Chanyeol:
I shower fast enough to at least dry my hair most of the way, and then dress in dark jeans and a white T-shirt with a black and white sweater over it. I look at the image reflected back to me in the mirror.
These gatherings are always informal. No need to dress up for people who've seen you at your best, your worst, and everything in between. I begin to hear voices and so emerge from the walk-in closet and to the door of my room. I grab the doorknob and close my eyes. "You can do this," I whisper. I stand there gathering strength for what seems like a good while. I take one last look down at my watch which reads 7:03pm. I take a deep breath and turn the knob.
I follow the hallway, past my office and guest bathroom, out into the living room, and my heart stops short, almost skipping a beat. I see a familiar head of hair sitting on a lounge chair facing away from me and towards a smiling Kai on my leather sofa.
'Oh my God, I was wrong, I can't do this!' I think to myself
The head of styled blond hair turns towards me, "Look at you, Chanyeol! Late to your own party!" Exclaims Baekhyun with a teasing smile. He has such a delicate face. Soft, but somehow still with sharp, contrasting features. His beauty is cranked up to an 11 whenever he smiles. Such a radiant smile that lights up his whole face.
I'm completely disarmed. I feel for a few seconds as if I've lost the ability to speak. But I recover quickly, turning towards the sleek silver clock above the gas fireplace "Three minutes! Surely you can forgive me for three..."
"Ah!" he interrupts, "FOUR minutes," he teases as the hand on the clock audibly ticks down one minute.
I feel my nerves begin to ebb away as the teasing goes back and forth. I've only talked to this man a million times, there's really no reason this should be any different at all. Except... no. I shake it off and move further into the room. I only see Baekhyun and Kai.
"Well, if I'm getting points deducted for being late, I think you should get just as many or MORE for being too early!" I smile back at him.
"Okay. Okay. So, we will keep score then! You get four points for being here late and..."
"That means you get seven points for showing up too early, Baekhyun!" Kai interrupts. "But me? I showed up at the stroke of seven sharp!" He exclaims with a triumphant smile, unfolding his long legs and setting them upon my coffee table and placing his hands behind his head.
"You traitor!" Baekhyun retorts. "If you were truly here at seven exactly, how would you know if I was early or not?!"
"Because I sat in my car waiting for the time to be exactly right so I could ring the doorbell at seven o'clock on the dot, and I saw you go in the doors while I was waiting!" Kai pronounces, crossing his arms and giving Baekhyun a smile and a nod!
Now all of us are laughing, the atmosphere finally feeling normal. I move further into the living space, around Baekhyun's chair, to go sit down on the large leather sofa next to Kai. He's wearing slacks and a collared shirt with a soft sweater over the top, his long limbs stretched out across my living room furniture, anyone can tell he definitely has a lean, dancer's body.
"Oh! I almost forgot, I brought you a gift!" Baekhyun jumps up to come sit next to me, carrying a long, tall gift bag in his hands. Now all I can think about is having to be sandwiched between the two of them and my heart starts to beat fast again, but he barely has a moment to sit before Kyungsoo appears in the doorway.
"The food will be ready in 10 minutes," he proclaims, "Where is everybody?" he says, sounding annoyed.
He begins to retreat back into the kitchen with an air of seriousness that only he could exude, but before he can make a full retreat, Baekhyun jumps up energetically, following Kyungsoo excitedly into the dining area. Kai and I follow, standing, arms crossed, in the doorway, watching as Baekhyun pulls a bottle of Champagne out of the gift bag.
"Ah! The chef! Just the person I was looking for. This is just what a party needs, a fine bottle of Champagne!" He looks over at me with his radiant smile. "Let's put this in the refrigerator before it gets warm." His small figure disappears into the kitchen behind Kyungsoo as the doorbell rings.
It's Suho at the door, then, one by one my guests show up, some with the same idea as Baekhyun. Sehun brought a pack of beer and Chen showed up with dessert.
Soon we're all together, gathered around my dining table eating and teasing each other, as usual. Sehun sips on a beer, which he always seems to have in his hand at these get-togethers. Everyone us here, even Lay!
The room quiets as everyone hungrily shoves food into their mouths. We all eat in a companionable silence for a time. I look over at Baekhyun and then at the rest of our little group, and then back to Baekhyun.
'I can't say anything. Not with everyone here!' I think to myself. He lifts his eyes to mine and I am caught staring, but then again, so is he... He smiles at me, innocent and beautiful. 'Do I read into that smile?' I wonder to myself. 'Maybe I'm not the only one who...'
"So, Channie, when do we get a tour of the place?" Minseok says. He knocks me out of my reverie and I lose Baekhyun's attention. "It looks expensive!" Minseok continues. "Are you even going to be spending enough time here to make it worth the money?"
It's no big deal, actually. I have more money than even my best friends realize. But I don't broadcast it and I don't necessarily want them to know too much.
I don't know what to say, so, and, in a panic, I end up admitting to something else that I wasn't ready to tell them. "Oh, it's more than just a place to sleep, I'm making my own personal studio in the spare office." I scold myself for spitting another secret out. But it could have been worse. This confession was the lesser of two evils.
"Ooooo! Ooooo! Have you written anything yet? Let's hear it! A Chanyeol original!" Minseok exclaims.
I can feel the panic begin to rise in my throat. There is one song that is good enough to play, but...
"Oh! No, no! Definitely not. I've only had enough time to set the place up. Definitely not enough time to write anything. It still needs some soundproofing actually. It looks like a construction site in there! I have lots of ideas though. Maybe next time, I'll have something."
'Nice save,' I think to myself.
"It will be the greatest song ever! Our #1 award-winning hit!" Minseok gestures wildly.
I risk a look up at Baekhyun and see him looking right back at me, again with a smirk and a bit of suspicion in his eyes. I quickly look away with a smile that's maybe too innocent. 'Damn it!' I think about the words hidden away in my office drawer.
"So, who's going to clean up this mess," says Suho, gesturing to the empty trays, bowls, and plates strewn across the table before us.
My eyes involuntarily shoot up once more and again, I catch Baekhyun looking at me right in the eyes. "I'll do it," he says. "After all, I was here way too early for our generous, LATE host," he says with a giggle. He smiles mischievously.
"I guess that means we will be punished together." I reply with a smile in as much of a convincingly joking manner as I can muster.
"That's fine by me!" Sehun holds up his hands as if to put some distance between him and the messy table, he picks up and downs the last of his beer. "I need to get going anyways." He leans down to push some buttons on his phone.
Suho jumps up. "I'll drive you, I mean, if you want. I need to go to that side of town for something anyways."
'Mama Suho' strikes again. He probably has nothing to do on that side of town, he just doesn't want our precious maknae, Sehun, alone out at night as tipsy as he must be after five beers. The rest of the members and I look around at each other knowingly, Chen even has to stifle a giggle.
