Everything Seventeen

Lee Chan (Dino)

"Channnnnn!" I shouted as I ran down the hallway.

He turned around, and his mouth flew open. He held his hands up, in fear I would crash into him. However, I was smart enough to stop right in front of him. Well, too close to the point our noses almost touched.

I quickly took a step back. Now, I felt more comfortable. I waved and greeted him. He greeted me back.

"Chan~ Let's go home together!" I suggested just like every once in awhile when our classes would end at the same time.

"Ah- uh- O-ok," he replied, stuttering.

The moment he gave the green light, I lightly held his wrist and turned to the school gate. He turned around quickly to bid farewell to his fellow classmates. They wished him luck and Dino glared at them. I wonder what that was about. We walked side by side out of school.

We coincidentally lived on the same street. I had moved here 2 years ago and met Dino on my way to school. We became friends quickly but it was only this year that we started walking to and from school together.

We saw an ice-cream truck a few feet away. I eyed it with twinkling eyes. Dino, who was in the middle of talking about his day, noticed my attention had shifted to the cold treat and chuckled.

"You want some ice-cream, huh? Let's go get some. I'll race you! Loser treats the winner!" he said excitedly and raced me to the truck.

I ran after him. A few steps later, he started to slow down and I took the chance to overtake him. Wow, he must have been tired from class to be slow today. It was rather weird though as I was not as fit as him. Nonetheless, I took advantage of the situation.

I reached the ice-cream truck first and jumped for joy. Instead of a pout, he had a grin on his face.

"Oh darn, I guess I'll treat you then," he said it for himself.

I refused but he had already ordered and paid. I could not convince him to let me pay for my own. He handed me a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone, my favourite flavour. I guess he really did remember. My heart warmed at the thought that he knew me quite well. We made our way home, talking about how our day went.

"Then urgh! The teacher gave us 5 more pages of homework! Are teacher's sadists? I already had enough homework for the weekend and she just had to add on to that. I hate-" I ranted.

I turned to Dino and noticed he was gazing at me the whole time. I called his name and waved my hand in front of his face. He seemed to snap out of a trance and he shook his head. He apologised.

"Ah, you have some ice-cream there. Haha," he pointed out.

Instead of telling me where it was, he quickly fished out a tissue packet. He wrapped a tissue sheet around his finger and wiped the sides of my mouth. He was too close for comfort. It made my heart beat faster. Well, it usually did when he got too close or whenever he smiled.

When we got to the front door of my house, he seemed reluctant to leave. He took a few tries before he could ask me properly.

"Do you want to hang out at my house later today since it's a Friday? My mum won't mind plus I've got this multi-player game I bought the other day but haven't played yet. Want to be my player 2?" he asked with a grin.

W-was that a pick-up line? Or perhaps not.

"Yeah, sure. I'll come by at 6. T-the player 2 thing was not a pickup line, right?" I replied.

"It could be!" he smiled widely.

Before I could respond, he waved and jogged off. I waved back and entered my house, my heart still racing. Do I like him? Oh my god, I think I do! Or do I? Ah, and I would be seeing him in a few hours again too! This would be awkward.