THIRD
The dance team walks out for the halftime performance and their coaches stand on the sidelines.
Malia notices that people seem to be a little confused at what they're looking at. It adds to her growing anxiety.
Usually, the basketball goes to the locker for pep talks, water, whatever they need. Not this time. They're standing, sitting or kneeling on the sidelines to watch their dancers.
The music starts and they dance their hearts out.
The crowd cheers for them and so do the boys and their coaches. Tyrell and Jay mimic the moves that they really like.
When the girls start bucking, Midas, Hakeem and Joon stand there equally in awe.
"Oh my god. Camryn so fucking fine!"
The guys laugh at Midas's outburst as they continue to watch the girl dance.
Namjoon is watching Malia as she moves. A ghost of a smile on his face as he watches her expressions.
So much attitude. She's doing a fantastic job, he doesn't understand what she was so nervous for. She's incredible.
She always has been.
As the girls finish, he cheers for them just as loud as everybody else. They walk back to the locker rooms and the guys follow them with 4 minutes left of their break.
"Now why y'all stood there knowing y'all was supposed to come back here?" Tajia asks out of breath.
"We can't watch y'all now?" Tyrell presses her and she screw faces him.
"I ain't say that. Y'all don't got TVs in there?"
"It looks better in person. I don't want to see y'all through a screen." Jay argues.
"We are fully invested at this point. We watched y'all practice before the season even started." Namjoon adds.
"I don't care what they're saying. I automatically deserve to see it in person. I made the mix. I don't care about nothing y'all saying right now. I got DJ privileges." Midas says as he walks by them to fill his water bottle.
The guys start smacking him with their towels and he laughs as they jostle him around.
Malia watches all of her new friends interact with one another with a small smile on her face. She still feels weird about all of this.
The guys go in their locker room and the girls fill their water bottles before sitting back on the bleachers. For the rest of the game, they watch the boys play.
Malia's eyes bounce to everybody on the court but going back to Namjoon. She doesn't like the hold he seems to have on her.
She hates him. She's said it countless times.
She needs to get over herself.
The buzzer to signal the end of the game sounds as Namjoon takes the shot.
Ending on a high note, Georgia Tech wins their first game of the season 64-62. The bleachers roar and the girls stand up to scream for them.
He made their winning shot.
They mix in with the crowd to hug them all. That's not really a scene that Malia is into. Coming out of her shell or not, she does not like being touched by strangers.
She stands back as the guys come out. Tyrell and Midas run toward her, smiling and sweaty. Before she has time to run, they engulf her in a hug.
"Ew. You guys stink! Get off me~." They laugh as they squeeze her.
"Is that how you congratulate us? Woooow. That's crazy, LiaLia." Jay says as he joins the hug.
"I swear, I'm going to throw up if you don't move." She says and the men remove themselves from her.
"Ulch. Now I have to shower for double the time to get your stench off me." She wipes the sweat of her arm.
"You're so dramatic." Hakeem says as he nudges her.
"And you're all assholes." She grumbles and everybody laughs as they walk out of the venue.
"Aye, you know what? This deserves a proper celebration." Tyrell says suddenly. He stands on the bench outside and yells for the crowd to hear him. "Party at the frat house!!"
The students of the crowd cheer loudly and Malia has to cover her ears. It's worse out here than in here and she doesn't know how that's possible.
The group dispersed after making plans to meet at the frat house. Malia wasn't even aware of the fraternities nor that they were apart of one. Although, then again looking at all of them, it doesn't surprise her in the slightest.
Her and Chloe get back to their suite around the same time. She tells Malia how much she loved the dance team's performance and their song choice.
"Thank you. Midas made the mix for us so I'll tell him you said that."
"Oh, he did a really good job. Speaking of, you're coming to the party, right?"
Malia hesitates in response. She swallows thickly as she plasters on a small smile.
"No. Parties aren't really my thing. Tried it once, not a fan. I prefer peace and quiet."
"You're going to go your whole college experience without a party? How will you ever survive? Those are the stress relievers. I mean, sex is a good one, too. But parties?" She dramatically puts her hand on her chest.
"Honey, you're missing out." She says as she walks down her hallway.
"I seriously doubt that." Malia mumbles to herself as she walks to her room.
She gathers her towels and toiletry basket to take a shower. When she gets out, Chloe is leaving and tells her to 'have a good night'.
She's learned that that's code for she's probably not coming back to the suite that night.
As Malia sits on the couch scrolling through Hulu to pick a show to watch, there's a knock on the suite door.
Did Chloe forget her key? She kicks the blanket from her legs and gets up to open the door.
Standing there with cookies and cream ice cream in his hands is Namjoon.
"I got your favorite."
"What are you doing here? You have a party to attend. And I thought that I told you to leave me alone." Malia looks him up and down.
"I want to apologize. Officially. I never got the chance to before." He says and his tone softens as he watches her eyebrows twitch and the corners of her mouth turn downward.
"And I just want you to leave me alone."
"I'm not going to until you let me apologize. It doesn't matter how much you ignore the situation, Lia. It still happened. And you're clearly still affected by it if your entire dance team is out celebrating while you're going to eat this ice cream out of the tub and watch depressing movies about romances that end in tragedy."
"...okay." Malia deadpans as she pushes the door. Walking away, she rolls her eyes as she hears him step in.
She decides to just hear his apology so he can leave her be. That's all it's gonna take, right? He wants to properly apologize and then he'll be out of her hair.
Even if she is just going to tell him to shove it as soon as he's done speaking.
Namjoon puts the ice cream in the freezer and she stands by the couch, tapping her foot.
"Well? I'm waiting."
"Can you come sit down? I have a lot to say."
"No, actually. I want you to speak and leave." She crosses her arms. "I deserve my apology and you're going to give it. So spill." She scowls.
Namjoon sighs but knows that she isn't going to budge. It's written all over her face.
"I didn't know that Taehyung was going to do that at the party that night. I really did want you to be there for me. I really was going to show up to the diner. I thought that if that night went well, that if both of those nights went well, you'd never have to know about the bet and we could... take things from there. I didn't think Taehyung was capable of doing something so cruel."
Malia scoffs. "He's your friend. Your best friend. How did you not know? Are character and personality not solidifying factors to you?"
"Yes, they are. And I know a lot about Taehyung. I know practically everything about him. He's just-. There was a lot of shit going on and he-." He inhales deeply before sighing. "Look. I'm not here to make excuses for him or defend anything that he did. He was wrong, regardless. No matter what the reason, he was wrong. If it makes you feel any better, we're not even friends anymore. We got into a fight that night and I haven't spoken to him since."
"You ruined my senior year for a bet. How original of you." She scoffs. "How much was it worth?"
"Don't say it like that."
"Say it like what? I don't think you understand just how much you fucked me over, Namjoon." Her voice becomes stern in tone.
"I know you didn't go to graduation, Malia. I was there. And I'm sorry. Genuinely, I am. If I could go back, I'd do things over. I just don't want you to hate me. I want us to be able to forget it."
"I don't care. You don't get to say sorry and just wash yourself of your sins. Your sorry doesn't give me my senior year back. Your sorry doesn't give me my graduation ceremony back. Your apology doesn't change the fact that I have to question and dodge any romantic advance from people because you wanted to be an asshole."
"I didn't want to be an asshole, Malia. There were outstanding circumstances that led to the things that happened. You really don't understand." He watches her features as she tries not to cry.
"I can't go back and change anything. If I could, believe me, I would have done it already. But I can be better now. I know that I don't deserve your friendship or even the acceptance of my apology but I apologize, Malia. I'm sorry for ruining your senior year. I'm sorry for ruining your graduation ceremony. And I'm sorry for putting you in the position to be embarrassed like that."
Malia doesn't say anything to him. She just stands there staring at him. She has nothing else to say to him. There's nothing else that she wants to hear from him.
After several beats of silence, Namjoon's hands drop to his sides. Reading the look on her face, he realizes that there's nothing else that he can say in this moment to make it any better.
She's only be listening because he's still standing there.
Accepting it for what it is, he takes his leave. He makes sure that the door closes behind him before heading back to his own suite.
Malia grabs her blanket from the couch and takes the ice cream out of the freezer. She goes into her room and sniffles quietly while she eats.
Maybe she was wrong.
Ignoring the fact that it happened wasn't helping.
Maybe she isn't really over it at all.