Almost V

열일곱

A couple of hours before my shift the next morning, sunlight is already breaking through the gray sky as I pull Eggie into a narrow alley behind Victory Boards Surf Shop. Taehyung's supposed to meet me here. He says his dad can fix the lock on my seat, since it appears that RM took a crowbar to it and screw up the lock. I'm nervous about meeting his dad. Really nervous.

This is a mistake. That's all I can think. I'm not sure how  he talked me into coming here right now, but I didn't really know what else to do about my bike.

Appa was not so happy when he got home last night from his 'vacation' and I told him the story of the stolen scooter. If only he knew the entire story, he'd have a heart attack - so, really, he's lucky to have a daughter who cares enough about the state of his ticker to make sure he only got the bare details he actually needed. And those details were as follows: The bike was stolen from Vogue's parking lot, but one heroic security guard, a Mr. Taehyung Kim, chased the unruly teens off the museum property, sustaining injuries in the process, and got my bike back. A shame that Taehyung couldn't identify the boys who took it, otherwise he would have filed a police report.

"It all happened so fast," I told him. "I'm glad he was there."

"he didn't see the thieves' faces?"

Ah . . . "It was raining. They hit him and took off running."

"I think we should tell Jacqueline."

"The museum security is taking care of it, Appa. Let them do their jobs, okay?"

Appa raised his hands. "All right, Giant Maknae. I'm just glad you're okay. And Anna knows someone in town who's going to help you get the seat fixed?"

Another lie. But it's necessary, because as great as appa is in a lot of ways, he's not handy. So he's fine with letting this mystery person handle it; he's even happy to lend me money for a new wheel lock. I don't deserve him.

 So that's what started the stress train. What kept the train chugging along the track was knowing I had to face Seokjin Kim, son of Jonghyun, survivor of the great white shark, father to the boy I made out with . . . and then went home last night and before I went to sleep did unspeakable things to myself under the covers while thinking about all that making out with a boy. Which is how teen pregnancies don't happen, I'm fairly certain.

Then, what sped the stress train up to full speed was getting those stupid messages from V this morning. Because it sounded like he doesn't want me to fly out here. I mean, of course I'm already out here, but he doesn't know that. What if I'd already bought a plane ticket? And why did he suddenly get so freaking busy, anyway? Did he meet another girl? Because it sure sounds that way to me.

I don't know why this bothers me so much. It's not like I'm not doing the same thing (hello, double standard). And we never promised to saved ourselves for each other. We might not even get along in real life. Isn't that why I was being so cautious in the first place, drawing out my map legend of the boardwalk and carefully tracking him down, just in case we weren't compatible?

It's just that nothing is working out like I'd planned. V and I have a connection - at least, we are online, but who knows about reality? On the other hand, Taehyung and I are similar in reality, yet we're also opposites. his life is pretty messy, and I don't like messy. been there, done that. It's why I left eomma and Minho LLC int he first place. And then there's the small, eensie-meensie detail that I'm not supposed to be anywhere near him, thanks to Jacqueline's police warnings, ugh. But that's part of the whole appeal, isn't it? Because being with Taehyung is crazy and exciting. And much like a great thriller film, I'm not sure who's going to end up dead by closing credits.