After the first two days, the rest of the trip flew by. After the amusement park, the boys drove to a nearby big city.

            Coups tried to find a hotel, but were no rooms that were under their price range. So they all slept in the van. This didn’t bother them, they had slept in the van many times over the years. You tried to hide the anxiousness at the thought of parking the rusty old van at a rest area, completely vulnerable in public. But then again, it was skeptical that anyone would try to break into van of guys. Sadly, however intimidating the group of nine guy looked from the outside, you were sure that more than half of them would piss themselves scared if ever confronted with a hijack situation. When it came to instincts, only two of the guys in the group had the ‘fight’ response in fight or flight. And you were sure that if that every played out, Joshua would be the one apologizing to the intruder on behalf of Woozi and Coups due to their lack of compliance.

            Two guys would sleep in the car, and six in the van. It only took two nights in the van to dissolve the nineteen years of personal space that had built up. No matter how much you tried to squish yourself into opposing corners, everyone would  awake a tangled mess in the middle.

After having done this for several years, the boys were completely used to this form of normal. But even after years of getting used to, no one had gotten used to DK. DK was the infamous sleep-hugger of the group . His victims usually woke up in a locked grip with a strength that DK could only achieve while unconscious. Woozi was the victim both nights. Dino took pictures of the said event and after Woozi cornered him a rest stop; Dino was persuaded to delete them.

            The days were packed. There was the art museum, and eating out, which takes forever when restaurants are forced to seat nine people. And the concert you went to (where Dino got involved in a mosh pit, Coups braving it only to drag him out). Mingyu won an eating contest at the mall, DK coming in second. They walked away with a five-hundred-dollar gift card prize that Coups confiscated, saying that he would use it as payment for gas. Joshua and Woozi spent five hours at a three story music store, Joshua nearly crying when he set his eyes on a guitar worth two thousand dollars. Woozi got the three of you kicked out after trying to hook up his computer to the ‘display only’ music equipment that was worth more than his college tuition.  Hoshi and DK would sneak out late when everyone was asleep to go clubbing. Coups and Wonwoo attended some underground rapping events in the city.

            And before you knew it, it was time to go home. There was a two day drive ahead of you. Everyone wanted to continue going on but it was schedule. Joshua, Coups, Jeonghan had jobs to return to; Dino had school

            The morning that you were scheduled to go home, you woke up around noon, and  Coups had been driving the van driving for four hours. You grunted, stretching out your tense muscles. Only Joshua and Dino were awake, sitting in the back sharing a pair of headphones watching something on Joshua’s phone. Someone was hugging you from behind, you cranked your head over to see that it was DK.

            “Oh man, why did it have to be me?” You hissed as you pried him off of your upper back. Joshua looked up as you crawled away from the pile of bodies in the back. DK adjusted himself sleeplessly. He moaned and tossed for a while before his wandering hands found Wonwoo’s upper thigh.

            “Good Morning.” Joshua said kindly in that soft voice of his, taking out his earphone. You scooted to where they were sitting, behind the drivers seat.

            “Take your pick of breakfast.” Dino said, an egg sandwich in hand.  There was a pile of randomly assorted breakfast fast food. Pancakes, muffins, scrambled eggs, and pop tarts.

            You grabbed a muffin and slid next to Joshua. “What are you watching?”

            “An anime.” Dino moaned. “But this one .”

            “It kind of does.” Joshua agreed. “How did you sleep?” He asked, putting his phone in his pocket.

            “Good. Stiff as always. DK got me last night.”

            “I should’ve taken a picture.” Dino smirked.

            “Why aren’t you driving the car?” You asked Joshua, looking out the back window to see Joshua’s car trailing behind.

            “Jeonghan’s driving it.” Joshua said. “I have to take over the shift after we drop Mingyu and Wonwoo back at the hotel.”

            You nodded, glancing over at Wonwoo, being cradled upside down by DK and laughed. Joshua groaned dramatically and bent over completely putting his head on your lap. “I don’t want to drive anymore, It’s so boring.”

            “It’s boring?”

            “There is nothing for me and Jeonghan to talk about anymore.” He whined. “Twelve plus hours of driving and you run out of topics.”

            “I could drive with you.” You offered.

            “As long as you’re entertaining.” Joshua mumbled.

            “You will never meet a more entertaining passenger.” You guaranteed.

            You reached the hotel four hours later, and to your surprise the only one to have woken up thus far was Woozi. The rest of them completely unresponsive to any attempts of get them to stir. So, the four for of you that were awake, pounded on the bottom and sides of the van screaming.

            Hoshi bolted upright screaming along with everyone else. The rest of the pile grumbling and covering their ears.

            “Is that lipstick?” You asked, pointing at Hoshi’s mouth, smudges of red smeared all over his lips, cheek, and neck.

            Hoshi smiled faintly, rubbing his eyes. “You bet it is. This girl last night…wild.”

            “What happened?” Coups chimed in from the front.

            Hoshi’s lips sank. “Nothing much. Minor stuff. I mean, I couldn’t do much else. What could I have said? ‘Hey, do you want to come back to my van?’” He scoffed.

            “There are these things called hotel rooms.” Woozi told him.

            Wonwoo, on the floor opened his eyes and tried to sit up, only to find DK latched onto his thigh. Wonwoo kicked DK in the face, both of them yelling.

            “If we can’t afford a hotel room for ourselves, I’m not buying one for a girl.”

            “Classy.” You muttered. “With that attitude, you’ll certainly have a girlfriend in no time.”

            Once at the hotel, the whole group was awake. Wonwoo and Mingyu climbed out of the van, and to your surprise, all of the guys got out too. You slid to the edge of the van and hung your feet out the open door to watch.

            The boys took turns one by one saying goodbye’s. Giving the two forceful hugs or high fives that sounded like they hurt.

            “Don’t overwork yourself at the hotel.”  Coups told Mingyu, patting him on the back, smiling up at him.

            “Don’t let Mingyu do all the work around the apartment.” Woozi told Wonwoo smiling.

            Wonwoo smiled, and for the first time he seemed like a gentle giant. “Hey, I don’t know what you are talking about. He just cooks, I’m the one who cleans his messes up afterwards.”

            “Come by sometime.” Joshua said. “

            “We’ll save up some vacation hours and see if we can make it down again.” Mingyu said.

            “Be good to them.” It wasn’t till all the boys turned around that you realized that Wonwoo was talking to you. His sharp pointed eyes lifted in a soft smile “Give them a hard time for me.”

            “Keep Joshua social and the rest of them out of trouble.” Mingyu added, giving you a high-five.

            “What are you saying-“ Hoshi scoffed, kicking Wonwoo in the shin. “I’m older than you.”

            Wonwoo grabbed Dino. “I was talking about you.” Wonwoo excused, wrapping Dino in a headlock ruffling his hair. “Don’t be a brat. No more fights, you hear me?”

            Dino struggled in his grip, a smile fighting against his growl of annoyance. “Okay! Okay!”

            Wonwoo released Dino. Dino staggered back, but then pulled Wonwoo in for a hug. “We’ll try to come to your basketball games.” Mingyu said.

              “Come on guys,” Coups said kindly. “We have to get back on the road.”

            Everyone did a final round of goodbyes, and then the boys turned to get in the van.

            “You should come next time.” Wonwoo said, smiling and pointing at you.

            You pointed at yourself questioning. But you didn’t get a chance to say anything, the boys were ushering you into the van as they lined up to get inside. Joshua pulled you out of the way, and started walking behind the van, his key’s twirling around his finger.

            You got in the passenger seat. Joshua closing the door behind him.  Joshua’s face was pulled tight in a kind of forced calm.

            “Are you okay?” You asked.

            “I hate goodbyes.” Joshua murmured, looking down. Past his glasses, his glossy eyes trained on his lap. Wide-eyed in concentration, not blinking.

            You put your hand on his forearm. “It’s not really a goodbye?” You told him, flinching at the cheesiness of your own words. Comforting people was never your forte, but Joshua looked up, with a smile, not finding them cringe worthy at all. “You will never hear the words ‘goodbye’ come from my mouth.”

            “I better not.” He told you. His eyes followed the tall giants, as they walked inside of the hotel doors. “Why does everyone have to live so far away?” He groaned, pushing his glasses up with his fingertips, and pressing his palms to his eyes.

            “Hey-” You told him, getting his attention again. You pulled one of his hands away from his eyes; his palms slightly damp. You clasped his hand in yours. “It’s okay. They aren’t dead.” You smiled a bit, trying to cheer him up. “They are just away. You can always skype them and call them. It will be fine.”

            Joshua looked at you for a second, his eyes red. And then he turned away coughing and blinking, clearing his throat. “Oh God, this so not cool.” He told himself. “Be cool, be cool.”

            You laughed as Joshua started the car. “No offense Joshua, but you’ve never fit the traditional role of cool.” Joshua hissed at you under his breath. “But I still think that that in a sense is pretty awesome. You’re kindhearted and open. And that is as badass as someone can be in my book.”

            “You’re lying.” Joshua looked at you through half open eyes.

            “No really. There is a vulnerability attached to it. Something that I could never do.”

            “I wish the rest of girls thought that way.” Joshua groaned.

            “Most girls are stupid.”

            “You’re awesome.”

            “I know.”

            You and Joshua talked the whole way. Joshua going on a rant for a while about guitars, you didn’t understand any of it, but tried to act interested all the same. At the second hour, you received a call from Dino pleading for help. The boys were apparently having a heated argument about something art related that only you could finalize the winner of. You ended up siding with Dino and immediately after there was yelling and something screamed about a bet, before rustling was heard followed with “YOU WANNA GO?!. And Dino hung up.

            “I’m so glad I’m not there.” You murmured, shoving your phone in your pocket.

            “Poor Coups.”

            “Coups is probably used to it.” You spat disdainfully. “He’s got rough skin.”

            “I take it you still don’t like him?”

            “It’s not that I don’t like him. I am completely neutral. I just don’t think he likes me.”

            “He cautious at times, but he is friendly. He can seem a tad bipolar on the surface.”

            “A tad.” You repeated, scoffing the words. “He doesn’t trust me around Dino.”

            “He doesn’t trust anyone Dino. Dino is…very susceptible to influence. And Coups is trying really hard to prevent him from getting in fights at school. Coups had to fire a guy from the bike shop because he kept encouraging Dino behind Coups’ back to get into fights. That guy was the best mechanic at the shop, but Coups’ didn’t care.”

            “But isn’t it a tad too serious?” You argued. “Coups’ isn’t Dino’s father, no matter how much he tries to act like it. If Dino wants to fight, there is nothing that Coups can say that will prevent him from doing it.”

            “I don’t think so.” Joshua said. “Dino used to get into fights all the time at school. But then when he met Hoshi, he stopped. Because Hoshi was always there at school to distract him or something I guess. But since Hoshi’s been away, he’s slowly been slipping back.”

            “So it’s Hoshi that prevented him from getting in fights?”

            “Its just being around one of us that stops it. Just there is no one at that school anymore to keep an eye on him anymore.” Joshua said. “It’s like when he isn’t around one of us he becomes a completely different kid.”

            “He is old enough, he doesn’t need anyone’s eyes on him. Let him do what he wants.”

            “I would agree, but Dino is fighting people. Hurting other kids.” Joshua said, turning to you, brows pulled together.

            “I’m not saying that I approve. Just maybe the more restraints Coups puts on him, the more Dino will want to rebel.”
            “Yea.” Joshua hissed. “That might be true.”

            “She scores again.” You said smugly, sinking down in your seat and leaning your knees on the dashboard.

           “By the way,” Joshua said. “I’m glad that you and Woozi are getting along.”

           “I’m glad that you think so. Still, sometimes I still have to restrain myself from punching his face in.”

           “No, really. You guys seem close now.”

           You scoffed. “Close. We aren’t close. We just don’t hate each other.”

           “Woozi told me about the pool.” Joshua said, and you remembered that night when you pretended to be asleep as you eavesdropped on their conversation. Your name and record included.

           “Oh really?” You asked, trying to sound surprised, your forehead creasing. “When?”

           “After we almost got arrested and you went to bed.” Joshua said. “We talked about a lot of things.”

           “Interesting.” You droned, trying to sound unenthused about the topic, hoping he would drop it. You picked at your thumb with your forefinger.

           “Actually, we talked about a few things.” Joshua said, his tone serious. He rubbing his plump over his lump top lip. “About what happened at the police station. I don’t know if you know this or not, but I saw-“

           “Man, I am so hungry. Aren’t you hungry. Here, I’ll call the guys and ask them if they are hungry. I’ll do that now. Yeah? Yes, okay.” You fumbled with your phone.

           The phone rang, and you ignored Joshua’s eyes that were baring down on you. “Hey!” You said in a peppy voice that you were sure had never come out of your mouth before. “What’s up, are you guys hungry?”

           “What’s wrong with you?” Hoshi said. “No, most of us woke up only an hour ago.”

           “Okay well, Hoshi. I was asking about everyone one else in the van not just you and DK.” You snapped.

           “I’m sure they’re fine.”

           “Just give the the phone to Woozi.” You hissed.

           A second passed and you heard Woozi say. “Yes?”           

           “Are you guys hungry?”
           

           “We’re going to stop at the gas station up ahead.”

           “Great.” You said happily again. Maybe you could switch into the van. The last thing you wanted was to be stuck in a car with Joshua asking you questions that you preferred didn’t exist in the first place. “That’s awesome.”

           “What’s wrong with you?” Woozi spat the same words.

           “Nothing is wrong.” You snapped, angry again. And you hung up. You turned to Joshua, who was looking mildly concerned over the mood switches. “We will be stopping soon at a gas station.”

           “Is everything okay?” Joshua said.

           “Of course.” You waved your hand. “Everything’s fine. Why wouldn’t they be?”
            “Are you uh… you know?” Joshua’s face turned red, pulling at his collar. “Around that time-“
            “Joshua, I am not on my period.”

           Joshua clasped one hand to his ear, eyes squinted and nose crunched. “AHHH, don’t say that.”

           “What period?”

           “Yes.” Joshua said quickly, wide eyed. “That word. No. I just found out that you had a chest earlier this week, I don’t need other things to add to that list.”

           “Joshua I’m a woman.” You groaned. “Stop acting like a five-year-old. It’s nature.”

           “Oh, so you would just be completely okay if I just start talking about my-“
            “No!” You yelled, folding your ears in. “No. No. Don’t say it.”

           “My .” Joshua said hauntingly.

           “WHY?” You yelled. “The medical term is almost worst.”

           “If you don’t like me saying mine, then don’t say yours.”

           “You are acting like a child!”
            “So are you!”

           “If I want to have my s out I can.”

           Joshua winced. “I’m not saying you can’t. But please don’t­-“

           “Why not?” You asked, the both of you were talking loudly now.

           “The same reason you don’t like me talking about my -“

           “ARRGG. Stop it!”

           “It’s the same thing.”

           The phone in your lab vibrated, breaking the tension. You picked up. “What do you want?” You said, teeth gritted.

           “Can you guys stop fighting? The car is swerving like crazy back there.” Hoshi yelled. All of the boys were pressed up against the back van window, watching you with their faces flat against the glass. Hoshi waved, nose smashed and pointed to the phone. “A couple of times we thought Joshua was going to drive off of the road.”

           Joshua went a bit red. “Sorry guys. It won’t happen again.”

           “It better not. I have my Limited Edition Death Note Box set in my suitcase.” Hoshi yelled, and Dino nodded in aggressive agreement next to him.

           “It will be fine.” You said, giving them an overemphasized wave.

           “HONG!” Hoshi yelled. “What were you fighting about? You looked really into it.”

           “Nothing major.”

           “Just .” You said. Joshua looked at you a smile creeping up on his face.

           “What?” This voice was Woozi’s. “Why were you-? Nope. Actually. I don’t want to know. Don’t tell us. Hoshi, hang up.”

           “Why were you talking about that?” Hoshi said hastily. Dino was now pressing his whole face against the pass, looking completely shocked.

           Joshua laughed, grinning at you. “What? We were just talking about my ? No biggie?”

           “His .” You correct him pompously, biting your lip in a smile.

           The boys just looked at you through the glass with confusing looks. Stock still in shock.

           “What type of friendship do you guys have?” DK half yelled. “No. Woozi’s right. Hang up. This is getting too weird even for my taste-.” And you saw DK snatch the phone from Hoshi and press on the screen. The phone in your hand dropped the call.

           Joshua and you started laughing, tears forming at the corner of your eyes. “Oh that was good.” You laughed. “I’m glad we can make jokes like this and not have it be awkward.”

           “This is as awkward free as Joshua Hong can get.” He said pompously. “But now I regret doing that, they will bug me about that for the next month.”

           “They will, won’t they.” You sighed. “At least Hoshi won’t be teasing you about never having a girlfriend.”

           Joshua’s bottom lip poked out. “He can’t say anything. He is a complete carnivore! You heard how he tried to bring that girl back to van-? Complete bull if you ask me. Hoshi’s stupid, but he wouldn’t dare hook up with a girl while Dino’s there.”

           You held back a laugh. The bitterness in his voice all too evident. “Is there any reason why you never had a girlfriend?” You asked.

           “Only ever liked one girl in High School, and she turned out to be a lesbian. You’ve heard to story.”

           “What about college?”

           “The only place I feel comfortable talking to people I don’t know is in the guitar shop. Maybe church, if it had been a good week.” Joshua droned, one hand on the wheel. “Otherwise I’m too busy for that kind of stuff. I work full time at the shop and a part time student. I’m overbooked. What about you?”

           “Have I ever had a boyfriend?” You asked. “I had one in high school. But that was about it. I was too focused on my studies in my early years of college to get any possible guys interested.”

           “How long where you and that guy together?”

           “Oh, two weeks? Not very long.” You laughed. “I dumped him. He was getting boring, expecting me to do everything that this other girlfriend did.”

           “Like?”

           “For one, he hated it when I made any ual jokes and he preferred proper ladies who never swore-“
            “That relationship was bound for failure.”

           “He never kissed me either. He was a bit to much of a proper guy for my taste.” You groaned.

           “So you’ve never been kissed before?” Joshua said wide eyed.           

           You hissed. “Urg, its completely pathetic, I know.” You groaned putting your head in your hand, covering your eyes. Joshua tapped you on the shoulder quickly.

           “No! I haven’t either.”

           “You’re lying.” You lifted your head

           “No really! Well technically I have, but my first kiss was so I pretend it never happened.” You gave him a quizzical look. “Senior year, and I was at a party and an extremely drunk girl pulled me into a closet and started randomly making out with me. She was very drunk. I’m pretty sure she thought I was someone else too, because she kept calling me ‘Ryan.’”

“But you have kissed someone.”

           “I like to think I haven’t. My first kiss is not going to be taken by some drunk girl. I had to fight my way out of that closet. For all intents and purposes, these lips are clean.”

           “We are some sorry losers. I’m twenty and I’ve never had a decent boyfriend.”

           “I’m twenty-one. And I’m a guy. Its worse for me.” Joshua hissed. “I just hope I can get some kind of action before I graduate. That will get the guys off my back about it.”

           “Agreed.” You hollered. “Do you know how embarrassing it is when people ask about your past relationships-“

           “-unimaginatively awkward. And then you have to make up some lie about a girlfriend you had in high school. But you just had to break her heart because  you just couldn’t handle the commitment.”

           “I more go for the ‘boyfriend in the military service.’ If they ask where just claim you don’t know because he is so high up in ranks. And that you can’t say anything about him because of security purposes and revealing information could ‘endanger him’” 

           “Clever.” Joshua gave you a low high five. “We are pathetic aren’t we. How much time do we have on our times to make up fake girlfriend and boyfriend excuses?”

           “Apparently too much.” You sighed. “But I am not too hung up on it. I don’t really need a boyfriend. I’m just sick of other people asking about it.”

           “I just want a girlfriend. Get a congratulatory kiss on graduation. Have someone to take home to my parents so they stop nagging me about being single.”

           “You mentioned a kiss about three times.”
            “I need to redeem myself.” Joshua groaned. “It was the worst thing ever! She smelled like booze and she literally grabbed my face and did while I was completely not expecting. I always thought it would be something awesome, or I would do it all cool like in the movies. But no, my crappy first was when I was eighteen, in a closet with a girl who was too drunk she didn’t even know who she was kissing.” He ranted, smacking one hand against the steering wheel.

           You don’t know why you were surprised that Joshua was a hopeless romantic. He showed every other sign possible. The naming of plants, the fact that he referred to his guitar as ‘the only other woman in his life.’ That time when he texted you asking if telling girls that he once cried himself ninety percent of the way through a John Green book, was a turn off (you had to tell him it was). Also that, and the guy still keeps a journal.

           “I didn’t think it would be that important to you.“ You said, trying not to sound judgmental.

           “My parents had their first kiss on their wedding day.” Joshua groaned. “The importance of it has been engrained in my head since birth.”

           “Are you really that hung up on it?” Your brows furrowed.

           “Of course.” Joshua sighed, a though resolve on, his ears turning pink. “You’re a girl, isn’t yours important to you?”

           “A kiss is a kiss.” You told him. “Nothing more nothing less. Besides I’ve never been one for physical affection anyway. Hugs even kind of freak me out.”

           “I wish I cold think that way.” Joshua groaned. “Most guys would be thrilled at the idea of having a drunk girl in the closet all over them.”

           “One day you’ll meet a girl who finds your chivalry incredibility attractive.”

           “I fear I won’t.” He groaned. “And I’ll never get a chance to redeem myself. Like it or not, girls like tough heartless guys like Coups or Woozi. They never go for-“

           “If you keep putting yourself down, I’m going to have to beat some confidence in you.” You groaned. “But I do sharing in your longing-,“ you winced as you admitted this, having to rip the words from your reluctant mouth. “-for it to be something special. But I guess sometimes I worry if a guy will ever go after me.”

           “Why would you think that?”

           “I’m not traditional! I swear and I make crude jokes. Most guys want some sweet flower who would never hurt a fly, and I just can’t offer them that.”

           “You’re insane if you think that guys don’t find you completely awesome.”

           “Or scared of me.” You shouted, and even at this Joshua spluttered into a laugh. “See? Even you know that.”

           “I will admit that you can be frightening at time.” Joshua said. “But that doesn’t matter.”

           You didn’t say anything for a while, then you turned to him. “So are we just going to have a pity-party for ourselves. ‘oh woe is me I’m I lack in physical contact.’”

           “I am assuming you have something different in mind.”
            “Yea, I do.” You turned to him. “Instead of whining about it, we should do something about it.”

           “In case you’ve noticed. My flirting game is absolutely zero.”

           “That is not what I was suggesting.” You cleared your throat and looked forward. “If you haven’t gotten a girl by graduation, we should just kiss.
            Joshua yelped a bit as the car swerved a bit off the road. “What?”

           You turned to him with dead eyes. “It wouldn’t mean anything. Like I said, a kiss is a kiss. And we need to get ours out of the way. You absolutely cannot graduate without having gotten to first base yet.”

           “Just a kiss?”

           “Just a kiss?”

           “No meaning?”

           “Absolutely. I want to get mine out of the way two. Its simple.”

           “Why do I feel like you are using me for this?” Joshua said. “I’m just kind of man-meat to you, aren’t I?”

           “Hey, I want to get mine out of the way as much as you do! And I don’t trust anyone else to-“
            Joshua grinned as you looked down. “Aww, how sweet.”

           “Shut your face.”

           Joshua’s fingers tapped on the steering wheel, his lip pulling to the side.

           Was that the wrong thing to say? You thought, your heart racing faster. Why couldn’t you tell? What was he thinking? Should you ask? He probably thinks you’re strange now. Damn it, you shouldn’t have-

           “We can’t tell the guys though.”

           “What?”

           “The guys can’t know anything about this; if they knew, they would never let us live it down.” Joshua looked to you, flashing his white teeth.

           “So, we’re doing this?”

           “Why not?” Joshua shrugged. “Like you said a kiss is a kiss. And besides, we are already too horrible comfortable around each other.”

           “Look at Joshua Hong, being all cool.” You nudged him

           Joshua broke into a cheesy grin that told you that he enjoyed being called cool way too much. You were tempted to make some snappy comeback to wipe the grin off his face. But you said nothing.

“Just promise me no tongue.” You said, pointing a dangerous finger at him.

           Joshua adopted a low voice that you assumed was an poor imitation of some type of action hero. “I can make no promises. One graduation comes, who knows that type of person I’ll be.”

           You gave him a deadly glare. Joshua adjusted himself in his seat. “Sorry.” He whispered slyly.

           You just laughed. “Well, you graduate in two years right?”

           “That is the plan.”

           “Who knows what type of people we’ll be by then.”

           Joshua grinned to himself.

Look forward to next chapter, It may be VERRYYY important....

Please comment and vote if you haven't already :) I love getting feedback and it helps me improve my writing. 

Thanks lovlies