+Simple Things-Miguel+
THIRD
As conversation picks up, Malia excuses herself to go to the bathroom. Mrs. Kim directs her up the stairs and she jogs up to hurry. She uses the bathroom and washes her hands.
While she's drying them on the paper towel, somebody knocks on the door.
"I'm in here."
"Hurry up."
She rolls her eyes at the sound of Namjoon's voice. Malia unlocks the door and opens it. He's standing in the doorway.
"How are you going to tell me to hurry up and then stand in my way?" She asks and he ignores her question as he looks at her.
"You look good." He licks his lips and her eyes bounce to them as he gently grabs her by the hips. He pulls her closer and her mind kind of pauses.
"You told me that already."
He looks at her lips as she talks.
"Mm hm. Gimmie a kiss." His lips brush hers as she pokes them out for him. Malia's heart flutters when they kiss.
He leans and pecks her neck twice before she goes back downstairs. He watches her as he goes into the bathroom. When she goes back down, she sits on the couch and watches the TV.
Namjoon comes back down shortly after to find Mrs. Ward is in the kitchen. He goes over to get paper towel and Mrs. Ward looks at him. She wets a napkin and hands it to him.
He gives her a curious look.
"Lip gloss." She says and his lips drop to an 'o'. He wipes the gloss off and throws the napkin away. He turns back to her mother.
"I'm sorry."
He's not sure what exactly he's apologizing for. He's not sorry for kissing Malia. He's probably going to do it again at some point. He realizes that it might have seemed disrespectful given the current family friendly setting.
"Don't apologize. Just take care of her while y'all out there. You're young. You make mistakes, you learn from them. Don't mess up twice. I don't know if I'll forgive you for a second time." She gives him a knowing look but a soft one.
She knows. Of course, she knows. She's Malia's mother. Why wouldn't she?
"I'd never hurt her that way again."
Her mother nods and then goes back to her task. Namjoon walks out of the kitchen and goes into the living room. He sits with Malia on the couch putting a little bit of distance between then.
He looks over at her as she watches the TV.
"You're making it obvious. Stop staring at me."
"Your mom just handed me a wet napkin to wipe your gloss off my lips so."
Malia whips her head in his direction. He continues to talk anyway.
"We're caught. I don't think that we can get any more obvious than that."
"Caught? There's nothing to catch. We're friends who kissed a few times." Malia whispers.
"A few? All we did was kiss?"
"Yes. Now shut up." She says through her teeth. Namjoon finds her amusing as always.
"I guess it is considered a kiss regardless of which set of lips it is." He says and she glares at him. He looks back at her and they have a staring contest until a clearing of the throat interrupts them.
They look at the culprit and they both raise an eyebrow at the sight of Hoseok. "Can I talk to you guys?"
Malia's face turns stoic, her amused smirk dropping immediately.
"Yeah. We can go out to the back patio. Come on, Lia." Namjoon calls for her as they walk. He waits for her as she catches up.
They get out to the patio. It's chilly back here so they have to be quick.
"I want to apologize. Mostly to you, Malia." Hoseok says. "I knew what Taehyung was planning to do and didn't stop him. I drove him to the diner to record you and I didn't say anything to warn either of you guys. We both had a lot of shit going on and though that's not an excuse, but I was just trying to fit in and stay there. I didn't even go to the party knowing what his plans were. I couldn't lose everything at once. I wanted to at least keep my friends. Even if they were shitty." Hoseok finishes his apology and Namjoon looks at him.
"So I'm sorry. For playing a part in your humiliation."
Malia nods at him and gives him a small smile.
"I can't say that I accept your apology because I don't know that I do. What you took part in wasn't right. It wasn't fair. But it's in the past so whatever. I'm going inside. It's cold." She turns and walks away.
"It feels good. Maybe if you stop sleeping in hell, you'd be okay in normal temperatures."
"Hell feels great. this isn't regular temperature. It's freezing." She snarks back as she opens the screen door to walk in the house.
Namjoon laughs at her before looking at Hoseok. He looks between the two.
"I see you guys have gotten pretty close, huh?"
"Something like that. We're friends."
Hoseok nods. "She always did really like you."
"Yeah... so I've heard." Namjoon looks at him.
"I'm sorry to you, too. All of that put you in a really fucked up position that I know you didn't want to be a part of. I know you wouldn't have agreed to do anything had you known. Taehyung just wanted to get you away from-."
"It's fine." Namjoon cuts him off. "I'm not the type to grudges so I forgive you. I don't really care that much."
He turns without another word and walks back into the house. He doesn't want to talk about anything from high school. Specifically, senior year, he doesn't want to talk about any of it. He doesn't care anymore. He'd much rather prefer everybody forget his senior year. Everything that he did that year just brings back memories he wish that he didn't have.
Maybe then, he could too.
As he and Hoseok walks into the living room, everybody's parents are hugging each other as they get ready to leave. Malia is being pulled into a hug by Namjoon's mom and right after, Hoseok's mother hugs her.
"It was so good to see you, sweetheart. Stop by again before you leave. You've got a few days left." Mrs. Kim requests.
"Don't worry. She doesn't have much of a choice. I drove her here." Joon says and Malia looks at him with narrowed eyes.
"Oh, you did? I thought she took the bus when I didn't see her car in the driveway." Mr. Ward says and he shakes his head.
"We were going to the same place so we just carpooled. It saves gas and I didn't feel like driving." She covers for herself as she looks at Namjoon.
He doesn't say anything as both of their mothers look between them. Malia's father looks at her and she feels like she's being backed into a corner.
"Seems like a good enough reason to me. If anything happens on the road, he can afford to fix it." Namjoon's mother says. "Isn't that right, Mr. investor?" His mother pinches his cheeks and his face turns red.
"Mom, stop. You're so embarrassing." He swats her hands away as everyone laughs.
He puts his face in his hands and groans. Everyone starts getting ready to leave and Malia is the last one out of the house. Mostly because she's being inconspicuously held back by Namjoon.
He sneaks some pecks to her cheeks in before she goes outside.
"Text me when you get home." He tells her and she agrees to do so.
When she gets back to her room, it's kind of late. She changes into pajamas and texts Namjoon to let him know that she's home. He Facetimes her as she's taking her contacts out and replacing them with her glasses.
"I forget that you have those. I've only seen you in them once."
"It's about to be a lot more. These contacts make my eyes itchy."
"Are they dry?"
"No. I think the solution just irritates my eyes. I've tried like three different brands. It's the same with all of them."
"You might have to deal with being four eyes then."
"Don't play with me. Acting like you don't wear glasses, too. Matter of fact, put yours on since you playing with me."
"No. I haven't worn them in three months."
"Imma hang up on you."
"You can't be serious."
"I am." Malia says before she hangs up.
Namjoon rolls his eyes as he calls her back, taking out his contacts in the process. She answers as he's pulling his eyeglass case from his bag. He puts his glasses on and she immediately starts teasing him.
"Ouuu? look at you. Looking like somebody's father." She laughs and Namjoon ignores her, fighting his smile.
"You look so handsome. Like one of those nerds in the high school movies that end up being hot."
Namjoon raises a brow at her in amusement. "So, you?" He calls her out and she smacks her teeth before hanging up on him. He laughs out loud for a minute before calling her again.
"So it's okay for you to talk about me, but I can't talk about you? That's crazy." He says as he laughs.
"Because you're being a dickhead."
"And you weren't?"
"Man, whatever." Malia jogs down the stairs to go into the freezer. Inside, is a brand new tub of cookie dough ice cream with the seal still on it.
She does a little happy dance as she grabs it out. Her dad is always making sure that she's stocked. She jogs back of the steps and goes into her room.
"What you so smiley for?" Namjoon puts his face in the camera. She shows him the ice cream and he shakes his head. "Should've known. You and this damn ice cream."
Namjoon sits up and turns the game on. Malia hears the beep but ignores it as she watches her show. He starts clicking around to play and her eyes flicker down to her phone.
He's sitting in a chair in nothing put drawstring sweats. His eyes dart around the screen as he plays. Malia forgets about her show for a second watching him. When she remembers, she looks up at the TV.
Her tub of ice cream is half gone by the time she puts it back in the freezer. Her and Namjoon have been on FaceTime for almost two hours. She's tired now.
Namjoon looks at his phone as Malia starts falling asleep. It vibrates and he looks at the message. It's a DM from a girl they went to high school with. He recognizes her from her pictures.
Heard you back in town
You free tonite?
He cringes at the way she spelled it. It's one extra letter. That's all it would have taken to spell it right.
Depends on the reason
Link up?
His eyebrows go up and he debates with himself. He hasn't had sex or relief that wasn't from himself. His eyes flicker to Malia's sleeping face in the corner of his phone.
Nah I'm good
He sends the message and then closes the app out. He silences his phone as he gets into bed. Looking at Malia as he falls asleep, he smiles a little at how cute that she looks.
A|N
+ We're getting close to the juicy changes 🤭🤪