slow down ➳ 이희승

𖥻 chapter four

"a date it is."

꒰🏁꒱

"he what?" "he that!"

"what a creep." nora comments and spits on the ground, eyeing heeseung from afar. the said man is chattering with connor maxwill, nora's fellow racer from america, texas.

"one moment he's being all rude to you, and next thing you know, he's asking you out. how toxic... i wonder what his sign is." she takes a moment to guess. "oh~ libra?"

"doesn't matter, he's an asshole either way." the brunette deadpans, tapping her fingers on her thumb one by one. nora notices and takes a hold of her hand, squeezing it the slightest. "you are nervous." "no i'm not."

"it's okay." nora reassures, patting her shoulder & leaning back on ava's car with her hands shoved in the pockets of her jacket. her brows frown as she eyes the two males across from them again. "what's with him being with maxwill anyway."

"hanging out with the sexist rat, lee?" she yells, immediately catching the attention of both men. connor scoffs, raising his middle finger at her while heeseung remains neutral, looking at the girls with narrowed eyes.

"did you wash your dishes, slut?" "no need mate, your brother did it for me. you should wash your car instead. caught some dirt after my queen beat you last night."

ava whistles and bumps their fists, beckoning for her to leave. the girls turn around & walk away, with her throwing a last look at the male duo behind them. heeseung is still staring at them, but his eyes hold something different ─ is it pity? maybe plead?

"never let them looks deceive you." nora leans closer to her & whispers. "if he was a good one, he wouldn't be near him in the first place." ava nods, brows furrowed as her lips stretch in a weird way, as if disgusted.

"aaand why are you telling me this?"

nora stops walking, fixing her jacket and shoving her hands in her pockets, lips drawn in a lopsided smile.

"because you fancy him?"

ava stops on her track as well, looking at her best friend like it's the first time they meet.

"I what? look, I love you, but at times you say the stupidest of shit & just ─ no." she crosses her arms, shifting her gaze to the ground as she walks away. nora smacks her lips, puckering them as she nods. "if you say so."

"but there's clearly tension between you two." "yeah? cause we hate each other." the curly haired shakes her head & grins. "I mean sexual tension, ava."

"nora... SHUT IT!"

꒰🏁꒱

"hey."

ava lifts her head up, meeting jake's puppy-like gaze. the girl's left alone in her garage, reading through a sports car magazine when the boy comes in.

"uhh... hi?" she greets, confused as to why would jake sim ─ one of the top racers and heeseung's friend ─ be in her pitstop one fine afternoon. "how can I help?"

jake purses his lips, knuckles cracking and lips wet from running his tongue over them. "I'm here to... apologize for my friend's behavior last week."

oh?

"is that so?" she laughs it off, putting the magazine atop the hood of her car as she walks up to him. "is he the one who sent you here? how pathetic."

"I actually came here by myself." jake spells & takes a breath through gritted teeth, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he rocks back and forth. "since he won't do it himself."

"what he did at the interview was extremely rude and unmotivating for you as a rookie." he starts and leans on the table beside him. "sometimes, heeseung can get ahead of his head & be so full of himself."

"tch, no shit." ava comments & stands beside him, mirroring him. "but... he can be nice when he wants to. and he indeed admires you. I remember the day you enrolled, he wouldn't shut up about how good you actually are."

oh...

oh?

"the math ain't mathing."

jake raises a brow. "what?" "this bitch could have answered the question last week, yet chose to wave it off and be rude. how admiring-ava-yoon of his."

"but─" "you know what? I appreciate it lots that you took some time of your day & came to apologize on his behalf but it's not the same as him doing so. he could have done so two days ago, when he came by nora's pitstop."

"but you mocked him."

"how─" "he told me. I mean, I was the one who sent him in the first place."

he sent him?

"so he wouldn't mean it whether he did apologize or not!" ava's furious by now, looking at jake in utter disbelief. the blond pushes his bottom lip out & nods, spreading his arms as of saying 'you're right'.

she scoffs. "you males are so fucked up." she hisses & jake chuckles. "yup. we indeed are fucked up." he agrees. her jaw falls slack.

"uhh... you're not supposed to agree." "well I agree." he shrugs & she laughs, smiling at the australian boy who oh so abruptly came to make her boring afternoon a tad bit more interesting.

"you know sim, we haven't properly got the chance to talk in those few... weeks? I kind of regret not being the one to reach out first." she blurts out, and she's glad to see him shaking his head in agreement.

"well, I did the honor and reached out first." he bites his bottom lip & tries to suppress another smile. ava chuckles & pushes herself off the table. "well... let's hang out sometime, hmm?"

"really?" he exclaims like an excited kid and she barely keeps herself from chuckling at his childlike behavior. "yeah. we can go grab a coffee & talk about whatever, aside from heeseung and how shitty males can be."

jake's smile grows bigger, cheekbones glowing a soft pink. unbeknownst her, her lips stretch in a smile that reaches his own's width. "so, it's a date?"

she sighs. "a date it is." she grins & he jolts ─ almost jumping in excitement. "okay... okay. how about tomorrow? pick you up at six? seven? nine? let's go on a restaurant instead of a cafe!"

"I thought we agreed on grabbing a coffee?" she questions with a snicker & jake yelps. "but it's a date." he says in a whisper & ava laughs. "oh~ right. nine is fine with me."

"nice. may I save my number on your phone?" he extends his palm and she nods while handing him the device. he hastily taps down his number and gives it back with a wink.

"you're such a flirt." "I've been told." he boasts with a shy smile & waves at her while exiting the garage. "see you tomorrow... future ace!" "wait, what?" "bye~"

ava chuckles, watching the blond boy walk away with a spring on his step. "dumbass." she says under her breath and turns around, scooping the sports car magazine & sitting back down on the chair.

well, this took some unexpected turn. and no one's complaining.