Hurricane Diarrhea #9

 “Spill the beans.”

“It was just lunch.”

“There’s no such thing as ‘just’ with you and your plumber’s daughter.”

“Okay, it was a good lunch.”

“You do know that I’m asking out of genuine concern.”

“I know.”

Sunny folded her arms and maintained an unwavering stare that rattled Taeyeon’s bones.

“Alright, alright. It went well. She ate all my fries and asked me to treat her to dinner after 2027.”

The widened eyes and slackened jaw was probably the closest expression of shock Taeyeon would ever see from Sunny and she had the strongest urge to take a picture of her to remember this moment by. She’d gone through a haunted house with Sunny during Halloween a couple years back and the tough girl didn’t even look half as shocked as she did now.

“What’s so shocking? What?”

“You let her eat all your fries?”

“Yes.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“But you love your fries.”

“So does she.”

“Oh my…” Sunny shook her head slowly. “You’ve got it real bad this time.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Are you kidding? Remember Noeul? The poor girl didn’t even know what hit her when you stopped talking to her for a month after she ate your fries.”

“I was in my teens then! And she didn’t ask for my permission! Besides, we’re still friends now, aren’t we?”

“You may be twenty-one now but you still love your fries as much, if not more.”

“Tiffany asked. I gave her permission. There’s a difference.”

“You’re in so much denial that you can’t even see that you’re in it.”

“I swear I don’t have it bad. Yes, Tiffany is pretty. Tiffany is nice. Friendly. Kind. But I’m not losing my mind over her or anything like that. It’s not like that.”

“Yet.”

“Yet.”

“Fine. Point proven. Point taken.”

“Thank you.”

“What about dinner after 2027 then? It’s your treat?”

Taeyeon nodded, her face flushing hot again as she said, “Tiffany made a comment that almost made me choke and I ended up spitting my drink at her. To make up for it, dinner will be on me.”

“What comment?”

Taeyeon turned into a deeper red. She couldn’t possibly tell Sunny about the !

“Taeyeon, quit stalling.”

Taeyeon inhaled deeply and spoke quickly, “Shesaidshehasapairofpantiesthatmatchesthepantiesthatcloggedourtoilet.”

Sunny blinked, speechless for a bit and Taeyeon wanted to pump her fists in the air for shocking Sunny for the second time today. It sure was a rare feat.

“Taeyeon, this isn’t as one-sided as you’re making it out to be.”

“What?”

“I think Tiffany’s into you. Like really into you.”

“What? No. I mean. It’s just a random comment.”

“Remember the survey I did with her? She said she likes cute petite girls. You’re cute. You’re petite.”

“Expectation versus reality. What she claims to be ideal is probably different from reality.”

“Woah, that’s deep, from you.”

Taeyeon grinned, pleased by Sunny’s compliment. “Thanks!”

“But still. Trust me when I tell you that Tiffany is into you. No one would talk about like that. No one. And you said she asked you to treat her to dinner, right?”

Taeyeon nodded slowly, her mental processor cranking into action, thinking thoughts.

“I don’t know…we met under such…crazy circumstances. And we met again during even crazier moments. I don’t know how she can still be interested in being more than friends after all that .”

“You forget, she’s a plumber’s daughter. Clogged toilets are a dime a dozen. She’s probably seen hundreds and yours definitely wouldn’t be the worst.”

Taeyeon perked up at a certain memory. “She did say that exact same thing to me before.”

“See? I’m right. She can handle all kinds of , including yours.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Taeyeon breathed slowly as the possibilities suddenly seemed possible.

“Scratch the maybe. I know I’m right. She’s probably expecting something from you during this dinner.”

“Expecting? What?” Panic surged from nowhere and crashed onto her once peaceful shores of calm.

“Relax. What I meant was Tiffany is probably treating it as a date.”

“A date?” Taeyeon gulped. The pressure was on, very suddenly. Dinner was fine. But a date?! A date wasn’t so simple. A date was a lot more complicated.

“Taeyeon…”

“Huh?”

“Stay calm.”

“Okay.”

“You’ve gone on dates before. You can do this.”

Taeyeon took deep breaths and calmed down. “You’re right. I can do this. I can.”

Sunny finally smiled and patted Taeyeon’s shoulder. “You’ll be okay. Trust me.”

Taeyeon nodded. If there was anyone she could trust, it was Sunny. Sunny knew her .

 ~

 The day of 2027 came way too quickly and Taeyeon was a little nervous. Prior to the dinner, however, there were the two lectures and she would have to focus on learning something rather than worry about the impending dinner date. So between her attempts to focus on the lecture and worries about her dinner date, she’d totally forgotten about a certain someone and got the shock of her life when the certain someone plonked herself down on the seat next to her in 2027.

“Taengoo!”

Taeyeon yelped and jumped in her seat. “Yul! What are you doing here?”

Yuri rolled her eyes. “I told you I was crashing. You need to cover me, okay? Just in case your nutty prof decides to ask me some random question.”

“Hi, Yuri.”

“Hi, Noeul.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll cover you.”

“Thanks, Noeul.” Yuri grinned and nudged Taeyeon surreptitiously. “Noeul’s such a great friend, isn’t she?”

Taeyeon blinked. What was wrong with Yuri today? Noeul had always been a good friend but Yuri had never taken much notice of her, much less said things like that. However, this wasn’t the place or time to grill Yuri about it. Later.

“Where’s Jessica.”

Taeyeon rolled her eyes. Yuri was quite incorrigible at times. Like now.

“You’re never this early for a lecture.”

Yuri glanced at her sporty-looking watch and grinned. “I’m only ten minutes early. Ten minutes for a sleeping beauty is well worth my time, I’d say.”

“Sleeping beauty?”

Yuri nodded. “Jessica’s nickname. Don’t you know?”

“How’d I know.”

“You lunched with sleeping beauty’s best friend on Monday and you’re going to dinner with her tonight. You should know these things.”

“We didn’t talk about sleeping beauty.”

“Tsk, tsk.” Yuri shook her head and gave Taeyeon a stern, chiding look. She threw her arm around Taeyeon’s shoulders and leaned in, whispering in her ear, “You need to know all about her friends and stuff if you want to woo her. It’s a given.”

Taeyeon blinked. Woo? Did she want to woo? Yuri patted her shoulder and released her before sliding further down her seat to prop her well-toned legs on the seat in front.

A soft voice spoke just then, “Who are you having dinner with?”

Taeyeon turned to her right and smiled at Noeul. “Tiffany.”

Noeul’s eyes widened significantly. “Tiffany…? As in the TA?”

Taeyeon grinned and nodded.

“When did you become friends with her?”

“Friends? Mmm…I’m sure when we started becoming friends exactly but I met her two weeks ago, just before the start of this semester.”

“Before?”

“It’s a long story,” Yuri chimed in suddenly, “and your time has just run out. Lecture’s starting.”

Taeyeon looked to the front and sure enough, the prof and his two TAs had already entered the premises, five minutes early. The mere sight of Tiffany livened her and her spirits rose high. Tiffany looked extra lovely today, in a red, leopard-print dress that ended high up on her thighs. Red. Tiffany’s preferred colour. And she began to understand why too. Red contrasted well against her fair skin and made her look absolutely fabulous. Her lipstick red was young and bright, matching the dress perfectly. Long hair with luscious curls framed her beautiful face. Suitably accessorized with a few rings and bracelets, Tiffany was a gorgeous picture to look at. A living picture of beauty.

“Breathe, Taengoo. Remember to breathe,” Yuri teased.

“I’m breathing.”

“Just saying.”

“What about your sleeping beauty?”

“She’s so beautiful.”

“Your jaw, Yul. It’s dropping.”

“It’s not.”

“Just saying.”

Yuri snorted. “You little punk.”

“Why are you suddenly interested in her anyway?”

“Remember the party where you got left behind?”

Taeyeon nodded. “Yeah, how could I forget,” she replied, dryly.

“I was looking for a toilet but found her instead.”

“It doesn’t sound romantic at all, Yul.”

“Pssh. What do you know. She was sleeping when I saw her. The light from the corridor shone on her face and I thought I had seen an angel.”

“Wow. Sounds like you’re in deep.”

Yuri grinned. “Not that deep. But deep enough to be interested. Besides, I’m tired of going out with girls who adore me. I need something new. Something else.”

“Someone who isn’t fawning over you?”

“Precisely.”

Taeyeon shook her head at her friend. Yuri was too popular for her own good. Outgoing, outspoken, fun-loving and adventurous, she was the girl whom everybody wanted to date. If there were a poll for a ‘Miss Ideal Date Partner’ Yuri would win it. Hands down. No doubt.

Jessica. The girl who made Yuri crash a lecture. She was worth checking out. Decked out in a simple white top and faded jeans, Jessica had a very different style from Tiffany but was no less striking. She was fair too. Her golden brown tresses suited her and her fringe flopped lazily over her forehead, looking soft and silky like the rest of her hair. Her features were quaint and she looked altogether delicate and a tad fragile. She could see why Yuri liked her. They were opposites and opposites were always intriguing.

Intriguing. Hmm. Tiffany had used it on her. Intriguing. Was it because they were opposites too?

Her eyes shifted across the front of the lecture theatre and found Tiffany’s unexpectedly. The shock jolted her into straightening her back and as she looked, Tiffany winked at her. It was a quick wink. A quickie. But a wink nonetheless. And suddenly, the entire lecture theatre fell away from her peripheral and she had trouble breathing.

Holy .

~