Two drinks down, there's something in the water, baby
Lose control, want someone to take me home
I lose touch, throw my arms around you, baby

___________________________________________

Jeongyeon remembered a party. It was her last year of undergrad—she had to make it memorable somehow. She remembered drinking. A lot. Whatever the juice was that Jihyo had given her. Something good and something strong. She remembered a girl. There was always a girl, grabbing her attention. A girl who laughed too loudly and smiled like she knew something you didn’t. A girl who put an arm around Jeongyeon’s shoulder even though they didn’t even know each other’s names.

There were whispers shared about everything and yet nothing. A nibble on Jeongyeon’s ear that made the girl moan softly. Then lips met lips, messily. And the girl that laughed too loudly laughed again for no reason at all. They were in the corner of the room, away from everyone else—although the crowd was increasing and people kept stumbling into their little space apart from the rest of the college party. A tall guy more drunk than Jeongyeon had backed into the girl that laughed too loudly, spilling a part of his drink on her. He bellowed out a hasty apology, and the girl shrugged it off.

“Do you want to get out of here?” Jeongyeon asked, having to scream above the roar of the crowd and the thumping club music that failed to hold her attention.

“My place,” the girl suggested. “We can walk from here.”

And so Jeongyeon took the girl’s hand and pushed through the crowd of drunk college kids. They battled their way to the front door. Jeongyeon thought she saw Jihyo—no, maybe it was Chaeyoung?—and she told whoever it was where she was headed before Jeongyeon slipped outside into the too hot fall air.

The girl that laughed too loudly took the lead now, pulling Jeongyeon and giggling as she wobbled a bit. Jeongyeon found herself laughing too. She felt happy and warm. She didn’t mind being loud.

The walk to the girl’s apartment was a blur. Streaks and shades of muted colors lit by streetlights and the murmuring of groups of students walking by. There was the fumbling of keys as the girl unlocked her door. As soon as they were inside there was the feeling of the wall against Jeongyeon’s back and the girl’s hungry mouth against her own—biting. Her fingers crept under Jeongyeon’s t-shirt, lightly scratching the smooth skin underneath.

They made it to what Jeongyeon could only assume was the girl’s room. More specifically, the girl’s bed. Clothes began to be pulled off. Jeongyeon’s arms got tangled as the girl tugged at her shirt. The two of them laughed, collapsing into each other. The lights were off, and so there was just touch and the smell of sweat and the expensive perfume the girl was wearing.

From what Jeongyeon remembered, it was good. But Jeongyeon didn’t remember much more than that. But what she did remember clearly was the girl’s face. It stood out among the rest. And her smile was lovely in a funny kind of way. She looked mischievous and naive at the same time. Her long, dark-brown hair was straightened and sleek. Jeongyeon had wanted nothing more than to run her fingers through it again and again.

Before Jeongyeon knew it, she was woken up to the loud vibration of a phone by her ear. Her eyes flew open and she snatched her phone, checking the message on the screen. There were 3 new messages. The latest one was from her friend Chaeyoung reading: “Are you alive?”

Jeongyeon set her phone down and groaned as the weight of her hangover began to pound her head. Sunlight was spilling in through the blinds, and so Jeongyeon could get a good look at the room she had slept in. It was moderately messy, with pictures and posters personalizing it. Jeongyeon rolled over slowly to get a good look at the girl she’d gotten tangled up with last night.

The girl was still deep in sleep, mouth open, with frayed bangs covering her face. She was quite a mess. It was cute. What was her name again?

Now Jeongyeon faced the tough decision of going back to bed or sneaking out before the girl woke up. It was probably best to leave. After all, this was nothing more than a drunken fling—if one could even call it that. After all, Jeongyeon still didn’t remember the girl’s name.

She didn’t want to go through an awkward morning—would the girl offer her breakfast?—and she certainly didn’t want to have to reintroduce herself. “Hi, my name’s Jeongyeon. I’m the girl that you drunkenly slept with last night.” The thought of that mortified Jeongyeon, so she stealthily slipped out of the bed, pulled on her jeans, and headed out the bedroom door. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she was bombarded with the smell of breakfast food. To her horror, a girl was in the kitchen! Of course, this girl she went and just had to have with had roommates!

The girl in the kitchen had her back to Jeongyeon as she entered. She was facing the stove, slaving over some eggs in a pan in front of her. Jeongyeon could try to sneak past the girl but the front door (that was the front door, right?) happened to be very close to the kitchen. She could just book it, probably scare the girl, but at least Jeongyeon’s identity would remain a secret if she ran fast enough. As Jeongyeon pondered her options, a quiet voice interrupted the scenarios in her mind.

“I didn’t know Nayeon had a guest.” The girl cooking spoke without even turning around to face Jeongyeon. Did she know Jeongyeon was standing there the whole time? How did she possibly know?

It took Jeongyeon a moment to consider her next course of action. She could still run…

“Uh yeah,” Jeongyeon replied.

Finally the girl turned around and Jeongyeon nearly did run out of the apartment when she saw it was none other than Mina, a girl in her English class. Of course it had to be someone she recognized. A moment of recognition passed over Mina’s face and suddenly Jeongyeon wasn’t the only one who looked embarrassed. “Oh, it’s you,” Mina mumbled.

The two of them were a sight to see. Jeongyeon with her rumbled clothes from yesterday—messy hair and her glasses slightly askew. Mina, with her hair tied back, no make-up on, and a penguin apron tied around her waist. It was pretty unnecessary considering she was only making an omelette, but it was cute nonetheless.

“Hey,” Jeongyeon broke the awkward silence, nervously scratching at the back of her neck.

“Would you...like an omelette?” Mina offered politely. Truthfully she didn’t want Jeongyeon to stay and Jeongyeon wanted nothing more to escape this awkwardness, but Mina didn’t know what else to say.

“No thanks,” Jeongyeon forced out a laugh and smiled. “I’m heading out. It was nice to see you.”

“Nice to see you too,” Mina awkwardly offered a smile back. Jeongyeon stood for a moment longer—the two girls staring at each other helplessly—-before Jeongyeon quickly walked toward the front door and swiftly opened it, escaping into the early morning sunlight.

As soon as Jeongyeon got a baring as to where she actually was, she realized her own apartment was on the other side of campus. It was no matter though—she’d take the opportunity to clear her head and the fresh air would probably do her raging headache some good. She fished out her phone and hastily responded to Chaeyoung’s text.

Yes, I’m alive. Barely.

She’d also received two more texts from Jihyo, telling her to be safe and not do anything stupid. Too late for that…

Man, how was she supposed to live down this embarrassment?

She finally made it back to her apartment where her bed and aspirin were calling out her name. Jihyo was there to greet her with some medicine and a glass of water...god bless her...but also a knowing look.

“So you and Im Nayeon, huh?” Jihyo mused, with her lips pressed together in a faux innocent smile.

“Is that her name?” Jeongyeon asked. Well, now she knew. “How do you know her?”

“I made it my business to know her when I saw you fraternizing with her at the party. God, you two were so cringe-worthy,” Jihyo teased.

“We were both drunk out of our minds, okay?” Jeongyeon said, snatching the glass of water from Jihyo and downing the pill with ease.

“So how was it?” Jihyo asked. “Your first one night stand.”

Jeongyeon plopped down on their slightly tattered couch and groaned. “I don’t remember.”

“Oh c’mon,” Jihyo challenged. “You must remember something!”

“It was fine,” Jeongyeon admitted. “Good...I think.”

Jihyo cackled and slapped Jeongyeon on the shoulder. “That’s my girl!”

“You’ll never guess who I ran into this morning,” Jeongyeon continued. Jihyo raised her eyebrows and sat down next to Jeongyeon. “Myoui Mina, from English.”

“Seriously?”

“They’re roommates.”

“Oh my god,” Jihyo exclaimed, clearly entertained by the thought of a mortified Jeongyeon running into Mina, of all people. “That just makes things ten times better!”

“Alright, storytime over,” Jeongyeon said. She set her glass down on the coffee table, got up, and began heading for her bed.

“Tell me more when you don’t have a raging hangover!” Jihyo called after her, smiling sweetly at Jeongyeon as she disappeared into her room.

Jeongyeon tip-toed into the room she shared with Momo, who was a new transfer student. The girl was deep in sleep, wrapped deep under her covers. Once Jeongyeon hit the pillow she was out like a light.

“Good morning,” Mina cheered to a stumbling and groaning Nayeon as she hobbled out of her bedroom and emerged into the kitchen.”So, I met your...bed buddy...earlier today…”

Nayeon collapsed at the kitchen table and moaned. “Did you just say...bed buddy?”

“Well...you know what I mean….your….guest,” Mina struggled to find words, feeling her face flaming. She quickly stuffed with food to shut herself up.

“I don’t want to talk about that,” Nayeon muttered. She rested her forehead against her hand which was propped up on the table.

“Okay.” Mina wouldn’t pry, although she really was taken off guard by the sight of her frazzled classmate in her apartment earlier this morning. Nayeon had never had someone stay overnight before. “Well, I made you some eggs cause I figured you’d be needing a pick-me-up.” Mina slid a plate and fork over in front of Nayeon.

“Thanks,” Nayeon said, breathing in deeply to take in the scent, making water. Her head was pounding as if to the beat of its own clock.

“I told you not to drink too much last night,” Mina scolded as she watched her roommate inhale the eggs.

“What can I say, the jungle juice was really good.” Mina gave Nayeon a measured glare of disapproval and Nayeon gave her a mischievous smile. “Relax, I know the girl who made it. It was full of really good crap.”

“Never drink the jungle juice,” Mina whispered to herself, echoing the advice she’d picked up from her three years of college so far. “I hope Sana at least kept her head. I knew I should’ve gone just to keep an eye on you two…”

“Shhhhhh,” Nayeon held up a finger to Mina’s lips. “I’m fine, she’s fine.” There was a pause. “At least I think she is. Where is she, anyway? Still sleeping?”

Mina shook her head. “No, she actually got out of bed at a reasonable hour and took off.”

“That girl never gets hung over and I’ll always hate her for it,” Nayeon muttered. “She abandoned me at the party too...she was all over this one girl and I didn’t wanna be the third wheel. She forced me to socialize,” Nayeon said the last word with a grimace and shivered.

That got Mina’s attention. “What girl?” she asked seriously. Sana had been a bit hesitant to dive back into things after she had to break up with her last girlfriend, so hearing that she was back in the game was surprising.

“I don’t know...I’d never seen her before. I never caught her name,” Nayeon replied.

“Speaking of girls...you and Jeongyeon?”

“Hey, don’t change the subject back to me,” Nayeon whined. “And I couldn’t even tell you her name. The whole night is super fuzzy.”

“Well, I’m telling you now, it’s Jeongyeon. I have class with her,” Mina said.

“Lovely.” Nayeon leaned back against the wooden chair she was sitting on.

Mina laughed slightly. She grabbed Nayeon’s dish and stacked it on top of her own, then stuck them both in the sink. “Make sure you take some aspirin and drink lots of water, okay? I’m gonna get ready and head out for dance practice.”

Nayeon gave Mina a salute as she began to walk to her bedroom. “Thanks again for breakfast!”

The next few days continued as if nothing had happened. Other than the occasional teasing from Jihyo, Jeongyeon tried to forget about that night. It’d been nothing more than a sloppy mistake, right? Jeongyeon avoided Mina like the plague, often hiding behind Jihyo during class like a shield. And aside from a few curious glances, Mina didn’t say a word to Jeongyeon.

Once Nayeon’s roommate Sana heard about Nayeon’s eventful night, she wanted to know all the details. She practically the information from Mina, got everything the younger girl knew out of her, and then moved onto Nayeon herself. “I can’t believe you slept with Jeongyeon!” Sana squealed, making Nayeon groan.

“You told her?!?” Nayeon glared at Mina, who was sitting at the kitchen table with a helpless expression on her face.

“I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to say anything...Sana’s just really good at extracting information…” Mina mumbled.

“Jeongyeon is so pretty!” Sana said, returning Nayeon’s scornful glare back in her direction.

“You know her too? Am I the only one on this campus that doesn’t know her?” Nayeon rolled her eyes at Sana’s gleeful expression.

“I make it my business to know all the pretty girls on campus,” Sana raised her eyebrows at Nayeon mischievously and the older girl scoffed and began retreating toward her room. “Speaking of which...there’s a new transfer named Momo who I matched with on Tinder and I’ve been talking to her quite frequently, but I saw her at the party last weekend and started a conversion and she was acting like she didn’t even know who I was! She’s a real catch…but she was deflecting all my charms! It drove me crazy! Can you believe the nerve of some people? Resisting me?”

“You must be losing your touch, Minatozaki.” Nayeon stopped walking and spun around. “I’ve had enough girl talk for now, I’m out.” Then she stepped into her bedroom and closed the door behind her.

Sana pouted at the closed door. “Rude! What’s her problem?” She spun around and asked Mina, who had been quietly sitting at the table on her phone during that entire encounter.

Mina looked up with a slightly bored expression on her face. “Not sure, she’s been acting kind of weird since she...you know.”

“Slept with Jeongyeon?”

“Yeah, that.”

“I think Nayeon has a little crush.”

“It’s plausible,” Mina shrugged. She looked down at her phone again and began scrolling through social media.

“Well, since you’re here and not in your room for once, do you wanna hear about Momo?” Sana asked, sitting down next to Mina. She rested her elbows on the table and leaned forward, looking at Mina expectantly.

Mina’s eyes slowly lifted and looked in Sana’s direction. She set her phone down on the table and sighed. There was no escaping Sana when it came to tales of the latest love of her life. “Sure.”

“What are you two snickering about?” Momo asked, setting her bag down on a chair in the kitchen. She’d just gotten home from her last class of the day to find her roommates huddled on their couch next to each other, both looking at Jeongyeon’s phone.

“Memes of course,” Jeongyeon replied, but she quickly put her phone away as if she were hiding something. Momo narrowed her eyes at her roommates and made her way to the bedroom she shared with Jeongyeon with agonizing slowness. Momo studied the girls sitting in front of her carefully.

Jeongyeon stuck out her tongue at Momo before she disappeared into their room and collapsed onto her bed.

“We’re so getting in trouble for this when she finds out,” Jihyo murmured, staring at the Tinder profile on Jeongyeon’s phone with a bit of guilt.

“She’ll thank us later when we get her a date with the infamous Minatozaki Sana.”

“Speaking of dates, have you ever thought of going on one with Nayeon?”

At the sound of Nayeon’s name, Jeongyeon was instantly on edge. She’d been trying to forget about that name even though it kept showing up in the back of her mind. It was just a one night stand—keyword one night—so why couldn’t Jeongyeon stop thinking about her adorable face and the way the older girl made her feel?

“It was just a one time thing,” Jeongyeon assured. Jihyo didn’t look convinced though. “Don’t give me that look.”

“Don’t make me catfish Nayeon on Tinder for you, too,” Jihyo joked, and Jeongyeon just elbowed her in the side.

“Maybe I should...try to talk to her,” Jeongyeon finally said.

“Yes, you should! Because there’s a chance she really likes you. I mean, she’s pretty, a senior, and she clearly has questionable taste in women if she slept with you...so you better jump on that before she gets some better sense.”

This earned Jihyo a wack in the face with a pillow from the couch. Jihyo held her arms up to deflect the attacks and cackled.

“How do I even get in touch with her though…?” Jeongyeon wondered aloud.

“Easy! Through Mina. Just ask her after class tomorrow and she’ll hook you guys up.”

Jeongyeon sighed. For some reason the thought of talking to Mina mortified her. Perhaps it was because Mina had caught her walking out of Nayeon’s bedroom during her walk of shame. “Fine,”Jeongyeon muttered, and Jihyo patted the older girl on the head and looked satisfied.

The next day, Jeongyeon sat through her English class looking between the back of Mina’s head and the clock. The hands of the clock were moving like a ticking time bomb—counting down to what would most certainly be another awkward encounter with Mina. Once the professor dismissed the class and students began standing up and collecting their things, Jihyo gave Jeongyeon a supportive nod and motioned to Mina.

Jeongyeon took a breath and approached the girl. “Hey,” she said quietly. Mina, who was slipping her laptop into her backpack, turned around and looked at Jeongyeon in surprise.

“Oh, hello,” she replied. They stood for a brief moment in an awkward silence. “What’s up?”

“Right….um...I was just wondering if you’d be able to….put me in touch with….your roommate…”

Mina her bottom lip and looked down at her phone, which was sitting on top of her desk. “Which one...Sana or Nayeon?” Mina was pretty sure it was the latter but she could never be sure these days with how Sana seemed to befriend every girl on campus.

Nayeon roomed with Sana too? Things just kept getting more interesting by the minute...it was almost poetic. “Nayeon,” Jeongyeon stated. “Maybe you could give her my phone number? I wrote it down here.” Jeongyeon fished a small piece of ripped lined paper with her name and phone number scribbled on it.

Mina reached out and took the piece of paper and stuck it carefully into her coat pocket. “Sure, I can give it to her for you,” she confirmed. Then she smiled warmly at Jeongyeon and finished packing up her things. “I’ll see you on Friday.” Mina gave Jeongyeon a small wave before she slipped on her backpack and walked out the door, leaving Jeongyeon and a curious Jihyo in the classroom, alone.

“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Jihyo said.

Jeongyeon wanted to punch her friend in the face.

Mina knocked on Nayeon’s bedroom door while standing on her tiptoes. “Hey, Nayeon?” the girl called softly.

“Come in!” Mina heard Nayeon call, and so the girl swiftly opened the door and entered Nayeon’s bedroom. Nayeon was sprawled out on her bed with her laptop open, furiously typing away. At Mina’s presence though she looked up and stopped typing, letting a lazy smile stretch across her face.

“Here to confess your undying love for me?” Nayeon joked, puckering her lips and sending an air kiss in Mina’s direction, whose face instantly turned to one of disgust.

“You wish. I have something for you,” Mina said, beginning to reach into her coat pocket. She pulled out the piece of paper Jeongyeon had given her and handed it to Nayeon.

“What’s this?” Nayeon asked, staring down at the note as if it had been scrawled in a foreign language.

“It’s Jeongyeon’s phone number. She asked me to give it to you.”

“Oh.” Nayeon continued to stare down at the note. “Thanks.”

Mina tried to gauge Nayeon’s reaction. She seemed slightly surprised but Mina couldn’t read anything else from her.

“Are you...going to text her?” Mina prodded.

“Maybe.”

“You should.”

Nayeon looked up at Mina and narrowed her eyes. “And why’s that?”

“She seems nice.” Mina shrugged. On that note, Mina walked out of Nayeon’s room and closed the door behind her.

Nayeon picked up her phone and stared at the piece of paper once again. She really did want to talk to Jeongyeon. They clearly had some sort of chemistry. And from what she did remember from the night she had enjoyed herself. But was it too soon to reach out after receiving Jeongyeon’s contact info? Should she wait until tomorrow?

Screw it, life’s too short to hold back in fear of not looking cool enough. Nayeon quickly typed in Jeongyeon’s contact info and saved her name with a magnifying glass emoji.