Des races out to the back yard.

Settling on the steps leading out to the rear deck, she grips the brown manila envelop in her clammy hands.

Her fingers skim over the navy blue seal of the parcel and she breaks it, pulling in a deep breath.

'Dear Miss Fields, 

It is with or deepest regret that we inform you....'

Everything stops 

And Desiree lets the paper fall from her fingers.

She's sits there, numb with shock.

'This can't be!' 

"Des!"  

She doesn't even notice the good looking teenage boy approaching who just jumped the fence casually.

He did so because he was used to doing it almost every evening since they were small.

Finally taking notice when he places a hand on her shoulder, she turns slowly to him with tears in her eyes.

"Sam, I didn't get in!"

"What?" he questions, flabbergasted by the crying girl on his shoulder until his eyes alight on the scattered papers on the floor.

"Oh! Oh my gosh, Des!" he whispers, pitifully, smoothing the back of her head, "I'm really sorry."

The honking of a horn in the driveway breaks Des out of her stupor.

"My bad," Sam says to her with a look of concern in his eyes, "That's probably Damien and Yannis. I told the guys to come pick us up. Thought you might've wanted to go hang on the beach with us but now..."

Des lets out a deep sigh not knowing what to do.

"Hey Des!" Yannis shouts, rounding the corner into the backyard. 

Equally hot and as good looking as Sam, a tall eighteen year old soccer captain stretched out a muscly hand to grab his friend who, also the captain of the basketball team, took it bumping their chests together in greetings.

They could have been brothers, except his dark mane contrasted that of Sam's sandy-brown curls.

If any girl from their school had seen the two congregated in her back yard, they would have been green with envy but Desiree held no high regard for the two 'meat- head' idiots that she had come to know for nearly all her life. 

After an endless series of playdates over the early years, it was tough to ignore a history of being in diapers together. 

Their mother's remained close and so did they, even after her parents' divorce.

Yannis' shockingly pretty, green eyes wander from the scattered sheets on the ground to Des' red and tearful face and putting two and two together, he frowns sadly.

"Ah, fuck sake Des! I told you not to just apply to one school!"

"B- but I thought I'd get in!" she hiccups, "I d-dont know how this happened.."

Yannis picks the letter up off the ground and scans through it.

"Well it seems like its not anything you did, they just didn't have many places left for international students. You can try again next year, it says,"

"Next Year! Oh my God" Sam breathes out, looking wounded for her.

"...so what are you gonna do?" Yannis asks and Des runs a hand tiredly over her face.

"I need to tell my Dad."

                                                            ***

Desiree's dad's solution to the problem was to make her assistant manager for the next year at the 'Wave Crave'. 

She would spilt her time being mentored in the kitchen by him at the main Restaurant and staying on top of things at the 'Wave Crave', part time. 

This way, she could build up some savings and stay out of trouble. Desiree found this absolutely ridiculous because what trouble could she get into anyway, when all her friends were gone?

He blamed her for 'putting all her eggs in one basket'.

So she promised to apply to at least four culinary schools next time around and also vowed to her dear father, 'not be so stubborn' ! 

It was the end of August now and Desiree had already bid goodbye to Shay and Mindy.

Shayla went off to Fashion School in Paris and Mindy flew off to New York to take up her place at Yale with Sam.  Yannis and Damien were also headed off to California to start at UCLA.

She couldn't help feeling left behind.

With more time on her hands now, her thoughts kept wandering back to that Taehyung guy that she'd met at the start of the summer. 

Des didn't know why she did it but when she got home on that rainy night in July, she'd scribbled the number onto a piece of paper instead of letting it fade away from her palm, forgotten. 

Stashing it in the drawer of her bedside table, she hadn't looked at it since.

Desiree lay awake.

She wondered how come she'd never seen him before. He looked like a surfer type so surely they should have ran in the same crowd?

Her intrigue blossomed more and more each day as her life became increasingly mundane.

Rolling over to the side of the bed, she was stricken by a brief moment of reckless abandon.

Pulling the drawer open, she rooted around for the phone number and found the tiny piece of paper, crumpled at the back of it.

She held it in her hands, staring at the piece of paper as if it would talk back to her. Willing it to tell her what the right decision was.

'To call him or not to call him?' she pondered.

Finally she grabbed her phone, "Fuck it," she muttered under her breath, punching the number in. 

Her heart banged against her chest as she listened to the distant ring, echo from its tiny speakers.

"Hello?" Des held the phone with cold shaking hands to her ear as the smooth baritone of Taehyung's voice slipped from the receiver, into her soul.

She held her breath breifly before replying, "Hi! Uh its me..."

"It's you?"

Des laughed nervously. Of course, he didn't know who was calling. They never exchanged numbers. 

He just gave his number to her.

"It's Desiree....I met you a couple weeks ago near the Cove?"

The line crackled a bit and Desiree's stomach twisted in anxiety and regret.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea?

He's probably forgotten all about her already. Guys that looked like that met tons of girls all the time.

"Oh yeah! Des..." he trailed off at her name again, the same way he did that night in the car.

Relief swept over her and she proceeded bravely, striking up everyday conversation.

Taehyung was cool.

He affirmed her assumptions that he was indeed a surfer and a huge movie buff as well who enjoyed Korean webtoons too. She didn't know much about webtoons but they sounded interesting.

They stayed on the phone for two hours laughing and talking about movies and Taehyung did a couple impressions that had her balled up in stitches, in a fit of giggles. 

She asked herself if he was actually that funny or was she just entertained by all his jokes because she was attracted to him? 

'Woah! Where the hell did this guy come from?' she wondered, happily.

'They didn't make them like this at her school!'

Unable to take the suspense any longer she asks, "How come I've never seen you at my school- Palm Mist?... Well, I mean, Long Palm has two High school's so maybe you go to Sacramento High instead?" she inquired. Curiosity gnawed aggressively at her conscience and she could hardly wait to hear his response. 

There was a short silence before Taehyung spoke again.

"That's because I'm not in High School.."

"Oh, I just graduated too!...." she presses.

"How old are you?" Taehyung asks, cutting her off...

"Um, I turned nineteen a month ago..." Des replied feeling a little unsure about herself now when she heard Taehyung stifle a giggle on the other side of the line.

"Oh," she goes quiet upon hearing the change in his tone.  

"If I knew you were only a kid, I wouldn't have given you my number like that.."

"What? A kid? I'm not-" her mouth went dry at the mystery of this Taehyung, "....wait, how old are you then?"

Taehyung chuckled deeply and Desiree felt the sudden butterflies in her stomach flutter wildly at the sound of his voice.

"I'm twenty- five"

"Oh.." Desiree flushed. 

She had never talked to an older guy before.

She gulped, feeling helpless as her intrigue climbed to new heights at the thought.

She didn't know where it came from but she suddenly mustered up a bit of spunk, purring into the phone, "Well you and I are both adults so do you want to go out sometime?"

Desiree squeezed her eyes shut in embarrassment after realising what she'd said. 

She rolled over on her back, clamping her hand over her mouth to stifle the squeak of regret that issued from her throat.

Was she about to embarrass herself?

After a moment that seem to stretch on for what seemed like forever to Desiree, Taehyung replied quietly. 

"Sure."

Desiree's eyes flashed open in surprise and she clenched her fists in jubilation.

"O- okay... so I'll text you sometime and we'll work something out? Does uh...does that sound good?"

"Sounds good," he replied.

"Ok, goodnight... Taehyung" she said, breathless and buzzing with excitement but doing her best to keep her voice sounding relaxed.

"Call me Tae," he suggested and she giggled girlishly, beside herself.

Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad if she had -  HIM - as a distraction?

"Ok..." she smiled into the phone.

"Goodnight, babygirl," he said, hanging up.

Babygirl?

That  word, coming from Taehyung's lips made her tingle all over and Des lay silent on her bed not moving for a while, surprised at herself.

Her mind swirled as she clutched her phone to her chest and a warm heat spread into the pit of her stomach.

She hadn't even met up with him in person yet and already this guy was making her feel things and want things that she never had with anyone else before.

                                                                   ***

                          🌴 I hope you enjoyed x 🌴

         Please remember to vote and comment along the way!

                                   ✨ BJF ✨