's footsteps," Mr. Lundstrom says.

"Yes, sir, This is also my best friend Taehyung! He plays soccer at my school." Chanyeol responds, then they start talking about football and stocks and whatever else Chanyeol brings up to keep Mr. Lundstrom talking. I can't believe he just called me his best friend as if we're not dating.

Jungkook calls on my cell and I give him highlights of the game and we talk while I'm waiting for Chanyeol to finish talking to Mr. Lundstrom. He tells me he had the best time at this dance club called Club Mystique that will let in teens. He insists Jin and I will love it there.

At the seventh-inning stretch, Chanyeol and I stand and sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." We're totally out of tune, but it doesn't matter because right now it sounds as if the thousands of Cubs fans singing are as out of tune as we are. It feels good to be with Chanyeol like this, having fun together. It makes me think I've been overcritical of our relationship.

At nine forty-five, I turn to Chanyeol and tell him we need to start heading home even though the game isn't over.

He takes my hand in his and quickly drops his hand. He probably forgot he was acting "straight". It's like he's ashamed of me around Mr. Lundstrom. I think he's going to excuse himself from his conversation with Mr. Lundstrom. Instead, Mr. Lundstrom calls over Mr. Wallace.

As the minutes tick by, I'm getting nervous. There has been enough tension in my house. I don't want to cause more. "Chanyeol . . . ," I say, budging him.

He puts his arm around me in response.

At the top of the ninth inning, when it's past ten, I say, "I'm sorry, but Chanyeol has to drive me home now."

Mr. Wallace and Mr. Lundstrom shake Chanyeol's hand, then I pull him out of the park.

"Tae, do you know how hard it is to get an internship at HL&W?"

"At this point, I don't care. Chanyeol, I needed to be home by ten thirty."

"So you'll be home at eleven. Tell your mom we got stuck in traffic."

Chanyeol doesn't know what my mom is like when she's in one of her moods. Thankfully I've been able to avoid bringing him around the house often and if he comes over, it's just for a few minutes or less. He has no clue what it's like when my mom goes off on me.

We pull into my driveway not at eleven, but closer to eleven thirty. Chanyeol is still pumped about the possible internship at HL&W while listening to the after-game recap on WGN radio.

"I gotta go," I tell him, leaning over for a quick kiss.

"Stay here a few minutes," he says against my lips. "We haven't fooled around in, like, forever. I miss it."

"Me, too. But it's late." I give him a look of apology. "We'll have more nights together."

"Hopefully sooner rather than later."

I walk into my house, prepared to be yelled at. Sure enough, my mom is standing in the foyer with her arms crossed. "You're late."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"What do you think, that I make up arbitrary rules?"

"No."

She sighs.

"Mom, I really am sorry. We went to a Cubs game instead of a movie, and the traffic was terrible."

"Cubs game? All the way in the city? You could have been mugged!"

"We were fine, Mom."

"You think you know it all, Tae, but you don't. For all I know you could've been lying dead in a city alley and all along I thought you were at a movie. Check your wallet to see if any money or your ID is missing."

I open my wallet and check the contents of my wallet, only to appease her. I hold up my ID and cash. "It's all here."

"Consider yourself lucky. This time."

"I'm always careful when I go to the city, Mom. Besides, Chanyeol was with me."

"I don't need excuses, Taehyung. Did you not think it would be nice to call and tell me about the change in plans and that you were going to be late?"

To have her yell at me over the phone, and then again when I got home? No way. But I can't tell her that. "I didn't think about it," is all I say.

"Do you ever think about this family? It's not all about you, Taehyung."

"I know that, Mom. I promise next time I'll call. I'm tired. Can I just go to bed now?"

She dismisses me with a wave of her hand.

                                                            ______________________________

On Saturday morning I wake up to my mom's screaming............ like any other day.