Chapter 3:  2009

“Hey, what are you wearing to prom next week?” Hoseok asked, sitting beside you on your living room couch while you watched TV.

“What prom?” you asked, confused.  Your all-girls’ school never hosted a prom night.

“The prom I told you about last week. At my school!” he said, digging his hand into your bag of potato chips.

“Why would I go to your school’s prom?” you asked with more confusion.

“Because you’re my girlfriend! Why wouldn’t I take my girlfriend to prom?” Hoseok said, mouth full of stolen chips, as he searched for the TV remote which you were keeping hidden between you and the arm of the couch.

“Is that still going on?” you queried, annoyed.  It has been two months since he introduced you at his dance club practice as his girlfriend and all you got was a lot of hard stares from girls (and a few guys- honestly Hoseok can flirt with anyone even if he didn’t know he was flirting). 

“Yes, it is still going on.” Hoseok finally glimpsed the remote control and tried to squeeze in his hand between your thigh and the armrest to retrieve it. 

You dug your hip closer to the armrest to prevent his hand from retrieving the remote while you pushed his arm away. “Don’t tell me that girl Chemi is still after you. She must be stupider than I thought.”

“It’s not Chemi.  It’s all these annoying girls who kept giving me chocolates and asking me to be their date to the prom.”

“And you, casanova, don’t like that because..?”

“Because I like to initiate things.  I don’t like being asked to be someone’s date. I like to do the asking.  It’s the chase that makes things exciting, you know.”

“And you haven’t asked anyone because..?”

“I don’t feel like it.  I’ve dated almost all of the pretty girls in my school.  Besides, I’ve made it to at least second base with all of the interesting ones.” Hoseok said, giving up on the remote control and lying down on the couch with his head on your lap.

“Ew, too much information!” you complained, pushing at his head, but he grabbed your hand instead and tucked it in his arms that he crossed on top of his chest.

“Just come with me to the prom, please.  I’ll do you a big favor.”

“I remember the last favor you did for me totally backfired.  I was grounded for a month,” you reminded him.  He was supposed to cover for you during that Shinee concert you attended but when your mom called him to check on your ‘study session’, he was in the middle of making out with another random girl and told your mom he didn’t know where you were.

“Then I owe you two favors. Deal?” he asked.

“Why don’t you just come alone?” you suggested.

“Because I plan to get wasted and somebody needs to drive me home.” He said with a grin.

You smacked him in the head.

“Ow! That hurt!” he complained. “For hurting me, you owe me a favor. And I would like for you to go with me to my prom.”

“I don’t owe you anything. Somebody needed to smack some sense into you.” You said. “But yeah, I can go to your prom with you.  I need someone to clean up my room.  My mom has been harassing me about it for ages.”

“Uh-oh, that might be too big of a favor to ask..” Hoseok joked.

“Take it or leave it, funny-face.”

“Fine, I’ll clean your room for you.”

___

“You clean up pretty good,” Hoseok said with an appreciative smile as he escorted you out of your house and into his car.

“Wipe that creepy smile off your face. And you can thank my mom for the dress. She was very excited for my first prom,” you said as Hoseok closed the car door behind you.

Hoseok got into the driver’s seat, took out a corsage from the car compartment and grabbed your arm to attach the flower to your wrist.

“What’s this?” you asked.

“It’s a corsage. Seriously, don’t they teach you anything in that school of yours?” Hoseok replied, concentrating on trying the corsage ribbon.

“I know it’s a corsage.  What I meant was why did you have to give me one? This isn’t a real prom date,” you said.

“That’s what I told my mom, but she had other ideas.  Why would your mom buy you a new dress in my favorite color? Moms are weird sometimes.” Hoseok said, letting go of your wrist and starting the car.

“Oh well, yeah,” you conceded.  You started fiddling with the car radio. Hiphop music started playing.  You and Hoseok both sang and rapped along to the familiar songs all the way to the prom venue.

The moment you got inside, Hoseok pulled you to the dance floor.

“Aren’t we going to eat first?”  you asked as Hoseok starting dancing to the lively beat.

“The line’s still long. Let’s dance first.” He replied, busting some funny moves that only he can make look good.

You started swaying more modestly since dancing is not really your forte.  It was only after 5 songs that Hoseok finally dragged you to the buffet table.  You immediately drank two glasses of water while Hoseok took 3 glasses of the fruit punch.

“Go sit down at a table while I get us some food.” Hoseok told you.

You went to search for a vacant table and found one at a shadowy corner.  The ones near the dance floor were all full.  You rested your feet up on of the chairs while you waited for Hoseok to deliver the promised food. He came back with two plates overflowing.  He put them down on the table and went away again.  You didn’t bother looking where he went.  You grabbed a pair of chopsticks already at the table and started eating.

Hoseok came back with 4 glasses of punch balanced in his hands.  He glared at you when he saw you were already eating without him.

“Sorry, I’m so hungry.”

“Aish!” he just said before digging into the food as well.

After eating, you danced again.  Hoseok is indefatigable on the dance floor and it was hard to keep up.  His dance club friends joined you on the dance floor and the dancing became a mad rush.  When you felt tired, you edged out of the circle and sat on one of the vacant chairs, not minding that it wasn’t your table.  You longed for water but felt too lazy to stand up and walk so you just looked longingly at the paper cups of punch a guy was distributing among his friends on the nearby table.  He saw you looking so you immediately averted your eyes, but the guy walked over to you anyway and handed you a cup.

“Here, you look like you could use a drink.” He said.

You shook your head and said, “Thank you but no. I don’t accept drinks from strangers.”

“I’m Baekhyun. What’s your name?”

“____,” you grudgingly said. The guy was cute, you noticed.

“There, we’re no longer strangers, ____-ssi,” Baekhyun said. “Can I offer you this drink?”

You looked at the cup. You’re really thirsty and Baehyun looked like a nice guy. He’s actually handsome. That means he’s nice, right? Before you can respond, Hoseok appeared beside Baekhyun and took the cup he was offering.

“Hey, Baek, what’s up?” Hoseok asked as he downed the cup in one go.

“Hoseok-ah. That drink wasn’t for you,” Baek protested, scratching his head in a cute way.

“She can’t drink alcohol. She’s driving me home.” Hoseok said to Baekhyun. Then he turned to you and said, “I’ll get you water.”

“Wait!” you exclaimed. “The punch has alcohol? But you’ve been drinking it since we got here.”

“I told you I planned to get wasted didn’t I?” he replied walking to the drinks table for your water.

“Darn it!” you said to yourself. The laugh from Baekhyun reminded you he was still there. He suddenly seated himself on the chair beside you.

“So, I haven’t seen you before. I take it you don’t go to this school?” he asked.

“No, I don’t. I’m here with Hoseok.” You replied.

“I’m hoping you’re his sister..? Cousin?” Baekhyun said.

“She’s my girlfriend, Baek. Back off,” Hoseok replied for you, handing you two cups of water which you thirstily drank.

“I was just being friendly..” Baekhyun said with another cute smile. Standing up, he looked at you and said, “See you around, ___-ssi.”

You nodded at him as Hoseok took the seat Baekhyun vacated.

“Stop flirting.” Hoseok said.

Your eyes widened. “I wasn’t!”

“You totally were if you’re talking to Baek.  He’s the biggest flirt ever.” Hoseok grumbled.

“Bigger than you?” you asked.

“Yes! So you better be careful.  And you’re supposed to be my date so don’t go looking at other guys.”

“Fine, I won’t. Can you please get me another cup of water?” you requested.

“Ah seriously, where does all that water go?” Hoseok muttered as he stood up again to get your drink.

____

“Aish! Why did you have to drink so much?” you complained as you helped Hoseok walk to his car in the parking lot.  Carrying him on your back wouldn’t work- your small stature versus his long, lanky frame prevented that- so you just wrapped one of his arms around your shoulders and sort of dragged him along with your arm around his waist.  After a few meters, you were already panting from exhaustion.  It didn’t help that you were dancing on high heels for most of the night.  Your legs were throbbing and you just wanted to take off your shoes. 

“For a slim guy, I never thought you’d be this heavy!” you complained to no one in particular. 

You spotted a bench and immediate dragged Hoseok to it.  You assisted him to sit on the bench (read: dropped him like a sack of potato), while you tried to catch your breath.  You sat beside him to rest your feet while you looked around to see if there’s any of Hoseok’s school friends around who can help you.  Unfortunately, there was no one on this side of the parking lot.  Most of the students left an hour ago to go to another after-prom party. Besides, since you and Hoseok arrived late, you had to park super far from the venue.  You don’t think any of the other students parked in this area. 

You looked at Hoseok again and decided to try to wake him up.

“Hoseok-ah,” you said while shaking his shoulder.  “Hoseok-ah!” you said louder.  He only groaned.

“Aish!” you muttered. Deciding to try a more forceful approach, you starting slapping his face gently.  Hoseok made annoyed noises while he moved his head to avoid your hands. His eyes were open but unfocused. 

A few more slaps after, Hoseok seemed to have woken up with an annoyed grunt and you felt his eyes snap to yours.  In a split second, he had your hand trapped in one of his, while his other hand went to your nape, pulling your head towards him.  Before you knew it, his mouth has captured yours and you froze in surprise.  His lips felt soft and wet and insistent.  He kept trying to force your mouth open by wedging his tongue between your lips.  You kept your lips firmly closed as you tried to wriggle away from him but his grip on your head was surprisingly strong for someone who was supposed to be drunk.

“Hoseok!” you tried calling his name to try to snap him out of his kissing spree but it turned out to be the just the opening he was looking for.  Immediately, his tongue began exploring inside your mouth and you can taste the mixture of sweet fruit punch and chocolate  from him.  Weird, when did he eat chocolate?  you wondered silently.  In your distraction, you found yourself responding to his kiss. You were responding to him tongue for tongue and for .

You didn’t realize he had released your hand until you felt his chest heaving under your palm.  You curled your fingers in his shirt.  You gasped when Hoseok began trailing kisses on your cheek, on your earlobe, down to your jawline, before coming back up to your mouth.  You were eager to taste him again. One of his hands was tangled in your hair while the other went around your waist. 

“Hoseok,” you moaned his name when he surfaced from the kiss again, this time to down your neck. When he started biting on the skin near your collarbones, you felt the buildup of desire in your belly.  In a moment of lucidity, you put your hands on his chest and pushed him away with all your strength.

He was thrown back to the end of the bench. He grunted , then his head started lolling.  It took you a few moments to calm your breathing.  All the while, you were watching Hoseok, waiting for his reaction. When he didn’t look up or say anything, you called his name.  He didn’t respond so you came closer and touched his shoulder.

His threw his head back and you saw that he was sleeping.  He was even snoring softly.

“Aish!” you stomped your foot in frustration. That has got to be the hottest make-out session you’ve ever had in your life and the guy was unconscious?  You wanted to pull your hair in annoyance.

You sat back down on the bench while you thought about what happened.  You just made out with your best friend! Isn't that supposed to be yucky?  But no, you didn't feel disgusted.  In fact, you were trying hard not to jump back into kissing Hoseok again.

You don’t know how long you’ve been there with only Hoseok’s  snores for company when you head a voice call your name. “____-ssi?”

You turned to the direction of the voice and found Baekhyun walking towards you.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

You made a sweeping motion towards Hoseok, “Drunk as a skunk.” You said.

Baekhyun laughed. “I’ll help you get him into your car. Come.” He offered.

Once Hoseok was safely inside the passenger seat, you thanked Baekhyun for his help.

“Hey, if you’re really thankful, can you give me your number?” he said.

You blushed and nodded.  He gave you his phone so you can enter your name and number. When you gave his phone back, he smiled at you, showing off his dimples. 

“Talk to you soon,” he said as he walked to his own car.

_____

To be continued

A/N: As you may have already figured out by now, this is going to be another long story like Namjoon's. I've written several stories about Hoseok before this version but I deleted them because I found myself dissatisfied with them halfway through.  They all turned out angsty and I didn't want to do that with Hoseok. The ball of sunshine Hoseok!! This version, I think I can live it although Hoseok does turn out er... you know. hahaha