Lights Are Missing (PART 1)

2.

"It's 2:50 right now, if we take our usual path we should be done at around 6. Does that sound good to you, Beomgyu?"

I nodded. I didn't care if I was getting home at 10. I was just happy to have them with me. Being around them, as we all got on our bikes, I felt this sense of hierarchy knowing that I was finally hanging out with the so-called 'cool' kids. Maybe I was fangirling a bit much, but when you live such a sad life, any bit of excitement will get you kicking your feet.

We quickly got on our way, blazing by a group of girls who were walking together across the crosswalk. Soobin waved at one of them, causing her to cover her face as her friends started to smack her with their books. I couldn't help but laugh a little at her reaction. I made eye contact with one of the girls. She smiled. I smiled too.

I turned my head back around as he reached a turn, all of us quickly rushing around the corner. In all honesty, I was a bit surprised by their biking skills. I guess I'd never really seen them biking but biking wasn't really something kids did anymore, at least in my neighborhood.

The more I thought about it, maybe bikes were the reason Yeonjun said anything in the first place. I mean, I rode my bike everywhere. I never took a bus, I hardly walked unless I had to and a car took up too much space in our already small driveway. Maybe they'd picked up on the fact that I was a good biker and they wanted to scope me out. It was fine by me, something that we could actually bond over.

I was taking deep, slow breaths. I felt free, the wind blowing through my hair, my face slightly red from the cold spring air brushing against my cheeks and ears. The warm air turned colder the faster you went.

We rolled over the small hill, leading into the town. We got closer and closer to my house. A part of me thought that it would be best to stop by and tell my mom and sister that I was going to be out for a while. I knew neither of them would object. Beomgyu actually hanging out with other people was something from a fairytale.

Taehyun was weaving in and around trees, switching from the road and the sidewalk over and over again. The guys were all laughing and I was too. As we turned another corner, I'd realized we were on my street. We were closing in on my house.

They said this was their usual route, and yet I'd never seen them by my house before. Maybe they just always beat me to my house, or maybe I was too busy putting my bike away to hear them speeding by.

As we went by, my eyes were locked in on the window to my sister's bedroom. I saw her sitting at her desk. I raised my hand to wave, but quickly brought it back down to my handle. She wasn't going to see me. I'd just have to tell her later.

"Slow down." Soobin shouted back to us as we approached a red light. Cars started whizzing by in front of us. We all slowed completely to a stop. I parked my bike right between Kai and Yeonjun. I rubbed the back of my neck, looking over at Kai. He was leaning over his bike, fiddling with the gears or something. Then, I looked over at Yeonjun. He quickly whipped his head around to look at the flower pot that was pushed against the wall of the house we'd parked next to.

He moved his head too fast for me. I couldn't be sure if he was looking at me, or at Kai, or at Soobin, or even up at the sky. I leaned over, all my body weight on my right foot as I elbowed him, "You good?"

His head quickly turned to face mine as he stood up properly, his hand frantically running through his hair to pull the strands stuck to his forehead from the sweat, "Yeah. It's just hot today." His cheeks and ears were a bright red, even the tip of his nose was red. I knew I likely looked the same.

"Yeah. The wind feels good though." As I turned my head back to watch the cars whizzing by, seeing Soobin's nose deep in his phone, I placed my hands on my hips, my legs on either side of the bike.