For Eleanor's 17th birthday, Park bought her a pair of earphones. It wasn't particularly a quality pair of earphones like a normal human being would buy (Park's never been classified as normal), it was just a pair of cheap animal earphones with plastic lion heads used as earbuds. Nevertheless, it reeked of nothing but Target discount sales.
He knows that the branded shoes she bought him for his birthday couldn't possibly compare to the pair of earphones, but Park feels like he's done her a favor.
For the past few months now, Eleanor's been playing songs out loud. Having some big theme music in the background seemed to be her concept, no matter where she went. And despite the high number of detentions she's already called to, Eleanor doesn't stop.
Park sometimes wondered if Eleanor ever got the idea that this "theme song in the background" thing she's got going on was nonetheless embarrassing and annoying. Each time they walked to lunch together, she'd stop do some silly dance or get called out by a teacher causing their time to be delayed by at least two minutes. Park's tried to steer Eleanor to a completely different route, but in all routes possible, teachers were everywhere. This was their domain.
Scratch that, Park feels like he's done her a huge favor.
He originally thought of buying her a 3DS XL for her birthday; although, when he shopped around with Cal one morning, he's surprised there's none left. He desperately dragged Cal to the nearest aisle so that they could shop for something Eleanor would like-or the very least, use.
The moment Park walked in between the check-out station, waiting for Cal to finish paying, he racked around the magazine shelves in hopes to find the Oh Boy! magazine Eleanor always loved to read. Yet, after shuffling through every magazine stack, Park decided it was a horrible idea. One, the only magazine was outdated-and two, he did not need Eleanor flipping through a magazine without worrying that each page had much attractive boys than him. He is her boyfriend after all.
Hanging from the shelves were five pairs of earphones, all from the brand AnimalBooms. And among the crowd was the lion pair. He thought it was perfect, not that it met all the condition in terms of aesthetics, or quality, but it's the thought that counts, right? It reminded him of her wild mane, her fiery attitude; it screamed Eleanor all over. It was that easy: a quick slip in Eleanor's ear and voilà, no extra line for him to wait five more minutes just to eat.
Despite his doubts, Eleanor actually liked the pair of earbuds. While they looked a bit silly for a 17-year-old to wear such childish accessories, they were pretty convenient. Park remembers her rather large scale party three months ago. When she opened his gift box (after Kiko's designer dress and Marie's eyeshadow palette), boy, was he embarrassed. Even the cheapest gift before his was a decent hairband. But despite the embarrassment, he felt much better about himself when he saw her eyes light up in delight.
But now, the problem is much different. Sure, she no longer goes to detention, or ever need a theme song playing out loud.
Now, she keeps breaking the earphones every two weeks (which was a bigger problem than before).
But Park (being classified as an abnormal), doesn't really mind. AnimalBooms just costed two dollars per pair. He even bought one for himself (the penguin one). Buying another for Eleanor every two weeks was no big hassle.
"Park," Eleanor says slowly as they try to cram together in a bus seat. "I broke it. Again."
Park just sighs. She broke it one week early this time.
She raises her hands in defense. "I can buy it for myself, I swear!"
"No, it's fine. I'll do it."
"But-but you've been doing it for me every week. I should buy stuff that I need for myself!"
"Eleanor, it's fine. I don't mind." He tries to give her his best smile. In truth, he was tired and he just wants to listen to his music.
He slips on his own penguin earphones and scrolls to a playlist. Park closes his eyes when a guitar riff plays seconds into the song.
The ride to school was long, mainly due to the traffic they always encounter during winter. Minutes pass and he hears a whimpering noise. Opening one eye, he checks on Eleanor only to see her staring longingly at her own playlist of song.
He couldn't let her play some background theme song again after stopping the problem weeks ago. So he did the most logical thing to do: he gave her the left side of his own pair.
