Now and for the Last Time

8 장

I reached up, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. "It was a grope, wasn't it?"

"More like a grip." He stretched his legs out in front of him, leaning back on his palms. "If you have to clutch a girl, you're doing it wrong. Definitely not a mysterious enigma."

"My friend set me up with him," I replied.

"Might be time for a new friend."

I shook my head. "No. She means well. I haven't . . . I'm not that social lately. She's trying to change that."

"Not social? What's that like?"

As if on cue, the door slid open again. At first I thought it was Lisa, as the figure that emerge also had a boa and tiara. As he got closer, however, I realized it was one of her friends, a shorter girl, curvier, with dark wavy hair. "Sehun! Are you hiding from me?"

"I though you knew you were It," he told her with a smile.

She struck a pose, one hand on her hip. "You know that's true. I am all It and a bag of chips. Now come on back inside, you promised to take a shot with me."

"You had me at chips, Jennie. Just give me five minutes."

Again, a pout. Was I the only girl who didn't have this move already down? "I don't wait for anyone."

"I'm not just anyone. I'm Sehun." He winked - winked! - at her. "Five minutes. I'll be the one ready for some chips."

She shifted her weight to the other leg. "Hope you're hungry."

I was struggling not to make a disgusted face when I realized that I wasn't having trouble breathing anymore. For all the ridiculousness of these exchanges, the distraction had been helpful. "See you inside," Sehun said now, and after a moment, Jennie turned and walked away, fluffing her hair as she went.

"Wow," I said, as the door shut behind her.

"Agreed. I'm all for remarks, but you can take it so far."

"How do you even know those girls?" I asked. "Didn't you just moved into the city?"

"They picked me up when I was walking here."

"You walked here?" Blinks wasn't in the rural area, but neither was it in center. "Why?"

"I walk everywhere." He lifted on foot, then the other. "Just me, Toe, and Foot."

"By choice?"

"By order of the country of Seoul," he replied. "I'm currently between licenses."

I was pretty sure that wasn't a thing. "Is this about wrecking your mom's car?"

"Part of it. So are you not social by choice, or due to your personality?"

Again, I was struck by how he could turn the subject of himself to me so easily. "What do you mean, my personality?"

He shrugged. "You are a bit prickly."

"I am not prickly." I said, sounding exactly that way. I took a breath, resetting. "I just . . . it's been a hard year. Dating hasn't exactly been a priority."

He shuddered. "Ugh, who wants to date?"

"Not you, apparently."

"I like the process, not the endgame. Courtship is my thing."

I just looked at him. "Did you really just say courtship was your thing?"

"Prickly and hard of hearing, are we?" I made a face, which he returned, before saying. "There's a reason they call it the thrill of the chase."