Eleanor & Park Chapter 45 Summary

Park

Park is home with his mom and Eleanor—his dad's out hunting, and his brother is at a friend's house. His mom suggests they go get pizza, and then tells Park that maybe he and Eleanor should just go get pizza. From there, things progress to his mom suggesting they grab dinner and a movie.
Eleanor and Park are stunned, but his mom says she never gets the house to herself; Park decides not to mention that she's actually in the house alone all day.
Eleanor's mom gives them money and car keys, and fixes Eleanor's hair. "Park probably help me do your hair on wedding day" (45.25), his mom says. Well, then.
They get in the car, and Eleanor requests that they get out of the neighborhood, and avoid driving past the Rail, Richie's favored watering hole. Once they get out of the neighborhood, Park realizes he has no idea where to go.

Eleanor wants to go to Inspiration Point, "which, as far as she knew, only existed on Happy Days." She swoons over Park's driving skills—she doesn't even have her learner's permit, and what's more, her mom isn't even allowed to drive. (Another stunning detail about her mom's relationship with Richie.)
She asks Park if they can just "go somewhere and be together" (45.59).

Park decides to take Eleanor downtown, to show her his favorite record stores. She hasn't really been anyplace in downtown Omaha at all, and he takes her to his favorite pizza place, ice cream place, and comic book shop.
It's a proper date.

Park holds Eleanor's hand all night. The girl working at the record store can't believe it; clearly she likes Park. They walk around downtown, which Eleanor's never seen—she loves it, and had no idea Omaha was so nice.

They end up sitting in Omaha's Central Park. Park tells her they should keep doing this—going out together—and Eleanor agrees.
Then Park says they should go to prom, and though Eleanor initially asserts that prom is lame, she finally agrees to go with him next year, joking about Park learning to drive a stick shift before then, which is a sore spot for Park and his dad.

Eleanor thinks prom's never going to happen, mostly because it would be a miracle to sneak it past her mom. And then she thinks about trying to get money for a dress, she realizes she'd spend it on a lot of other things first… but then realizes she'd actually just give it to her mom.

Eleanor not only agrees to go to prom next year, but jokingly adds the Oscars and any other "balls" they're invited to.
They start talking about Park's looks—Eleanor thinks Park's incredibly good-looking, but Park admits, "Nobody thinks Asian guys are hot […] not here, anyway" (45.122).
Park points out that there aren't any "super-hot" Asian male celebrities, not even in a show like M*A*S*H, which is set in Korea.
Eleanor tells him she doesn't understand what it means that he's Korean: "I don't know if I'm thinking you're cute because you're Korean, but I don't think it's in spite of it. I just know that I think you're cute" (45.141).
Park says he doesn't know what it means to be Korean either. Eleanor asks if it matters, and Park says, "I think so. Because it's the number one thing people use to identify me. It's my main thing" (45.150).
Eleanor disagrees, though; she thinks Park's main thing is that he's cute.

When they get back to Park's car, Park realizes it's not as late as they thought... "It was just that kind of night […] Every time she thought about kissing him, he was already closing his eyes" (45.158).
Before he starts the car, things just… happen. They accidentally honk the horn, and Park asks her if they should get in the back seat.
She doesn't even answer, just slides into the back of the car, Park landing on top of her.

Park can't believe Eleanor feels so good.
Right before Eleanor pulls her shirt off, she tells him: Bruce Lee, naming a hot Asian guy for him.