Paper Lanterns//Jimin

Chapter 7: Rides Home

The night was coming to an end and my curfew was continually being surpassed. Jungkook insisted on taking me home earlier, but the joy I felt around these carefree boys made me turn down his offer. Eventually I was the last of seven visitors to remain on the Park property.

"I should be getting home Jimin," I say as a gather my things. "It's a little past my curfew."

"Curfew? What are you? Five?" he laughs.

"No, I'm a high school student who won't be able to leave her house for the next week if she doesn't get home soon."

"Alright, let's go." He picked up his keys from the coffee table and proceeded to reach for my backpack.

"Oh, you don't have to. I was gonna walk." I attempt to take the backpack from him, but he refused.

"I'm not gonna let my girlfriend walk all the way home this late."

"Pretend girlfriend," I interject.

"Whatever you are. I'm still not letting you walk home in the cold when I have a car right here."

"Won't your parents get upset?"

He rolled his eyes. "They're not even here. And if they were, they wouldn't care. Now come on."

"Sorry."

He throws the keys at me. "You wanna drive?"

I look down at the keys in my hand. "Um, I don't know how to."

"You don't know how to drive?" He looked at me like I was five again.

"I never got around to learning."

He smiled and continued to get in the passenger seat. "Give it a try."

"Are you crazy? I'm not gonna wreck your insanely expensive car."

"You won't." He pats the driver's seat next to him. "Just go for a spin around our lot. There's no cars here."

I hesitate but eventually get in and turn the engine on. The car roared loud enough to make me jump a bit, to which Jimin laughed at.

"It's fine," he reassured me. "Just put your foot on the break and put it in Drive."

I did as told and afterwards released the break, making the car start forward a bit.

"Good. Now gently press the accelerator. "

I followed Jimin's instructions once more and we started moving around his long driveway. There couldn't have been a bigger smile on my face as I felt the adrenaline in my stomach. "Holy crap, I'm driving."

"See, it's not that bad. Look how far trying new things has gotten you."

"Well it's taken me this far down your driveway." We both laugh a little and I put the car in park. "Now, take me home."

We switch seats and he continues the journey to my house, going a lot faster than I did. The funny feeling in my stomach from the excitement refuses to go away. I've only ever felt this way with Jungkook. The rush I get from these new life experiences I avoided for so long is now with Jimin.

"Do you want the aux cord?" Jimin offers. His gestures over to the cable lying in between the two seats.

"If you're expecting something fire to come out of these speakers, I'll just save myself the embarassment."

He reaches down and hands me to the cord even after my subtle refusal. "I don't care. I just want to see what you're into."

I sigh and take a look through my perceived boring playlist. I try to find one that would be the least likely to get me made fun of. My taste isn't necessarily caught up with the latest trends.

The soft voice of Lana Del Rey eventually engulfs the car with the perfect mood to this late and starry evening. "What's there to be embarassed about? I like it. It's very you."

"Very me?" I was confused on whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

"Yeah, very Lila. It even goes with your name. Sweet, peaceful, beautiful."

I scoff, "Oh, please."

"Honestly," Jimin turns to look at me. "You're so easily predictable in an unpredictable way."

"That's very contradicting."

"I know what I mean. It's intriguing."

The car ride continued with the sound of Jimin's hums along to the songs that followed. I couldn't help but stare as he surprisingly got lost in the slow melodies of my music. He eventually turned to look at me at a red light which forced me to turn my head and act like I wasn't looking.

"You know, you should really get used to voicing your thoughts around me," he states after being blatantly aware of the fact that I was staring.

"What are you talking about?"

"Please," he laughed. "I know you were looking. So just say what's on your mind. We can't keep having this silence for a month."

I contemplate what my next words were going to be because I honestly don't even know why I was staring. "You...have a nice voice."

"I do?"

"Mhm."

He turns and flashes another smile at me. "And that's why you were staring?"

"Yeah, I mean I saw the picture in your room of you and your parents at a dance competition. You got first place. You must be really talented."

"That was a long time ago. It was nothing really."

I turn my body to face him. "Well when did you stop?"

"Just before entering high school." His eyes dimmed, different from their usual optimistic glow.

"Why?"

"Enough about me." He throws his arm around me and pulls me closer to him as he continues to drive.

"No, I want to know." I shift in the uncomfortable position. "If I have to be this close to you, you should at least tell me more."

"Well, I didn't originally want to go to our high school. I got accepted to a performing arts high school downtown for dance."

My eyebrows subconsciously rise with the information. "Then you really were good."

"I guess, but it's all behind me now. My dad thought I should focus on some concrete career paths since I'll be responsible for maintaining our family's reputation."

"That's unfortunate and unfair."

He starts pulling up into my driveway and puts the car in park. "It's okay. He was right. I would have gone no where with that path."

"You don't know that." I take my seat belt off and Jimin releases the embrace in order to open the door for me. He helps me out of the car and leads me towards my door.

"Yeah but if I would have gone, I wouldn't have the same reputation I have now, I wouldn't have my six best friends." He takes a slight pause before quickly kissing my cheek. "And I wouldn't have you. Goodnight."

He was already halfway to his car before I could register what happened. I saw his proud little smile as he viewed me left there in confusion and then he was gone.