During the rest of the week I won't get to hang out with NU'EST again; they're going to be in studio filming L.O./\.E. Story episodes and learning a new dance routine for their next album single that comes out the month they go back to Korea. Amber's family rented a lake house and she's going to be gone for the week as well, spending some time with her family. So while I'm left to my own devices of fun, guess what I'm doing?

I'm getting my driver's license.

"Mother!" I call up the stairs. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!" I march into the kitchen and fall into a stool. I groan in impatience. I wanna go nowww.

"Starr, enough. The building doesn't close for another five hours; it won't make the slightest difference whether or not we're out of the house in fifteen seconds or fifteen minutes. Ugh, where is – Starr? Have you seen my purse?" Mother strolls into the kitchen and pauses when she sees me sprawled across the counter island. "Honey, I don't think that counter is clean," she says, crinkling her face.

"Mmmphhh," I answer. My mom rolls her eyes. She clacks her nails onto the marble top, trying to remember what she came into the room for. Her face lights up as she rushes off into to the second living room. I count seventeen seconds before she breezes by me again with her purse in hand. She clomps back up the stairs and shuts the bathroom door. A minute later Juliet saunters in. She snorts when she sees me and my depressing state of being at the mercy of Mother and goes over to the pantry for a bag of chips. Pulling out a bag of Fritos, she leans against the sink and asks, “So you’re getting your driver’s license?”

“Yes.”

“So that means you can drive me to the mall when Daddy and Mom can’t.”

I scoff at her wish. “Um, no. Not unless your generous sister offers to. What you do is you call a friend to take you. Or you ask David. Or - OMG - you can just think of something else to do instead of wasting all your money on Justice.”

Now it’s Juliet’s turn to jeer at me. “Justice?? I’ve ditched that place years ago!” I lift my head off the counter and tilt back in the stool. Twirling a piece of brown hair I retaliate with, “Oh, really? Then what was in that Justice bag the last time you came home from shopping, hm?” Juliet shifts and just frowns at me, crunching on a chip to emphasis her annoyance. She changes the subject. “What’s with those boys you’re hanging out with lately? They seem pretty hot.”

“Why do you want to know?” I ask.

My little sister suddenly throws down the bag, scattering the salty chips halfway across the counter. “God, Starr, can’t I just ask a question and get a straight answer?!” Then she storms out of the room. The outburst leaves me stunned. Um, who’s twisting her all in a bunch? I find myself getting up to clean up her mess just to avoid inquiring questions from Mother.

Mother comes back down the stairs one last time saying, “Okay, Starr, I’m ready!” I toss a couple chips in my mouth, slip on my Converse shoes, and we head out the door

* * *

After two hours, Mother and I walk out of the Secretary of State building. I was irritated after five minutes of being there, but now I’m smiling so big I’m blinding people. In my hand is a small rectangle plastic card. That’s all it is - but the information on it and what it means brings me to shout out loud with joy. Mother grins at me. “Would you like to drive us home?” she asks. I’ve driven before (OBVIOUSLY) but the fact that this’ll be the first time that I’ll get behind the wheel as an acknowledged legal driver has me nodding my head like one of those bobble-heads that Daddy has in his office.

Sliding across the leather of the driver’s seat has never felt more satisfying. I put Mother’s keys into the ignition, shift the gears into drive, and pull out of the parking lot, feeling freer than I’ve ever felt despite the fact that my mom is sitting in the passenger seat. But that won’t be the case in twenty minutes; after I drop Mother at home, Courtney, Bonnie, and I are going out to see a movie in the theater and then we’re having lunch at Olive Garden. And I'm driving.

We’re five minutes from home when Mother says casually, “So, you’ve been hanging around with that boy band lately.” I nod and turn on my blinker. “They seem nice.” I nod again. “Yah, they’re great,” I say just to say something. Then she abruptly says, “Which one do you like?”

I accelerate a little, startled. I glance at her, starting to fidget with the loose strand of thread on the wheel's cover. “Um, what?”

"Is there someone you like among them?" Her tone is innocent sounding but I know that under her outward façade there's a motherly lecture ready to spring, like a tiger on a . . . um, springing on whatever tigers eat. So – because I don't really like lying – I go for the vaguest answer possible. "Maybe?" I say hesitantly. I manage to form it like a question which definitely makes it sound like I'm hiding something. But even that one word sounds like a lie to my ears; I know I like one of them. I know who, how, and when it happened. There's no freaking 'maybe' about it. If there's any 'maybe' about the situation, it's whether or not I'll survive this week with myself. All day (though I've tried to deny it) I've been thinking about JR and struggling to forget the fact that I won't see him for a week. I mean, I can always call him. Or text him. But that seems too forward, too clingy, too familiar.

How many times have I reminded myself that I've only seen him three times?? I've known him for a week. I know nothing intimately personal about him – and I don't count the things I read about NU'EST from online. That's, like, a warm up or something. The information might've made me feel close to them if I hadn't ever met them. But because of that one minor detail, it feels like I have to cast off all that information and start learning about them from scratch. Up close and personal.

Look at this. I'm a freaking love-struck chicken now. I've never reacted this way towards a boy. Ever. It's embarrassing for me to feel this way. I find myself lingering on memory of JR's face and the sound of his voice and the feel of his hand between mine. AND IT'S BEEN LESS THAN A DAY. I can't seriously . . . I mean, I can't –

"Oh?" Mother interrupts my inner hyperventilation. She turns in her seat, settling on her side for a lengthy mother-daughter giggly-about-boys discussion. I wince inwardly. Oh, God. "Who is it? Wait, let me guess. Is it . . . who's the oldest one again? Aron?"

Oh, Lord, God Almighty. "No. Not Aron. Not even close, Mother." She raises an eyebrow as I turn into our subdivision. Just seven more streets until we can end this conversation. I actually never have a problem with talking about boys with Mother; I've always been running up to her to tell her about my latest crush, from celebrities to classmates. But this time it's not just a crush. Not anymore. The time span for the crushing was so short that I didn't even have time to think about telling her! "What do you have against him?" Mother asks, referring to my objection to Aron.

I stifle a sigh. I am so not about to explain the whole Aron/Amber ordeal. "Nothing. It's just that he's nothing like the guy I . . . have in mind." I turn on Juniper, going a little over twenty miles an hour, the speed limit. I quickly glide onto Maple Boulevard. Mother hums in thought. "What about the tall one?"

"They're all kinda tall, Mom."

"The really tall one."

"MinHyun? No." But I've really become comfortable around him. He's such a kind sweetheart. When we were at the mall, there were times when I spontaneously hugged him when he did something cute. Mother frowns in thought. I know she'll guess one more time before dragging the answer out of me. I drive down Cherry Lane, turn on Creek, and finally pull up to our house.

Our white house isn't mansion big – but it isn't small by any means, either. It looms over our neighbors houses on both sides and is probably the most expensive one on the street. It's a two story house with a two-car garage, a deck, and a pool in the backyard. Five bedrooms with their own personal bathrooms upstairs; two living rooms (each with a fireplace), a kitchen, a den, a bathroom, and a sunroom that leads to the garage on the second level; Daddy's office, a bathroom, and the laundry room in the basement. My family's lived in three houses before this, but this is by far the biggest, nicest house we've ever owned. And it's not like Daddy or Mother makes fantastic money; Daddy's a car engineer and Mother's a secretary at a high school two cities over. We all really like the house and my parents don't think they'll want to be moving again, a fact for which I'm grateful for since I've spent nearly half my life here.

"Alright, Mother, Court, Bon, and I are going to the movies and lunch. I'll be back around –" I glance at the dashboard's clock which reads 2:15 "- five o'clock?"

"Sure," Mother replies. But as she's about to shut the car door she's leans back in and asks, "Well, who is it?" I teasingly groan and let my head fall forward and bounce off the steering wheel. She chuckles. "Maybe JR," I mumble to my lap. I flush at the feel of his name passing my lips; what's worse though is how I say it: I caress his name. TWO freakin' LETTERS and I manage to 'caress' them!! Mother looks surprised. "Really?" she asks. I turn my head to the side, letting the seam of the leather press into my temple. She's looking at me interestedly. "Huh. I never would've guessed."

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A/N:

. . . Okay, really? BaekHo sent JR FLYING in the other direction. Like, do we even see JR's hair get ruffled?? And with a flick of his wrist, mind you. I mean, LOOKIT THAT. He was, like, swatting a fly. And that's Ren behind him, right? What's HE gonna do; attempt the same trick on that tiger?? O ___ O

JR: I love you my sweet, adorable, innocent (*cough*), amazing, lovable f-

BaekHo: Alright, my turn.

. . . It's like we never get to see our smexy bias again. He just - disappeared over the edge of the camera screen . . . >.>

(xDD After I posted the chapter, I realized that that's actually my MinHyunnie in the background. I can imagine him using both hands on BaekHo's shoulder to try and shove him away, his body nearly parallel with the ground as the big guy doesn't move an inch xDDD)