~Chapter 23

Paige woke with a start, eyes flying open trying quickly to take in her surroundings. Her brain felt foggy and not adjusted to reality. Soju. She closed her eyes tight and willed her brain to walk out of the fog. She opened her eyes more slowly this time and sat up in bed. The room didn’t move, but her head was definitely pounding. felt like cotton and she could feel the swollen state of her fingertips as she realized just how dehydrated she was. She glanced at Amy’s still sleeping form in the other bed. Amy had definitely drank more than her. Not by a wide margin, however Paige hadn’t been the one to need help up the stairs. Nor had she gone to bed in an emotional daze. She wondered how her friend was going to feel when she opened her eyes.

Paige found her cellphone and checked the time. It was barely 8 in the morning. Ugh. She put her head back on the pillow, hugging it close her face.  She should have slept into the afternoon if only to counteract the number of shots she took. Not only that, but she wasn’t looking forward to the reactions of any of the guys. They had caused a major upheaval if the continued talking last night was any indication. She was just as curious as she was petrified to find out the conclusion to last night’s argument.

“Ugh,” Amy groaned, moving slightly in her bed. Paige turned her head and stared waiting for Amy to become coherent. Amy rolled over until she was facing the opposite direction and able to make eye contact with Paige.

“How much did I drink?” Amy said with her eyes closed, obviously dealing with the similar head pounding that Paige was dealing with.

“I don’t think I counted.”

“I didn’t either,” Amy replied. “I’m so thirsty.”

“Ditto.”

“Paige? What on earth happened last night?” Amy asked.

“We drank. We played a game. Kris told Tao that you kissed him. Tao essentially told Kris to back off, but their argument continued once we came upstairs.”

“Could you hear anything, afterwards? What they said? How it ended?” Amy wondered.

“Nope. I’m not sure I want to know. I couldn’t hear any more of the argument after we came up here. I’m not even sure if Kris and Tao actually physically fought or not.”

“Oh. My. God. Do you think they could have?” Amy asked, finally reopening her eyes and sitting up. “Woah,” she paused from the sudden dizziness.

“Careful,” Paige laughed. “I can’t imagine them actually throwing punches. They’ve been friends and band-mates longer than they’ve known us.”

“Yes, but they still argued. Why, why did Kris have to say anything?”

“At least Tao believed you.”

“When we came up here, he did. But, what if after they talked more, he changed his mind?

“We’ll never know if we don’t go ask, but I’m afraid to go downstairs,” Paige admitted.

“We need pain reliever, water, and caffeine though,” Amy listed the basic after drinking essentials.

“Especially you. Tao promised you a date.”

“That’s right! Oh, but, ugh,” Amy stood up out of bed, but regretted her quick movement and sat down on the edge of the bed instead. “He called me ‘babe’ last night,” she stated, somewhat in a daze.

“Yes.”

“I really hope he hasn’t changed his mind.”

“I hope no one has a broken arm or a black eye,” Paige muttered.

“I wonder who would win in a fight. I’m thinking Tao,” Amy pondered.

“Do you want Kris to have the broken arm and black eye?”

“He really shouldn’t have brought up the kiss. I don’t want any of them hurt, but he should have kept his mouth shut.”

“At least it’s out there and there’s nothing for anyone to hide. Tao’s pretty confident about you, honestly.”

“I know. It can be a little intense,” Amy whispered.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Not at all,” confirmed Amy. “I just feel like we’ve been together for a year. I know I don’t know everything about him, yet, but I can’t imagine clicking so well with anyone else’s personality.”

“Must be nice,” Paige stated, having a hard time keeping her jealousy in check.

“I saw Kai hold your hand last night,” Amy tried to be encouraging.

“And then when you brilliantly brought up the super powers and how they would aid in a long distance relationship, he let go and didn’t touch me again,” Paige stated.

Amy cringed. “I was hoping for a different reaction.”

“I can’t think about this now. This headache isn’t helping.”

“Let’s just go downstairs and find some pain reliever. Maybe someone will have tea or coffee going,” Amy suggested.

“I actually hope they are getting more sleep than us, but here’s hoping for some caffeine,” Paige replied, nervously.

They both threw on a change of clothes and smoothed out their hair before quietly heading out of their room. They could smell food the moment they opened the door and suddenly their stomachs were grumbling with their unrealized insatiable hunger. They walked a little quicker down the stairs and into the kitchen. By no means was everyone awake, but they did find D.O., Suho, Baekhyun, and XiuMin in the kitchen. D.O. was cooking, Suho was standing with XiuMin talking quietly about something, and Baekhyun was on the laptop sitting at the counter.

“Good morning,” Paige said quietly. She nearly flinched when the four of them lifted their gazes to the two girls.

“Morning. I’ll have breakfast ready soon, but XiuMin has coffee going and the pain reliever is over there,” he said pointing just past where Suho was standing.

Paige and Amy nodded, though neither of them took a step.

“Would you both like some?” XiuMin prodded, thinking it was funny that neither of them were moving.

“Yes,” they answered in unison.

XiuMin grabbed two mugs and filled them with coffee. Suho grabbed the medicine bottle and gave it to XiuMin to give to the girls with the cups of coffee. Paige and Amy took seats at the opposite end of the counter from where Baekhyun was sitting. They each took some pain reliever and sipped at the coffee. The silence in the kitchen stretched, with exception of the sound of the food cooking on the stove.

Amy cleared before asking, “has Tao come downstairs yet?”

“He’s gone out with Chen this morning. He said they’d be back before lunch,” Suho answered.

“Oh,” Amy replied.

“Are you guys okay? You’re acting weird,” Baekhyun asked blatantly.

“We’re sorry, about last night,” Paige clarified.

“Don’t be. It was fun for the most part. And what happened later was the result of too much soju,” Suho stated with an encouraging smile.

“Most of the guys still haven’t woken up yet, which means everyone is going to have some degree of a hangover,” XiuMin continued.

“Here,” D.O. interrupted handing the girls the first two plates of food. He turned back towards the stove and filled three more plates for the others who were waiting patiently.

“Thank you, D.O.” the girls said in unison.

“Of course,” he smiled.

“SOMEONE NEEDS TO TURN OFF THE WINDOWS!”

“Dear God,” Baekhyun grumbled hearing Chanyeol’s voice booming from the stairs in the main room.

Chanyeol made a very haphazard beeline for the kitchen. He was still in the clothes he’d been wearing last night, except he had added a pair of sunglasses to the ensemble. He looked like he was trying to walk on a swaying boat.

“Chanyeol, sit down,” Suho said directing him to one of the stools around the counter.

“Yeah, and keep your voice down,” Baekhyun muttered.

“Don’t yell at me!” Chanyeol stated.

“No one is yelling,” XiuMin replied.

“SHHH!” Chanyeol hissed while placing his hands on his forehead.

“Here, Chanyeol. Eat this and have something to drink.” D.O. slid a plate of food in front of him while XiuMin passed him a cup of coffee.

Chanyeol just sat there, staring down through his hands. Both of the girls were too amused by his behavior to eat. They both sat there gawking at him.

“I don’t want this. D.O. can’t you make me something more yummy?”

“I’m not making you a completely different plate of food. Eat.”

“But, everything hurts and I would really love it if I could have something else. Oh! Like pancakes!”

“Shut up and eat,” Baekhyun snapped.

“I think I asked you not to yell,” Chanyeol grumbled.

Paige couldn’t hold it in any longer. She started to laugh. Chanyeol sighed, putting more pressure against his forehead. Paige felt sorry, but only enough to try to stifle the next giggle.

They all began to focus on their breakfasts. Paige pushed the contents of her plate around. It wasn’t that it was gross or anything, but her stomach wasn’t as interested in taking in food as she initially thought.

“Something wrong?” D.O asked.

“No. Well, I’m not as hungry as I thought,” Paige mumbled. She leaned away from the plate of food. She looked up to find Baekhyun staring at her. “What?” she asked.

Baekhyun squinted, staring at her for a moment as if debating something. Suddenly, the corner of his lip curled up and he looked quite mischievous.

“What?” Paige asked again.

Baekhyun cleared his throat and then looked pointedly at Paige. “So, you and Kai?”

Paige felt the world around her drop. If she’d been eating, she probably would have choked.

XiuMin smacked Baekhyun’s shoulder and then glared at him. “What?! It came up last night! I was just confirming!” Baekhyun reasoned.

“It came up?” Paige whispered, still a bit shocked.

“To be honest, it’s kind of obvious. We just never really paid attention until now,” Suho clarified also shooting daggers at Baekhyun for bringing it up.

“How did it come up?” Amy asked, morbidly curious.

“Come on! Tao and you,” Chanyeol pointed at Amy without actually lifting his gaze. “Kris and you, of course Paige would be outed as well!” Chanyeol slurred slightly.

“I feel sick,” Paige muttered. Embarrassed was closer to the truth.

Paige excused herself to head back upstairs. A shower sounded like the only good option.

Amy stayed downstairs to finish her food and let the effects of the hangover slowly vanish. It would be a long morning until Tao would return. Her only hope was that when Tao came back, everything between them would still be alright.

The front door to the dorm opened. Tao and Chen walked in shortly after the other band members had started to eat lunch. Amy jumped off of her stool in the kitchen and ran to the main room.

“Tao!” she screamed excitedly. She had been momentarily thrilled over just the return of his presence, before remembering that there could have been a slight chance that he could be mad at her. She dropped her arms to her side and waited in place for a reaction. If she’d been paying attention to Chen, his smile might have confirmed that she had nothing to worry about.

“Hey babe,” Tao smiled at her after kicking off his shoes.

Feeling the confidence flow back into her, she skipped the couple steps to him, “where have you been all morning?”

“We had some things to take care of before I dedicate the rest of the day to you,” he answered easily. Amy heard Chen snicker behind Tao, but chose to ignore him.

“So we’re still going out?!” Amy excitedly asked.

“I had every intention to, and I know just where to take you,” he replied rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. “Oh, and dress warm and bring an extra jacket. Okay? I don’t want you to freeze later.”

“I will! But I have to finish lunch first! You should have some too!” she urged while pulling on his wrist. Tao followed her smiling. He quickly glanced back at Chen who flashed him a thumbs-up.

Kris stood at the top of the stairs, trying to hide a scowl. After lunch, he’d watched Amy run up the stairs and return in a completely different outfit. She’d also done more to her hair and touched up her makeup. Tao had stayed downstairs waiting for her, nervously. But, when she had returned complaining that she didn’t actually have an extra jacket, Tao had disappeared up the stairs and grabbed one of his to bring along with them.

It was enough to make him sick. He walked up the stairs, but halted just at the top to watch the two of them make a bubbly exit out the front door. He stopped himself from mumbling anything out loud and instead sulked back to the sound studio to play with the tracks that just never seemed any closer to finished.

His cellphone vibrated in his pocket. He stopped the music and answered the call from his manager.

“The bag has been found, Kris. The one belonging to those girls who were here a couple weeks ago.”

“It’s actually been found? After this long?” he asked incredulously.

“I’m heading over right now. I trust you kept their contact information somewhere? We just need to ship this to them, but we should also confirm it with them,” his manager suggested.

“Of course,” Kris said in somewhat of a daze. “Wait, just what items are inside the luggage?” Kris asked curiously.

“Clothes, there are some other personal effects as well. That’s why we need to get a hold of them.”

“I will see you soon,” Kris replied. He hung up the phone. He thought about it for a few moments, before realizing that his manager was on his way over. Kris bolted from the studio.

He ran down to the second floor, almost running dead on into Sehun.

“Woah, what’s the rush?” Sehun asked.

“My manager’s coming over, now. He needs to talk to me about something. I just hung up the phone with him.”

“So?”

“Where’s Paige?”

“Oh, oh!” Sehun his heels and ran across from the staircase down the hallway towards the girls’ room. He knocked quickly, but when there was no answer, he opened the door. Sehun busily cleared away the girls’ things, even though there was a small likelihood that Kris’ manager would even go in there.

Kris continued down to the first floor, where almost everyone was still hanging out. “Hey, manager is coming,” he announced. “Where’s Paige?”

Kai stood up, staring at Kris before making a beeline towards the stairs. “I think she went up to the third floor. You didn’t see her up there?”

“Obviously not.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kai rolled his eyes and ran up the stairs to the 3^rd floor. He checked the patio first, but she wasn’t there. He doubled back to the TV room.

Paige wasn’t watching anything on the screen. Instead, she had the lights on, having been surprised at just how bright the room could be when she was used to it being very dark. She had grabbed a few pages of blank white paper and a pen and was doodling.

Kai approached her, surprising her with his presence. “Hey, Kris’ manager is coming over.”

Paige shuffled the pages together and stood up quickly. “Should I find somewhere else to hide?”

“I think you’ll be fine in here, but I’ll stay with you until we know he’s left again. He’s only here to talk to Kris,” Kai explained.

Paige still looked nervous, but sat back down. She watched Kai go out of the TV room, heard him talking just on the other side of the wall, but not so that she could understand him. When he returned, he shut the door behind him and made himself comfortable on the couch next to her.

She hadn’t been working on anything of any importance. And she felt ridiculous continuing her drawings in front of Kai. She guessed she was going to have to deal with the odd silence. She couldn’t help but jump when she heard the doorbell ring from downstairs. Kai grabbed onto her hand, which was still gripping the pen. “Continue,” he stated, with a small smile gracing his lips.

Kris walked with his manager upstairs to his room. The manager handed him the suitcase and Kris inspected it quickly.

“You do have their contact information correct?” the manager asked.

“Yes, both phone and addresses. I will call them right away,” he said absently while still thumbing through the suitcase.

His manager began talking about other things regarding their upcoming trip to China and their schedule. Kris barely heard a word of it as he came across the item that everyone had thought was long gone.

Kris let the chain hang from his finger as he sat back on his bed and let out a sigh of relief. He let the necklace pool in the palm of his hand before returning his attention to his manager.

Kris waited until they were done talking. He reassured that he would deal with the suitcase and then walked his manager downstairs and out the door. As soon as he was gone, he was met with curious glances from those in the main room.

“Amy’s luggage was found,” he announced.

“Was the necklace there?” Chen asked.

“No,” Kris quickly replied. The necklace, still curled in the palm of his hand felt like it had suddenly caught fire. He wasn’t completely sure why he lied.

Kris returned to his room, gathered up the suitcase and placed it inside the room the girls were sharing. He walked upstairs and opened the door to the TV Room. His announcement that the coast was clear was halted the moment his eyes settled on Kai and Paige.

Kris turned around abruptly and closed the door behind him. He was looking forward to the trip to China, immensely.

A/N

Yeah, they were just kissing. No rated M chapters coming... sorry folks. I like writing kiss scenes, but I'm not comfortable with writing anything more intense than that... maybe someday *no promises!*

Thoughts?

Amy and Tao's official first date is next.........