Tiny Terror

That Eight Hour Thing

  "Mia!" My mother shouted as I strolled out of the kitchen while stuffing the rest of my Violet Crumble into my mouth.

  "Whut?" I called out.

  "Someone's here for you!" Glancing at the clock on the wall, I checked what the time was. Going to the front door, I saw my mother standing still, and it looked like a scene from SNK with the titan-sized boy standing on the other side of the door. "Who the Hell is this thug?" Mom rolled up her sleeves in a threatening manner, and Vasco stood even straighter than before.

  "My name is Eun Tae Lee, ma'am." He replied, but his face did that thing whenever he got nervous, and my mom thought he was trying to scare her.

  "Eun Tae, huh? Better get rid of that look on your face before I smear into the concrete." She growled.

  "Mom, that's Vasco." I stated while sliding my shoes on.

  "Vasco? Like, the 'big softie' Vasco?" She mumbled in English, thankfully not saying it where the big guy could understand. I nodded while fixing the tongue on my sneakers. "Oh, why didn't you say so sooner!" Mom then turned to Vasco while smiling. "I'm sorry, I thought you were some thug here to challenge my daughter. It's a pleasure to finally meet you!"

  "It's nice to meet you, too." He nodded as they shook hands.

  "So what do you kids plan on doing?" Mom sent me a look while already knowing about how I bought Vasco at the auction.

  "We're going to the arcade, then the gym, and we're stopping by the pound on the way back." I answered while grabbing my jacket from the hook by the door.

  "The pound?"

  "Vasco likes animals." I said in English. "And the pound lets you play with the animals since it gives them human contact and exercise. I thought it would be a good way to cool down from working out."

  "Oh!~ So you actually 'like' him?" Mom asked while smirking and leaning against the door. Looking at her with a deadpan expression, I fixed my jacket on my shoulders.

  "Yeah, we're friends. Not gonna hang out with someone I hate." I stated, but Mom looked irritated before she pushed me out the door.

  "If she doesn't come back, I know who to call the cops on, Eun Tae Lee!" She snapped while speaking Korean again before slamming the door shut. Vasco looked so confused after all of the English, but he came back to reality as I was stepping off the porch.

  "Come on, Vasco, let's go destroy some high scores." I devilishly smirked while stuffing my hands into my pockets.

  At the arcade, I beat Vasco at any shooting games we played, but he had me beat with the punch machine and the hammer game. We came close to a tie on the motorcycle game, but Vasco was just behind because he was obeying the street signs he saw in the game....he'd even stayed in one lane.

  At the gym, I took off my jacket and tied it around my waist while we were working out, and Vasco set his jacket to the side with his shirt since he had a tank top underneath. I was quite surprised to see how much weight he could bench press, and it seemed that his mere presence was keeping guys from even trying to approach me.

  I'd have to bring him with me more often.

  Not to mention, it was quite a view from where I was. His muscles were bulging with effort as he worked them, and that tight shirt on him was leaving nothing to the imagination. The art on his skin was also pretty to look at, and whoever had done his ink was good with a needle. I was nearly drooling a few times, but I managed to keep my composure while lifting weights.

  I also didn't have to worry about girls trying to approach him since his large size, tattoos, and intimidating face scared them away. However, that scary face he unintentionally made completely vanished when we got to the pound. I could almost see flowers and sparkles surrounding his face as he played with the dogs and cuddled with the puppies. The animals loved him, even the cats, and he looked like a kid in a candy store.

  Sneaking my phone out, I took a picture of the big guy surrounded by dogs as he was laughing and sent it to Jace to show him that I wasn't being mean to Vasco or anything. The guy had worried about that and acted as if he was Vasco's mother by asking me a bunch of questions about this eight-hour thing.

  All in all, it was fun hanging out with Vasco. He was nicer than a lot of people I knew, and despite that, he could actually beat me at the strength games which gave me a challenge to try and get a higher score. Before, I was constantly winning things, except for when it came to academics, but now I was actually getting some strain from not being number 1, and I found myself enjoying it.

  It made me want to strive for more.