Unpredictable

Chapter 13

"Park." I said, getting his attention. "Yeah what's up?" I face palmed myself. "We have to go to your room, your mom wants us to spend 'quality time together.'" He looked like he might puke. I scoffed. "The feeling of throwing up is mutual." He swallowed hard. "Ugh. Fine. We can't cause suspicion I guess." I crossed my arms and raised my eyebrows. He looked back. "What?" I sighed. "I don't know where your room is." His eyes widened. "Oh! Right right, I'll show you."

He reached out his hand. I eyed it suspiciously. "I'm not taking that." I said bluntly. "My mom could come around any second. Trust me, as soon as you let go I'm washing my hands." I grunted. "But I don't wanna!" I stomped my foot like a child. Then we heard footsteps coming towards us. "Crap, Opal?" He said my name like a question. I sighed and took his hand.

Like the other night, it was warm. It had small callouses all over it and was bigger then I expected. My hand felt cold and smooth in his. His mom came into view. "Hi hon! Don't mind me, go on up." He gave his mother a nervous smile and ran up the stairs, dragging me with him. "Park! Slow down! Your legs are longer then mine WHOA!!!" My foot caught on a stair and I nearly face planted. He caught my shoulder with his other hand and continued up the stairs. "PARK!" He stopped climbing. I took my hand out of his and glared. "Ow." I simply stated. He gave me an apologetic look and continued the stairs.

"So this is your room. I imagined it bigger." It was simple, white sheets with a black comforter on a bed against the wall. It was about the size of a fourth of a classroom. No posters, only tan paint. A bookcase in the corner, and two chairs next to it. I plopped down in one of them.

"What do we do now?" He asked. I shrugged and grabbed a book, nuzzling into the chair. "We read!" I exclaimed, opening the book and starting a new story.

"TIME FOR DINNER KIDS!!" "WHA!!!!" I exclaimed, tumbling out of the chair. "W-What happened?" I asked. Park looked over the top of his book at me. His brown eyes sparkled. "You read for about 5 minutes before you fell asleep." I smoothed my hair down and stood. "Really?" He held up the book I was reading. "Does this drool prove it?" I wiped my mouth. "Maybe. We better get downstairs." He nodded.

"Oh Opal, talking to you is so fun! You're such a card!" I smiled politely, glancing at my hand intwined with Park's on the table. We had to show at least a little affection, sadly. "Ms. Claire please! Don't flatter me! Talking to you is always so fun!" I picked at my lasagna, not mentioning I hate ricotta cheese. I tried to spread it out so it looked like I made a dent, but didn't actually eat. His mom and I were always paying each other compliments while Park rarely talked. His mom seemed to notice. "So Park, are you good to Opal?" His eyes widened, not expecting to have to answer a question. "What do you mean by that?" He asked carefully. I could feel his palm start to sweat. Ugh, gross.

"Do you carry her books? Do you always respect her limits? You aren't pressuring into anything are you? You should be pretty serious for going out for a year now, so don't get any ideas. I swear, Parker Howard Schwartz, if you impregnate this girl I will backhand you." I was snickering while Park's jaw had come unhinged. "Howard huh?" I whispered. "Family name! Not the point!" He whisper shouted back. "Mom, I swear. Nothing like that." He said in a normal volume. She raised her eyebrows at me. "Promise Opal?" I stopped snickering and gave her a serious look. "I promise. He respects all of my limits." She smiled at her son. "I'm very happy to hear that."

We talked for a while and decided to watch a movie. I was already nodding off before she even put the movie in. "Opal, do you need to go home and sleep?" I snapped awake. "No no no, I'll be fine. I want to stay here with y'all." It was a true statement. I loved spending time with Claire, the sad thing was I had to be with Park to do it.

When we sat Park and I sat on opposite ends of the couch while Ms. Claire settled in an arm chair. She glanced over at us. "Oh you two. Always trying to be so conservative." She got up, walked over to us, and extended her hand to me. I hesitantly took it, and she brought me to my feet. Hands on my shoulders, she walked me over to the opposite side of the couch, where Park sat. Right next to him, she gave a hard shove and I plopped down on the couch, directly next to him. His hands went up in the air like I had a gun pointed at him, and I tried to lean away. "You guys! Seriously? Pretend I'm not here." She took one of Park's risen arms and put it around my shoulders. Then literally put her hands on the side of my face, and put my head on his shoulder. My eyes were wide in shock and so were his.

We couldn't do anything about it now, we were a "couple". So, for the first 30 minutes of the movie we were rigid. Then we gradually relaxed. It's not like it meant anything, plus it made his mom happy, so we kind of had no choice. My head stayed on his shoulder, and being pressed to his body made me warm. I nearly smiled as Park re-situated and tightened his grip around me. Almost. But then I remembered who he was and I stopped myself. But whatever I did, I kept my eyes on the screen.