You didn't exactly offer to use your grandfather's minivan to drive into the city, but the second Nara and Gyuvin both looked at you with pleading eyes, asking you if Ricky could drive your granddad's minivan, you gave in.
After just getting home from the ice cream parlor, you were practically on your knees begging your grandparents for permission to use it. They both glared at you, and then exchanged knowing looks with each other. "And if I let you kids use my car, what will you promise me?" your grandfather quizzes, fingers rubbing his chin in contemplation.
"This is a big deal, Y/n," your grandma adds on, "we have met all of them, and they're all good kids but this is another level of trust! Are you sure Ricky will be able to handle it?"
Truthfully, you have never seen Ricky drive; you have never been in a car with him, even (you literally met just this week!). But you really badly wanted to go to the fair, and if it required you to be a little rebellious and exaggerate the truth a bit, you would do it.
"I'm sure he'll be able to." Your hands push together into a prayer position, "Please, please, please! We won't fit in his car and nobody else knows how to drive."
Your grandfather simply nods in his wife's way and before you know it, you're calling them and relaying the good news. Best of all: you didn't need to lie through your teeth for your grandparents' approval.
Seungeon joins the call first-- he's cooking something in the background and you can hear the oil sizzle. "So, did they say yes?"
Ricky follows, turning on his camera and you see the ice cream shop wall in the background, but he's not in uniform. "I'm a really good driver, Y/n, I promise."
"He's really responsible," Gunwook piles on as he enters the call. You don't miss how his voice falters when he says, "... Kind of."
Nara joins in next, seemingly back at the country club. "It doesn't matter if he's responsible, he's the only one that can drive!"
"Ouch," Ricky mutters.
Gyuvin and Eunah are presently together and answer from her phone. When you get a close look, they're in someone's living room. "Ricky, you're a good driver, don't listen to her," Gyuvin consoles. Eunah defends him too, "Be thankful Seungeon or Gyuvin aren't driving us."
Yujin is in his bedroom when he accepts the call, sitting with his back against the headboard of his bed frame, his arm folded behind his neck with his head resting on it as a cushion. "I think Gyuvin-hyung is a good driver."
They all (except for Yujin) go into a chorus of different opinions on Gyuvin's driving and since the start of the phone call, you haven't gotten one word in.
It puts into perspective how much longer they've been friends with each other than with you. And don't get it wrong, you weren't jealous; you didn't expect to be attached at the hip after, what, like two weeks of knowing some of them, but you were essentially an outsider. You silently wished not to feel left out when you hang out more in the future.
Their debate goes on for the next couple of minutes until Gyuvin notices you're not participating in the conversation. "Guys, shut up about my driving, please," a sigh escapes him, "Y/n started the call to say something!"
"Right." Gunwook pauses whatever he was gonna say about his distrust of Gyuvin's driving and lets you talk. "What were you gonna say, Y/n?"
"Yeah, so..." You finally speak up, "My grandparents are going to let us use their car tomorrow."
"Oh, good!" Nara grins. "I'm so excited to go, I haven't been to a fair since... last year?" she attempts to recall, "I went with Yujin last time too, I think."
Yujin says something after being muted with his camera off for the past five minutes. His tone sounds like he's just remembered what Nara is talking about, audio partly muffled. "Mhm, yeah, that small fair by the boardwalk." It sounds like he's trying to brush it off.
Gyuvin dramatically pats his palm on the space on his chest above his heart, "And you both didn't invite me?" He gasps, "You met because of me in the first place!"
Nara and Yujin both ignore what whines come from between Gyuvin's lips, opting to listen to Ricky when he brings up another topic. "What are the plans for tomorrow?"
"Oh! I just remembered," Gunwook chimes in, snapping his fingers in realisation, "Junhyeon said there's a bonfire tomorrow night at the beach, if you all wanna come with me."
You've never gone to a bonfire before. Honestly, you're not even really sure what people do at one. Isn't it just fire? How is that entertaining at all?
But you suppose everyone else would have already been to one. They live near the beach, for god's sake-- you would be surprised if they hadn't. You, however, weren't a big fan of the beach; the saltwater, the junk floating in the ocean, the hermit crabs, the sand getting in the cracks among your toes... the beach is gross.
"I'll go," Seungeon announces. The rest of them concur with him, each saying they're free to join Gunwook at the bonfire, but you're still hesitant. You'll probably be tired after all the rides at the fair, and not to mention, it'd be pretty late too; how would you get home?
"Y/n?" Eunah's voice interrupts your train of thought, "How about you?"
You have no choice but to say no. You don't like the beach, and why would you subject yourself to watching a fire for the entire night? What is the fire even gonna do? What would you even do there? And if you did want to go, it'd be late when you go home-- it wouldn't be safe for you to walk back alone at night. "I think I won't go this time, sorry."
"That's okay," Nara says, "you don't need to apologise!"
You can see Yujin furrow his brows through the shitty facetime quality. "Y/n, are you sure you don't wanna go?"
It sounds like he wants you to go with them, but that can't be it. Why would he want you to go with him when he has Nara? They went to the fair together last year, so...
The word 'no' rests on the tip of your tongue; are you a hundred percent sure you didn't wanna spend more time with them? With Yujin, nonetheless-- you were just thinking about wanting to get closer to them, anyway, right?
Nope. Even if he does want you to go, all the reasons why you didn't will still exist; you attempt to convince yourself not to give in again (like you did with Nara and Gyuvin and the minivan) by imagining everything you hate about the beach.
"Yeah, I'll pass."
By the time everyone arrives, it's twenty minutes past the time you all agreed to leave.
Ricky's in the driver's seat, with Seungeon next to him; Nara, Gyuvin, and Eunah are in the middle row, and you, Gunwook and Yujin are together at the back.
The original plan was to meet up at your house at eleven. You'd then have to stay in the car for forty-five minutes, assuming there's no traffic and Ricky drives well, and only after that excruciating three-fourths of an hour would you finally get to the fair.
This is seriously the only event you've been looking forward to this week; with work, and being overwhelmed and tired all of the time. Not to mention, the customers were highly demanding, too-- but maybe that's just how people are when they grow up with access to unlimited funds.
You're stuck in between Gunwook and Yujin, uncomfortably shuffling in your seat. How come this was your grandfather's car, and you still had to be scrunched up like this? You should have called dibs on the passenger seat, in hindsight.
It isn't all that bad though. They're considerate and you enjoy talking to them. Additionally, aside from Yujin, Gunwook was probably who you felt most... normal with? You're not sure if that makes sense. You weren't that close with him yet, but he was only two years older (the age gap with Gyuvin was three), and he was extroverted and funny. Although you were close to Nara, and she's sweet (She visited you at work these past few days! Who would do that for someone she hasn't known for a full month?), she has a whole aura to her that still intimidates you to some extent.
So sitting in between Yujin and Gunwook was likely best case scenario for you, now that you think about it; childhood friend on your left and newfound friend who was not that much older and comfortable to talk to on your right... it's a good arrangement.
But you were quite literally suffocated. Two teenage boys occupying the seats next to you in the back row of a cramped minivan as you sit in the middle seat-- how was this going to work?
Conversation-wise, you had no problem being next to them, but physically... you barely had any space to move.
Your grandfather finishes his mini-lecture dedicated to Ricky on how to operate his precious car smoothly, and he knocks twice on the window as he says goodbye. The glass doesn't do much to withhold sound from entering from the outside, so--although nearly incoherent--you hear your grandpa tell you all to have fun. He specifically calls out for Yujin, "Make sure she doesn't hurt herself?"
Yujin abides by an infinitesimal nod, a mischievous grin playing on his lips as he looks at you, as if he's saying: Hah, your grandfather thinks you still need someone to take care of you. "I will," he assures. His smile is so big and you can't tell whether if it's because he's teasing you or... something else. Would it be delusional to say that he looks kind of happy?
"Yeah, Yujin," Gunwook mocks, "make sure to take care of Y/n here."
The younger responds with a light chuckle, keeping eye contact with you and the ends of his lips are still upturned-- for what? "I already said I would," he retorts. He focuses his gaze onto his fingers and the ring he'd been fiddling with since you piled into the car.
If you hadn't glanced at him, maybe you wouldn't have seen how he had yet to stop smiling even five minutes later-- but then again, it felt like your eyes were always on Yujin. You just hope he doesn't notice how much you stare.
"Okay, so," Gyuvin begins to speak after everyone has exited the car. Forty-five minutes passed by in the blink of an eye--probably because you fell asleep on Gunwook's shoulder for the remaining twenty--and at last, you arrived.
The crowd is larger than you thought it'd be, and you could easily foresee yourself getting lost. In the case that you got lost, though, you'd probably survive because Gyuvin is just too tall to blend into a crowd. "Should we break into pairs?" he suggests.
None of you in the group present are that stupid; it's glaringly obvious he wants to split up into two's to spend time with Eunah. But no one refuses his suggestion, and suddenly everyone is clinging to who they want to go on rides with for the rest of the day.
Gyuvin automatically stands next to Eunah, linking his hands with hers; Nara hitches herself onto Seungeon, hugging him from the back with her arms around his neck. "I'll go with Seungeon," she says, "I bet he'd scream so much, it would be so funny."
"I won't scream, watch me," the aforementioned replies, scoffing.
There was the thought that Yujin was going to sit with you, as he volunteered to do so last week, but you're not entirely sure that will follow through. Gyuvin said he was going to sit with Gunwook, but he was now set on Eunah; Ricky and Seungeon were supposed to sit together but Nara has decided that it'd be funny to see the latter scream on a ride.
So... if the pairs you talked about last week are now nullified, how could you be so sure that Yujin still wants to sit with you? You could ask Ricky if he wanted to sit with you as well, but you've talked to Gunwook more.
You're about to approach him when the blond boy intercepts, putting his arm over Gunwook's shoulder. They need no words to confirm that they'll be with each other for the rest of the day, it seems-- Ricky simply asks him, "What ride do you wanna do first?" and they're off.
Everyone is starting to leave in pairs. It sort of disappoints you because the initial plan was to all walk around together but go on the rides in pairs, but you can't do anything about it. You and Yujin are the only ones left; you guess he really meant it when he offered to sit with you.
He taps you on the shoulder, tilting his head to the side and smiling softly. "Let's go?"
You look over to see him looking at you intently, and you can practically see every detail of each of his features. Yujin has pretty eyes--and you knew that--but the fact that he was staring back at you like this, with his hair falling gently on his forehead when a gust of wind blows and his eyelashes fluttering when he blinks... you never realised how pretty he really was until now.
What are you thinking? This is Yujin; the same Yujin who was absolutely insufferable when you were children (strangely enough though, you had the biggest crush on him when you were younger).
You immediately turn away, clearing your throat. "Yeah."
--
HELLOOOOOO this was originally one whole chapter bur if I made it one whole chapter it would be 6k words long and I think even I'd get tired of reading that....... so double update today!!!
anyway look. The urge to say pookie whenever I see yujin is CRAZY