f r i e n d s || mark lee

o n e

"Are you even listening?!?"

"Of course I am"

"So what was the last thing I said?"

"Really Mark? You don't trust me??"

This is how our conversations typically went, as my best friend and I rode the C train downtown to make it to our 1pm class.

"Melanie I know you're not paying attention I can see your headphones"

shit

Typically I wear my bluetooth headphones hoping that he won't notice. Since I was feeling generous on this fall afternoon I decided to take them off and actually focus on Mark.

"Okay now you have my full undivided attention"

"Alright, so last night I stayed up really late and began writing more raps. I think I was finally able to make a full song!"

"So rap for me!! Do you need me to beatbox? Because I will." I say as I begin to imitate what I believe beatboxing sounds like, when in actuality I sounded like a wheezing donkey. Causing Mark to laugh and clap like a seal hysterically at my childish antics.

"I'm being serious Melanie!" He says while still trying to regain his breath.

Once we both regathered ourselves we got off at our stop and begin to walk towards 32nd Street. Moving from Canada to New York City has been such a culture shock. Mark and I basically grew up together, so when we found out that we both got accepted into the same University we were ecstatic. He's my best friend, he was there for me during my parent's divorce, my first heartbreak and so much more. And on top of all of that his personality is so sweet he's truly one in a million.

Now we're sophomores in college and sadly only have one class together but we always make time for one another.

As we walked into our class we took our normal seats in the back. Since this is a cinematography class, we just watch cult classics and have seminars that are worth 25% of our grade. Most of the movies we watch are interesting, but having seats in the back give us the chance to sneak a nap in during this three hour course.

Once our professor started the movie and turned off all the lights, Mark began writing in his notebook and then slid it over to me once he was done

You see the blonde sitting a few rows ahead of us?

At first I scrunched my eyebrows together confused at the relevance of this question. Nonetheless I peaked ahead of me and notice a dirty-blonde sitting towards the middle of the class

Are you talking about Hallie?

I slid the notebook back subtly that way our professor did not notice. As Mark began to read my response he rolled his eyes as he began to write his rebuttal.

No the guy babo

Once he gave me back his notebook I proceeded to roll my eyes harder than he previously did, while looking across the room to find the blonde boy that Mark is talking about. My eyes landed on one of my acquaintances, Lucas. I met him earlier this year right before summer break started. Granted all of our encounters have been kept to a minimum, I'm still very intrigued by him and his bright personality. He always led seminars and as he spoke no one dared to speak over him or even interrupt. When he spoke, the room became so quiet that you could hear a pen drop. At first glance he seemed very intense, but after three seconds he would crack his enchanting smile causing many girls in our class to fall for him. Including myself. Nevertheless I was too timid to ever strike up a conversation with him by my lonesome, afraid that I would be too mundane to compete with his vivid personality.

That's Lucas, why?

Without hesitation Mark jotted down his response quickly

He keeps glancing at you every time you look down

As I read Mark's note, I felt myself blushing. After rereading his response for what seemed like 50 times, I closed his notebook quietly making sure not to disturb the class and handed it back to Mark while whispering. "No way, he's probably glancing at the clock that's behind us babo"

Mark just rolled his eyes and actually began to focus on the film that our class was watching. As I slid back in my seat daydreaming about going home and laying comfortably in my true love, my bed.

-

Once the movie ended our teacher turned the lights back on causing most of the class including myself to wake up and prepare to hear our assignment for the week.

"As you all know I usually let you guys pick your own partners, but I think that it would be the most beneficial to assign groups for this film analysis"

you've got to be kidding me

Mark and I glanced at each other already dreading whoever we would be partnered up with.

"I assigned your groups alphabetically, and I already posted it on our class' website if you guys want to check it out right now"

For a second Mark and myself felt a tad bit of relief considering the fact that our names were Mark & Melanie.

"Hopefully it's alphabetical by first names", Mark whispered to me as he search for this class in his MacBook's bookmarks.

I continued to search quietly on my phone, making my way down the list until I saw one of our names.

Johnny Seo & Melanie Seo

Although I was disappointed that it was not by first names, I was relieved that it was still one of my friends. Johnny, Mark, and I have been friends since last school year due to our similar childhoods and interests. Once Johnny saw that we were matched, her turned around and gave me a air high five. As we laughed Mark just sighed.

"What's wrong? Don't like who you got?" I said mockingly

"He didn't use Lee, he used my full surname"

"Which is?"

"Hyung, meaning that I got paired with Lucas Huang"

Well this should be an interesting week.

____________________________

Hey guys just to answer a few questions that may have risen:

Melanie Seo is the main character, no she's not based on any idol or celebrity. When imagining her, it's very vague because I want this story to feel more inclusive. I imagine her being half Korean and half anything else. I'm not sure if that makes sense but I hope you guys understand lol.

Secondly this is a Mark fanfic, but Lucas plays a big role in the beginning of this story.

Babo  = Silly

I'm still deciding if I should write from Mark's perspective.

But that's all and I hope you guys enjoyed!