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jieun almost found herself canceling on the girls last minute, but by the time just minutes before the time came, it was too late to decide on if she wanted to go or not. she forced a smile as she approached nayoungs car, where three girls were already inside. she quickly assumed the other two were lily and jinseon.
she and minhee squeezed into the backseat of the girl with shoulder-length hair, where she invitingly moved to the side as much as she possibly could. nayoungs car looked really expensive, and the inside matched her personality perfectly, with the pink seat covers on both the driver's and passengers' seats, the wheel both pink and bedazzled. jieun found it insane how much she played into the stereotypical mean girl persona.
"guys, this is lily and jinseon, this is jieun and minhee." the girl introduced the two separate pairs of friends to each other, the two in the back now knowing the girl they sat with as ginseng. lily seemed to pay no mind to the two, but jinseon smiled a friendly smile and gave polite handshakes to them.
the car ride was no more than 15 minutes, the entire time minhee and jieun kept a quiet side conversation, while the other three girls conversed loudly over the already loud music that was playing. the pair couldn't find themselves randomly jumping into whatever it was they chatted about, so they stayed to themselves until they finally pulled up to a restaurant.
nayoung mindlessly parked her car, stepping out excitedly while the other four followed. jieun noticed the awful parking job, but didn't say anything, but then lily spoke up. "i seriously don't know how you got your license."
she said, nayoung sucking her teeth and rolling her eyes. "shut up. parking may not be my strong suit, but i can drive."
no, it was definitely not your strong suit, nayoung.
jieun and minhee exchanged glances to each other, hardly able to maintain their laughs when they broke out into laughter quietly behind the three girls that were already making their way into the restaurant. though they may have felt unbelievably awkward around them, they couldn't keep their jokes to themselves.
the five of them walked inside together, nayoung telling the woman who greeted them as soon as they walked in that she was there for her reservation and was not hesitant to be brought to a table. they sat in a circle together, being handed menus instantly before the woman walked away.
"i haven't celebrated my birthday in years," she beamed, looking seemingly excited to finally get to celebrate her birthday with her friends. neither lily nor jinseon said a word to her as they engaged in their own conversation, minhee and jieun watching nayoungs face dropping slightly at being ignored.
"thank you for inviting us!" minhee exclaimed, placing a friendly hand on her shoulder.
nayoung looked back up, showing a smile. "of course. i'm happy we're getting closer."
that's how pretty much the entire night went. lily and jinseon were constantly laughing, chatting, completely disregarding the other three to the point where jieun started to think they forgot they were even there. nayoung walked into this looking so excited, but by the end of the night, she'd hardly said a word to anyone. the best friend duo tried to hold conversations with her, but it quickly got awkward as they shared almost nothing in common and couldn't find more things to talk about.
jieun was starting to feel bad for all the things she thought about nayoung. she thought it was weird and fake how she remained friends with people who she didn't like, but in reality, she just considered them her best friends and couldn't bring herself to cut them off.
jieun said goodbye to the four as she'd gotten dropped off at home. although the night didn't go as planned, she was happy to be home before the time jisung wanted to go to the movie theater. she may have too excitedly pulled out her phone, texting him that she made it back in time and she was ready when he was.
she didn't know that he was laying in bed, waiting specifically for her to tell him that she was available and that when her name appeared on his phone, his heart dropped straight to the bottom of his stomach. he quickly texted her that he'd be on his way, and immediately shoved his shoes on and ran out the door. the boy spent a good hour convincing his dad to let him drive his car, as he'd recently gotten his driver's license and wanted to especially have the honor of picking jieun up.
he wanted it to be a date but didn't think she was comfortable with that just yet and didn't want their first date to be the movies, but he was almost treating it as if so. he wiped his sweaty hands over his jeans, standing just outside of jieuns door, giving it three knocks. she'd told him to just text her when he was here, so when she opened the door to see him standing on the other side, it was a pleasant surprise.
his lips instantly went upwards into a smile at the sight of her, her eyebrows slightly perked up in shock. "hi." she greeted.
"hi. are you ready?"
all jieun could do was nod, her words suddenly stuck in her throat. after coming to terms with her feelings, she found herself having trouble acting normal around him. at least, she thought she was. jisung could hardly notice anything different about her behavior whenever they were together. he didn't know that her heart beat a little faster than usual, she felt heat creep up to her ears at even the smallest gestures, that she kept her hands hidden so he couldn't see that she was trembling.
well—that was until this very moment. he found himself subconsciously grabbing onto her hand to guide her to his car, and the second he felt that they were shaking, even the tiniest bit, he looked at her in worry.
"oh, are you okay?" he asked, stopping in his tracks.
jieun quickly shook her head. "i'm fine! it's just a little cold." she was not cold, as there was just the slightest wind.
jisung felt himself relax that he hadn't made her nervous and reassured her that the car was already warm. they got inside and drove off. it was a quiet, yet oddly comfortable ride, with just the sound of faint music playing. jisung kept his hands gripped on the wheel at all times, for some reason feeling too nervous to drive completely comfortably like he usually did.
"so what are we seeing?" jieun asked amidst the silence.
"no way home?" the boy replied, more asking than telling.
jieun gasped, "yes! i wanted to see that so bad."
"i was actually supposed to see it with elijah and chenle, so don't tell them," he laughed, jieun nodded and pretended to zip her lips shut.
they'd finally pulled up to the movie theater, the two of them stepping out once jisung parked the car. as they walked in together, he badly wanted to grab her hand again, and hold it properly, but decided against it as he didn't want to cross any boundaries.
they quickly grabbed popcorn and drinks, and jieun was practically skipping into the dim movie theater excitedly, passing the people that had already been inside.
jisung couldn't stop himself from chuckling lightly at how cute she looked doing so, the two of them finding their seats and sitting down with no trouble. all around there were already many people seated, as expected for a movie so highly anticipated.
"you still cold?" the boy asked, ready to hang over his zip up.
"nope," jieun replied, lifting her hand to him to show she wasn't trembling anymore. it was more a shock to herself than him. "see?"
he laughed, his eyes squeezing shut cutely. "good." he then thought for a moment, hesitating. "can i hold your hand? for—you know... in case you get cold again...?"
a smile crept onto jieuns face at the request, her heart skipping a beat at the way he softly suggested such a bold offer. bold to them, at least. she found herself remaining in eye contact with him as she nodded, and jisung didn't waste another second as he put his hand in hers, their fingers locking together like a puzzle piece.
she reverted her eyes to the trailers displaying on the screen ahead, a blush creeping onto her face. jisung was insanely nervous to have been holding her hand but didn't regret asking, because even though it was a very small gesture, he loved getting to hold her hand.
