I quickly rushed to the door and opened it. I was surprised to see a boy with chubby cheeks and a small smirk.
"You Ari," the boy asked.
"Yes, and you are?"
"Your prince, here to save you from a boring life of monotony and meaningless chores."
"Wow," I said, gaping at the forwardness of this weirdly adorable teenage guy.
"What is it princess," the boy said as he leaned against the doorframe, towering over my petite frame. I quickly stepped past him, hiding the hot blush that had spread over my face. He promptly shut your door and followed behind you. You could already see the lights and music of the party as well as a volleyball court with a few people on it. In the distance, a few surfers were riding the waves in the sunset. You glanced up at the boy next to you and realized how soft his features were. His lips were soft and his eyes were so bright and full of humor. He turned and looked into your eyes for a moment. You quickly glanced down.
"I'm Han by the way, IN's friend," the boy said quietly.
"Are you always so forward with women," I turned back to him and joked.
"Only the ones as beautiful as you."
I rolled my eyes and smiled at him as we reached the volleyball net. On the court was IN and a few other boys I couldn't see well in the light.
"Great to see you again," Seugnmin said, walking up with a towel. "Did Han behave?"
"Okay uncalled for," Han said defensively.
Seungmin looked down at me," I am so sorry for anything he did."
I giggled," It's okay, at least he complimented me."
Han flashed a smug grin at Seungmin.
"Even if it was way too cheesy to work."
Han slumped as Seungmin and I giggled at his reaction. All our attention then shifted to the volleyball game. Seungmin explained that IN had been on the volleyball team at school. He loved playing it with friends and at almost every party he would convince someone to play with him.
When we started watching IN's team was up seven points, but the other side was making a comeback. I found myself lost in the game for a while as tensions ran hot. In the end, IN and his partner won by three points.
"I almost had you there," one of the boys he was facing shouted as they all started to head for the towel we were sitting on. All four boys plopped down in front of us, making a little circle.
"Hi, Ari," IN said, sounding out of breath from the game. "These are some of my friends. Chan, Minho, and Changbin."
I looked up surprised at the last boy he had pointed to. "Changbin? Like Changbin who just visited the States?"
He looked at me just as surprised. "Small world."
"Wait, is this the girl you were late for," Minho laughed.
"I made you late," I said, embarrassed for being an inconvenience.
"No, no. I chose to wait with you. If anything I made me late, Minho," Changbin fired back at the boy.
"Whatever you say," Minho said, putting his hands up in surrender.
As I continued talking and getting to know everyone I figured out a few things. First of all, Chan was the guy who owned the house two doors down from me and hosted all their get-togethers. He said I was welcome over any time and I extended the same invitation to all the boys, Han was a little too excited about this fact. Minho and Changbin both were pretty quiet and just listened to me talking with the other boys. I am excited to listen to more music with Changbin now. After about a half hour of just talking, I looked at the sunset. This scene was so perfect, friends, waves, and golden hour. It was like a dream.
Suddenly two boys ran up with surfboards and wetsuits yelling about something. I couldn't tell exactly what they said, but Han and Minho got up and started sprinting after them.
"I guess that's my cue, I'll go get the drinks," Chan said standing up.
"I'll go with you," I offered, standing and following him to his house.
"Wanna play some volleyball," IN asks Seungmin. The boy nods and the two start for the court.
"You guys seem really close," I commented as we reached his porch.
"Yeah, we all went to school together so they all feel like my brothers more than anything."
"Do you guys have a lot of parties?"
"I try to have them over as often as I can," he explained while opening up the fridge. "I just want them all to know that there's a safe place for them, no judgment where they can be themselves. And that applies to you too now."
I smiled at him as I hopped up on his counter. "Thank you."
He turned and looked at me, standing right in front of me. His eyes were so kind and understanding, at this moment I trusted him completely. For a second I could see all the lines in his brows from when he spent way too long worrying, focusing on what could be in that moment made me feel hopeful. I slid off the counter, getting dangerously close to him. He looked down at me, not taking his eyes off me. I saw movement in the corner of my eye and his hand lifting towards my waist.
The sound of the door opening shifted my focus. Quickly Chan's hand grabbed one of the water bottles from the counter as he awkwardly coughed. Felix and Changbin walked through the door, shouting Chan's name.
"Channieeee," Changbin called out in a jokingly cute voice. "Oh, there you are. Hyunjin scraped his foot on something and needs a bandaid."
"I'll be right back," Chan said, looking at me and then walking towards the hallway.
I looked up at Changbin and asked," Did you see how the volleyball game was going?"
"So far, IN has hit Seungmin in the face at least twice," Felix interrupted. "Sorry, I didn't introduce myself earlier by the way. I was a little preoccupied with an aggressive game of tag."
"Completely understandable," I laughed. "Did you also go to school with IN?"
"Hyunjin and I both did, Chan, Changbin, and Han were all a year above us so they moved in here together," Felix answered, slowly moving from his place near Changbin towards me.
"How has your first day been," Changbin asked absentmindedly, checking his phone quickly.
"Pretty fun, but I do want to go take a swim," I said thoughtfully.
"I can take you down to the water," Felix offered, picking up a water bottle and standing next to me, leaning his back against the counter.
"We should probably wait for Bangchan," Changbin suggested.
"What are you waiting for," Chan said as he walked back into the room with a couple of bandaids in hand.
"Wanna go for a swim," I asked, wondering what Chan would wear swimming. So far he had just been wearing a t-shirt and joggers, but the thought of seeing him in the water with everyone made my face go red.
"Sure, but we should probably bring some towels out too. Felix, can you and Ari take these waters out to the others? Changbin and I will grab some towels," Chan said, handing the bandaids to Felix.
"Sounds good to me," Felix said tossing his water bottle in his hands and then offering one to me. We grabbed all of the bottles quickly and walked back out to the beach. After setting everything down, Felix offered the bandaids to Hyunjin who was sitting with his foot propped up on his surfboard. After whining about how bad his cut hurt he finally put on the bandaid.
Chan and Changbin came out with the towels and all the boys started taking off their shirts. I walked back over to the towel I had been sitting at with Seungmin and took mine off after most of the boys had already gone in the water. I walked towards the waves and enjoyed the feeling of the cold water. I was only knee-deep as I felt the warm night air blow across my stomach and back. I was thankful I was wearing a bikini that complimented my body type as I sunk deeper into the water. A small wave hit me as I moved a little deeper making me yelp at the cold water.
"It's not that cold," I heard Changbin say, coming up behind me. He was shivering.
I sighed, he reminded me of my older brother in a way. Biggest manly man on the outside, but a total softy on the inside. "If you say so Changbin."
We both laughed a little as we kept moving forward. As I started treading water and heading to where the other boys were, Changbin started to get a little closer. Almost everyone was in a little circle now swimming around and talking. I looked over but didn't see Chan anywhere. I spun my body around, but couldn't find him. As I started to give up I felt arms snake around my thighs, hands gripping them and holding tight as I was lifted out of the water on Chan's shoulders. I was laughing so hard I nearly fell off.
"CHICKEN FIGHT," IN shouted as he jumped on Seungmin's back. The next few hours were full of splashing, wrestling, and fighting for first place. Chan and I lasted through IN, Felix, and Seungmin, but lost to Changbin. We all laughed and played along until we were exhausted. Around midnight everyone tapped out and decided to head back to the house.
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Author's note:
Thank you all for the reads! I'll try to keep updating daily.
As of right now the story should have about a dozen parts, but I am also debating making different endings or telling different stories with these same characters. What do you guys think?