When I hesitantly nodded, Dave pressed his body even closer to mine and grabbed the tip of my tongue. His dry fingers tasted of sweet cola.
“Does it hurt if I touch it?”
Dave’s index finger tapped, tapped at the tongue piercing. My tongue tickled a bit, and saliva pooled in my mouth. Worried I might drool, I quickly pulled my tongue back in, swallowed the saliva with a gulp, and shook my head.
“No.”
“It seems to have healed completely. Let me see more.”
“……”
At that childish mischievous tone, I had no choice but to stick my tongue out again. Dave also stuck his tongue out slightly and examined my tongue this way and that, as if looking at a research subject. Just when I was wondering what he was looking at so intently, Dave playfully pulled up both corners of his mouth.
“July, we’ve gotten pretty close, right? Don’t you think?”
“I guess, so?”
“Can I talk to you about my worries later? You’re a grade above me, so you’d know more about things, right?”
“Sure……”
“Then I’ll open up to you later, soon.”
Dave, who smiled brightly, really seemed to be in a good mood, but at the same time, it was hard to figure out what he was thinking inside.
* * *
I wandered around every corner of the spacious house. And then,
“Ugh!”
“Hey! Come in!”
A kid playing in the pool splashed water and the bottom of my pants got wet, and
“What the!”
“Sorry! Sorry!”
I opened a random door and ended up interrupting a couple kissing.
No matter how much I wandered around, I couldn’t see Natalia. I ran into Dave occasionally, and he was so busy and well-connected that he was hanging out with all kinds of kids. As expected, a popularity rating of 97% was different.
“Oh, hi. June.”
“……It’s not June, it’s July, July.”
“Was it? Sorry. I’m bad with numbers.”
I also ran into Harper, who was wearing a precarious dress that exposed her entire chest and only came down slightly below her buttocks. There was nowhere to look with that embarrassing outfit, so I just looked at her ears. Isn’t it a bit much to invite me and not remember my name? I thought about calling her Harp later too.
“Right, Ju… not June, July, July. How’s my party? Are you having fun?”
“Yeah. It’s fun.”
I told an appropriate lie for her, the party host. Actually, I have no idea what’s fun about this. I can’t see Natalia, the romance points only went up by 1%, I can’t figure out what to do…… Meanwhile, I diligently greeted people trying to complete the quest, but the numbers didn’t go up. When I complained to the system wondering what was going on,
It doesn’t go up if you greet someone you already greeted. 🙁
was the answer I got. I didn’t even have the mental capacity to open the status window to see who was who.
“Alright. Have fun. I spent a lot of money today.”
Harper coyly curled up the tip of her lips and ladled some punch into a cup. That punch was also non-alcoholic. This place was full of kids who were sugar high from sugar, not alcohol.
Harper, who was busy as the host, moved away without properly finishing our conversation that she had started out of courtesy. I sipped on cola and smacked my lips at the sweetness.
I stopped passing kids and asked if they’d seen Natalia, but I only got answers like “Natalia? Who’s that?” I was gradually getting sleepy and tired. I just want to go home…… I can stay up late studying, but I can’t do this kind of thing. It was dark and noisy, and I didn’t like it.
“……I should just go.”
I’m giving up today. Natalia and Dave met anyway, so that alone is a success. I greeted quite a lot of kids today too. It wasn’t without gains.
Even though it was late, I pushed through kids still flooding in and left Harper’s house. Behind me, I could hear Harper, who had been sipping punch, rushing out and shouting, “Don’t piss in the garden, you crazy bastard!” as I trudged along.
Near Harper’s house, other kids’ cars were parked everywhere, and just looking at them was suffocating. I’m glad I parked my bicycle far away. And when I arrived at where I parked my bicycle……
“……Where did it go?”
The bicycle was nowhere to be seen. I definitely parked it at this tree, right? Huh? Huh? Even when I circled around, the bicycle was nowhere to be seen. My bicycle, my bicy……
“cle……”
That hollow voice with a slightly off pitch was so embarrassing. Of all times……
“……Hi.”
I had to run into that Joel Gomez, who had shown me rough behavior at the party just now. I raised my hand awkwardly and laughed “haha,” but there was no response from Joel.
“Did you by any chance…… see my bicycle?”
I asked in a gentle tone because I was bothered by how rudely I had acted earlier. I didn’t want to be on bad terms with that kid. Joel, who was leaning against a slightly old car parked on the roadside while chewing on a long jelly, gestured to one spot with his eyes.
“What, that thing?”
“……Yeah, I guess that’s it.”
Where Joel’s gaze landed, a bicycle with its wheels, handlebars, basket, and everything else separated was rolling around. The seat was missing in the process. It seems there are bicycle seat thieves in America too, which I thought only existed in Korea. For now, I gathered those things and squatted in front of them. How could I reassemble it to ride it again…… But there’s no way I’d have such skills……
“……How do I get home?”
It felt a bit awkward to ask Dave, who was having a crazy time at that party, to give me a ride. Can I walk home? At this hour? In this America where guns are allowed, not Korea?
“Do you know who did this?”
Joel, who was chewing jelly as if it was someone else’s business, shrugged his shoulders. The jelly he was eating was packed full in a large bag. Joel, who finished eating one, took out a new one, put it in his mouth, and tore it wildly.
“Hey, seventh month.”
“It’s not seventh month, it’s July (July=7th month).”
“That’s why I said seventh month. ……Why specifically the seventh? Is it because this is the 77th?”
“……Call me whatever you want.”
I gave up. What’s the point of getting on that kid’s bad side and having my proper name remembered when he lives so recklessly? And he’s muttering something, but I don’t even understand what it means.
“Eat it. I’m sick of it.”
Joel, who had been dangling red jelly outside his lips, tied the end of the bag tightly and threw it at me. I almost dropped it. I was gloomy that my bicycle was in that state, so I took one out and ate it.
“……It’s tasteless.”
It tasted like chewing rubber with artificial strawberry flavor. It was like a weirdly shaped strawberry-scented eraser. What do American kids like about eating this? I frowned and looked at the ingredients list. For a jelly, it’s packed full of flour……
“Put it in the trunk.”
“Huh?”
“That junk bicycle, put it in the trunk.”
Joel, who had one hand in his pants pocket, strode over and opened the trunk. And he gestured inside, and I thought he meant for me to get in, so I almost folded my body up and got in. It was because Joel Gomez, who was tall and dressed all in black, was too scary.
“Aren’t you putting it in? I’m busy. I need to go.”
With the momentum that he’d put me in if I didn’t put the bicycle in, I hurriedly picked up the bicycle parts and put them inside. Clang! The trunk door closed, and Joel snatched the jelly from my hand, then got into the driver’s seat.
“I’ll count to 5, so get in. 5, 4, 3……”
When the fingers of Joel’s large hand coming out the window started folding one by one, I hesitantly got into the passenger seat. Vroooom! The old car started with a loud exhaust sound.
“……”
“……”
There wasn’t much conversation on the way home. It was because Joel was chewing jelly while driving looking straight ahead, and I was also just looking straight ahead. Why is he suddenly giving me a ride? Is he trying to kidnap me like this? Or is he trying to take me somewhere secluded to teach me a lesson……
“Hey, seventh.”
“Yeah.”
Now I’m just “seventh.” I agreed with my new nickname and smiled brightly at Joel. Then Joel frowned.
“Did you transfer schools?”
“No. I’ve been going since freshman year.”
“Then why is your face unfamiliar? There’s no way there’s a face I don’t know at this school.”
“……The past and now are a bit different.”
“Diet?”
“No.”
“Plastic surgery?”
“No.”
“Then what is it!”
Joel yelled irritably. There’s no need to shout…… I felt intimidated for no reason and just looked down at my hands.
“……I used to be into EMO in the past, so I drew eyeliner, wore contact lenses, and, well, spiked my hair……”
Even though it wasn’t a past I personally committed, I was embarrassed, so my voice gradually got smaller. But screeeech! The car suddenly stopped.
“Ah……! You, you were that bastard? That EMO Asian?”
“Oof!”
Joel suddenly grabbed both my cheeks and pulled. My cheeks were pressed and my lips protruded like a beak. I blinked my wide-open eyes in bewilderment. Joel’s gaze scanned my face.
“Right. There are piercing marks. Right. So you were that bastard……”
Joel, who lifted my face slightly to stare intently at the piercing marks on my lips and nose, soon let go of my face and nodded. I don’t know what he’s thinking by himself. I just rubbed my pressed cheeks for no reason.
“But why did you suddenly become normal? You took out your piercings and cut your hair.”
“It’s graduation semester. I have to go to college next year. I need to mature now.”
“……”
Joel frowned suspiciously and stared at me as if glaring. Receiving that sharp gaze made me needlessly nervous even though I hadn’t done anything wrong.
“……Why are you doing that?”
“It’s the first time.”
Joel, who grabbed the steering wheel again, said something incomprehensible. First time? What?
“What is?”
“You taking out your piercings and cutting your hair.”
“Ah. Right. It is the first time……”
“Keep going around like that from now on. It’s much better.”
