The Boy From The Bridge - Jakehoon

Chapter 17: The Importance of Mixers 5/7

"It's all about mixers" Jungkook answered. Jake had been explaining the quandary that Sunghoon and he were having over having to act drunk in the play. they didn't know how. While Jungkook accused Jake of being stupid for wanting to deliberately get drunk at a high school party in order to further his acting, he tried to offer some friendly advise. Friendly BAD advise, but advise nonetheless.

"What are mixers?" Jake asked naively. "Mixers are the things that make alcohol taste nice, so you might use something like lemonade or soda - something sweet. You're in High School so now's the only time you can get away with drinking a vodka lemonade..." A knock on the door interrupted Jungkook and prompted a lazy bark from Artemis who was lying upside down getting petted by Jake. The petting was ended when Jungkook gestured for Jake to answer the door as they both knew who was knocking.

Opening the door, Jake greeted Sunghoon with a "woah". Sunghoon was dressed to impress, a blue bomber jack sat lightly over a horizontal striped t shirt. "You look... good" Jake said, taking in the glow up from the school or casual wear he was used to seeing Sunghoon in. The comment made Sunghoon blush, "you look nice too" he said, although the fact that he knew Jake had no intention of wearing his current clothes to the party made it a touch more flirtatious than either were comfortable with - this in turn made Jake blush.

Jake released a laugh in an effort to ease the tension, "I need to get ready!" He declared and skipped off to his room leaving Sunghoon with Jungkook and Artemis. Sunghoon closed the door behind him to avoid any of his conversation being heard by his family in the apartment across the hall. 

"So, uh, how's school?" Jungkook asked tentatively to try and build a conversation with the teenager stood awkwardly in his apartment. "It's uh, good I suppose - I'm looking forward to it ending though, going into the real world" Sunghoon replied.

"Ah, don't say that - you'll regret growing up too quickly, enjoy your youth, you only get one. It's the last time when it's fun not knowing who you are"

"What do you mean?" Sunghoon asked, genuinely curious at the aside.

"You go through life learning that there are more and more things you don't know about yourself. When I think about it, it was fun, those early stages of learning stuff about oneself. However there comes a point when the more you learn the less certain you become, it's more of a surprise rather than an expectation"

"An expectation like what - I should expect to find out new things about myself?" Sunghoon queried with noticeable interest.

Jungkook raised an eyebrow at the development of Sunghoon's mood, forcing him into a smile, "Yup. Expect to make discoveries. Judging by your reaction I'd wager you're going through some 'stuff'" he finished his sentence gesturing quotation marks.

"Yeah, I guess you could say tha..."

"What are you two talking about?" Jake asked as he walked back into the room, dressed in a brown oversized shirt over his white T and black jeans, he gave off a cool and calm vibe.

"Just school stuff" Jungkook answered for them both, "Now - do you know where you're going?"

Jake showed Jungkook the address on his phone. Jungkook told them to take their best bet was bus, he also impressed upon them three rules: 'don't be creepy, don't let other people be creepy and look after one-another'.

"We probably could have walked" Sunghoon said to Jake as the pair arrived at the street of the address with ample daylight lighting it. The bus journey had been brief, some 25 minutes in total. The neighbourhood was more suburban, houses with an above average quantity of greenery.