The Lip Gloss Mishap
Chloe had mentioned that the bets among the boys were mostly penalties on the handsome popular guys, like getting slapped in the face.
Olivia Jiyu felt a pang of sympathy for Steve—Stephen, that is.
[Please, just give me your number so I can contact you later. I'll delete it right after the bet ends.]
With a troubled expression, she hesitated for a moment before shrugging her shoulders.
[All right. But you have to promise to delete it the second the bet is over.]
[Yes, ma'am!]
He punched the air and held out his phone. Jiyu quickly entered the number.
[Thanks a ton! Uh… Olivia. Do you have a boyfriend? If not, can I text you?]
Stephen asked suddenly, his face turning red.
How abrupt?
Up until now, no boy had shown her any romantic interest or tried to get close. She had no idea how to answer and stood there frozen, her mouth parting slightly, when loud chatter erupted from the ping-pong table area.
Jiyu turned her head and glanced over Stephen's shoulder at the table. The crowd was already roaring and cheering wildly as if Hunter's opponent had just scored a point.
For some reason, though, she had the eerie feeling that Hunter was glaring at her with a vicious expression.
Her shoulders jerked. She straightened her head and hid behind Stephen, using him as a shield. She hadn't done anything wrong, so why was she hiding? She herself didn't know the reason.
[Then I'll contact you.]
Stephen shook the phone in his hand as if the hiding had been pointless and walked off toward his friends. Jiyu glanced away for a moment before pulling a small mirror and strawberry-flavored lip gloss from her bag. She deliberately avoided looking at the ping-pong table.
Why was Chloe taking so long?
She applied the glossy lip gloss to her lips while staring at her reflection in the mirror. A different person's face was reflected inside. The mismatched eyes—one green, one light brown—sparkled weirdly under the laser lights.
[Wah!]
Jiyu jumped in surprise at the loud voice right by her ear and let out a startled cry. The red-tinted lip gloss smeared across her cheek. A sly giggle came from behind her.
Shocked to her core, Jiyu whipped around and glared at Lex. Lex, who had shot up to the same towering height as Hunter, looked like a runway model that had absorbed every last nutrient into its elongated frame. The slightly long hair cascading down to his jawline only made him look even more model-like.
[You startled me, Lex!]
[Sorry, Liv. How've you been? But your cheek…]
He laughed and drew a crooked line with his finger just beside his own mouth.
When Jiyu rubbed her cheek, the sticky gloss smeared further.
[It's spreading more. Let me wipe it.]
He chuckled and poked right in the center of her cheek. Jiyu swatted his hand away and wiped her cheek with the back of her own.
[It's all your fault.]
[Whoa… The other side is a mess too.]
Lex's gaze wandered somewhere beyond her crown.
[Huh?]
[Don't look back!]
Lex grabbed her face with both hands, blocking her from turning around.
[What are you doing? Let go!]
[I'll let go if you never look back. Got it?]
His eyes sparkled with mischief and his lips curled up in a wicked little smirk.
[I get it already—just let go already. Everyone's staring!]
Jiyu pounded on his arms, but the moment he released her she pulled her straight into a hug.
[Yeah. I'm only doing this because someone's staring at you.]
Too shocked to even push him away, Jiyu froze in place. His torso gave a little shudder, and she heard him stifling giggles. Only then did she snap out of it and hit his back with her fist.
[Why are you doing this?! Have you been drinking? Or smoking something weird?]
Lex had a reputation as the son of a famous Hollywood actor, but rumors of a serious 'stoner' followed him around.
[Haha, just a little.]
He answered with a laugh.
[Oh man… Snap out of it, Lex.]
Strictly speaking, alcohol was banned at this kind of party. But she had heard stories of the popular kids secretly smuggling in booze and dividing it among themselves.
Or the legend of two huge bottles of vodka being poured into the non-alcoholic cocktail dispenser, leaving dozens of drunk teens in a total frenzy.
Once he finally loosened his arms, Lex rested a hand on her shoulder and twisted his head at an odd angle, bursting into loud laughter.
What kind of mischief was he planning this time?
She gave him a suspicious glare and let out a sigh of defeat. She had learned from years of experience that the best thing to do was just pretend she didn't know what those eyes meant.
[Crazy. I get the triple penalty. Wow, this is way too obvious. See? I told you so.]
[Lex, what exactly are you planning? Just don't drag me into whatever it is, please.]
[Wait, shit, shit, shit! He's coming this way!]
Lex clutched his stomach and howled with laughter as he glanced beyond her crown like a madman.
[Coming? What's coming? Did you do something weird again?]
[Nothing at all. It's Hunter Hamilton. Haha, this is gonna be fun to watch for once.]
[Hunter? Why is he—]
Lex's head snapped back as he laughed brightly, then pulled her into another hug with a suspicious expression.
[Alexander de Lafayette, why are you acting like this?!]
Jiyu shouted his full name in a burst of anger. He patted her back soothingly.
[Sorry, sorry. Hold on a sec. It's almost done. Five seconds before the volcano explodes.]
Lex count down with an excited voice.
[Five, four, three, two, one—bang! Hey, Triple. What's going on here?]
***
She already knew Hunter had been invited to the party. After the rainy last week, when she had told him straight out that she was going to Spring Fling, it wasn't exactly a shock.
He had been thinking of coming to something like this once in a while, so he had simply canceled Friday practice and shown up.
Tomorrow's tournament was a low-level practice match just to rack up points, so as long as he played to his usual standard, there shouldn't be any problem.
What he hadn't expected was that she would appear in such… such clothes. He hadn't even recognized her at first sight.
First he spotted her best friend Chloe. Then he searched around for the other half of the twin popsicle that was always glued to her side. Finally, in a bad mood, he looked away.
Chloe. Standing beside her was a tall, slender girl poking through her bag. She suddenly lifted her head.
She wore a short black dress that left every curve on display, heavy makeup that highlighted her eyes and lips, and long wavy hair cascading over her bare shoulders.
Even after realizing it was Jiyu, Hunter couldn't believe it. The gap between the skinny, tomboyish 'Jiyu Parker' he had always imagined and the woman in front of him was too vast. His brain refused to accept the information his eyes were feeding it.
Not until he saw the dimples appear in her smiling cheeks.
Usually she dressed in a modest nerd style—either her school uniform or an oversized sweatshirt that fell to her thighs. He had never imagined she could hide such a look beneath them. Or rather, there was no reason to imagine it at all.
He knew her legs were long and slim because he had noticed them once or twice by accident, when the hem of her skirt had lifted while she was walking, but that was all he knew.
Now the thought struck him that the girl he had dreamed of kissing had overlapped strangely with Jiyu. His heart thumped like he had been given a jolt of defibrillator to the chest.
'Is she crazy? Is this even possible?'
Stunned, Hunter was yanked forward by his friends. Before he left, he recalled the conversation he had had with his father and steadied his heart.
Natural. Even if you see pictures of women in bikinis in magazines, you react at that age. It's just hormones acting up. It's nothing.
Guys walking past kept glancing at Jiyu.
'Is she even in her right mind? What kind of thought process makes her wear that?'
Hunter felt a sudden surge of irritation. Those hormone-driven beasts would get to see even that absurd sight. He felt like throwing the party out the window.
He tore his eyes away from her with effort and looked around again. He felt embarrassed. The other girls wore outfits just as revealing as hers.
Why hadn't he noticed? If Jiyu Parker was the only one wearing something strange, it probably wouldn't have stood out. But all the girls were doing the same thing.
Hunter turned his head back to watch Jiyu. She was glued to Chloe once more, like a twin popsicle, without any gap for anyone to sneak in.
She walked around the edges of the party, staring in wonder at everything and giggling over tiny things, like a rural mouse that had just moved to the city. Only then did it feel like he was seeing the real Jiyu Parker again.
