One of my best friends stared at me, long and hard, mockingly almost. I stared back at her with my brows raised as if asking, “What?” She snickered behind her hand just before I saw her eyeballs roll to the side for a brief moment. My lips immediately pressed into a thin displeased line. I “accidentally” kicked her, making the poor girl whimper and glare at me.

Her head turned to look at my ex-boyfriend this time. Just before I could shoot her a warning look, she quickly said, “Hey, Baek! Eun Bin says hello.” My eyes widened threateningly but the girl only looked back at me with a triumphant smirk. Everyone has swiveled around to look at us in the very back seat, doing what they have been good at since high school, teasing.

I rolled my eyes and leaned back on the seat, trying to look unaffected but my face felt warm all over, all the more that I heard Baekhyun chuckling in amusement. I knew he was coming. He had to be. We have the same circle of friends which would make it down right impossible for him not to be invited to this little reunion.

I don’t even know why I seemed surprised to see him at our meeting point (a convenience store near our old high school). It hadn’t even been that long since we last met. It was over dinner about five nights ago to discuss this very trip we decided to have.

But maybe it was the thought of being completely awkward again but trying so damn hard to act like I’m not that had me shocked over seeing him. Maybe it was because I sometimes forget we were ever friends. Or maybe, it’s because I still have such stupid overwhelming feelings for the guy that's hard as to shake off, his presence still making my heart jump no matter how hard I try to keep it calm.

I was apparently so shocked that I didn’t notice that I was idling in front of the door until Chanyeol spotted me and started waving like a lunatic, a huge creepy smile plastered on his face and his deep booming voice calling my out a little too loud for such a small area.

I completely froze when Baekhyun seemed to turn in slow motion and locked eyes with me. I involuntarily in a breath, afraid that he’d take it away with his beauty. He seemed to stare at me for a good while before tugging his lips into a friendly smile.

I snapped out of it when another one of our friends arrived and bumped right into my back. Ilsoon initially grumbled, telling me to move out of the damn way but squealed when she recognized who I was. She hugged me a little too tightly and screamed, “I missed you so much, idiot!” right into my ear.

I unfortunately couldn’t force any words out of my mouth to say the same or be in the right mind to react as greatly as she did. She didn’t mind though because she was then running to Chanyeol and Baekhyun, hugging and greeting them cheerfully. All this damn time, I was staring at my ex and he too was doing the exact same thing.

My heart was ramming a little too hard against my chest as I finally decided to move and walk to the tiny group. Baekhyun was still staring at me, boring a hole right through me and seeing the warry soul inside me. To be civil and actually normal, I flashed him a smile, a fake one at that and hoped that he wouldn’t think it was fake. I coupled it with a stiff nod of my head to acknowledge his presence.

He returned the smile but his wasn’t fake like mine was. It was that warm inviting smile that I had fallen for two damn years ago. I didn’t notice at all that I was staring at his mouth until I saw that breath-taking smile flatten, his teeth coming out to clamp on his bottom lip. I looked up to his eyes then. He seemed like he had something to say and that honestly made me nervous.

We don’t talk the way we used to. I’m just so ing awkward with him whenever we get a chance to meet and my replies were always so dismissive, clearly not wanting the conversation to drag any longer so I could proceed to try and avoid him. I looked at him anxiously as he opened his mouth but before he could speak, Chanyeol had distracted him. He was asking what we could buy in the store for our trip.

I discreetly sighed in relief. I’m glad that Chanyeol was there to keep the guy’s attention away from me while we waited for the rest and I’m glad that Ilsoon was there to keep my attention away Baekhyun too. Soon after, the small convenience store was filled with boisterous laughter and too-loud voices that screamed over the other to get themselves heard. 

Baekhyun wasn’t in my mind then. That until we had to figure out seating arrangements for the car and everyone had mischievous grins on their faces. They stared right at me with those stupid grins then moved to stare at someone standing next to me. I had a clueless look on my face as I turned my head too, eyes widening when I saw Baekhyun staring at me looking just as confused as I did.

“Hey! C’mon now. Stop teasing.”

I was only slightly thankful that Suho tried to stop them. Key word: tried, because he too couldn’t help from snickering despite what he said. I silently groaned and bit onto my lip as the teasing continued. The reason why this teasing erupted, Soojin, was nudging me non-stop. I only scowled at her.

Baekhyun was chuckling along and I couldn’t help but turn my head to him, initially wanting to shoot him daggers but ended up just staring at his crescent shaped eyes. He caught my gaze, stopped chuckling and raised an eyebrow at me. “Are we passing messages now?” he said before nudging my evil friend. “Tell her hi and that it’s totally free to talk to me.”

In came more teasing when he smiled my way and I so stupidly looked out the window in panic, a poor attempt to hide my probably red face now. Chanyeol’s booming laughter stood out the most and I heard the clapping sound of him doing a high five with someone really loudly. “Nice job, Jongdae. It was a great plan to make them sit together…”

He then wrinkled his nose at Soojin who was now labeled a “ blocker” and continued to say, “sort of.” Jongdae clucked his tongue and shook his head. “Soojin, why the are you ruining their moment back there?” he hollered. Soojin threw her hands up in agony. “Do you think I want to be back here? In all this damn awkwardness and tension? Eun Bin shoved me here with her!”

I closed my eyes shut and pinched the bridge of my nose. My friends just have no concept of speaking at a normal tone. They’re always ing shouting over each other. I heaved a deep sigh, bumping my forehead on the headrest in front of me over and over again.

I heard a familiar chuckle amongst the screaming voices and turned to see Baekhyun staring at me.