The game ended and the blonde girl still hadn't returned. For a moment I was doubting whether she had ever really been there at all. Maybe she had just been in my head?
The bright lights of the stadium illuminated the faces of our team's players as they celebrated their win but I felt nothing.
4:2
The win didn't really register in my brain. I couldn't cheer. I was still staring at the empty spot the girl had sat in. My vision blurred when I tried to shift my gaze and the players appeared as nothing but smudges of blue against the bright green grass of the field before my eyes.
I could hear Jin's loud hollering from behind me but remained in my seat, almost frozen to the spot. Cat had to shake my shoulders to get me out of my own head.
"We won!" she did a little dance, not noticing how spaced out I still was. "Should we go down?"
I nodded my head and Cat, Jin, Namjoon and I walked down the bleachers to the bright green soccer field. I had no idea where Sammy had disappeared to but I was certain she'd have no trouble finding us.
Like last time, by the time most of the audience had left, security let us onto the field to the players through a back door.
I finally managed to fully snap out of my trance once I spotted Jungkook.
He jogged over as soon as he noticed us and before I could open my mouth, I was caught up in a tight but incredibly sweaty hug.
"Ew" I laughed, only hesitantly hugging him back. "You did great" I complimented him. He didn't need to know that I missed most of the game.
"Thanks, sweetheart" he grinned and then took a deep breath. "This is it. We're officially playing the national championships!" his face was beaming with light and excitement. You couldn't help but feel excited along with him.
"That's insane!" Cat exclaimed. "Congrats! How are you guys celebrating?"
"Thank you! A few of us are going for drinks now but we have a party planned next weekend to properly celebrate, which you guys are of course invited to. I was just about to tell you actually" Jungkook smiled.
His face was flushed red, black hair drenched in sweat. He had a white towel wrapped around the back of his neck and a water bottle in hand. My eyes unintentionally trailed down to his defined abs but immediately snapped back up when I realized what I was doing. Of course he caught me checking him out and sent me a sly wink.
"Sorry" I mumbled, blushing a light shade of pink.
"I don't mind" he smiled.
Cat didn't take notice of our little interaction, her eyes and mind were already elsewhere.
"Just walk up to him" I tried encouraging her when I noticed she was watching Jimin stretch from a far, not moving any closer to him.
"I can't, he's with someone"
"Hey Tobias!" Jungkook suddenly shouted and the guy next to Jimin looked up. "Come here for a second!"
Tobias, the player that had been talking to Jimin jogged over to us, leaving Jimin to stretch by himself.
"Clever" I whispered to Jungkook and gave Cat one last small push to go talk to Jimin and would you believe it? She finally did.
"What's up?" Tobias, tall and with brown hair, asked.
"Just wanted to introduce you to my friend" Jungkook said. "This is Hanna. Hanna this is Tobias, our amazing goalkeeper"
"Nice to meet you" I smiled. "Great game"
"Nice to meet you too" he nodded. "And thank you!"
"Are you joining us later for drinks at Jimin's by the way?" Jungkook asked him.
"Yep"
Ohhh, I didn't know we were going to Jimin's. What would Cat have to say about that? I quickly glanced over, she was still talking to Jimin. She was turned away so I couldn't read her face but Jimin looked rather serious. His brows were furrowed and he was staring at the ground. That didn't seem like a good thing. Maybe I should walk over?
An arm was suddenly grabbing my shoulder and pulling me into someone. I nearly suffered a heart attack but relaxed when I turned to see my best friend.
"Damn it, you're like a ninja!" I gasped, repeatedly smacking her arm.
"What did I miss?" she grinned.
"Cat's talking to Jimin" I whispered into her ear.
"No waaay!" Sammy let out and and stared the pair down in such an obvious manner that I had to step in front of her and block her view.
"Chill" I hissed. "Don't be so obvious! He's gonna notice"
"Sorry!" she mumbled. "I just couldn't believe she'd actually do it"
"Did Jimin mention Cat at all recently?" I asked Jungkook.
"Not directly" Jungkook shrugged. "But I can tell it's been bothering him. He hasn't been at the top of his game for a while now. He's unfocused a lot."
"I really hope they get to talk it out" I chewed on my bottom lip, eyes squinted to read Jimin's expression better. He looked neutral now. But he wasn't smiling and they were standing at an awkward distance to each other.
"You did amazing by the way!" Sammy complimented Jungkook.
"Wow, how rare to get an actual compliment from you, Samara! You should stop before it gets to my head" he stuck out his tongue.
"Stop calling me that!"
"Why, it's your name, is it not?" he smirked.
"Only my mum calls me that" she rolled her eyes. "It's weird"
"Who else is coming by the way?" I asked Jungkook.
"About five more guys, I think" he replied, wiping sweat off his forehead.
Should I ask? Ahh.. "Is Taehyung coming?" the question escaped my lips.
"Not that I know of" Jungkook answered, carefully watching my reaction. "Said he was busy tonight"
Busy? The blonde girl maybe? Goddamn. Why was this bothering me so much? I couldn't get her out of my head. Please, please, please don't let her be his girlfriend. Please don't say I helped him cheat. That would kill me.
"Why are you asking?" I could tell he was scanning my face, waiting for some sort of reaction. I already felt bad for asking. I came here for Jungkook, not Taehyung. I came because our friendship was important to me. I should really focus on that.
"Was just wondering" I shrugged, trying to look unbothered.
"She's coming back!" Sammy suddenly whisper-shouted, hitting my shoulder.
Jimin had turned around, probably to go shower and change and Cat was walking straight towards us, her eyes on the ground. Something seemed off, she was frowning again. The kind of frown she only had on when she was really upset.
"Fuck.." I cursed when I saw tears glistening in her eyes. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
We walked towards her, meeting her half way. She didn't even meet our eyes.
"What happened?" Sammy asked, reaching out for her arm but Cat stepped back, rejecting her touch.
"I want to go home" Cat whimpered in a small voice. "Can we please just go home?"
"Alright" Sammy nodded, expression overpowered by worry. "I'll call my brother"
"I'm waiting in the parking lot" Cat said and walked past us. I stared after her small frame until she was gone, my heart breaking for her.
What did they say to each other? What the hell went wrong?
"You should stay" Sammy spoke up. "I'll get her home and see if she wants my company or not but you should really stay"
"I can't" I shook my head. "I wanna be a good friend to her"
"I know you were really looking forward to hanging out with Jungkook again and you really deserve some fun after all that studying" Sammy kept going. "I'm serious. You're not a bad friend for staying. She doesn't seem like she wants to talk to anyone right now anyways and if she does, she'll have me"
"I don't know" I was hesitating. I looked over to Jungkook and watched him talk to Tobias for a moment, his face was lit up by that bunny smile again.
Damn it. I wanted to stay.
"Stay" Sammy said.
"Okay" I nodded. "Tell Dom I'll ask my mum to drive me home"
"I will. Have fun, babe" she hugged me. "But not too much fun"
"Oh god" I smiled. "Shut up! You can never stop teasing me, can you?"
"What's going on?" Jungkook asked after Sammy and Cat left.
"They're not coming but don't worry, they're fine." I explained. "But I'm staying"
"For me?" Jungkook wiggled his brows in a suggestive manner, which made me giggle.
"Yes" I winked. "Who else would I be staying for?"
"I knew it. Admit it, Williams, you just can't get enough of me" he winked. "Alright, I'll hurry up then. I'll take a quick shower, grab my stuff and we can leave. Meet me at my car?"
"Sounds good" I nodded.
Jungkook left to the changing rooms and since Tobias left as well and I had no one to talk to, I decided to walk out to the parking lot and wait there. Just as I was about to leave the field, two familiar faces appeared from the changing rooms at the same time.
James and Taehyung. Both showered and changed. Training bags with the team's logo swung over their shoulders. James walked out first and his eyes immediately landed on me. Goddamn.
"Hanna!"
Fuck no...
"Wait!" he caught up to me in no time and put his hand on my shoulder to make me face him.
"Can we talk?"
"Now is a really bad time, James. Maybe next week at school-" I tried to shake off his hand but that only made him grab onto my arm to hold me back.
That's when Taehyung walked past us. I met his eyes and he sent me a short, warm smile. The kind you would miss if you weren't paying close attention.
"Hi, Hanna"
"Hi" I mumbled, completely freezing until he was out of sight. I closed my eyes, annoyed with myself.
I should have said something. Why didn't I say anything?
"Hanna? Are you okay? Do you know him?"
"Hm?" I had forgotten James was still there.
"About the Biology project.." James started and it took every ounce of self control that was left in me to not roll my eyes at him.
"Hey, it's the weekend! Let's not talk about school" I put on a smile, attempting to handle this by being nice to him and changing the topic. I knew arguing with him again would definitely ruin my night.
"No, seriously, Hanna. I want to apologize"
"You do?" I raised an eyebrow in suspicion.
James was wearing an oversized black jeans jacket over a purple sweatshirt, his curls were tugged behind his ear on one side.
When I looked into his green eyes now, everything felt so different than it used to when we were together.
Now all I felt was irritation when he looked at me. I had once written him poems about his emerald green eyes for his birthday but I could swear I saw nothing but poison in them now.
Love really blinded you. Well, what I thought was love. I now knew what we had was definitely not love.
How foolish.
"Apology accepted" I said before he could elaborate.
"No, I want to do this properly. I really am sorry about what I said."
"Okay, I believe you. It's forgiven and forgotten. Have a nice night!"
And again, he grabbed my arm. Don't scream at him, Hanna. Don't scream at him.
"Please stop touching me"
"Why are you being so weird to me?" he asked, irritation evident in his voice.
Deep breath. "Can I ask you something?"
"Okay?" James raised an eyebrow.
"Why do you still care about me?" I asked in the most neutral tone I could manage.
"What? We have to get along to do this project together"
"No, you know it's deeper than that. You keep approaching me. You keep trying to talk, over and over when we really don't have anything to talk about anymore. So, please answer my question. Why do you still care about me?"
"Because I don't want to lose you. I wanna be your friend"
"You do?" I furrowed my brows. "You want to me my friend?"
"We never had a proper closing point. I feel like there's so much left unresolved" he started to ramble.
"The night of Sammy's birthday party, that was our closing point, James. When you had your hand up another girl's skirt in front of me, that was our closing point"
"I know but that doesn't feel right" he almost sounded desperate. Desperate for what exactly I didn't know.
"I'm getting more and more frustrated the more you push this, James. You can't change how things ended between us. I'm sorry it wasn't as pretty of an ending as you wanted it to be. Can we just do this damned project and call it quits for good?"
"You don't want to be friends?"
"No, I really don't" I sighed.
"Woaah, why the long faces?" Jungkook laughed when he saw us staring each other down. Chilling silence.
"Okay" James nodded, still looking at me. Eyes green like poison. I repeated in my head over and over. They were a warning all along and I had missed it.
"Okay" I stared back and the tension eased a bit.
"Are you joining us at Jimin's for drinks?" Jungkook patted James' shoulder.
I almost forgot they were close, I thought, as they hugged.
Say no, say no, James. Come on!
"Sure" he grinned at Jungkook. "You know I'm always up for drinks"
Of fucking course.
"Awesome! Tonight's gonna be great!" Jungkook laughed, throwing one arm around James' shoulders, one around mine and pulling us close to him. "Bestieees"
What a great fucking start to the night.
I got into the backseat of Jungkook's car, letting James sit in the front with Jungkook.
Typing...
Me
James is coming..
Sammy💕
Ew
Me
We're going to Jimin's
Sammy💕
Hmm maybe you can get some info out of him. We drove Cat home and she left without a single word.
Me
What the hell did they talk about for her to be this upset?
Sammy💕
I have no idea, babe. Maybe Jimin will tell you. Be safe tonight xx
Me
I will be,
thanks for taking care of Cat.
Good night❤️
Sammy
Good night❤️
"What do you mean?" Jungkook slightly raised his voice. He was on the phone with someone.
"Come on, man. I told the guys they could come over and we'd have drinks. You can't cancel like this last minute!" he groaned.
"Is he talking to Jimin?" I asked James but he didn't know.
"FINE!" Jungkook shouted, clearly pissed, and hung up.
"Jimin says he 'isn't feeling well' and canceled on us, so now I gotta tell that to everyone who wanted to come" Jungkook sighed, unbuckling his seat belt and getting out of the car.
"What are you doing? Just text the guys" I called after him and got out of the car as well.
"I'm confronting him, he's still here, that's his car over there"
"He's not going to change his mind" I told Jungkook but he still seemed determined to hunt Jimin down.
"I know but I still wanna yell at him"
"Jungkook!" I grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "Hey..calm down" I made him look at me.
"He's been a dick for weeks, I've had enough of him constantly ditching us and-"
"I know, I know.." I cooed. "Just please leave him be tonight, okay? Please? We can talk to him on Monday. Tonight is not the time, trust me"
He looked back at me and his hard features slowly softened. Chocolate brown. I thought, looking into his eyes. Soft and gentle. "Fine.." he sighed. "You win, Williams. Let's just go home"
"Hey-" I pulled him back once more, standing on my tiptoes to whisper in his ear. "That doesn't mean we can't hang out though. How about we drop off James and get food?"
Jungkook smiled, pinching my nose. "Clever bunny"
"Hey! If anything you're the bunny here!" I laughed, pushing his shoulder.
"You want to fight, Williams?" he teased, positioning his fists before his chest and pretending to punch me.
"Get in the car and drive, you idiot!" I shook my head with a grin.
I was surprised Jungkook had agreed to my plan so quickly. I thought getting rid of James would turn out to be much more difficult than that.
But no. We dropped James off at his house before getting fast food at a drive- through and driving back to Jungkook's place.
The wind tugging on my hair was ice cold but we still drove with the windows down. Jungkook had his music blasting and I was leaning out the window, letting my fingers play with the cold night air wind. I fed Jungkook a fry every now and then and his happy bunny smile made me laugh.
And so we drove through the cold night, listening to music and just enjoying each other's company and that was enough to make my chest fill with joy.
I leaned back in my seat, closed my eyes and listened to Jungkook sing along to the song playing. He had a beautiful voice. I noticed that right away, even though he wasn't even trying to sound good.
I felt grateful we had become friends in the end. Grateful I had allowed myself to change my mind about him.
He was incredibly easy to be around. I never felt pressured to say something deep or sound smart in front of him. Even his flirting and teasing didn't feel uncomfortable anymore, it just made me giggle now or even blush when he was actually complimenting me.
Jungkook was a lot nicer than you'd expect him to be. From the outside he appeared as this tough guy, the popular kid. Always dressed in the lastest fashion, always with a joke on his lips.
But he was so much more than that. I never felt like I had to impress him. I could just be myself around him. And that made me forget about everything else.
About Taehyung and the blonde girl. About Jimin and Cat. Even about James and that damned Biology project.
Jungkook made me feel okay about living in the moment. And that was something I had felt with no one else before.
______________
A/N: I got so many sweet comments on the last update that I felt extra motivated to write.
Hope you enjoyed this one just as much💜💜
You're all amazing!!
BY THE WAY!!! 300 freaking thousand reads on GUCCI Boy!! What?! 😭😭💜
And 70k on this one!!!
I'm so so happy people are enjoying my stories🥺🥺💜
THANK YOUUU!!!
See you soon,
Umi xx