Chapter 2: A Roller Coaster Ride With You
The Color of Our Memories
Chapter 2: A Roller Coaster Ride With You
The outdoor skating rink was lit up by tall lamps that surrounded it's perimeter, christmas lights wrapped around each one. Couples could be spotted gliding along the rink, holding hands as they circled around and exchanged words with one another.
Jessica followed behind the other five members of SNSD that walked in front of her with Hyoyeon all the way in front. They stopped at a spot behind the boards, the snow crunching beneath their feet. They looked on at everyone somewhat amazed at how almost every person was paired with someone. The atmosphere in the rink reeked of romance.
“Juuuust what I need right now. Greaaat.” Jessica thought to herself sarcastically.
"Why did we even come here?" Yuri whined as the rest of the members were busy looking on at everyone. She shifted her eyes, spotting a few passer byers whispering as they stared at them. A couple of people began to take their phones out to sneak a photo or two. "Look, people are recognizing us and we've hardly even been five seconds here!"
"Aww, loosen up. Lets just see how it is alright?" Hyoyeon said.
"Doesn't the atmosphere make you depressed?" Taeyeon said while laughing, stuffing her hands into her jacket pockets.
"What do you mean?" Hyoyeon asked.
"Just look. There's couples everywhere..." Tiffany said while looking at her feet, kicking some snow to the side.
"And meanwhile here we are. Single." Sunny joined in, pouting.
"Well whatever. You guys stay here and sulk. I'm going onto the ice." Hyoyeon walked over to the opening on the boards that led to the ice.
"Hyoyeon we need to re-"
"YAAAAY~!"
Being as excited as she was, Hyoyeon had completely forgotten that ice skating required actual skates and ran onto the ice in her boots. Her balance was completely fine after a few steps and then the expected happened. She slipped and fell on her bum.
"-ent skates... “ Yuri laughed and pointed at Hyoyeon, “Kim Choding! How about you calm down!".
Jessica remained quiet the whole time, just looking at Hyoyeon who fell. Looking at the dancer, she gradually became annoyed.
Hyoyeon made a fool of herself but she didn't laugh at her. She didn't let out a single chuckle. All she did was stare at her and then it started. The symptoms of her love sickness were all the way to full power.
Jessica didn’t mock Hyoyeon like she usually did whenever the choding fell clumsily. Instead, she thought of how endearing Hyoyeon's child-like attitude was. How the dancer fell and laughed at herself almost as hard as Yuri was helping her up made the ice princess melt, her wide grin and unique eye smile making it hard for Jessica to rip her eyes off her.
It only amplified the feelings she tried so hard to suppress, the feelings she so desperately wanted to get rid of. The mixture of happiness and fear that put stress on her heart would never disappear. The pain would never stop taunting her.
Her irritation at herself and her own feelings took the form of the very reason for it all: Hyoyeon. All the reasons she came to feel this way for Hyoyeon turned themselves into reasons for hating her. She knew that if she stayed any longer she would blow up at Hyoyeon eventually at one point. The lovey-dovey atmosphere in the skating rink wasn’t exactly helping either.
“Hey, can I go home now?” Jessica said all of a sudden, crossing her arms as she tapped her foot impatiently on the ground. She stared coldly at everyone skating around the rink.
“But we just got here?” Tiffany looked at Jessica surprised, even though she herself hinted at the idea a few moments ago.
Hyoyeon and Yuri joined the rest of them once again, hyoyeon rubbing her bum in pain.
“Jessica wants to go home?” Yuri asked.
Jessica shrugged her shoulders lazily, taking a quick glance at Hyoyeon who was staring at her with puppy eyes as she neared her. Her heart skipped a beat followed by a surge of irritation that filled her veins.
She turned around, whipping her head to get her bangs out of her face and made her way back to the white van they came to the rink in. Secretly she wanted Hyoyeon to hold her back.
And she got what she wanted.
“Come on Sica, don’t be like that.” Hyoyeon pleaded, her hand on top of Jessica’s shoulder. “Lets have fun together okay?”
Jessica turned her head to look at Hyoyeon, releasing a glare she tried to hold back. The first thing she saw were not Hyoyeon eyes, but her lips and then it all came back to her.
The little incident that happened the day before in their dorm’s living room played itself in her head once more causing her cheeks to heat up and her mini glare to reside slightly.
Jessica mentally shook her head and brought herself back to reality, her eyebrows furrowing again. She shook Hyoyeon’s hand off her shoulder.
“Whatever. Have fun by yourselves.” Jessica replied coldly as she eyed Hyoyeon for a short moment. She resumed making her way back to the parking lot where the vehicle they rode in was parked.
Yuri, Tiffany and Taeyeon stood dumbfounded, looking at one another for answers. Hyoyeon stood and watched as Jessica disappeared into the parking lot, a frown on her face.
“Yah, SIca!” Hyoyeon yelled after Jessica who ignored her. After a few more calls she gave up, her shoulders slumping in defeat.
“What the hell is up with her lately? Seriously.”
**************
The grey tires cycled atop the paved road of the highway, carrying the yellow vehicle and it's passengers towards their intended destination. The taxi tilted upwards as the driver navigated the vehicle over a bridge that arched across the river below them.
Seohyun peered out the window from inside the taxi, her vision of the world outside coated over with fog. The maknae wiped away at the condensation with her hand, allowing a stream of sunlight into the vehicle.
Seeing the sun shining brightly over the river as the taxi she rode in drove across made her feel happy. The water sparkled and twinkled, providing a heart warming atmosphere despite the cold weather that day. Having the sun confidently shining instead of it hiding behind dark, grey clouds made this day even better for Seohyun.
The maknae had been called back from her vacation earlier than expected. She spent her week off at her parents’ home; something she had been wanting to do for a while, especially on the rather sudden vacation grants. Throughout her whole stay however, she felt unsettled. The desire to come back to her other home slowly grew stronger the longer she stayed with her parents.
Each conversation she had with her mother always initiated some sort of memory or image of a certain blond haired dancer back at the dorms. Making dinner with her father in the evenings over light hearted conversations sparked thoughts pertaining to what her fellow group mates were having or rather who was making their dinner. She always popped up in her thoughts through the most mundane of things.
Seohyun didn't bother to question why she thought of her so often, no, she simply brushed it off, creating the excuse that she just wanted to spend the little days off with her unnies. Her mind always seemed to want to quickly change subject and try to focus on other things of prospectively more important value. And so like this, she subconsciously embraced the new found emotions she felt without even knowing what these emotions were.
The call for her to come back from her vacation earlier than expected excited her--it made her... happy. In the back of her mind Seohyun knew that her reaction to the call from their manager was a bit more enthusiastic than normal, but she didn't care. Deep within the depths of her thoughts there was a voice that told her to stay wary but she didn't take heed to the warnings. All the maknae could do was act obliviously to what she felt even when those feelings were clear to any outsider.
"Hyoyeon unnie?"
The taxi parked at the curb outside their dorm building, stopping right in front of a figure Seohyun didn't expect to be there.
Not taking her eyes off the dancing queen, Seohyun fumbled around, her hands searching for the handle that would open the door. Once her slender hands identified with the cold metal piece she pulled on it, only for her actions to have no affect. The door remained stagnant, not budging to open.
"I think you forgot something?" The taxi driver said from his seat, eyeing Seohyun through the over view mirror.
"Ah, sorry." Seohyun reached into her pocket, took out a few bills and handed it over to the middle aged driver. She had taken the taxi from their dorms to her parents' home and back so often that she knew the exact amount needed and had prepared it before hand.
In a rush, she grabbed the silver handle on the door, pulled on it and swung the door open. Slightly surprised at how fast Seohyun opened the door, Hyoyeon backed up a step to avoid getting hit by the door. Seohyun swung her legs to the side and stood up from her seat, carrying her bags with her. Once her feet met the ground she pulled the older girl into a tight embrace, her bags that slung over her shoulder hitting Hyoyeon in the stomach.
"Ow!" Hyoyeon exclaimed. She smiled while flinching in pain at the corners of Seohyun's shoulder bag digging into her stomach. "Its only been five days!"
Seohyun loosened her grip on Hyoyeon and chuckled, embarrassed "Sorry unnie."
She released her hold on Hyoyeon and caught the straps of her bag that repeatedly slipped from their resting place on top of her shoulders.
"Unnie why are you here? I didn't tell anyone what time I was going to be back." Seohyun asked surprised while she fixed her attire. She smiled brightly at Hyoyeon under the blue baseball cap she had on.
Hyoyeon took out her cellphone, the screen displaying a list of text messages from Seohyun and showed it to the maknae.
“You sent me a ton of messages telling me when you were gonna be back.”
“Ah chincha? I swear I only sent one!” Seohyun said surprised at how many text messages she sent her unnie.
“Are you kidding? My phone was vibrating so much I felt like my thighs would go numb!” Hyoyeon laughed lightly hitting Seohyun on the arm. She then looked up at Seohyun, their eyes locking for a brief moment before Hyoyeon cleared .
“Why are you so quiet? Its only me haha.” Hyoyeon said breaking the silence between them. In the back of her mind she wondered why the atmosphere became so awkward. “Here, let me help you with your bags,”
Hyoyeon reached out to grab one of Seohyun’s bags. Putting a hand on top of Hyoyeon's hand weakly, Seohyun stopped the choding from reaching out to take her bags from her.
Although Hyoyeon didn’t say anything Seohyun could feel that the choding had something on her mind. Even though Seohyun had sent her messages telling her of her arrival she never told her unnie the exact time of her arrival. She knew the dancing queen was out longer than that, doing what she didn’t know.
Although quiet, Seohyun was not slow to notice when there was something that bothered her fellow members. She wanted to ask what had happened, but knowing her unnie she didn't like it when people pried. Instead, she decided to talk about the manner at a time when Hyoyeon seemed a little more ready to talk and so she let go of her hand. Her eyes fell to the ground.
"What's wrong with you? You don't want me to help? Fine have fun carrying those bags by yourself." Hyoyeon shrugged her shoulders and twirled around on her heel, pretending to head back to the dorms. As she expected before she took a step forward Seohyun held her back, the younger girl latching her hand onto her's as she giggled.
"You know I didn't mean it like that unnie. Besides, I don't have much to carry."
"Arasso."
Hyoyeon turned to look up at Seohyun with a bright smile and squeezed the maknae's tiny, soft hand in hers. She interlaced their fingers together and walked to the dorm lobby. Seohyun felt warmer and not just from the warmth Hyoyeon's hand provided, but from the happiness she felt as the rhythmic pounding of her heart increased in tempo.
Looking at the shorter girl beside her as they walked hand in hand past the building gates Seohyun whispered to herself.
"I'm glad I'm back."
"Did you say something?" Hyoyeon looked up at a smiling Seohyun.
"Aniya. Unnie you need to get your ears cleaned."
Hyoyeon grinned, curling her free hand into a fist and pretended to hit Seohyun, who in response moved herself away before Hyoyeon pulled her hand back.
***************
"Hyoyeon where were you?" Tiffany called out to Hyoyeon who was in the foyer from the kitchen. She busied herself helping out Taeyeon with the kitchen cleanup -- something Hyoyeon usually did.
"You should be glad Sooyoung and Yoona aren't here yet. They would've devoured everything here." Tiffany said as she piled up the plates that were sprawled over the table.
"Ah, Seohyun you're back!" Yuri exclaimed as she walked into the living room with a towel wrapped around her neck.
"Seohyun-ah you're here?" Tiffany said, poking her head out from behind the kitchen wall.
"When did you arrive?" Yuri asked.
"Just now unnie." Seohyun replied, her and Hyoyeon's hands still connected, neither of them noticing how long they had their hands glued together.
"Yuri-ah! Come here I need your help!" Sunny called out from one of the bedrooms down the hallway. "Sica still won't wake up!"
"She still won't wake up?" Yuri rubbed the back of her head in frustration. She sighed heavily and draped the towel over her head. "Hyoyeon you try. Its been, like, my fifth try and she still won't get up."
"She didn't really laugh; no matter what we did she didn’t budge. Tickling her just made her mad." Tiffany added, heading back into the kitchen after having just come out.
"She's been soooo moody today." Yuri said, her eyes widening as she stressed her words.
“This whole week she’s been moody. I mean, what was up with her at the skating rink?” Tiffany said from the kitchen.
Hyoyeon's eyes wandered around the living room, her blank face masking the hint of uneasiness she held in her eyes. Her eyebrows scrunched up ever so slightly--barely noticeable unless you looked long enough. Seohyun noticed the subtle change in Hyoyeon's features and instantly connected the pieces.
"Something probably happened between Hyoyeon and Jessica unnie." Seohyun thought.
"Did something happen? This whole week there's been this weird tension in the air between you two." Yuri said.
"Jessie seems more irritable." Tiffany came out from the kitchen again wiping her hands with a cloth.
"What did you do?" Yuri asked, directing the question to Hyoyeon.
"I didn't do anything. Honestly, the way Sica's been acting has me all confused as well." The dancing queen replied calmly though she did agree that maybe she did have to do with why the group's resident sleepyhead was acting different lately.
The tiny guilt in her heart instinctively caused her to squeeze Seohyun's hand tighter, signaling how she didn't feel quite comfortable with all that was happening at the moment. She just wanted to go take a shower and get ready for their next scheduled radio show appearance and shrug off the whole issue.
And as if hearing Hyoyeon's thoughts, the maknae spoke up.
"I'll wake her up Yuri unnie. Maybe she'll be happy to see that I'm back?" Seohyun said with a small smile.
Hyoyeon sighed deeply. Having Seohyun do such a difficult task when she had just arrived didn't sit well with her. "I'll do it. Seohyun you just got here. Go sit down and eat."
"You're not bossing Seohyun around? Amazing!" Yuri said sarcastically, still towel drying her head.
"Shut up. Hurry up and get dressed." Hyoyeon let go of Seohyun's hand and crossed her arms across her chest. A flash of disappointment swept across the maknae's face as quickly as it came and was replaced with a blank look.
"I see Sica isn't the only one who's been having mood swings this whole week." Yuri said sticking her tongue out at Hyoyeon.
"Yah!"
"Maybe she's just at that time of the month-" Tiffany interjected only to cut off her own sentence.
There was a silence in the room. Yelling could be heard from Jessica and Sooyoung's room.
"Yah! Hurry up and get your off the bed! Schedule's in an hour and a half and you still aren't up! Sica-yaaaaah, what do we do with you?! In total this is our fifteenth try waking you up. I know you’re awake! Don’t pretend that you’re no-"
Slap!
The sound of Jessica's hand meeting Sunny's cheek echoed from the hallways and into the living room and kitchen, sounding like Jessica used a whip instead of her own hand.
Wondering what happened, everyone made their way to the ice princess' resting place to see what happened to Sunny but stopped once Sunny stormed out of the room.
Hyoyeon and Yuri burst into a roaring laugh at the sight of Sunny’s red cheek, the two collapsing onto the ground in slow motion as they held their stomachs. Tiffany immediately went into the action of attending to Sunny's almost swollen cheek while Taeyeon chuckled under breath softly and shook her head, finishing up the dishes like everything was normal.
"Whatever! Someone hurry up and wake Sica. We only have an hour till we have to go and who knows how long it'll take for Sica to ACTUALLY, fully functional, human being alive-like, wake up." Sunny huffed her words as she rubbed at her cheek. She could still feel the tingling sensation from the slap the ice princess gave her.
"Unnie what happened?" Seohyun asked concerned even though she knew the answer. She too was amused and found the hand print on Sunny's face funny.
"What do you think? I tried to wake Sica, that’s what."
*************
Jessica sighed heavily, her eyes fixated on the cream white ceiling. The truth was she had already awoken after Hyoyeon first attempted to wake her, her sweet voice still fresh in her ears.The slap she gave Sunny on the cheek was unnecessary, but the extra nagging the aegyo filled member gave was what she did not need given how easily agitated she was recently.
Jessica laid on her bed like a starfish, sighing the time away, and wondered if she should get up and ready herself.
Still somewhat groggy, she propped herself up on her bed with her arm, lazily dragging one of her legs off the edge of the bed. Just as her toe touched the floor, she heard the door swing open.
"Oh !" Jessica shrieked quietly, getting herself back into bed in a rush and pulled the covers over her.
She waited.
She could hear the sound of footsteps nearing, stopping just as they were at their loudest and without even looking to see who it was she knew.
It was the person she wanted to avoid the most at the moment.
"Jesshika..."
**************
Hyoyeon stood above the sleeping ice princess, her arms crossed, and stared down at the girl's form. She didn't know how she should approach this task and not just this, but the awkwardness that would follow afterwards.
Even though Jessica was curled up under her covers clutching her pillow close to her body, Hyoyeon knew fully well that Jessica was awake. She could feel it; the strange stillness in the air that lacked the sound of soft, paced breaths and the open eyes under the sheets that stared openly at nothing. Hyoyeon could feel the nervousness that radiated off the blankets. She knew Jessica was anxiously waiting for her to leave. It didn't take much for Hyoyeon to know the ice princess was pretending and avoiding her.
Hyoyeon lifted her hands up and laid them on the blanket Jessiica covered herself with. For a moment they remained there, searching for Jessica's head. Once she felt the round bump that was Jessica's head on her palms she caressed it gently, her eyes fixated on the spot filling with a mixture of curiosity and worry.
"Did I do something wrong?" Hyoyeon thought.
After taking a good look, she sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed, still looking at Jessica’s form.
"Just how long are you going to keep this up?"
Jessica who had her eyes wide open, jolted slightly at the question.
With her hand still on Jessica's head, Hyoyeon balled up her hands and knocked on it gently.
"Hey, Sica, get up already. Its half past noon."
...
One, two, three, four, fi-
Five seconds and the ice princess still didn't move. Beginning to become annoyed, Hyoyeon quickly tore away the bedsheets, ready to shake the life out of Sica--very different from the motherly wake up call she gave in the morning initially.
What she found was entirely different. Jessica had her eyes closed shut, her chest rising up and falling down softly as she slept.
"Seriously?" Hyoyeon thought, still not convinced of Jessica's sleeping act. She stared at Jessica's peaceful face, a devious plan coming to her.
In one swift movement she climbed on top of Jessica, straddling the brunette in between her legs. She smirked in preparation for what she was about to do.
She grabbed the edges of Jessica's tank top and began to pull it up. For sure Jessica would wake up now.
“If you won’t get yourself ready I will!” Hyoyeon said with a playful smirk.
Her eyes wandered to look up at Jessica's face for any sort of reaction and she...
She paused.
Beneath her she could see the color of Jessica's face changing to a bright red pink. Hyoyeon knew she wasn't seeing things or mistaking it for Jessica feeling unwell. Sica had no make up on, so it couldn't be the blush she put on and she showed no signs of illness yesterday.
“Aish chincha, why are you blushing for? Its just me.” Hyoyeon murmured in a whisper under her breath, putting on a pout after she finished her sentence.
Hyoyeon lifted her eyebrows in curiosity watching to see if the color on Jessica's face would go away. Jessica continued on with her sleeping act, but Hyoyeon could feel how nervous Jessica was. Her stiffened fingers, the slight twitch in her leg muscles when she sat on top of her, the curling of her toes--it gave her away.
“What? You like me or something?” She said jokingly in a quiet voice, the playful smirk on her face widening to a grin. With the knowledge of Jessica awake she decided to poke fun at her. There was no response from the older girl.
She let out a chuckle, not aimed at Jessica but herself. She laughed at how she could even make such a joke, let alone think such a thing—something so impossible.
But was it so impossible? Is what Hyoyeon thought to herself curiously. She let out a big, hearty laugh.
“What am I thinking?”
Her eyes looked on at Jessica intently in search of some form of reaction and...
She saw it.
Jessica's face was bright red.
"No way..." Hyoyeon said out loud, her smile immediately dropping and her eyes widening.
Why Jessica pushed her away that day a week ago, why she seemed so red whenever she talked to her, why she had been giving her the cold shoulder, why it was so awkward when the two of them were alone... everything pieced together perfectly, perfect if what Hyoyeon thought was true. As her thoughts came together her grip on Jessica’s tank top tightened.
The thought of one of her closest friends feeling that way for her... it was probably her over thinking things.
"I'm probably... probably thinking too much." Hyoyeon thought to herself, laughing at how overly analytic she was being.
The comfort she felt with Jessica came back, every inconceivable concept of her imagination going out the window of her thoughts as it did. Jessica was her friend, Jessica was a girl.
"Maybe she really is sleeping." Hyoyeon said her voice above a whisper.
Hyoyeon lifted herself off the bed, leaning over Jessica as she moved her leg over her, the uneven weight distribution on her body throwing her balance off guard. Hyoyeon immediately felt herself falling to her death as gravity dragged her towards the floor, her body tipping off the bed.
“H-help! Sica! Help-” Hyoyeon closed her eyes ready to accept the pain she would feel once her body hit the floor. Thankfully though, she felt a hand grabbing onto her arm, gripping onto her tightly to keep her from falling.
**********
Jessica yanked Hyoyeon back towards her, her fear for the girl's safety giving her more strength than needed. Hyoyeon flew back onto Jessica, landing on top of her roughly with her face buried into the nook of Jessica's neck. Once again Jessica was straddled in between Hyoyeon's legs. She was now sitting up, Hyoyeon's arms wrapped around her waist holding on for dear life. Jessica could feel every part of Hyoyeon: her soft chest pushed up against hers, her toned thighs enclosed around her and her thin arms wrapped around waist.
She gulped.
Jessica cursed at herself mentally. She hoped desperately that Hyoyeon wouldn't hear her pulse going into overdrive or notice how hot she was getting. It was too risky, especially with how suspicious Hyoyeon was becoming. What made it even harder for Jessica to control herself was not just how awkward their position was but Hyoyeon's breath that tickled her neck and how her moist lips brushed against her skin ever so lightly.
Hyoyeon lifted herself off of Jessica cautiously and moved her face towards hers, panting heavily as her adrenaline levels lowered. She let out a smug laugh directed at how clumsy she was. Her long blond locks draped over Jessica's face as she grinned from ear to ear. She was a little too close for comfort.
Hyoyeon cupped Jessica's face in her hands and stuck her tongue out at her, squishing her cheeks together.
"I knew you were awake!!!"
Hyoyeon looked into Jessica's eyes, her eyes smiling at the ice princess' who just stared back in shock. After realizing what she just said, her smile dropped--she realized something.
"You were... Y-you were awake..."
"Jesshika I'm ba- WHOA."
*************
Thanks for being patient guys XD I should’ve had this chapter out a few days ago but its the busiest week of December both at school and at home D: I hope the long chapter was good enough to make up for it lol.
I know I’m taking my time with this fic, but I really want to set a good base for everything. It might lack ‘fanservice’ right now but I promise it’ll pick up later! XD
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