varsity | vmin

9

After a long couple of days, Wednesday finally arrived: the day of the second tutoring session.

Jimin took his time in making his way to the coffee shop, knowing that Taehyung still had an hour of practice after school. Earlier that day, however, Taehyung promised Jimin to try leaving practice early so he wouldn't be left to wait for too long. Waiting wasn't a problem for Jimin though. If anything, he'd prefer extra time to gather himself together before having to face another conversation with his crush.

❦

"Now that's what I like to see, boys! Practice dismissed!" The coach wailed with satisfaction after football practice.

Taehyung bent slightly over, holding his upper body up by stretching his arms to his knees. He heaved heavily as he was exhausted from the intense practice that had just finished. He wiped the sweat that trickled down his face, returning to an upright stance.

"Aye, you coming or not?" Junhyeon nudged the tired boy, motioning towards the locker room.

"Umm..." Taehyung licked his lips to buy him some time. "Actually, I've got somewhere to be. I'll catch ya later."

Junhyeon placed a questioning look onto the silver-haired boy. "Where are you going this time?" Junhyeon had noticed how frequently his friend would disappear with no explanation.

"It's uh... I have... a... a job interview... yeah," Taehyung stammered. There wasn't a single chance he was going to reveal that he was late to a tutoring session, especially to his friend who somehow managed to make decent grades while constantly skipping classes. Taehyung was genuinely embarrassed by receiving help with learning whether it was from the nerdiest boy in school or not.

"O-okay, I guess." Junhyeon wasn't sure how to respond to his teammate's shaky excuse. Although, he wasn't hesitant to show a look of suspicion as Taehyung scampered away from the field and to the parking lot.

Upon arrival, Taehyung released a sigh of relief as he somewhat successfully pulled off lying about where he was going. He shoved all of his football gear into the back seat of his car, before reversing out of the parking lot and toward the cafe a couple blocks down from the high school.

After about 5 minutes, Taehyung found a parking space at the cafe. He quickly changed into some clean clothes before walking into the coffee shop to meet his tutor. His steps were wobbly as he was slightly light headed from having to contort his body in such a way to put on the fresh clothes in his relatively small car.

     "There you are!" Jimin leaped from his sitting position to once again present Taehyung with his coffee. Jimin's smile was contagious, the silver-haired boy found.

     "Thanks," he blandly responded. The two boys placed themselves in the chairs accompanied by a table that Jimin had already setup with all of the teaching utensils.

     "Are you okay?" Jimin gave a worried look to the jock that was breathing heavily across from him. Taehyung appeared startled at the question, reaching up to rustle his partly damp hair.

     "I'm so sorry! I look awful, don't I?" He continued running his fingers through his sweat drenched hair. "I shouldn't have skipped the showers, but I didn't want to leave you hanging-"

     "You look perfect." Jimin calmed Taehyung who was obviously unsettled by the question. It was then that Jimin realized what words had just rolled past his lips. "I mean... I mean... not like that, but... but like... fuck!"

     Taehyung seemed stunned by the use of language, but seconds later fell into a fit of laughter towards his stuttering. "Don't worry, kid, I know what you meant," he grinned.

     "Now seems like a good time to start the lesson, wouldn't you think?" Jimin had the palm of his hand glued over his eyes, making a small space between his fingers to eye his crush.

     "Whatever you say."

❦

     "...I've never seen someone so terrified in my life!" Jimin earned several laughs from Taehyung who was holding his stomach from laughing so hard.

     Although the tutoring session ended an hour ago, Jimin and Taehyung remained at the cafe sharing several stories and laughs. For not interacting much in the past, the both of them seemed to really get along as they chatted amongst themselves. Even better, Jimin's butterflies seemed to settle down as he laughed with his crush about past memories from each of their own separate lives. The moment between the two was enjoyable, to say the least.

     "You know what, Jimin? You're a pretty cool guy." Taehyung's comment sent Jimin's cheeks into a rosy pigment as he couldn't control his growing eye smile.

     "Geez, that's nice." Jimin was overflowing with excitement by now.

     "I'm really glad we got to talk. It was kinda nice getting to know you a little better. We've gotta do this again next session." Taehyung smiled as he was surprised how much he enjoyed actually talking with the school nerd.

     "R-really? I-I mean... sure, whatever." Jimin jokingly shrugged, sporting a smug countenance.

     "You're such a dork." Taehyung rolled his eyes at the boy sitting across from him. "So when can we meet up again?"

     Jimin perfected his posture. "Maybe this weekend? But if that's too soon I can change it," he immediately added the disclaimer.

     "Actually, that sounds good," the jock nodded.

     Then Jimin remembered, his mom was scheduled to have an appointment in another city for chemotherapy. Since his mom wasn't able to drive, his aunt agreed to use Jimin's car to drive her there over the weekend so Jimin's mother wouldn't have to worry about wasting her sister's gas since her and her family weren't financially stable at the moment. Without a car, Jimin wouldn't be able to make it to the cafe.

     "Wait, actually, I won't have a car this weekend. My mom..." He decided to stop mid sentence.

     "Well, that's fine. Why don't we just have it at your house?" Taehyung offered.

     "Huh?" Jimin gulped.

     "I can drive to your house on Saturday, we can study, and then I can drive back home." The jock raised one eyebrow as a signal to agree to the compromise or not.

     Jimin's mouth hung open. Did Kim Taehyung just ask to come over to my house!? He subconsciously squealed. However his internal excitement died down when he contemplated if having his crush over was a good idea or not. To him, so many things could go wrong. The only time the pair genuinely connected was simply a few minutes ago when they bonded over funny moments from their separate lives. Other than that, conversations solely revolved around school and homework. Jimin was concerned that he wouldn't be able to handle hosting Taehyung in his own home. This was a pretty big step going from private tutoring sessions at the cafe to hanging out at Jimin's house. Everything was becoming rapidly overwhelming for him.

     Somehow, Jimin was able to recollect himself and come to a realization. Moving the tutoring session from the coffee shop to his house would make no difference. As always, Jimin could use tutoring as an ice breaker in case of an awkward silence or if things got a bit too heated for his liking. Plus, perhaps this was an opportunity to further make friends with Taehyung. The idea of tutoring his crush at his house was starting to sound like a brilliant plan.

     "Yeah, that works out perfectly!" Jimin nodded his head, showing off his contagious smile.

     "Alright then, just text me your address tonight. See ya Saturday, Jimin." Taehyung propped himself up onto his feet, holding a peace sign up to his eye. Jimin assumed it was some trendy way of saying goodbye, but generically waved anyway. His eyes followed as the silver-haired boy strutted away, through the cafe door.

     Park Jimin, what the hell did you just get yourself into? The thought lingered as he gathered his belongings, exiting the cafe shortly.

[a/n:
i did a lot of writing for this book last night, and i'm getting semi close to the end:(
but don't worry, i'm way ahead on my writing than what i have published so far, so you guys have a lot more coming ;) xx]