"Hey, you on your way yet?" Aeri asked through the phone, causing Jimin to roll her eyes. By now, Aeri knew that if Jimin had been on her way, she wouldn't have answered her phone. Especially after her own car accident with Yuuto, all of her friends were well aware of her care in driving.
"No, I'm about to leave," Jimin answered, grabbing her warmest coat and her blue gloves. It was well below freezing outside.
"Ugh," Aeri groaned, "why is everyone taking so long? Can't it just be New Year now so that I can drink tons of champagne and kiss Lincoln to celebrate the end of another year?"
"Me getting there faster doesn't change the time of day, A," Jimin reminded her. "Ah, speaking of significant others... could I ask you a question?"
"As long as it's not a sex question, because I don't think I'm knowledgeable enough in the lesbian sex department for that," Aeri answered.
Jimin rolled her eyes playfully. "I don't think I'm having a problem in the sex department, Aeri."
"Alright, alright, get to your question. It's weird imagining you and Minjeong having sex."
"Okay, well... so, it's New Year's Eve, and..." Jimin swallowed thickly, unsure if she was going to be able to even say it to Aeri, let alone Minjeong.
"Spit it out, Jimin," Aeri teased. "You've got like ten minutes till Ning's gonna bust down my door, you can't stutter that whole time."
"Shush," Jimin grumbled, shaking her head slightly. "Alright. So..." She took another deep breath, and then said it all without pause - "I'm in love with Minjeong and I really wanna tell her tonight but do you think it's too soon because what if she doesn't say it back and oh my god I'm freaking out."
"Are you kidding?" Aeri asked, sounding like she was moving around now. "That girl obviously loves you. I think you should go for it. Just make sure you don't do it in the middle of the party or everyone is gonna die of sugar intake just by being in your vicinity."
"Ha ha, very funny," Jimin said, her words dripping in playful sarcasm. "Thanks, though, I think I will tell her tonight. It's been hard not saying it ever since I realized it. She's just so... ugh she's perfect."
"Yeah, yeah," Aeri waved off. "Save all the mushy for when you bare your heart to your perfect girlfriend."
"You're just jealous," Jimin chimed, slipping her coat on and then her gloves one by one, after leaving her phone next to her on speaker phone.
"No way, I'm content with straight sex, thank you very much."
"Not what I meant, Aeri," Jimin said, shaking her head at her friend, who was laughing.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Ning's here. Get your ass here as soon as possible, and I know you aren't driving yet, so I'm gonna hang up," Aeri said. "Drive safe!"
"I will," Jimin promised, smiling. "See you in a few!"
To Minjeong - I'm on my way to Aeri's! See you in a few! :*
From Minjeong - Same! :)
Fifteen minutes later, Jimin was tugging her coat tighter around her as she hurried from her car to the door of Aeri's house. She could already hear some commotion inside, so she let herself in to keep herself from waiting in the cold. "It's so cold," she whined as soon as she entered the house.
"Suck it up!" Yuuto called to her playfully from the living room, where Jimin entered a moment later. Most everyone was already there, minus her girlfriend. Which was lame, because Jimin needed some cuddles to warm herself up.
"Down for a drink, Jimin?" Seulgi asked her, grinning.
Jimin looked to Aeri, who was cuddled up with Lincoln on one of the couches. "We're letting her make the drinks?" The brunette just shrugged. "I'd like to stay somewhat coherent, Seulgi," Jimin said, rolling her eyes.
"Aw, why? It's a party!"
"I have my reasons," Jimin answered, rolling her eyes and walking through the living room and toward the kitchen to make her own drink. She caught Aeri smirking from her spot, but she ignored her in favor of sliding off her coat and her gloves. She set them on the counter in the Uchinaga kitchen, as her eyes searched for the alcohol and red solo cups that she found sitting by the fridge.
She mixed herself a not-too-strong drink, and then she heard the front door open again, and she perked up a bit.
"Hey, Min!" she heard Aeri call. "Your girlfriend's in the kitchen - if you're gonna do that make-out greeting thing, do it in there."
"We don't do that," Jimin heard Minjeong defend, although they probably did a least half of the time. Nevertheless, Minjeong came into the kitchen just as Jimin finished making her drink. "Hey!" Minjeong chimed immediately.
"Hey, babe," Jimin replied, flashing her girlfriend a wide smile. "Want a drink? Apparently, Seulgi's making them tonight and I'm not about passing out on New Year's Eve."
"Sure," Minjeong answered, laughing lightly. "Hey, we don't really do that, do we? The make-out greeting?"
Jimin shrugged, setting her cup down and stepping closer to her girlfriend, grabbing her and pulling her close. Their lips came together instantly, and Jimin felt Minjeong's tongue slide through her lips. Minjeong's hands were instantly on the dark-haired girl's hips, and the latter felt herself pushed lightly against the edge of the counter.
They broke the kiss once they were out of air, and Minjeong let out a happy sigh. "I guess we do."
"I don't mind," Jimin murmured, smiling at the light brown eyes that were sparkling in front of her. "So, that drink?"
After Minjeong's drink was made, the two of them went back into the living room and took the big empty spot on one of the couches, sitting close together and Jimin resisting the urge to full-out cuddle with the girl.
"Alright, now that we all have drinks - some of us stronger ones than others," Seulgi started, looking pointedly at Jimin, "how about some games?"
"Kings?" Ning piped up, raising an eyebrow.
"We always play Kings," Yuuto argued. "How about Never Have I Ever?"
"Works," Aeri agreed, getting nods from everyone else.
"I'll go first!" Yuuto added, grinning. "Never have I ever been attracted to someone of my same sex."
"Fuck you," Minjeong and Jimin said simultaneously, each taking a drink from their cups.
Lincoln was next. "Never have I ever gotten so drunk that I couldn't remember what happened." Nearly everyone in the circle drank, Minjeong and Jimin included. That was the result of the last big drinking party they'd had - when they'd all accepted drinks from Seulgi. Jimin was never letting that happen again.
They went around the circle a couple of times before the game started to get boring and Ning realized that her Seulgi made drink was a mistake and ran out of the bathroom to throw up already. She ended up being fine, luckily, and decided to grab some water and avoid alcohol for a little bit.
About half of the group decided to play another game or something, but Ning dragged Aeri, Minjeong and Jimin upstairs to Aeri's room. As soon as they were in there, she began to talk, "Guys, I need your opinions."
"Shoot," Aeri said, collapsing onto her bed. Jimin sat next to her, and Minjeong next to her, Ning was left standing. She rolled her eyes and grabbed Aeri's desk chair, sitting on it before speaking again.
"So, there's this guy that I've been hanging out with, and -"
"Wait, what?" Aeri demanded. "Why haven't I heard about this mystery guy yet? Ning!"
"Remember when we were at Minjeong's recital - sorry Jimin - and I was talking to that hot tech guy?" Ning asked, a smile growing on her face.
Minjeong raised her eyebrows. "How did you get his number in that tiny span of time?"
"I didn't," Ning answered, "and that's the weird part. I was at this electronics store about twenty minutes toward downtown, and I saw him again. This was about a month ago. He recognized me and asked why we didn't stay backstage very long after the recital, and I told him why, and he did this dorky flirting thing and at first, I started to think it was annoying, but then I started to not mind it and well... I gave him my number and we've been hanging out."
"Hold up," Jimin said, "how old is he?"
"Twenty-one," Ning admitted, smiling shyly. "But hey, it's not like it's illegal in DC."
"Fair enough," Jimin returned.
Aeri's jaw was dropped. "Are you kidding? Who cares that it's illegal? He's four years older than you!"
"So what?" Ning demanded, shaking her head. "He actually likes me, and we don't fight all the time like when I was with Jaemin."
"What's his name?" Minjeong asked, and Jimin could tell that it was mostly for Ning's sake, since Aeri still seemed like she wanted to protest.
"Dan. I mean, that's his last name. His first name is Mateo, but like, most people just call him Dan," Ning answered. "He's actually really cool. Though he is kinda annoying, in like the dorky way that I was talking about before. Anyway, that's not the point. He asked me yesterday if I wanted to be his girlfriend, like officially, and I told him that I needed to think about it."
"Yikes," Jimin said. "Was he cool?"
Ning nodded. "He knows about all the Jaemin stuff, and so I think he's chalking it up to that. But like... should I say yes?"
Aeri let out a breath. "You sure he's not a creep?"
"He's not," Ning insisted. "I've hung out with him enough to know that much. C'mon, I need your guys' opinions!"
"Well, if you like him, and he likes you, and you're sure he's cool, then why wouldn't you?" Jimin asked, pretty sure that there was something that Ning wasn't saying about it. "Just... what if it doesn't work out? Like what if it goes to shit and I find out that I actually suck at relationships because I let myself sit in a long, lame one with Jaemin and didn't take enough time to learn how to be in a better relationship?" Ning asked.
"If it doesn't work out, it won't be because of you sucking at relationships," Minjeong insisted.
"Yeah, plus," Aeri piped up, finally smiling, "if you really think that you need to learn how to be in a nice relationship, and you said this guy is nice and understanding about Jaemin and everything, then maybe he's the perfect guy to learn with."
"Maybe," Ning agreed.
"I say go for it," Aeri said, smiling widely.
"Yeah," Jimin agreed, with Minjeong giving a nod as well.
Ning let out a relieved sigh. "Okay, thanks. I don't know why I'm so nervous about it."
"If he starts being a creep though," Aeri started, "you better deal with it."
"I will, A," Ning promised, laughing lightly. "Well, we should probably go join the party now. Plus, the countdown is starting soon, isn't it?"
"We better break out the champagne and turn on the TV!" Aeri exclaimed, hopping off of her bed and scurrying out of her room and back downstairs.
Once the TV was on and the champagne was ready to be consumed, everyone hung out around the living room, just talking and hanging out. A few minutes before the ball drop, Jimin grabbed her girlfriend's hand, with the true excuse that she wanted to talk to her, and led her to the guest bedroom - the only place she was sure that they wouldn't be overheard.
"What's up?" Minjeong asked her, looking slightly concerned.
"Nothing's wrong," Jimin promised, smiling at the copper-haired girl, "I just haven't really gotten to just talk to you yet tonight."
Minjeong gave her a smile, though Jimin was sure that her girlfriend could still sense that she was feeling tense and nervous. "I put up the painting you gave me on Christmas, finally," Minjeong said, grinning.
"Where'd you put it?" Jimin asked, her stomach still twisting as she got more and more nervous about telling Minjeong what she wanted to.
"In that one big empty space on the wall," Minjeong answered. "It was just begging to be filled with something that perfect."
Jimin felt a blush creep to her cheeks. "Minjeong, I wanted to thank you for being here for me so much. I've probably been way too much work the past couple of months." Minjeong shook her head. "You really weren't, but you're welcome."
"I just... I don't know what I'd do without you, you know?" Jimin asked, her voice small. Minjeong nodded, her light brown eyes searching Jimin's face. Jimin took in a silent breath, gathering all of her courage. "I want you to know that... I'm in love with you, I... I love you."
Minjeong looked frozen, and Jimin immediately noticed her tensing in front of the dark-haired girl.
"Minjeong?" Jimin asked, her voice full of the fear that she felt creeping up on her.
"I... I..." Minjeong looked absolutely panicked, but before Jimin could say anything else, the girl was up on her feet and out of the room. Jimin's heart fell into her stomach, and she rushed out of the room, but Minjeong was well on her way out of the house. She was gone before Jimin could say anything else.
"Hey, Jimin, was that Minjeong who just left?" Aeri asked, furrowing her eyebrows as she came into the foyer area. Jimin looked at Aeri with brown eyes that she was sure looked as pale as she was sure her skin was. "Uh, yeah."
"What happened?"
"I don't know," Jimin answered, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. "I just... I told her, and she froze up, and then she just..."
They heard the ball drop from the TV in the living room, and Jimin knew that Aeri wanted to be in there to drink champagne and kiss her boyfriend, but her friend didn't go back into the room. "C'mon, let's go upstairs," Aeri said quietly, grabbing Jimin's hand and leading her to the stairs.
—
Minjeong knew that she shouldn't be driving, even though it'd been a little while since her last drink, but she knew that Jimin wouldn't drive, and she needed to get away. Her heart was pounding, and she made it home in record time. She knew that she'd missed the ball drop, and she'd left Jimin alone, but her heart was beating too hard in her chest, and tears were in her eyes, and she couldn't think of anything but the panic she was feeling.
When she made it up to her room, she slid down onto the floor, leaning against her door, and took in deep breaths. She rarely panicked this badly, she hadn't in a long time.
It was those words - those three words that everyone usually loved to hear. She hadn't thought that hearing them spoken to her would ever hurt. It wasn't that it was hurtful to hear Jimin say them, she knew that she should be focusing on that anyway, but her mind had gone straight back to the last time she'd heard those words. When she'd received the promise with an open heart, which was only to be brutally crushed three or four days later. She couldn't do anything but remember the pain and the loneliness, no matter how badly she wanted to accept the words from her girlfriend.
She'd been so strong, giving Jimin everything that she could in spite of the awful memory that was always lingering with her. It'd gotten to the point that any memory was just a dull instance in her brain, something that hardly ever came up. Jimin had given herself to Minjeong in her entirety that night that Minjeong had asked her to be her girlfriend, and Minjeong had asked in the large part just to have the promise that she was going to stay.
And now that Jimin was offering an even bigger promise, Minjeong couldn't be brave anymore.
She was always brave, and now she was cracking.
And she knew that she was stupid for it.
And she knew that she shouldn't have left like that.
But she was finally cracking, all of the little bits of fear she'd felt having built up against her protection massing into one force, and now that protection was gone.
And how unfortunate that the only person she knew could fix it was the person who she'd just left alone on New Year's Eve without any explanation.