ALWAYS SMILE CAFE (GirlxGirl Romance)

Chapter 12. So what shall it be? I'm in a bit of a bind

"Hello?"

She barely managed to answer in incoherent string of mumbles.

"Seungyeon-eonnie, are you awake?"

Of course I'm awake now. You made me answer a phone call. "Kora?"

"Good you're awake," Nicole replied. "Let's go drinking."

Seungyeon opened her eyes a bit to check the time. "It's barely after 2am. Let's do this tomorrow night." She closed her eyes again and snuggled on her pillow while making a small effort not to drop her phone from her ear.

"C'mon eonnie. I need my drinking buddy. I'm already here."

"Where?"

"I'm parked in front of your mansion tower."

"What?" That bit of information blew her sleepiness away. "What are you doing here? Are you insane?"

"I think I might have gone insane." 

"Okay, wait for me." Seungyeon changed into more appropriate clothing and went outside. Nicole's Range Rover was easy to spot. She opened the door and climbed onto the passenger seat. The street lamp overhead provided enough ambient light inside.

Nicole reached into the backseat and handed her a cold can of beer which she carefully opened and took a sip from. She then saw two empty cans of beer on the dashboard. She looked back to see three cartons of six packs in the backseat; four cans already taken. How long has Nicole been sitting here?

"Eonnie," Nicole softly said.

"Hmm?"

Nicole turned to her passenger. "When you," she stopped suddenly as though forgetting her lines from a script and trying to remember. "How did you," again stopping mid-sentence. She seemed to give up whatever she was going to say and with a heavy sigh leaned back in her seat. She stared forward in silence, gulping down her beer.

"You can speak in English if you can't express it in Korean," Seungyeon suggested. She handed Nicole another can of beer. Maybe getting inebriated would help too.

Nicole audibly sighed. "It's not that," she said in Korean. After that, she chugged her newly opened beer in silence. 

Seungyeon patiently waited while drinking her own beer and helping herself to another. She turned her head to face Nicole as she heard her speak.

"It was Gyuri-eonnie's play today," Nicole finally broke her silence; her voice soft as though coming from a dream, her eyes staring ahead, and a half smile on her lips. "How she shone when the light first beamed on her! Red looks good on her, really good." She sighed again, less of a burdened sigh like earlier but more of a wistful one.