American Casual

Kyungsoo checked his watch as the elevator began to ascend. Only eight-thirty and I'm already beat, he thought, yawning prodigiously. I can't believe filming that stupid episode ran so long.

The doors opened and he dragged himself to their door, fumbling his keys a little as he let himself in. “Guys? I'm back,” he called, setting his bag by the door.

The apartment was dark and silent, and a quick investigation confirmed that no one was home. So much for a nice welcome, he thought grumpily. He thought about just going to bed, but he was feeling too lonesome after being gone, so he left and went up to Julia's apartment.

“You're back!” she exclaimed.

“Where is everyone?” he asked, peering over her shoulder into the apartment. “I went home, but no one was there.”

“Scattered all over the city, as far as I know,” she replied. She threw her arms around his neck and he immediately felt better, then he noticed the open suitcase on her couch and felt guilty. She's packing for the tour, he realized. “I'm sorry, you're busy and-”

“I'm not busy,” she insisted, pulling him into the apartment and closing the door firmly. “I just ordered a pizza, and you can tell me about filming while we wait.”

She sat on the couch and patted the seat beside her, so he took it and stretched himself out comfortably. “There's not much to tell, except I'm tired and secretly wishing we were going on vacation instead of a tour.”

“Just try not to embarrass me once we're stateside,” she teased. “Yixing told me you once brought your study guide on set and left the script in your trailer.”

“He wasn't supposed to tell!” Kyungsoo exclaimed.

“I'm just glad you're all putting in some overtime,” she replied. “That’ll only make it easier in the long run.”

“For everyone except Yixing,” he commented. “I think having to communicate only in English is slowly driving him insane.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we've kind of been giving him a hard time,” Kyungsoo admitted. “Whenever he enters a room we all switch to English, or we watch American movies without captions. The best was when Junmyeon started texting tour info updates completely in English. I swear Yixing almost cried, more than once.”

Julia held back a smile. “I'd say you're being mean, but honestly he could use the practice,” she replied. “Is he getting any better?”

Kyungsoo nodded. “A lot better, but don't tell him yet. It's the best entertainment we've had all year.”

The pizza arrived and Kyungsoo watched Julia answer the door with some of her usual lightness. Thank goodness she seems to be recovering, he thought gratefully.

“Soo?”

Kyungsoo blinked rapidly. “Yeah?”

“You’re giving me this weird stare,” she said, setting the pizza on the coffee table. “Is something wrong?”

He shook his head. “No, everything’s fine,” he said with a smile.


******


“I’ll take that,” Sehun said, scooping up Julia’s bag with one hand.

“Sehun, I’m perfectly capable!” she protested, but he just slung it over his shoulder and grinned at her. “What are you gonna do about it?” he teased.

“Not in front of the fans!” Youngjun whispered.

Julia glanced at the throngs lining the airport and knew he was right. “Sorry,” she apologized.

They got onto an escalator and the fans at the bottom started screaming as they came into view. “Look, it’s her!” one of them shouted. “It’s the American interpreter!”

Julia felt embarrassed and was glad to be behind Chanyeol’s tall frame as they made it to the bottom. How do they even know me? she wondered.

“Miss Park! Miss Park!” they chanted, trying to get a better view of her as they passed by.

“Geez, you’d think I was the celebrity,” she mumbled.

A group of exceptionally pretty girls was waiting near their gate and several of the guys gave Youngjun pleading looks. “Alright, but we’re boarding in ten minutes,” he reminded them.

Julia hung back as the guys started signing autographs and taking selfies, but one of the girls caught her eye and motioned her over. Julia looked at Youngjun, who was so surprised he just nodded. “Hi, I’m Julia,” she said awkwardly.

“I wanted to ask you a question,” the girl said.

Julia shrugged. “Okay.”

The girl leaned in close and Julia had to strain to hear her. “Which one is the best?” she asked.

Julia was confused. “What?”

“You know… which one is the best? Xiumin’s got such a fantastic body, but I’ve heard rumors about Sehun’s-”

Julia jerked away in disgust. “I have no idea what you mean,” she said coldly.

“I just thought-”

“You were wrong,” Julia interrupted. “Thanks for coming out.”

She turned to leave.

“So rude! No wonder you got beat up!”

Julia froze and the whole group went silent. “What did you say?” she said, turning back around.

“What’s going on here?” Junmyeon asked. His tone was even, but he had taken an imposing stance that made the girl shrink back. “She was rude to me,” she replied.

Julia felt something inside her snap. “Are you-” she felt a hand on her arm and Jongin’s cologne wafted over her as he gently led her away. “Did you hear what she said?” she asked angrily, pulling her arm from his grasp.

“Yes, and so did everyone else,” he replied. “You looked like you were ready to murder her.”

Julia took a deep breath. “You shouldn’t have done that,” she murmured. “If those rumors are already so widespread, anything we do in public will only feed them.”

“So? We can’t control what others think, but you can’t let their opinions stop you from living your life.”

“We should board now,” Youngjun said, waving them over to the gate.

Jongin and Julia were the first ones onboard and they could hear the other members arguing as they came down the jetbridge. “-gave her the right to say that!” Baekhyun snapped.

“People think they can say whatever they want just because we’re celebrities,” Minseok reminded him. “It’s always been that way.”

“But Julia’s not a celebrity!” Yixing countered, “no offense, Julia.”

Julia just shrugged and plopped down into an empty seat.

“Why did she call you rude?” Junmyeon asked, leaning over her seat.

“I refused to answer her question,” she replied.

“What question?” Chanyeol prodded.

“Does it matter?” she snapped.

“You did almost start a fight in the middle of an airport,” Jongdae commented. “Was it that bad?”

Julia peeked over the seat to make sure Youngjun wasn’t nearby. “She asked… well, she wanted to know…” she felt embarrassed and didn’t continue.

“Come on, you can tell us,” Baekhyun said encouragingly.

Julia grimaced. “She wanted to know which of you were the best,” she whispered.

“Best at what?” Yixing wondered aloud.

Julia blushed deeply and didn’t reply.

“Oh. Oh!” Baekhyun exclaimed. “She actually asked you that?”

“That’s so…” Sehun didn’t finish and he looked embarrassed too.

“Gross and disturbing?” Julia offered.

They all nodded in agreement. “It’s not that you’re not attractive, it’s just-”

“You’re our friend,” Junmyeon cut in. “How could anyone assume that about you?”

“Excuse you, but I could have any one of you I wanted,” Julia sniffed.

They all burst out laughing and Julia felt her tension ease. Barely out of Seoul and already dealing with drama, she thought. This is going to be one crazy trip.


******


Junmyeon did a quick head count as they left the restaurant and allowed himself a sigh of contentment. So far so good, he thought.

“Next stop, New York City!” Baekhyun yelled.

“Are you bored of Boston already?” Jongin teased.

“No, but I wanna go shopping while we're there,” he replied.

“Ooh, good call,” Minseok agreed.

“English, please,” Junmyeon reminded them. “Now that we're here, we should use it as much as possible.”

Jongdae looked around the plaza. “No one's paying attention to us, Jun,” he said, “so why does it matter?”

“It just does,” Junmyeon said firmly. “Practice makes-”

“If you say that one more time, I'm going to kill you right here,” Kyungsoo mumbled darkly.

Minseok rolled his eyes. “Come on,” he yelled in English, “our hotel awaits!”


******


Julia ended her call with Jin just as the guys returned from dinner. She hadn't told them about Jin’s confession yet, and she didn't really know why. Maybe it's just the idea of discussing dating, she mused, and she suppressed the all-too familiar shudder.

“Fun night in?” Chanyeol asked lightly.

“Riotous,” she replied dryly. Sehun smiled, while the rest of them looked mystified by the word. “Looks like you all have room for improvement,” she commented.

“Don't start,” Jongdae groaned as he flopped into a chair. “Junmyeon's already been hounding us to only use English while we're here.”

“I wouldn't call it hounding,” Junmyeon cut in.

“What do you think, Jules?” Yixing asked. He was the first to discover this nickname for Julia and now insisted on using it whenever possible. “Should we all only speak English?”

Julia considered for a moment. “My professional recommendation would be yes,” she said, “but personally I wouldn't be too worried. You're all proficient enough now, though I won't hesitate to throw in homework if I catch anyone slipping.”

A few of the guys sobered at this, but Julia just grinned. “Relax, you'll be fine,” she assured them.

“Though I think we can all agree that I'm the best,” Sehun deadpanned.

Everyone roared with laughter and Julia felt tears leak from her eyes as she tried to catch her breath. “You're terrible,” she said, giving his arm a smack.


******


“Julia's definitely hiding something,” Jongdae announced after Julia left for the night.

Everyone groaned and Jongin rubbed his eyes. “Can we not start something?” he pleaded.

“Agreed,” Minseok chimed in. “There's been enough drama already, and we've got a tour to focus on, remember?”

“I'm just saying, she's been secretive since we got here,” Jongdae said defensively.

“Well, she did go through a traumatic experience,” Baekhyun reminded him. “Maybe it's her way of recuperating, and we should let her without interfering.”

Junmyeon put a hand to his heart. “Our little Baekkie is finally maturing,” he said over-dramatically.

“Hey, you're not that much older than me,” Baekhyun retorted.

“True, but at least he acts his age,” Kyungsoo interjected.

The others tittered and Baekhyun smiled good naturedly. “Sounds boring,” he sniffed.

“I'm going to call my mom, and I suggest the rest of you do the same,” Junmyeon announced, and he got up and disappeared down the hallway.

Yixing sat down between Chanyeol and Jongdae and sighed. “What did we talk about before Julia?” he wondered aloud.

“Let's change the subject,” Sehun suggested. “I heard we're getting to perform on some big talk shows while we're here.”

“So what?” Kyungsoo shrugged, “we do that all the time.”

“And the president might be coming to one of the concerts,” Jongin added.

“No way, you're making that up!” Jongdae exclaimed.

“No, it's true, I heard Youngjun arranging it,” Jongin insisted.

“Seems rather convenient that you waited for Junmyeon to leave before mentioning this,” Chanyeol said suspiciously.

Baekhyun got up and went to the door. “Where are you going?” Minseok called.

“I'm going to practice,” he replied. “I wanna sound good for the president, don't you?”

Notes