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{18}

“Mama, wake up, it’s time to eat. This is the last full day we get together.” me, why did I wait to go to sleep for so long? I lifted my head and furrowed my eyebrows as I stumbled out of bed, putting my hands over my eyes.

“Ew, I’m tired,” I groaned and realized there was something in my hand. I glanced at it. Oh, my phone. I didn’t put it away after talking to Tiffany? “What time is it?”

“Almost 10, longest you’ve ever slept in. Guess that means no more casinos and drinks for a little bit,” Wooyoung shook my shoulders and I swatted him away, frowning as I brushed my teeth. Damn, it’s so late; I’m taking everyone out today too! But I didn’t regret talking to Tiffany until I passed out. We used to do that when we were younger and I couldn’t judge what time I would sleep. Just long nights and long talks, I missed them a little. I felt better, but there was still a little weight on my chest. I didn’t talk everything out. I felt a little guilty because of it. Guess it’s still not the same. “Jiyong set aside some eggs for you.”

“Alright, I’m coming,” I sighed and followed the soldier down the stairs, greeting everyone as I started eating.

“Tomorrow we all fly out,” Jonghyun sighed deeply and we all hummed, lounging around in different parts of the condo. I felt myself pouting. I’m gonna miss them all. I thought reuniting for a day would be more than enough when I was younger, but with years of not seeing each other, three days was now insufficient. I was dreading the moment where they would all leave me in California again. Not that I didn’t like Xiumin, but I wanted more close friends around me. I should go home soon.

“Tae, ready to head out?” Baekhyun asked me and I shoveled in the last spoonful of eggs. I wanted to do something specific for out last day so I handled my car.

“Yup, we gotta stop by a store real quick though,” I mumbled and grabbed my keys, hopping out as the others followed.

“What for?” Jonghyun asked and I smiled.

“Spray paint and beer.”

The only person that knew what was going on was Wooyoung since we did it before. While I bought the packs of paint and beer, I had Wooyoung explain to them what I was doing and planning for us to do. “You want us to vandalize?” Jonghyun raised an eyebrow and I grinned as I put away everything in the trunk.

“Not vandalize, the place is deserted and it’s pure luck that Xiumin found it,” I said and slipped into the driver’s seat. “Trust me, it’s fun!”

“Mama Tae got bad after high school,” Seunghyun whistled and I threw a punch at him.

“Shut up,” I snapped and they laughed. I shook my head as I pulled onto the road and started on our way to the old storage lot.

“I gotta say, though, you became a really good driver. You’re not nervous anymore,” Jonghyun complimented and clapped for me as I scoffed.

“I’ve always been a good driver,” I smirked. Okay, I wasn’t the best when I was in high school, but I wasn’t bad!

“Yeah, yeah. So, what do we draw?” Baekhyun wondered, playing with the cans in the back and I shrugged.

“Whatever you want, but last time, we wrote words instead of drawing anything,” Wooyoung added.

“That seems easier,” Jiyong nodded, especially since none of us decided to aspire as artists.

“I also kind of want to make it a serious thing, we’re adults now and I don’t want any stupid drawings or words.” When we got there the first thing Jonghyun drew was the illuminati sign.

We all talked about what to write, what would scream out our presence. It was fun stuff to just write down what we were thinking, what would remind us of the weekend we spent together. Baekhyun and Wooyoung went out and bought more things since we were on a bigger wall, like chalk and paintbrushes. I never really liked playing with chalk when I was young, but I was fun now. I found that kind of odd. The wall was covered in words over words. It looked like gibberish, but I could red every word; best, outstanding, family, love. I sighed. It was a little late; it took a while to reach the upper half of the wall. I could see outside the sun was setting. It was pretty, but after living for so long in California, I was a tad tired of it. “Now what? We talk about life?” Seunghyun asked, still drawing lines on the wall we finished. That sounds good.

“Why not? Anyone wanna go first?” I offered, not wanting to talk about my problems first. I hoped they couldn’t see, but in the lower right hand corner of the wall I wrote ‘e’. It wasn’t because I liked Jieun, but the mere fact I considered her a threat to Tiffany made me guilty. I felt like I deserved the term.

“I think I forgot our signature cadence…and that makes me kind of sad to be honest,” Jiyong sat up with a sigh and I leaned my head back. Oh man, I haven’t played that in a long time. “It was the hardest thing in our arsenal, it was the best to listen to, and I don’t remember. I miss it.”

“I remember it, I think…” I tapped my chin and took two paintbrushes. “I drilled it into my head.”

“Yeah, you were center snare!” Jonghyun smirked and passed out paintbrushes so we could all try it. Jiyong was our leader but he wasn’t a snare player, so that meant the center snare position, and dare I say the most important position, was my responsibility when our seniors left for college. I started off, putting a crescendo on my eighth notes as the song came back to my memory. Wooyoung instinctively led the quad parts while Seunghyun and Baekhyun slowly caught onto the old rhythm. I bobbed my head and closed my eyes to focus. It felt so good to feel the rush of drumming again. Soon, I heard Jiyong slip in, matching with Wooyoung’s sticks.

“There you go, Yong!” Baekhyun laughed and I felt the floor vibrate as we all slapped the ground in unison. Holy the solo! Initially I stumbled with my solo. The paintbrushes weren’t thick enough or too flexible to replicate my drumsticks, but I was content when the others screamed in encouragement.

“Hell yes!” Seunghyun said and after a few more measures the song was already over.

“Bam! Remembered!” Jonghyun jumped onto Ji and they screamed as they rolled. I could only laugh and fall against Wooyoung’s shoulder.

“Some things never change,” he noted, watching as the pair continued punching and wrestling. I took a beer and popped it open, humming in agreement.

“Except, you know, you’re fighting for our nation’s freedom. That’s pretty different,” Baekhyun gestured for my bottle which I gave to him.

“I’m in the space command; I’m not a pilot or anything like that. I don’t get action,” Wooyoung shrugged and Baekhyun handed me my beer back.

“Oh so you’re fighting to protect the world from aliens, seems legit,” Baekhyun nodded with sarcasm lacing his voice and Wooyoung made a move to throw his empty bottle at him. The shorter male flinched and held up his hands.

“Hush now!” Seunghyun grunted as he pulled Jonghyun’s leg, Jiyong and him were still somewhat hugging each other. “At least we don’t have to be worried about you dying in the line of fire or something.”

“Yeah, worry about Baek, he’s gonna get ravished by sharks in the near future,” I pointed and he rolled his eyes as the rest of us laughed. “Why’d you pick it anyway?”

“I don’t know, I got tired of being a gamer. I wanted a real life monster,” Baekhyun shrugged.

“If you want a monster come with me and check out my boss,” Seunghyun scoffed and I chuckled. “A pain in the , I can’t wait to report the illegal activities he’s been involved in.”

“That doesn’t sound dark and shady at all,” Jiyong furrowed his eyebrows. I didn’t even want to know about illegal activities going on inside of a bank, especially one that I stored my own money in.

“You know, when I report him, I’ll get his position,” Seunghyun added and I looked up.

“You’ll be promoted? How much more money does he make than you?” Jonghyun wondered.

“He makes $50,000 more than I do,” the banker smirked and I felt my mouth hang open. “It’ll be a great day.”

“You should send me money,” I suggested cheekily and he rolled his eyes.

“I might actually, you’re still in school and you don’t work,” he shrugged and I hummed.

“How are you going to get money? You have time since you don’t need to pay off student debts, but you’ll need something to start off with,” Wooyoung asked and I shrugged with a sigh.

“I don’t want to deal with anything else in my life. Things are crazy enough,” I rubbed my face tiredly and glanced at the little corner with my barely visible writing. Should I tell them before they notice? “Wooyoung, remember when Xiumin and I were talking about that minor from the hospital?”

“Yeah, the cute one,” he nodded and I did the same. “What’s up?” I let out a deep breath. I didn’t even tell Xiumin about it, but I was probably going to soon enough.

“I think she likes me…” I muttered and the five guys sat up. Of course they would.

“Uh, is that bad?” Jiyong smirked and I threw my paint brush at him. “What?! You said she’s cute!”

“Uh and a minor!” Baekhyun reminded before looking at me. “Does Tiffany know? Holy look at your guilty face she doesn’t!”

“Oh my God, Taeyeon are you cheating on her?!” Jonghyun gasped and I shook my head, getting frustrated with his jumping to conclusions.

“No! I would never! Jieun’s a kid, she doesn’t know what she wants yet, and I don’t want to stress my girlfriend when she’s on her Asia tour. I just don’t want to complicate things,” I sighed and leaned my head back. “I feel like if I told her she’d get jealous too, I don’t want that.”

“Does she know you’re in a relationship?” Seunghyun asked and I nodded. He made a face. “Who the Hell does she think she is?!”

“Wow, the narcissism on this girl is intense if she thinks she can get an older woman in a relationship,” Wooyoung frowned.

“It’s probably a little baby crush or something, I don’t see her that often anyway,” I insisted with a shrug. It was really sketchy to think that Jieun would try to break up Tiffany and I but at the same time I remembered how a lot of teenagers fall into that phase of really liking someone. I did, I just never let it go.

“Yeah but if you see her at the hospital then she knows where you spend your day,” Wooyoung warned.

“What you think she’s gonna stalk me?” I scoffed.

“You don’t know her,” Jonghyun said and I rolled my eyes. It was probably true, I didn’t know Jieun that well, but I still thought about driving her back to the hospital and the innocent tone in her voice when she apologized to me. There was no way she could be anything other than innocent.

“Do you like her?” Baekhyun asked, drinking his beer, and I squinted my eyes at him. “Come on, Tae; let’s not beat around the goddamn bush, if we were in high school you would’ve told Tiffany even if you guys weren’t in a relationship. Do you feel anything remotely close to affection for this minor?” I leaned back and turned my head, looking at the wall we just decorated. My eyes zoned out as I thought. Would I have told Tiffany if we were all in high school? Well back then I wanted to make her jealous, so quite possibly. But that doesn’t mean that I’m hiding anything from Tiffany today, I just don’t want to worry her about something meaningless. Let’s not overthink this, you’re not that teenager who was stuck in an unrequited love, she loves you back now. You can think independently.

“No I don’t. If anything I care for her in a maternal way.”

A/N: Happy birthday Tiffany. If it wasn't for my soft spot for eye smiles, I would've never fallen for SNSD's antics or unleashed my inner fan girl.

Thank you for making me realize someone can be as important to me as my own "Tiffany" is.