e i g h t e e n ; maybe date

Google has the answers for everything. It provides the definition for the noun “date”—a social appointment between two mutually attracted people. However, Google doesn’t have answers for the specifics. I wish I could search “Is Sehun’s invitation to The Landscape means a hang out or a romantic date?” into Google, and it’d give me the clarification I needed.

When I tried to ask for a guy’s (the only guy I know) opinion to clear my confusion, Kai declared, “Boys aren’t saints. They have ulterior motive for everything. I’m pretty sure that it’s a date because no guys would ask a girl on a one-on-one just to end the day as friends.”

“Are you saying guys and girls can’t be just friends?” I had countered.

He shot me a look of utter frustration. “Of course they can be friends. I’m saying I’m pretty sure he likes you. He saw that you liked the museum, and he jumped the opportunity. If he didn’t like you, he wouldn’t have invited you and used the spare ticket on another girl.”

Even so, I couldn’t bring myself to be persuaded by Kai’s logical explanation. Sehun couldn’t like me. I mean, I’m just me. I’m not anything special to be liked by someone so radiant and so incredibly out of my league. I’m only a flower in a field of other flowers.

Enough of this self-pity party. I’m just going to enjoy myself whether it’s a date or not. I’ve been daydreaming of this day since Sehun and I shared a class freshman year of high school, and now it’s only a few days away. It’s the first time in my life where I wish time passed by quickly. The funny thing about wanting time to speed up is that it won’t. The seconds tick by like snails moving in a sluggish pace. On Friday, Olivia accompanies me in our usual spot at lunch, unleashing another flaw of her little brother.

She chomps down on the breadstick. “He didn’t stop wetting his bed until he was eleven years old, but now he acts like he’s some irresistible hot stuff. Ugh, when he gets a girlfriend I’m going to embarrass the hell out of him.”

“Same goes to my brother when he starts dating.” I smile. “Want my breadstick?”

“Is that even a question? Of course I want your breadstick. Pigs will fly the day I reject an offer of breadsticks.” Olivia snatches it out of my tray and puts it into hers. The girl has an inhuman appetite that’s unlike an average teenage girl. In fact, she has an appetite of a family of four. There’s a metaphor “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse,” and I’m certain that it was invented for people like Olivia. What I’m jealous of is her lean figure doesn’t indicate the capacity of her food intake. All the calories are probably burned off from playing basketball for the girl’s team.

Finding out that Olivia is a basketball makes sense of the athletic way she dresses—with comfortable pants and jackets—and her freakishly towering figure.

“Are you free this Saturday? We should hang out,” suggests Olivia in the middle of chewing.

The crimson on my face is inconspicuous. “I um… have something going on.”

She takes one look at my increasingly heating cheeks and smirks. “Hot date with a boyfriend?”

I choke on a pasta. My lungs burn from a series of coughs, trying to recover. “No. I’m single. But... there’s a boy.”

She produces a delighted squeal. “Wait! I want to know everything. Who is he? How did he ask you out? Is he cute?”

“He’s real cute. We had to do partners work for homeroom and he asked if I want to be his partners.” My smile deepens at the memory. “He saw this poster for the new museum opening up and asked if I’d like to go with him.”

“AHH! That’s so cute. What’s his name?”

Her energy is contagious. She’s practically bouncing from hearing bits of information I gave her. It worries me that she might not take it well that I’m spending time with everybody’s Sehun this weekend. Then again, I’ve never experienced the giddiness of talking about boys with another girl friend. Sure, having someone like Kai means that I can talk about anything, except his reactions differs to a reaction of a female friend. I check if anyone’s listening in to our conversation and angle my head closer to her. Regardless of the absence of eavesdropping, my response comes hushed and breathy. “Sehun.”

Olivia lets out a high-pitched scream so obscurely loud that everyone’s focus shifts to us. She bows her head and whisper-yells at me after dismissing people’s looks of judgments. “That’s so unreal. He’s so freaking hot. I’m so excited oh my god. I want to hear every detail about your date, okay? Pinky swear me.”

My pinky finger curls around hers. I had a hunch that she might harbor jealousy toward me once hearing about Sehun, but it’s a relief that the expected negative reaction never came. There is no trace of envy on her face. Rather, her cheeks have a flush of enthusiasm. I’m swamped with gratitude for her. “I don’t think it’s a date though,” I muse as an afterthought, “so don’t expect too much.”

“Are you serious?” Her nose crinkles with exasperation. “Everyone knows Sehun. He rarely hangs out with girls. It must mean something that he asked to spend time with you.”

“That’s why I’m worried. I’m only—” I pause and blow a frustrated breath. “I’m only ordinary.”

Olivia brings her hand to smack me on the shoulder. I yelp in pain and send her a pointed look. “The problem isn’t because you’re ordinary. The problem is you think you’re ordinary. Trust me, you’re not. No ordinary person can make me laugh until milk come out of my nose.”

She’s referring to yesterday’s lunch where I recited a joke Kai told me a few days ago. For me, find the joke terrible. For Olivia? She finds it hilarious.

“That was only once,” I counter. “And I only told you the joke because I thought it was awful.”

She shakes her head and groans with defeat, “I’ve never seen anyone as stubborn as you.”

It's not the first time I've gotten called stubborn. 

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