chapter 13
"bittersweet"
—
the vortex was the most packed it'd ever been. the club was significantly reserved for those from arcadia bay. the students that had organized the entire event created fake id's and made sure to completely cover everyone else's identity to make sure they were above the legal drinking age - meaning they were all considered to be over 19. the club owners, therefore, had no idea that a bunch of high school students had basically taken over the entire area.
several of the students went to the bar for more and more drinks to fulfill their needs. some did it for pure fun, and the bass that seemed to shake the entire club made the entire place even more exciting.
jackson was one of those people. he'd already gotten at least 3 bottles of beer, and though he wasn't completely drunk, his tipsy and mellow state was enough for his vision to go blurry and add a slight slur to his voice.
the entire beginning of the night seemed to go quickly, almost as if someone were playing fast forward on a remote. but after everyone was either wasted or tipsy, the midnight hours went into slow motion. at precisely 12 am, mark had just managed to step on the sidewalk in front of the club with his older sister and his 3 friends.
yugyeom looked at his friends with widened eyes. the music, the words, everything was perfectly heard even outside of the club. "this is gonna be hella awesome, i'm telling you!" yugyeom nudged youngjae's shoulder, while youngjae gave a smug look back towards his direction.
gulping, mark looked at his sister. she seemed to be analyzing the area, perhaps seeing if it was really worth stealing her time of day. minhee felt mark's stare on her and turned to look at him. her head cocked to the side, wondering why mark looked so worried. "are you sure about this? i mean we could just go home and chill with mom and ellie-"
"no! i said i wanted you to go. we're here now, so we can't back out, right guys?"
minhee poked her head out to see the responses that the 3 younger boys gave. and though they were all good friends, that didn't refrain them from being intimidated by her. the 3 boys nodded and looked in mark's direction. mark scoffed, looking towards the entrance of the club.
two body guards stood in between the main entrance. a velvet fence laid beside them as it ran down a short line of people. mark hesitated many times — an awful amount of times — but minhee quickly took a hold of him and pushed him into the line.
the body guards did their jobs, checking id's, seeing if the id's match for the last few people that had to get checked before arriving at mark.
mark was 18. technically legal, no?
"id." a sudden calm and charming voice caught the attention of mark. he looked up, gulping. he reached within his wallet and took out his id. he gave it a firm grip as he passed it onto the body guard, and quickly let go once it was in the tall guy with a relatively good body. he was attractive yet tempting — that, mark could admit.
standing still and careful, the man's eyes diverted from the id to mark's face multiple times. a smirk crept onto his face.
do i not look 18? do i look younger? do i look ugly on my photo? dammit-
the man handed the id back. his lips stretches into a smile, "you're all set." his hand moved towards the door knob of the black wooden door behind him. but before mark had the chance to enter, the man stopped him.
as if stopping to check my id wasn't enough..
"i'm uh," he paused for a short moment and licked his lips. "i'm jinyoung."
mark's mouth dried up at the sudden words. the attractive man had given him his name, and with such sudden information being thrown at him, he didn't know how to react.
minhee was clearly listening in into the whole entire thing. and though kun, yugyeom, and youngjae were in their own little world, minhee had to nudge them a tad bit to get their attention, and to focus on the scheme that was going on before their eyes. minhee already had her id in hand, but almost dropped it as she realized the way that the man that now identified as jinyoung was looking at her younger brother. jinyoung looked at mark as if he were some sort of dinner plate.
"ah! jinyoung." mark responded. he cleared his throat as the two stood there in awkward silence.
but then he realized, jinyoung was waiting for his name.
"mark- mark is my name."
jinyoung chuckled lightly, and let mark's hand go. "enjoy your night, mark."
mark nodded slowly, shifting into the club.
-
his eyes had to adjust for a little bit as he took in the atmosphere of the room.
the air smelled of cigars because of the load of smokers that sat at one end of the room, sitting on velvet couches. their amount of smoke caused their faces to look blurry, but the smoke quickly dissolved into thin air.
mark felt a slight pat on his shoulder. turning his head, he saw his sister enter along with the three boys. they all stood beside mark, examining the entire place by themselves.
mark took his own time to see what kind of people there were surrounding the area until his eyes landed on the one and only - jackson wang. dressed in a skintight shirt and skinny jeans, his body moved to the beat as his hand rested on mina's lower back. his mouth immediately went dry. youngjae had noticed the sudden change in mark's face, as he immediately turned pale.
"just ignore him." he reassuringly whispered towards the boy, patting him on the shoulder. "he'll go away eventually." but mark. didn't entirely know if that was the case
immediately after, mark no longer wanted to be at the club. his sister was yet to be aware of the situation and just wanted to let his brother loosen up a bit - maybe her sister instincts - but something told her her brother needed this. he ushered him towards the dance floor. mark quickly shook his head, but minhee practically dragged him into the dance floor.
"i'll go get us some drinks, yeah?" minhee spoke in a loud tone due to the music, which seemed to be getting louder and louder by the minute. the 4 boys remained on the dance floor, watching the older girl walk away.
yugyeom began busting small moves. his body was made naturally for dancing, that everyone could tell. the 3 other boys swayed, but as mark did so, he focused on jackson, which was only a few feet away from him. quickly after, minhee had came with several shots that she allowed her brother and friends to take.
and so the quickly sipped. they went back to the bar and pleaded for more, and began sipping.
and sipping.
and chugging.
and went back for more until the room was no longer clear.
mark's groggy vision only allowed him to remain in one spot as he danced wickedly. he could feel people staring at him, but his body couldn't stop moving to the beat.
time flew by quick. roughly an hour and a half had passed. yugyeom, kun, and youngjae were scattered throughout the area, and his sister was making out with a random guy that she had found. mark looked around as he danced, and his eyes landed on jackson. jackson was with a cup in hand and his body moved swiftly. he was surrounded by guys and girls that he hadn't seen before. one being a dark skinned girl with long, wavy hair. others with dyed hair and lanky bodies. the only known person that surrounded them was mina, who was grinding all up on jackson.
mark shrugged it off.
he had the sudden urge to use the bathroom. after all that drinking, who would have to pee?
he took one last sip of his drink before setting the empty cup down on a random table that was completely vacant. he pivoted, making his way towards any direction that his feet took him. he didn't know where the bathroom was located, and the club was rather large. he didn't know exactly where he was going, he just hoped he was going the wrong way.
mark ended up in a large hallway with several doors. some had hangers hanging on the door knob saying "occupied" and others "vacant."
could those be the bathrooms?
he walked towards one of the vacant doors and twisted the door knob. and to his surprise, they weren't bathrooms. they were bedrooms. the sheets that laid on the bed were neatly done, with a pack of condoms on the corner of the bed. he gasped, looking around.
but then the door knob started to turn. a loud creak was heard, causing mark to jump.
he quickly turned.
and there he saw jackson, drunker than ever. his hair messy, lipstick slightly smudged on his neck.
"what're you doing here?" he gave a toothy grin towards mark, who seemed to be unbothered by his presence.
"dunno. just checking out what's around here, that's all." he giggled. he rubbed the back of his neck as he looked over at jackson's confused expression. mark gave one back, wondering why jackson looked so confused.
"you're not mad at about what happened?"
mark hiccuped, "oh silly! of course i'm mad." he smiled cheekily. jackson clicked his tongue.
"well,"
he began walking closer towards mark, who backed up with every step. "you don't seem angry at all, mark." jackson tilted his head slightly. mark shook his head in return, "of course i'm mad. i'm totally so mad right now, like seriously." he tried to look for an angry face, but neither one seemed to fit him.
"so if you're not mad, you wouldn't mind if i-"
jackson placed his hand on mark's cheek. the two had a brief moment, as they took the time to look into each other's dark brown eyes. mark immediately felt the same feeling he had felt in the moment of what happened in the bathroom. almost like teensy little butterflies were roaming in his stomach, searching for where to go. that exact feeling all over again.
jackson smiled, leaning in slightly until they were only centimeters apart.
"kiss me," mark whispered.
-
a/n:
woosh this was a long one
hello all(: im back w/ another one, which i hope you greatly enjoy !!
just wanna say tHat i'm gonna see bts on sunday and i'm so PUMPED ugh skdkdks we stan our boys jsjsjsj
but i hope you are all doing well and are focusing on good things and good things onlyyy
ily ❤️ and thanks for reading