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“Ryan. RYAN!”
Groaning, Ryan sat up in the top bunk and sleepily faced his sister looming in the doorway. He fought the social construct of pajamas and was only in his underwear, much to his sister’s dismay. “What?”
“The phone’s for you. And it’s already noon, get out of bed already!” With that remark, she spun around and left Ryan with his muddled thoughts.
For a moment, Ryan considered crawling back under the covers. But then he remembered. Oh right. The phone. It must be Min-Gi, nobody else calls him.
Shuffling out of his bed, Ryan nabbed his glasses and an oversized jacket. He bolted to the telephone, taking the handset off the kitchen counter. “Hey, man.”
Sure enough, Min-Gi’s voice answered on the other end. Called it. “Hi, uh, Ryan, I have a huge favor to ask.”
Ryan stiffened with rapt attention. “Yeah, what’s up?”
“Remember how I was doing that volunteer scholarship thing this weekend, er, uh - today?”
“Nope, but I’ll take your word for it.”
“Well, I. Uh. My parents are both at a lunch thing. They dropped me off at the park, and I… didn’t think to bring a change of clothes? It’s too far to walk, so I was wondering if you could do this huge favor for me and bring me some clothes from my house?”
“See, this is why you need to get your own license, dude.”
“...I know.”
Min-Gi had understandably freaked out at the prospect of controlling a speeding hunk of metal and held off on learning to drive a vehicle for years. Ryan was allowed to drive his dad’s van sometimes, but if they were ever going to make it big being rockstars, they probably both needed to know how to drive. Eh, that will be a project for another day.
“But yeah, I can still do that,” Ryan responded. “Soon ’m gonna start charging you for being your chauffeur, though.”
Min snorted. “I’ll see you at the park soon. Thanks.”
“A five dollar charge for this endeavor. No, wait, twenty-”
Ryan laughed at the sound of Min-Gi hanging up and eyed the van keys hanging on the wall.
“MoOOOOOM I’M GONNA DRIVE THE VAN FOR A BIT,” Ryan yelled into the house. “I’LL BE BACK.” No response. Eh, who cares. He snatched the keys and dashed outside to the van.
As he started the vehicle, Ryan loosely wondered if he should’ve worn more than an oversized jacket and his boxers... Whatever, it’s just Min. It’s not like Ryan has to get out of the van at the park and be around a buncha people anyways.
He made the short drive to Min-Gi’s house. Sure enough, the Park family car was away and the house was locked. Ryan gently kicked the potted plant by the front door, revealing the house key underneath. Once he was inside, Ryan sped into Min’s room.
“How much clothes did he need again?” Ryan muttered to himself. He started pulling open Min’s dresser drawers. To be on the safe side, he grabbed underwear and a sweater along with a random shirt and pants.
Once he was convinced he grabbed enough clothes, Ryan stood in the bedroom for a moment. It looked so strange without Min-Gi in it. The bed was perfectly made as always, and bits of math homework littered Min’s desk. It definitely smelled like Min in here. Ok, now this is getting weird. Ryan left the room and slammed the door behind him.
He took one of the grocery bags the Parks kept in their pantry and shoved Min’s clothes into it. Spinning the bag as he ran, Ryan locked the house behind him and leapt into the van. Next stop: the park. Park at the park to meet Min-Gi Park.
After the relatively quick drive through town, the van rumbled to the parking lot. A large banner hung by the park entrance: “POWELL LAKE ANNUAL ROCK PAINTING.” Ryan caught sight of Min-Gi and waved him over.
Ryan rolled his window down. “Rock painting, huh?”
“Shut up.”
“Nah, it’s cool. Here’s your clothes.” Ryan handed his friend the bag. No comment about Ryan’s personal lack of clothes. Min probably didn’t notice. “Anything else?”
“Nope, my parents will pick me up,” Min smiled slightly. “Thanks again.”
“No problem, my man,” Ryan waved a peace sign. “I’m gonna head back home now.”
“Alright. Is it ok if I stop by later?”
“Sure!” Ryan watched as Min-Gi walked back to whatever he was helping with. Then, starting the van again, Ryan popped in a cassette and started driving back home to the wails of Ridge Irvine.
Waiting on traffic at a stop sign, Ryan jokingly yelled in falsetto to the music for his own entertainment. He started making his way on the drive through town.
Then he heard the sound.
“Aw, shoot.”
Despite the skidding van, Ryan cautiously pulled over on the side of the road next to some small business that sold rocks or something. He faceplanted into the steering wheel.
The van’s tire had a blowout.
Breathing heavily, he pushed away the thoughts of ”wow that could’ve ended up very very badly” and tried to determine a plan.
First of all, Ryan was very tired and incoherent. Blame his awful sleep schedule and the burst then disappearance of adrenaline from not dying in a van just now.
Second, he had no idea how to change a tire. He’d never even had to deal with a car breakdown before.
Third, Ryan still was only wearing his boxers and a singular jacket. He was pulled over near an intersection of town surrounded by people.
He was screwed.
“Uuuuuuuughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” Ryan remained face first against the steering wheel for a few minutes. If only he had Min-Gi to help him out right now, he bet they could figure this out together. But instead it was just Relatively Clothless Ryan stuck in the middle of town without a Min or a plan. There might be a spare tire in here though.
Scurrying from the front seat to the back of the van, Ryan lifted up bits of the carpet on the floor until he spotted a compartment. There it is.
After a few more painstaking minutes of figuring out how to pry the tire compartment open, he tugged at the new-hopefully-not-gonna-explode tire. Eventually it was freed from its stubborn floor containment and propped up against one of the van chairs. Ryan sat down, sweating.
Deep inhale. Ryan grimaced at the realization that he would now need to step outside and survey the damage before figuring out how to replace the tire.
“Whatever. Who cares about some kid in their underwear tryna fix a car,” Ryan tried to encourage himself and dispel his embarrassment at the thought. “I’m not gonna care if anyone cares. Yeah. YEAH!”
Hopping out of the passenger side door, a hyped-up Ryan was prepared to figure out how to fix this tire and- Oh. Oh no.
Yeah, the tire was beyond busted.
Crouching down, Ryan attempted prying the remains of the tire from the rim of the wheel. His bare legs were quickly covered in grease and muck from who-knows-what that existed around the components. Ryan had no idea what he was doing yet, but hoped that removing the busted rubber would be a start. Then it’s just a matter of sliding the wheel on, right? He tediously removed the bolts of the rim using a pocket knife from the van’s glove compartment and pocketed it.
Satisfied with his work so far, Ryan looked around and quickly regretted it. People driving around and walking between the nearby shops looked on in utter confusion at this kid in his underwear (and jacket) ripping apart a tire. Ryan told himself to not worry about it. He probably wouldn’t even see most of these people again, especially after he and Min go on tour. But he still felt the stinging fear that people were thinking less of him, and that he deserved it.
“Time to get this tire on,” Ryan announced to himself before he could get further lost in thought. He retrieved the tire from inside the van and set it outside and realized-
He had no clue how to get the tire in place.
After a few failed attempts of trying to jam the tire into its spot and evaluating how it might even fit, Ryan gave up. He felt on the verge of tears. He’d been stuck on the road in front of all these people for two hours. Angry, he took the tire back into the back of the van and slammed the door shut behind him.
Ryan sat in the back of the van with nothing but his thoughts.
A few hours passed. Ryan vainly hoped that maybe his family would notice he had been gone for so long and try looking for him, but nope. He should probably try to walk back home. With a sigh, he slid out the car door, unexpectedly coming face to face with-
“Mr. Park??”
The next thirty minutes was a blur. Mr. Park was on his way to a store, noticed the Akagi van on the side of the road, and wanted to make sure everything was alright. Ryan could tell that the man was concerned with the prospect that Ryan’s parents never taught him how to change a tire. Despite Ryan worrying he was wasting Mr. Park’s time and his impressions that the man was overly stern, he found that he was in the process of being taught how to change a tire. Ryan tried to capture as many moments and instructions to memory as possible.
Mr. Park grabbed necessary car supplies for Ryan from a nearby store. Interactions passed of “are you sure you don’t need to borrow a change of clothes?” and “I’m good, sir” and “these are important things to learn.” Before Ryan knew it, the van was back in action, and he thanked Mr. Park profusely.
If this is what it’s like for Min all the time, it must be nice.
Once everything was set, Mr. Park left, and Ryan hopped back into the driver's seat of the van. Starting to drive back home, he reached to continue playing the cassette from earlier, but stopped.
He started to cry.
Thinking about Mr. Park helping him out after Ryan’s mess of a morning caused him to cry.
Pulling over for the second time today, Ryan found multitudes of repressed emotions spilling out between his sobs. Thoughts and hopes and dreams and worries, everything. Without warning the dam had burst, the floodgates were open. I don’t think my parents care about me… I don’t deserve the Parks to be nice to me… I wish I could tell Min how much I care about him… I just want to make something of myself, I’m a screwup… I want people to have reason to care about me… Ryan didn’t have many moments in his life to truly break down, so he melted into the tears of this moment.
Maybe he cried for a few minutes. Or maybe it was a few hours. But it was cathartic, and after the tears faded, Ryan shook off the emotions and completed his drive homeward.
Once he was in the van’s parking spot, Ryan realized how desperately he needed a shower. He rushed quickly to the door and was startled by the sight of Min-Gi knocking frantically.
Min spun around at the sound of Ryan’s footsteps. Taking in the sight of Ryan: mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted Ryan. Covered in grime and only wearing boxers and a jacket. “Ryan, WHAT??”
“I thought you died! Or something,” Min continued, and buried his head in his hands, embarrassed. Ryan pretended not to notice or wonder about the red flush spreading across his friend’s face. “You didn’t answer any of my calls and your sister didn’t know what happened to you… I couldn’t find you anywhere. Where even were you???”
“Wha- your dad didn’t tell you?” Ryan crashed into Min’s shoulder, leaning against him. “Dude, I just really need a shower right now.”
“But uh, for when we go on tour,” Ryan added, “I know how to change a tire now.”