When I got out of the shower, Mark was back in the bathroom, combing his hair in the mirror. The towel he'd brought in for me was on the counter right next to him, but I decided that asking him to hand it to me because I was shy about being naked might get him angry again, so I covered myself with one hand, stepped out of the shower and grabbed the towel with the other.
I turned my back to Mark and began drying off.
"Have you ever been to Chang's?" he asked me. He didn't sound angry at all now.
"No, never."
"It's great. Best Chinese ever. You're going to love the Orange Chicken. Also, you have to have the spare ribs. Chicken fried rice. Well, everything."
He was taking forever to comb his hair and inspect his face. I was hoping to wait until he left to put on my clothes, but it was obvious he wasn't going anytime soon. I wrapped the towel around my waist and joined him at the counter. Right away, he handed me his hairbrush, but he just kept on talking.
"We're not into shrimp fried rice in this family, so if you're out of luck, if you want that! But seriously, everything else is incredible."
"I like wonton soup," I added, not wanting to stand there quietly and look awkward.
"Definitely the Wonton Soup," he agreed, nodding his head happily, "I love the Wonton Soup! But, hey, you better hurry up and get dressed. We have to leave soon!"
It was apparent I wouldn't be allowed to dress privately, so I gave up on the idea. Instead, I grabbed my underwear, turned away from him, and slipped them on while letting the towel fall so that I could maximize my privacy.
"I hope you're hungry!" he continued.
"I am," I joked, pulling on my pants like I was used to dressing in front of another person.
I was just relieved that he wasn't mad at me anymore.
So far, so good.
Dinner was awesome, and Mark didn't lecture, glare at, or nudge me even once.
His parents were extremely nice, and I got to tell them about my aunt's horse (the horse poster hanging in my bedroom looks like her horse), and they seemed really interested. Of course, I didn't know all that much, but that didn't seem to matter. Mark asked about the horse, too, and wanted to know what it was like to ride it. I haven't yet because it's a big horse and I'm small, and I'm still nervous about it. I didn't want to say that, so I just said it was great.
Everything was as great as Mark said it would be, and I was so stuffed I felt like my stomach was twice the size. When he came with me to the restaurant bathroom, I thought maybe he was doing it because he wanted to criticize me alone, but he just peed.
We walked around for a while after dinner, and it was pretty late by the time we got back to Mark's house. Our original plan was to watch movies all night, but we both just wanted to get to sleep. I pulled my pajamas out of my backpack, but he grabbed them out of my hand and stuffed them back in.
I had to laugh, "What are you doing?"
He laughed, too, "Babies wear pajamas."
"Mark, lots of people wear pajamas. You're being silly."
"Silly's a baby word." He didn't seem mad, but I wasn't sure how serious he was. he took off his pants, then hopped into bed in his boxers.
I stood there, feeling stupid. I didn't want to sleep in my underwear, but I didn't want to overreact. So I decided to sleep without pajamas and took off my pants.
"We gotta get you boxers," he said, a comment that made me feel more uncomfortable, but I didn't want to make a thing out of it. I hopped into the sleeping bag he'd laid for me on the floor and pulled off my shirt once I tucked myself in. I figured I still had a little way to stop being immature, but I felt like I was getting better at it.
Mark was already in his shower when I woke up the next morning. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, still half in the sleeping bag. He left the bathroom door open again, and I figured he wouldn't mind if I went in and peed, but as much as he didn't mind doing things like that, that was a little too much for me. So I decided to wait until he was out.
He turned off the shower, dried off, and returned to the bedroom with the towel around his waist.
"Your turn."
I got up and grabbed my stuff, and headed for the bathroom.
"You're taking a shower, right?"
"You and showers," I joked.
But then he blocked me.
"Take a shower," he told me.
I was honest, "You're being weird."
He grabbed my backpack and my pants from me, "You're not getting your clothes until you take a shower."
"I'll take one when I get home; what's your problem?" I didn't mind that I sounded pissed off. There was no reason to make a big thing out of it. I tried to grab my pants back, but he wouldn't let them go.238Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuuABzvYkGg
"Do it now."
He was in full mean mode.
I felt so helpless and stupid that I couldn't figure this out. Finally, I gave up and went into the bathroom in just my underwear. At least he let me close the door this time.
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