"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Yuuto was mumbling to Aeri as Jimin and Minjeong reached the bottom of the bleachers. "You can think whatever you want. I still think they only let you on because you're my sister."
"Bullshit," Aeri exclaimed, sounding like she was very excited. "You don't even really think that - I can tell!"
Yuuto rolled his eyes, clearly not able to be outright mean to his sister, and instead let his eyes fall on the two girls who had just arrived. "Hey, you guys."
"Hey," Jimin and Minjeong greeted simultaneously.
"Jimin's joining us on our girl's night, Aeri," Minjeong said. Jimin smiled at the brunette, whose face lit up.
"Awesome!" she exclaimed. "The more the merrier! I've gotta get changed and showered real fast and then we can meet Ning at the restaurant. Can you text her, Min, while I get ready?"
"Sure," Minjeong agreed, retrieving her phone from her pocket as Aeri turned away and rushed toward the locker rooms with the rest of the teenagers - aside from Yuuto, who lingered, clearly not in a rush.
He spoke, but addressed Jimin directly, rather than both Jimin and Minjeong. "How are you, Jimin?"
The dark-haired smiled and shrugged. "I'm alright."
"How are things with Jeno?" he wondered.
"Not good, but I can't really help that right now. Thanks for asking, though," Jimin said, not really sure what else she was supposed to say in response.
Yuuto smiled. "Don't worry about it. At least you're getting out and not moping about it. That's the worst, especially when it's over someone that important to you."
Yuuto seemed like a caring guy, but Jimin couldn't help but feel like he was pushing it slightly, and that made her a little uncomfortable. The dark-haired just nodded, and offered a weak, "Yeah," in response. Yuuto smiled again.
"I should probably go get rinsed off. I'll see you tomorrow, right?" Yuuto asked. Jimin nodded.
"Definitely. See you, Yuuto," she returned, a bit relieved that he was leaving. Yuuto smiled and nodded to her, before finally looking back at Minjeong, who had long since put her phone down and been standing there silently.
"See you tomorrow, Minjeong," he offered, almost as an afterthought, and then he turned and headed to the locker rooms.
Jimin looked back to the copper-haired, who looked slightly put off by the entire exchange.
"You okay?" the dark-haired girl asked.
"Fine," Minjeong answered. "Yuuto and I just don't always get on so well."
"Really?" Jimin asked, tilting her head slightly.
Minjeong shook her head. "Ning and Aeri tend to be the closest to me in the friend group. To be fair, though, Yuuto made a move on me when I first joined the group, and I rejected him in a not so pleasant way at the time. I've since apologized, but boys are naturally harder to accept rejection I think."
Jimin raised her eyebrows, slightly surprised that Yuuto had made a move on Minjeong. She wasn't sure why she was so surprised - Minjeong was pretty amazing, after all - but they didn't seem like a match at all. Then again, she supposed that's why Minjeong refused his offer. He probably didn't really know much about her when he's made his move.
When Jimin had yet to answer, Minjeong continued to talk, "Yuuto is a bit girl crazy, you know? Not like Jaemin, he's got his heart set on Ning."
"Don't they date on and off all the time?" Jimin questioned, leaning against the bleachers as she asked, wondering when Aeri would be done getting cleaned up.
Minjeong nodded. "He hasn't always been the best thing for her, and they fight a lot. They usually end up back together. It's not the healthiest thing ever, but neither of them can be persuaded otherwise when they're back together."
Jimin absorbed the information. As she learned more about these people, she found herself surprised that she actually continued to crave more information about them. She wanted to know how each of them had come to this friendship since it seemed like it was a place where people fell in together after seeming to have no other place to fall. She wondered briefly if Jeno, or even Joy and Seulgi, could ever fall into a group like this. She thought so, but she wasn't sure yet.
Jimin still hadn't said anything else by the time that Aeri came out from the locker rooms, looking ready as ever for a fun evening.
"Let's go!" she exclaimed, rushing them to the parking lot.
"Where exactly are we going?" Jimin asked, realizing that she needed to take her car. Aeri named the restaurant they had picked out, and Jimin said a quick goodbye to the two girls before heading to her car.
During the drive to the restaurant, she let her mind wander and for Minjeong to consume her thoughts. She wasn't sure how to act around her when they were also around the rest of the group. Jimin personally didn't want to be open about her shared kiss with the copper-haired, but that was mostly because of her current mental state. Thinking back to their conversation, Jimin recalled that she had admitted to Minjeong that liking a girl was new to her, but Minjeong hadn't reiterated that claim. However, Jimin didn't want to assume anything, so she decided to keep her public relationship with Minjeong as friends, and her private relationship with Minjeong as currently confusing.
Once she arrived at the restaurant, she met up with Ning, Aeri, and Minjeong, who had all gotten there minutes before her. "Hey, Jimin! I thought you were busy tonight?" Ning wondered, tilting her head.
"Plans got canceled," Jimin answered, keeping it short and giving the other brunette a smile.
"Well, happy to have you join!" Ning said. "Hey, Aeri, how were tryouts?"
"Awesome! Got on the team, of course," Aeri bragged as they entered the restaurant. Ning looked to Minjeong.
"Did you see her on the field? As in, did they pick her because of her skill or because of Yuu-"
"Hey!" Aeri growled, playfully shoving Ning. "I was amazing, okay? They didn't pick me because of Yuuto."
Jimin laughed as Ning smirked and Minjeong smiled. Aeri just shook her head and began speaking with the hostess, who led them to a table in the back of the restaurant. By the look on the woman's face, she knew that they were going to be loud, and wanted them to be as far as possible from the majority of the diners. Jimin tried not to snicker at the accuracy of the woman's prediction.
"So! How's everyone's first week of being an upperclassman been so far?" Aeri asked as soon as they were seated, looking first to Minjeong, probably because she hadn't spoken much.
"Pretty good," Minjeong answered, her gaze shifting to Jimin for a moment.
"Better than last year's start, right?" Aeri asked. Jimin didn't understand the reference, and her eyes jumped between Aeri and a startled Minjeong. She heard a bit of sarcasm in Aeri's voice as if the brunette knew that this week had definitely been better than the previous year. However, someone would have to be blind to not realize that Aeri was being very serious with the question.
"Yes," Minjeong answered, still looking rather caught off guard. Jimin kept her eyes on the copper-haired's dark eyes for a moment, but they were avoiding her own brown ones.
"Definitely much better." Aeri smiled, and Jimin gave in.
Clearly, Aeri and Ning knew something that Jimin didn't, and it wasn't her place to pressure Minjeong into telling her. So she sat quietly as the conversation skewed in a different direction, which seemed to let Minjeong relax quite a bit.
The copper-haired still avoided Jimin's gaze however, and it began to stress Jimin out. She detached herself from the conversation even further at that point, trying to think about what would have happened at the beginning of the previous school year. Finally, she remembered that Minjeong had said that Aeri had absorbed Minjeong into the friend group at the beginning of last year and that she hadn't had many friends before then.
Jimin racked her brain, trying to remember if there was anything else that Minjeong had said that might have indicated what had happened. She came up with nothing. The waitress came for their drink orders, and Jimin finally spoke again as she ordered water. As the waitress left, Aeri seemed to have a spontaneous thought that she had to share with Ning, and Minjeong finally looked at Jimin.
"You're quiet," she commented.
"Just thinking," Jimin answered, forcing herself not to avoid Minjeong's eyes like she suddenly felt like doing.
"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable when we sat down," Minjeong apologized, her voice quiet. "And I'm sorry that I'm not ready to tell you what Aeri was referring to regarding last year."
Jimin felt her heart rate pick up, which was surprising, since all Minjeong had done was apologize for not telling her what Jimin wanted to know. But Jimin liked how honest Minjeong was, and how she directly pursued the tension and flat out said that she wasn't ready to talk bout it. Jimin liked that she was forward like that. It kept Jimin from getting too deep into her stress and worry like she normally did.
"You don't need to apologize, Minjeong," Jimin promised, smiling. "I'm sorry I'm so quiet. It's just been a really weird day, you know?"
Minjeong nodded, smiling a small smile. Aeri and Ning finally ended their mini conversation, and Aeri finally seemed to remember that she hadn't spoken to Jimin. "Tell us something about yourself, Jimin!" she suggested.
Jimin raised an eyebrow at Minjeong, who nodded encouragingly, still smiling.
"Um... I draw," Jimin said, although it came out more like a question.
"Do you draw people?" Aeri asked her mouth agape in a wide grin. "I've always wanted someone to draw me."
Jimin laughed. "Sometimes I do."
"Are you really good?" Ning wondered. Jimin shrugged, and she felt her cheeks tint a bit redder as she realized that Minjeong was still smiling at her. She was grateful that the copper-haired hadn't said anything about Jimin's art, though, because then Aeri and Ning would expect the dark-haired to show them her drawings as well.
"I think so," Jimin answered, shrugging. "I don't really... let a lot of people look at my work, though. It's all pretty personal."
Aeri shrugged, clearly not going to push Jimin to do anything she wasn't comfortable with. "Well, one time I tried to draw Yuuto. He turned into a cyclops-satyr hybrid, but I mean, he basically looks like that anyway."
Jimin let out a loud laugh at that, as Ning did the same. Minjeong also laughed, but Jimin had already learned that the copper-haired girl didn't laugh very loudly, or very often for that matter. The dark-haired knew that she had the ability to make her laugh, though, and that made her feel a little proud, honestly.
Conversation carried all through their meal, and Jimin continued to be active in it throughout. Before she knew it, they had all paid for their meals and Minjeong was telling her to just follow her car to Ning's house for their movie night.
As Jimin drove again, her thoughts drifted away from Minjeong and to a bit more of a sensitive subject. She used to have movie nights a lot - with her dad, Jeno, and his dad. Neither of their mothers had ever joined in though - no surprise there when it came to Jimin's mom, though. She had always worked way too much.
The last movie night she had ever had was the weekend before her dad's car accident. They had watched a comedy, and it was one of the last times that Jimin had heard her dad laugh and be happy. He had been extremely stressed the following week. Jimin didn't like to think about that, though, because... well, she didn't like to think about her dad much at all. It always hurt a lot.
She cursed herself for allowing herself to think about him while she was trying to have a fun time, because she was sure that she would be in a foul mood for the rest of the night. But as soon as she pulled up in front of Ning's house, and got out just as Minjeong was getting out of her car, she felt a sense of relief. Minjeong. Something about that girl just made her feel okay. And she loved it, it was like being held in a tight hug when you felt like you were falling apart.
As a side note, Jimin allowed herself to realize that she really would like to know what it felt like to be wrapped up in Minjeong's arms.
Once they were inside the house and entering the movie room, Ning announced, "Okay! We have The Notebook-"
"No!" Minjeong vetoed, rolling her eyes in a way that made Jimin think that Ning suggested that movie often.
"Alright, well then we have Definitely Maybe, Princess Bride, Beastly..." Ning was looking through a bunch of movies that she must have rented for tonight.
"Just put one on," Aeri said. "We're gonna watch all of them anyway."
"Please don't put Princess Bride on unless I'm passed out," Jimin piped up. She actually despised that movie.
"Don't like it?" Minjeong asked, laughing a little. Jimin shook her head furiously. Ning abdicated to everyone's wishes and chose Definitely Maybe as the first movie to watch. There was a flat screen in front of the room, and two full sized couches facing it at a slight diagonal opposite of each other.
Aeri hopped onto one of them, and Ning grumbled at her as she flipped off the lights in the movie room and then pushed the shorter girl over to squeeze onto that couch. That left Minjeong and Jimin on the other couch.
Jimin sat first, just sitting, on one side, and Minjeong did the same on the other. The dark-haired was extremely conscious of the awkward seating position as the first half of the movie played. Finally, though, she began to get a little more comfortable in the room, and uncomfortable in her rigid position, so she stretched herself out a little bit so that she was leaning on the arm of the couch and her legs were extending toward Minjeong.
Once she was more comfortable, Jimin was able to enjoy the first movie.
When it was over, Aeri realized with repulsion that they had forgotten popcorn and candy, and she demanded that they all raid the kitchen. So Jimin found herself being pulled through Ning's house and dumping all the sweets she could find into two bowls.
They split the bowls between the pairs of them, and then Ning put on Beastly and they returned to their couches.
Jimin was genuinely enjoying herself as she watched the next movie, sitting closer to Minjeong in order to share the bowl of junk food. She began to get full not fifteen minutes into the movie, though, and withdrew herself slightly from the bowl and from Minjeong.
The copper-haired's gaze left the flat screen and fell on the dark-haired girl. Jimin pretended not to notice, but Minjeong leaned forward and put the bowl on the floor. Then she leaned slightly closer to Jimin.
"Are you tired yet?"Jimin nodded, surprising herself. It wasn't particularly late, but she was feeling tired. How Minjeong knew that, she wasn't sure.
"It's probably all the food," she commented, shrugging. Minjeong gave her an understanding smile and pulled a blanket off of the back of the couch - which Jimin hadn't even noticed had been there. She tossed it at Jimin, who smiled as she caught it. She wrapped it around herself and then realized that Minjeong was still looking at her.
"What?" she wondered quietly.
Minjeong looked like she was contemplating saying something, but then she just smiled. "Lay down," she said, gesturing to her blanket covered lap. Jimin felt her cheeks turn pink - not that Minjeong could see, though - as she nodded and laid across the couch, her head resting in Minjeong's lap and facing the movie.
It was comfy, she noted, and then Minjeong began to run her fingers through her black hair. Jimin sighed through her nose as her eyes flickered closed. How could this random girl, whom Jimin had only seen around a handful of times before the beginning of this week, have such a strong effect on her?
Minjeong continued to play with Jimin's hair through the rest of the movie - at least Jimin would assume so later. She was asleep halfway through.