"I did tell you it was a bad idea." Seulgi tells me the next day as the three of us are walking into Berry's Ice Cream shop. After Seulgi collected us, Irene said she was wanting Ice Cream before we went for the 'road trip', as she called it.
"That you did." I agree, pushing the door open and walking into the shop.
"Maybe everyone should accept I know best?" Seulgi asks teasingly to us both, knowing that we were likely to keep doing what we want even if she didn't think it was a good idea.
"Maybe we should," Irene starts.
"But we likely won't." I finish, both of us laughing. Seulgi merely rolls her eyes at us before ordering all of our usuals.
The shop itself wasn't very big so the moment I turned with my ice cream to follow Irene to our usual table by the window, I notice her.
Lisa and Jisoo were sitting at a table in the middle, both with empty tubs of ice cream in front of them. Neither of them seemed to have noticed me as they were both deep in conversation about something.
I turn my head away and follow Irene, with Seulgi trailing behind. We all sit down and Irene pulls a map from her bag, unfolding it so it took up most of the table.
"So where to?" She asks, running a finger along the map. I watch Seulgi and her argue over where to go for five minutes before they both settle on some coastal route.
"It takes like an hour to get to the coast, so we will definitely need to stop for supplies," I say.
"Definitely." Irene agrees, looking towards Seulgi.
"Do you two ever think of anything other than food?" She asks, making us all laugh because we all knew that the answer was no.
"Plus coffee," Irene adds before looking back to the map.
"Do you mind if I...?" Seulgi asks after a minute, using her head towards Jisoo and Lisa.
"No, of course not," I tell her smiling. She goes to get up yet Irene grabs her arm, pulling her towards her so she could whisper something in her ear. I raise my eyebrows at her when she walks towards them.
"What?" She asks innocently.
"What are you planning?" I ask, glancing towards the table. Seulgi has pulled a chair over and is sitting talking to them about something.
"Nothing." She says, yet I don't believe her. "I'm going to google what there is to do on that drive." She says, getting her phone out and bringing a list of tourist activities. She holds the phone between us, allowing me to share the screen with her as she scrolls through them.
"Look, I have heard about this. It's supposed to be really pretty." She says pointing to some castle. I tap the castle, making the screen fill with pictures. I had never heard of the castle before, yet I admit it does look nice.
"Where is it?" I ask, looking back to the map. I grab my bag from the floor, bringing a pen out and marking the costal route on the map, along with how to get there. Irene searches the map after trying to find it.
I let my eyes glance towards the other table to find Jisoo looking at me as well. However, she doesn't look annoyed, which surprises me. She instead looked curious, at what I don't know.
"It's there," Irene says, getting me to move my eyes away from Jisoo and towards the map again. I notice her pointing to a road that was close to the costal route. I take my pen and put a circle around it, so we wouldn't loose it.
"There," I say, sitting back up.
"We should probably go soon if we are to get it done." She tells me, starting to fold the map up again.
"Ready?" Seulgi asks, coming to stand at our table. I notice behind her Jisoo and Lisa walking towards the door.
"Yeah, let's go," Irene says, looking at me with a small smile. I narrow my eyes at her.
I grab my bag again before standing and pushing my chair in and following her out to the car.
Before I get a chance to put my seatbelt on, the doors on either side of me in the back seat open. On one side Lisa gets into the car, on the other Jisoo.
"Move over," Jisoo says, getting me to move over to the middle seat. I notice Irene glance at me with a massive smile on her face. This is what she was planing. She got Seulgi to invite them along.
"Seat belt, pumpkin," Jisoo whispers in my ear, getting my elbow in her side. I do what she says anyway and put my seatbelt on.
"Jennie, did you bring the CD?" Irene asks as we are leaving the car park.
"No, not that CD! Anything else, I am begging you!" Seulgi begs, getting Irene and me to laugh at her. I reach for my bag, having to lean over Jisoo to get it.
"Which CD?" Lisa asks, looking at me. This close up I can honestly see how attractive she is and why Rosé likes her so much.
"The greatest road trip songs," I tell her, seeing a look of confusion come over her face.
"It doesn't sound bad when you say it like that, Jennie," Seulgi says.
"Because it isn't bad," I tell her, opening my bag and pulling the CD out before leaning over Jisoo again to put my bag back on the floor.
"Here," I say, giving it to Irene. She takes it and goes to put it in the CD player.
"I regret allowing you to come now, Jennie." Seulgi mumbles.
"She would have put the CD on regardless," I say, laughing.
"I would have only had to argue about that CD with one of you though. When there are two of you there isn't even a point in trying to argue." She mumbles, pulling onto the main road.
"Exactly, glad to know that you know you would loose." Irene joins in, making us both laugh.
"What is wrong with this CD?" Jisoo asks, leaning into me slightly.
"Just wait," Seulgi replies, in a tone suggesting she had already had enough of it. Irene presses a button and we hear the music start through the speakers. Irene and I had found this CD at some charity shop and had played it on every road trip we have had since.
It is pretty old, but all the classics were on it. Seulgi had been on every road trip with us since I got my licence so she has had to listen to this CD on repeat forever.
"Doesn't sound that bad," Lisa comments after the first song finishes.
"Wait until you have to listen to it on repeat sixty times," Seulgi tells her.
"You loved this CD the first time we played it," I tell Seulgi.
"Yes and then you all made me listen to it every time we went on one of these drives." She complains.
"How many times is that?" Lisa asks Seulgi.
"No idea, too many to count."
"Jennie, I, Mino, Seulgi and Yeri make sure to have one of these trips every holiday, and then during summer we went nearly every week," Irene adds.
"Really?" Lisa asks, her eyebrows raising in surprise.
"Yeah, Jennie drove, I was in charge of music, Mino was in charge of map reading, Yeri distributed snacks and Seulgi complained about my music choice." She looks back at me, giving a smile, which I return.
"Yeah Seulgi, you messed up the system. You can't drive and complain about the music." I tell her, jokingly, getting her to roll her eyes at me.
"Since we swapped, are you going to complain?" Seulgi asks me. I just sing a line of the song that was on, indicating that I was not.
"Stop here," Irene says, pointing to a shop at the side of the road.
"Anyone got any requests?" Irene asks as we come to a stop outside the shop.
"My normal." Seulgi comments. The three of us look towards the two girls in the back seat.
"Coke?" Lisa asks, unsure.
"Jisoo?" Irene asks. I reach for my bag again and unbuckle my seatbelt.
"Whatever, I don't mind." She says, looking over to me.
"Are you going to let me out?" I ask her when I see a smirk take over her face.
"No."
"Are you seriously trying to piss off the person who is going to get food?" I ask, unbelievingly. She merely raises her eyebrows at me. I turn to Lisa about to ask if she would let me out, yet Jisoo obviously knowing what I was going to do, grabs my arm, pulling me back in her direction.
She rolls her eyes before opening the door allowing me out.
"You really are annoying," I comment, walking past her and joining Irene at the front of the car.
When standing in the sweet aisle, I hold the basket, while Irene throws packets in. I notice the pack of sweets that Jisoo always has when we are watching a movie. I grab the packet throwing it into the basket, getting raised eyebrows from Irene, who notices the new sweets.
After that, we grab some cold drinks and two coffees from the coffee machine before going to the till.
On our way back out, I carry the bag, both of us sipping on our coffee.
Jisoo doesn't argue this time but gets out before I even reach the door, and allows me in. Once in, I set the sweets and my bag at my feet. By this time Jisoo has her seatbelt on, making me hold my coffee out to her.
"Will you hold that for a second?" I ask, watching as she takes the cup, our fingers brushing, making a tingle go up my arm.
"Thanks," I say once I have my seatbelt on, taking the cup back. Jisoo doesn't drop her hand to her lap where it was before but places her hand on my thigh. I have to move my arms slightly to make room for the new angle of her arm.
"Who is going to be the map reader?" Irene asks, pulling it out of her bag.
"Not me," I call.
"Me neither," Jisoo says after me. We both look over at Lisa to see her looking like she had been left behind.
I take the map out of Irene's outstretched hand and put it on Lisa's lap. She looks from it to me.
"Really regret agreeing to come." She mumbles, getting me to laugh slightly.
"Too late now, you are officially the map reader," I tell her, giving her a smile.
"Can we not just use google maps?" She asks, getting all our heads to snap to her.
"Newbie," Irene mumbles, yet says it loud enough for us all to hear.
"Just go with it." Jisoo says giving my thigh a squeeze. Lisa just gives out a sigh and unfolds the map without another protest.
I intertwine my hand with Jisoo's, placing them both on the top of my thigh. As soon as I've placed both our hands on my thigh, she squeezes my hand.
We spend the next hour and half making our way to the castle, Lisa being pretty good at giving directions. It is the first time we get to a destination without having to turn at least twice. I am surprised by how easy it all was. There was no awkwardness amongst us and everyone is getting along.
I have never really got the chance to talk to Lisa before, as she was so close to Jisoo and I normally would have tried and ignored anyone who was close with her. However, I find she is actually pretty funny and not what I thought she would be like.
"The car park should be on the right." Lisa says, glancing from the map to the road again. She is actually taking that job pretty seriously.
We pull up into the car park and start pilling out. I stop as soon as I am standing at the boot of the car. Irene comes to stand beside me, us both looking up at the castle.
"Whoa." I say, talking in the massive castle at the top of the hill.
"Yeah, whoa." Irene mumbles from beside me.
"Whose idea was this?" Seulgi asks, talking in the size of the hill up to the castle. I have to admit it does look pretty far.
"Irene's." I say, still trying to get over how big the castle is. Lowering my gaze I see loads of people roaming about the car park, some finished their walk, others just beginning.
I notice Irene beside me, raise her camera up to the castle, taking a picture. As soon as it is taken she takes a few steps forward before turning back and taking a quick picture of the rest of us before we have time to react.
"Let's go." She says, walking towards the castle. We all start following, Seulgi taking a few quick steps to catch up to her. Lisa, Jisoo and I start making our way up behind them.
"Have you been here before?" Lisa asks as we step onto the path.
"No, Irene refuses to go to the same place twice on these trips. She says she doesn't want to get the same photos over and over again." I tell her.
"She seems pretty attached to that camera." She comments, looking up at her. I follow her gaze to see Irene taking pictures of everything, including us.
"Yeah, Rosé and her took a photography course together last year. Neither of them go anywhere without a camera now." I say.
"Rosé does photography?" She asks.
"Yeah. That's what she wants to do at university." I say, not sure how much to say.
"Really?"
"Yeah, she didn't mention it?" I ask, surprised that she hadn't brought it up.
"No. She just mentioned that you two were thinking of going to university together."
"Yeah, we applied to the same ones. She applied for photography though. I applied for law." I tell her, aware of Jisoo listening to the conversation.
"Law? Really?" She asks.
"Yeah. What are you applying for?" I ask, changing the attention away from me, walking around a rock that was on the path.
"Geography." She replies.
"See giving you that map was good practice for you." I tell her jokingly. She laughed slightly at that.
"Jennie!" I hear Irene shout from ahead. I raise my gaze to see her half way up, waving her hands.
"Yeah?" I shout back, pausing in my step.
"Nine?" She shouts getting me to smile.
"Potential ten." I reply, giving her a thumbs up.
"Always the optimist." She says before turning back to walking up the hill.
"Do I want to know?" Jisoo asks from between Lisa and I. I look over at her to see her looking back at me. I start walking again.
"We rate these destinations out of ten on how much we like it. We have never got a ten before. The highest was a nine. We pick these places on how likely it is to be a ten. Half way there we say what we think but don't make our decision until we see it all." I explain, nearly slipping.
"What makes it a ten?" She asks, curiously, grabbing my hand to stop me falling.
"Somewhere that takes your breath away." I say simply, noticing she hasn't let go of my hand, meaning we are walking hand in hand now.
"You have never seen anywhere that takes your breath away?" She asks. I immediately think of the viewpoint that she took me to, remembering how I mentally rated it a ten. I wonder if that was what she was thinking about as well.
"It's Irene and I's thing, we rate these places together if I say ten and she says eight then we compromise and it gets an overall nine." I say, dodging the question.
She doesn't reply, the three of us walking in silence for a minute or two. Up ahead I notice Irene and Seulgi walking hand in hand as well, yet walking a lot closer than Jisoo and I who had a good two feet between us.
After a minute I see that they have reached the top. They both pause looking around them before Irene turns back, a massive smile on her face.
"Hurry up, you have to see this," She exclaims, lifting her camera and taking several pictures. I quicken my pace slightly, making Jisoo quicken hers as well.
Walking up beside Irene I pause as well, not believing my eyes. Looking one way you could see out into the ocean, where the water was glistening, while in the other direction you could see miles and miles of land.
"Ten?" I suggest, knowing before she answers that we had finally found our ten.
"Ten." She agrees. We all stand there looking at the view for a minute or two, no one wanting to take their eyes off the view.
I squeeze Jisoo's hand slightly, leaning my head on her shoulder, not taking my eyes off of the view. I feel her lean her own head against mine.
"Here take a photo of us." Irene tells me, handing the camera over to me before pulling Seulgi in front of us. I lift the camera to my eye and take a picture of them, smiling to myself, noticing how cute and happy they look.
"Now Jennie, I want one with you," She exclaims, waving me over. I hand the camera to Seulgi and walk over to Irene. She wraps her arm around my shoulder, at the same time I do the same to her.
Looking to the camera I notice them standing there looking at us, however, my eyes are immediately drawn to Jisoo's. She is standing with her hands in her pockets and looking at me with a look I can't read from this distance.
"Smile," Seulgi tells us, making my gaze move to the camera and a smile take over my face. She presses the button before lowering the camera. Irene makes a move towards them, yet holds up a hand when I go to follow.
I watch her move back to Seulgi, taking the camera from her and then pushes Jisoo towards me. I feel my eyes widen as I watch her walk towards me. She smirks at my expression.
"Come on sweetheart, where did that smile go?" She asks standing beside me.
"I told you to stop calling me those nicknames." I tell her, turning back to Irene. She stands looking at us for a second, taking in the foot between us.
"I think you secretly like them." Jisoo responses, also facing the camera.
"Then you think wrong." I state, watching as Irene mumbles something to Seulgi, who rolls her eyes. Lisa is standing smirking at us like she knew something.
"You two ready?" Irene asks, the camera still up against her eye.
I smile towards the camera. I feel Jisoo move closer and wrap her arm around my waist pulling me into her side. I look up at her, noticing the smirk still on her face.
"I know you can't take your eyes off me, but I think Irene will come over here and force your face towards the camera if it means getting this photo." She tells me, glancing down at me.
"Big-head." I tell her, rolling my eyes yet move my glance towards the camera. I wrap my arm around her as well, feeling her muscles tense under my touch.
I see Irene press the button on the camera. She then turns to a woman in her mid-thirties that is walking by and says something to her, pointing to us.
"What is she doing?" Jisoo asks, neither of us letting go of the other.
"Group photo time." I tell her, watching as she hands her camera to the woman before dragging Seulgi and Lisa over to us.
Lisa stands beside Jisoo, while Irene comes and stands beside me, with Seulgi on her other side. Irene and I link arms, allowing me to keep my other arm around Jisoo.
"Say cheese." Irene says, making us all smile towards the camera.
"Now I definitely feel like a fifth wheel." Lisa mumbles to Jisoo in a whisper, making me think I wasn't supposed to hear her. I loosen my arm from Jisoo and turn back to the view, making her drop her arm as well.
I don't hear Jisoo's response, yet a minute later she is standing behind me, her arms wrapped around me and her chin resting on the top of my head.
"You can see for miles." She comments. I don't respond straight away making her pull me closer to her, making me relax and lean against her.
"This is nice." I say, placing my arms over hers. I feel her chuckle slightly from behind me.
"Yes, it is." She agrees, a smile in her voice.
"Are you laughing at me?" I ask, twisting around so we were chest to chest.
"Would I?" She asks, not even trying to hide her amusement. I don't answer, just roll my eyes at her.
I can see the amusement in her eyes as she looks down at me. I shake my head slightly at her, a smile overtaking my face.
"You're so mean." I laugh, pressing my face into her top.
"I didn't say anything," She chuckles.
"You didn't need to." I tell her, raising my head again. She just laughs again, leaning down and placing a small kiss on my lips.
"Why did you leave?" She asks, pulling back slightly. I look back up to her, looking for the annoyance that I have expected since I left last night, yet all I see is curiosity and... hurt?
"Your parents were going to be there soon." I reply, not wanting to tell her the real reason.
"Why didn't you waken me?" She asks, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.
"I should have. I'm sorry." I tell her, looking into her eyes. I see her scan my face, looking for something.
"Forgiven." She mumbles, her eyes dropping to my lips.
"Thought you would have made me work for it." I say, surprised she forgave me so quickly.
"I'm in a forgiving mood." She tells me, not taking her eyes off my lips, making me subconsciously lick them. Just as I reach up to pull her towards me I hear my name.
I look over to see Seulgi, Irene and Lisa at the castle gates, waiting on us. I step back from Jisoo, forgetting where we were. She drops her arms from me and both of us walk towards the others, neither of us ushering a word the whole way.
"Apparently the castle has been in ruins for over a hundred years." Irene tells me as we walk into what I assume is the courtyard.
We spend the next half an hour walking around, Irene taking more photos, mostly of the view but some of me and her and some of her and Seulgi, yet she doesn't ask for another of Jisoo and I, which I'm slightly grateful of as I feel tension between us since the last one.
Once back in the car, we all sit back in our seats, tired from all the walking. I am sure my legs are near to falling off.
The hour and a half's drive back is pretty quiet, everyone too tired to talk. I rest my head on Jisoo's shoulder, napping for the majority of the journey.
"Jennie, wake up." I hear Jisoo say, nudging me slightly.
I sit up and rub my eyes, realising that we were parked outside 'Grub', the fast food restaurant that we normally come to on our way back from a road trip. I realise that everyone, except Jisoo and, I were already out of the car.
"How long was I asleep?" I ask, my voice sounding a little groggy. I see her smile at me when she hears the tiredness in my voice.
"Twenty minutes or so." She tells me, not moving to get out of the car, watching as I lift my hand to cover a yawn.
"Where is everyone?" I ask, looking at the empty seats around us.
"Standing outside, come on we better get out." She says, pulling the lever on the door and taking a step out, holding the door so I can follow. I notice the rest of them standing beside of the car, waiting on us.
"Why this place again?" Lisa asks as we all walk in, turning towards a booth at the back.
"Another tradition," Seulgi replies, not giving further explanation. Irene and I both slip into opposite sides of the booth, Jisoo sitting beside me, Seulgi beside Irene and Lisa sitting at the end of the table on a chair. The moment Jisoo is seated beside me her hand once again settles on my thigh, making me feel a smile present itself on my lips.
"Hello, welcome to Grub's, what drinks can I get you?" The waitress asks, standing beside Lisa with a pencil and notepad in her hand.
As soon as she walks off, I grab the menus from the end of the table, putting one between Irene and Seulgi, another one in front of Lisa and one in front of Jisoo and I.
I notice Seulgi, Irene and myself glancing quickly the menu to see if there was anything new before all sitting back, already knowing what to order.
"Let me guess you order the same thing here every time?" Jisoo asks, not glancing up from the menu, yet I feel her hand squeeze my thigh.
"Yeah, pretty much." I tell her, laughing slightly that she realised.
"So, what is it?" She asks, glancing up at me before sitting back in her seat slightly, pushing the menu towards me. I smile before flipping the menu over and pointing to the burger I always get.
She leans forward again, reading what I was pointing to.
"You think this is the best thing on the menu?"
"I can guarantee that it is one of the best burgers you will ever have." I tell her confidently.
"Really? That good?" She asks sitting back again, looking at me.
"Do you doubt me?" I ask, raising my eyebrows in a challenging manner. She just gives me a small smile and shaking her head ever so slightly.
"Here we go." The waitress says walking back with our drinks. "What would everyone like?" She asks once her notepad was back in her hand.
I smile to myself when Jisoo orders the same as me, making me place my own hand on her thigh, giving a small squeeze before placing it on top of hers.
Like the rest of the day, the conversation flows easily between us all, us laughing throughout the dinner.
"You were right. That was good." Jisoo says once she has finished the burger. I give her a triumphant smile, suggesting she shouldn't have doubted me.
"Told you." I say, smirking. She rolls her eyes at me before taking a drink. I look down at her hand on my thigh when she looks away, taking in how we have gotten closer since we sat down, our thighs now pressed against each other. I realise that this whole time I haven't even notice the distance being reduced, whether is was her or me that moved, I have no idea. The only thing I know is that having her this close makes me feel overwhelmed .
I take a deep breath, trying to forget that this was going to end soon and that we could never be together properly. This was all I was going to get: secret kisses, sneaking around and far out destinations where no would recognise us.
Feeling eyes on me, I look up to see Irene watching me with a knowing look, giving me a small sad smile. I reflect the smile before turning back to the conversation between them and interlocking my hand with Jisoo's, trying to get as much as I can before it ends.
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We finally got a date for Rosé's solo! can't wait! Remember to stream and support her when the day comes 🤩🤩