How To Win Your Girl || J.JK

ɴɪɴᴇ

When did it end? All the enjoyment
I'm sad again, don't tell my boyfriend

― ‧ ☽ ‧ ✰ ‧ ―

ADELINE

The whole day goes by pretty quickly, considering the last three periods don't happen due to the students having to prepare everything for tonight. I don't have a game booth to tend to or anything else for that matter. I was only in charge of making a few posters which I already handed over to a couple of my classmates. They asked me to make them since they had a handful of things to take care of themselves and I wasn't about to say no.

Now, I'm sitting behind one of the picnic tables outside, all by myself while people are constantly rushing past me. I feel awkward, so I focus all my attention down to my phone until I notice someone sitting across from me.

I look up, seeing Jimin. He doesn't meet my eyes for a moment, keeping his head low in his hands, so I stay quiet, observing. Suddenly, my heart jolts at the sudden move when he glares.

"What?" He snaps and I gulp heavily, not saying anything. His brows are screwed together, chest heaving.

Shit

When he sees my expression, his eyes soften and he lets out a sigh before dropping his forehead down on the table.

"I'm sorry." He looks up again, exasperated.

"What happened?" I ask, although a side of me screams that it's none of my business.

"Forget it." He brushes me off. "Have you seen any of the guys?"

"Not in a while, but they're probably setting up their game booths."

Jimin nods, and I refrain from saying anything else. He clearly doesn't want to talk to me and I don't want to say anything wrong. If I do and he gets mad, then I'm probably going to be verbally attacked and one thing I absolutely can't do, is come up with great comebacks.

"Hey, I've been looking for you." Joey comes around, disrupting the silence that fell upon us.

"Why?" I ask, seeing patches of dry paint on his hands.

"I could use your help with something." Joey sits down next to Jimin, patting his back. "We need to hang the lanterns up—"

Jimin clicks his tongue and saunters off. "Fuck you and your lanterns."

×

I tie a firm knot on one of the tree branches before looking around. The lanterns are up, hanging down from the ropes and I can't wait to see them later in the evening. 

I slowly get down from the ladder, struggling a little before I manage to pick it up and carry it under my arm. I hold it firmly with both hands and start to make my way across the yard.

I make it halfway, when I suddenly realize it feels lighter. My brows draw together in confusion before I turn my head to look over my shoulder. My eyes land on Jungkook who holds the last part of the ladder with his free hand, while holding a big cardboard box with the other.

"Oh, thanks," I say, suddenly a little panicked, but I manage a small smile.

"No problem. Saw you struggling a little." Jungkook's lips turn upwards, and my hands suddenly get clammy.

Great. He thinks I'm a loser that can't even carry something without help.

My breathing is ragged and I hate that I'm so weak. It wasn't even far and I feel as if I had to run across the field.

We put the ladder against the wall in the janitors closet and go back outside. I close the door behind, trying my hardest to not reveal my rosy cheeks.

"Auxiliary works are shit." Jungkook laughs and I manage a shrug.

"Somebody has to do it," I say. "If you need a poster, I can make it."

I look up at his reaction, putting on a small smile to indicate I'm trying to lighten up the situation.

"Yeah? You'd do that?" He looks down at me while smiling. "Very generous, but we've already got one."

We get to the booth, seeing Taehyung that's setting up the games, not noticing us, and my eyes land on the big poster that's pinned up at the front. It's very colorful and definitely catches people's eyes. I want to make a joke that I'd definitely make a better looking one, but in reality, I couldn't. The one they have is absolutely beautiful and I suddenly start to question my skills, feeling the insecurity creeping up.  "Looks very good."

"Yeah, I tried." Jungkook scratches his neck before setting down the box he's been holding. "Make sure you come around later."

"Will do," I say, soon realizing that the eye contact is making me nervous so I look away for a moment before clearing my throat. "Well, I'll leave you to finish setting things up. I need to see Hoseok now, so...I guess I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, sure." He smirks, making his brows flash up for a second and I turn around, quickly walking off with my cheeks becoming warm.

For the next twenty minutes, I wander around, sparing myself some awkward conversations with asking people if they've seen Hoseok, so I decide to text him instead.

ME: I can't find you

ME: I'm going home to change

ME: Be back later

Suddenly, an incoming call flashes over my screen and I panic for a moment, slightly annoyed that he couldn't just reply to my messages.

"Yeah?"

"I'm playing basketball with Yoongi."

"Oh, okay. I'll probably be back around seven. What about you?" I ask, walking away from everyone else.

"Yeah, same."

"Can you wait for me at the entrance?"

"Will do, but text me just in case," He says. "Gotta go now. Bye."

×

It's a late afternoon when Joey and I enter the school area once again. We occupy the place with the rest of the students and blend in, but my eyes flicker around to find Hoseok who's nowhere to be seen.

Lanterns hang from the trees, lighting up the entire place and I smile to myself a little, seeing I've done at least something right. 

"Hey, man." I hear a voice say and I turn my head just as fast. My hand is secured in Joey's, but he lets it go once Gino and a few others circle around us.

"Hey, Adeline." Gino nods my way and I offer a smile before they fall into a conversation. I stand on the side, not really having much to say because they talk about things I'm not very familiar with. 

A couple of minutes pass, making me get impatient and just as I'm about to tug on Joey's hand to make him follow me, he turns around with a slight grin.

"Hey, I'm going with them. You said Hoseok will meet you here, right?" He nudges my arm, already walking away. "Tell him I said hi."

"Uh... yeah." My words trail off as I stare at their retreating backs, being left alone after getting a promise that he would stay with me the entire time.