"jamie we're going to be late!"
"i'm coming!"
jaehyun and johnny were standing patiently at the front of their apartment, fixing their ties and putting their shoes on.
jamie rushed over, johnny catching her before she tripped over the step down to the door, "slow your roll kid."
"yeah squirt, we have time," jaehyun said, adjusting his watch, "thirty minutes to be precise."
"but the train will take a while!" jamie said, pulling on her heels, "we have to go!"
"okay," the two older boys laughed, "let's go."
"wow look at you," mark said once he had seen jamie.
jamie laughed, "thank you. you don't look too bad yourself."
"gag," johnny coughed.
jaehyun laughed, "let them be johnny, it's cute."
"taeyong and i saved seats for you guys," mark said, leading them down the isle.
they all said hello to each other and sat down, jaemin's aunt waving to them.
"oh my god i can't believe this is real," jamie mumbled.
"well it is," renjun said, standing next to her, "now can we sit please?"
jisung and chenle were next to him, smiling at jamie and mark.
jamie and mark got up and gave them hugs, before they all sat down again.
renjun had graduated a week ago and they all went, cheering for him and most importantly embarrassing him.
now it was the sopa kids' turn.
jamie anxiously moved her leg up and down, playing with the sleeve of mark's jacket.
"relax," he smiled at her, "don't worry, everything will be great."
jamie nodded, "everything will be great... yeah."
the ceremony went smoothly and as soon as it was over jamie left the rest of the group.
she found jaemin and ran into his arms, holding him tight and starting to cry, "my god na jaemin, you're a graduate now."
jaemin wrapped his arms around her, smiling as he leaned his head on top of hers, "yeah. funnily enough it doesn't feel any different."
"are you crying," he teased her, pulling her away so he could see her face, "you are! aw jamie, don't make me cry too."
it was too late, his eyes got watery and he also started to cry, hugging her again.
"aw," jamie's voice cracked, "are you crying? aw jaemin!"
jaemin laughed, "i deserved that."
"we did it!"'donghyuck's voice broke up jaemin and jamie's moment, the two turning towards the boisterous voice.
donghyuck was practically radiating light off of him he was beaming so much. he looked like a kid in a candy store.
"why are you so happy?" jamie asked, "you're leaving me!"
"us too," chenle's voice came from behind her.
"how did i know you would be here,"
mark smiled at jamie.
jamie just laughed.
"i'm happy because i'm out of this shithole," donghyuck sighed, "man it feels good!"
"no it doesn't," jeno cried, coming over and leaning on jaemin, "i don't want to leave!"
"stop it jeno!" they all yelled, laughing.
"jeno wants us all to cry as well," renjun clucked his tongue, "what a horrible person."
"jamie already made me cry," jaemin said, nudging jamie with his elbow.
"stop it," jamie pouted, "i don't want you guys to leave."
"group hug!" donghyuck yelled, pulling them all into a hug.
the rest reluctantly gave in, joining the hug.
by the time the hugs was over, they were all crying.
"why are we acting like this is game over?" donghyuck asked, "its just a new stage!"
"donghyuck has such a way with words," jamie teased, "since when?"
"good question," mark joined in.
"i think i read that on google," jeno chirped.
"you guys are horrible, i'm glad to be leaving you," donghyuck pouted, nonetheless laughing along with the others.
"my mom is calling me," donghyuck said after, "i have to go."
"me too," jeno said, frowning.
"we're all going to dinner together right?" chenle reminded them, "we'll see each other later!"
"the parents will want pictures too," jeno replied.
"see you later!"
"look at us all, graduates."
"stop it!"
jaemin laughed as jamie hit his arm.
the group was all sitting in chenle's backyard, the sky dark and the stars out.
chenle's family had offered to hold a party for all the graduates because they had the biggest place. his mother said she liked having company over as well, especially chenle's friends.
"it's summer time," donghyuck sung.
"not for us," chenle pouted, "two more weeks."
"there's a hundred and four days of summer vacation and school comes along just to end it," mark sung.
"so the annual problem for our generation is finding a good way to spend it," the group continued excitedly, until they finished the song.
"can we give a monkey a shower?" donghyuck asked.
"sure, it'll be easy since you're already here," jisung replied.
the group burst out laughing, even donghyuck who didn't even get angry.
it got quiet for a minute and they all stared at the sky.
"i can't believe it's been over a year since we all met," jaemin said, "a year with so much activity and stress."
"so much happened this year," jeno added, "but it's fulfilling to see where we have come."
"yeah. i remember when i first downloaded the app," jamie sighed, "jaemin was the first one i talked to and then donghyuck. that man annoyed me from the first time he texted me."
the group laughed, agreeing.
"i remember confronting jeno about it and jeno running away from me," jaemin laughed, "it took me a week to get him to talk to me."
"okay exposing me was uncalled for," jeno replied, smiling nonetheless, "i remember donghyuck cornering me after school in the locker room. he scared the shit out of me, more than jaemin had already because i didn't even know donghyuck!"
"that was fun," donghyuck laughed, "how about the first time we all met up? jamie's desperate text in the middle of the night."
"that was fun!" chenle chirped, "i think we should do that again."
"no thanks," jisung groaned, "one night of drinking is enough for me."
"you won't last in college," mark laughed.
"in college? he won't last with chenle and me," jamie commented.
"i remember e first meeting chenle... it was nice to meet someone who spoke chinese as well," renjun smiled, "of course he's annoying as fuck."
"thank you renjun, very cool," chenle responded.
"hey i speak chinese too," jamie frowned, "where is my thank you?"
"can you really though?" renjun asked.
"try me," jamie changed languages.
"your pronunciation sucks," chenle laughed.
"speak in korean please," jaemin whined, everyone laughing.
"remember when we went ice skating?" mark asked, "everyone fell on their asses except for jamie and me."
"not true, i pulled jamie down," donghyuck said proudly.
"remember when donghyuck punched me?" jamie asked.
"remember when jamie punched me?" donghyuck retorted.
"hey i also punched donghyuck," jaemin whined, "don't forget me."
"remember when mark and jamie got together? we were all so sure jamie would be with jaemin," jisung spoke up.
"woah!" jamie and jaemin said, "what?"
"is it really a surprise?" renjun asked, "you guys are so close, do you even spend time alone?"
"all the time," jamie huffed, "i can only spend so much time with that ass."
"that's my line," jaemin retorted.
the group didn't look convinced, but dropped it.
"i think we should delete don't need your love hotline," jeno spoke up, "hear me out, we all have each other's numbers so we can still talk and have the dream group chat, but we aren't sad anymore, we don't need the app or what we wanted from the app because we already have it."
"i agree," renjun responded.
"me too," jisung mumbled.
"if everyone else says yes than i will," chenle said.
"let's do it," jaemin grinned.
"that was my line," donghyuck grinned back.
"i'm down," mark said.
"jamie?" jeno turned to jamie.
"i don't know," she mumbled, "i just... can't. i want to keep the memories."
"it's okay," mark put his hand on her shoulder, "you can delete it later when you feel like you can."
"barf," jisung gagged, chenle joining in.
"you two are disgusting," renjun wrinkled his nose at chenle and jisung.
"let's do it," mark said, taking his phone out.
everyone else but jamie did as well.
"three," mark counted, "two. one."
in sync, the boys all deleted the app, don't need your love hotline nowhere to be seen on their screen anymore.
"wow, i feel refreshed," donghyuck exclaimed.
"we are new men!" chenle cheered.
"free men," jaemin smiled.
renjun's stomach growled and the group laughed.
"let's go get some food," donghyuck said.
"wait, first," mark stopped them, putting his hand out.
the rest put their hands out too, mark's on the bottom and jamie's on top.
"yo dream!"
"let's show them how awesome we are!"
"god we are so cheesy."
"cheese sounds good right about now."
"we're going to get food okay? calm down."
"never."