She drives me crazy

Chapter 11

I wake up too early, like 7:00 A.M. early. The blue-white light is peeking through the curtains, and the room is quiet and calm. Chaewon is sleeping on her stomach, her mom's old shirt clutched against her side. Her hair fans across thenpillow. Of course she looks attractive even when she's asleep.

I slip out of bed and sneak down to the kitchen, hoping to find some bread I can toast, but I'm not alone like I'd hoped.

Minjeong is there, sitting cross-legged at the table, scrolling through her phone with her hair sticking up at odd angles.

"Kazuha!" She beams. "How'd you sleep? Did you like my air purifier?"

"We didn't use it," I say apologetically. In the back of my brain, I notice how weird it is to say we . I help myself to the bread box and find cranberry jelly in the refrigerator.

"I'm so glad Chaewon has you now," Minjeong tells me when I sit down. "She needed a win after everything that happened last year."

My ears perk up. "You mean with Minju?"

Minjeong winces. "I know she might seem hung up on her, but I promise she likes you. I can tell. She talks about you all the time. 'Oh, Kazuha has two sisters. Kazuha killed it at practice yesterday. Kazuha loves this song.'"

I almost choke on my toast. "Really?"

"Don't be a goof," Winter says with a little laugh. "It's nice to see her with someone who takes care of her. Chaewon is super loyal. If you're one of her people, she'll do anything for you. And I'm sure you've figured out that she's a total romantic, even if she denies it. I mean, her favorite movie is Dirty Dancing . She plays that song from the end over and over again. So cheesy ."

The irony of Minjeong calling something cheesy is not lost on me.

"Right."

"Oh my gosh," Minjeong says suddenly. "You know what we have to do? A double date! You can set me up with Jimin!"

"Oh ... yeah?"

"It'll be perfect! How about next weekend?"

~~~~~

We leave as soon as Yunjin and Chaewon wake up. The rival college football games are on today and we want to watch them with our families. Chaewon rushes us out so she can catch the Georgia/Georgia Tech game with her dad, but first, she pours a thermos of coffee. For each of us.

The moment we drop Yunjin off, I turn to Chaewon and word vomit.

"Winter cornered me into a double date. You, me, her, and Karina. I was so shocked I couldn't say no."

Chaewon's head rolls slowly in my direction. "So?"

"So ... that's ... you're fine with that?"

She sighs wearily. "We've already dug ourselves this deep. Might as well go a little deeper."

I tap my fingers on the coffee thermos she poured for me. She knew to add cream, but not sugar. She takes a relaxed sip of her own thermos and stretches back in my passenger seat like she's done it a million times.

And I realize, with a tightness in my chest, that she has.

"You snored like a monster last night," I sputter. "Like a dragon. Or a T. rex. Or maybe a mastodon."

She shrugs. "I was tired."

"Yeah, well ... it was annoying."

"Sorry," she says like she couldn't care less.

"And you kept stealing the covers. Like, every half an hour. I even shoved you at one point, but you were oblivious."

Chaewon side-eyes me. "Okay, are you done now?"