Chapter Four - Second Meeting
Remember MeYou feel a small vibration rippling through the springs of your mattress. Thinking you’re still dreaming, you don’t move and keep your eyes shut. The vibration pauses momentarily before resuming once again and you can’t seem to ignore it any longer. With your eyes still closed, you around underneath the blankets, searching for the source of the vibration until your fingers wrap around your phone. You slide it open and put it to your ear.
“Hello?” You croaked – your voice a pitch lower than normal since you aren’t completely awake yet.
“GiGi, wake up sleepy head!” A girl’s voice screeched through the phone and you suddenly jerk the phone away from you. You grumpily open your eyes and put the call on speaker.
“What, Miyoung? Why the hell are you calling me so early in the morning?”
“Early?! It’s already ten in the morning babe, so I suggest you get your out of bed.”
“I don’t have work today, let me sleep!” You protest but Miyoung is as persistent as ever.
“It doesn’t mean I’m going to let you waste time today not doing anything productive. Come on, I want to go to the beach today!” You groan in response but give up trying to convince her otherwise. You had been avoiding her last week, taking extra shifts at work and using school as an excuse so that you wouldn’t have to go out but this time Miyoung seems to have caught you off guard.
“Fine, I’ll come by to pick you up in about an hour.”
“Make it a half hour, time’s a wasting!” She said cheerfully before hanging up. You sigh and throw the phone aside, pulling the covers off of yourself. You weren’t socially awkward at all, but you often liked to spend time on your own because it allowed you to think to yourself. Miyoung was a good friend from high school and you knew she meant well but you sometimes wanted your own space. You get up and go to the washroom and brush your teeth and wash your face, patting it dry with a towel. You walk back into your room and grab a small duffle bag and begin throwing in various toiletries, a brush, extra clothes, and sun block. You then go over to your closet and pull out a white tube top, beach shorts, and a short sleeved knit cardigan.
You slide the door closed and go over to your dresser and pull out one of the drawers and sift through your intimates eventually coming across your black bikini top. You smile in satisfaction and dig through the drawer once again, finally pulling out the matching bottom. You quickly change out of your pyjamas and slip into your bikini, tying the string at the back and the slipping your head through the halter part. You tighten the strings on your bikini bottoms and let them rest on top of your hip bone. You grab your shorts and slip them on and squeeze into your white tube top, slipping on the knit cardigan after. You glance at the time and see that you have twenty minutes to spare.
You go to get a hair tie and tie your hair up in a messy bun and then grab your white-rimmed Gucci rip offs and place them on top of your head. You pick up your bag by the handle and sling it over your shoulder, grabbing your keys on your side table as you walk out to the front door, slipping on your favourite pair of white flip flops. You go on a familiar trip down to the basement of your apartment and scout for your car, pressing the unlock button on your keys, seeing the lights flash and a small honk erupted from the vehicle. You throw your bag into the trunk and get into the front seat, turning on the engine. As if on cue, your phone begins to ring and you check the call display, expecting to see Miyoung’s name but you are surprised as you see a different name flashing on the screen of your phone.
Doojoon dragged his feet into the kitchen and the coffee maker. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock. 10:10AM? It’s so early…As the coffee brewed, Doojoon took a seat and grabbed his phone which he had left on the kitchen table the night before. He flipped it open and saw he had a missed call from Junhyung only 10 minutes earlier. He pressed ‘call’ and put the phone to his ear, casually slouching in his seat.
“Finally, you’re awake.” Doojoon pressed another button, and Junhyung’s low voice crackled through the speakers on his phone.
“Good morning to you too, miss me already?” Doojoon mumbled sleepily and Junhyung scoffed.
“Of course, you are the light of my life and I yearn for you every second of every day.”
“Shut up, what do you want?”
“It’s Saturday or did you forget what we do every Saturday?” Doojoon sat there, slightly confused and he scratched his head in thought.
“Uh, your birthday?”
“Scout day stupid and it’s funny, because you’re the one who came up with the idea.” Doojoon laughed drily and slumped over the table.
“Oh yeah I completely forgot about that, and hey, speaking of which, it’s your turn to drive!”
“But—“
“Okay, I’ll see you in half an hour!” Before Junhyung could say anymore, Doojoon hung up and smirked in spite of himself. About a year ago he usually had nothing to do on Saturdays and he and Junhyung would normally just end up staying in at Junhyung’s place and watch a movie. There was one time they took a chance and went clubbing but after a few drinks and some blank moments in their memory, they decided that they were just not cut out for the club. It was during their time watching “40 Year Old ” that Doojoon suggested something.
“We’re probably going to end up like Andy if we keep this up.” Junhyung mumbled while looking at the screen and then took a sip of light beer. After their time at the club, they realized that they were not meant to be drinkers but they didn’t parade this fact because of the usual “man pride”.
“Or worse – we could end up like crazy cat ladies…” Doojoon sighed. There was a silence between the two until Doojoon suddenly reached for the remote and stopped the movie.
“Hey, what’re you doing?” Junhyung said, not quite caring – it wasn’t the best movie, but Doojoon’s actions took him by surprise.
“We need to do something else every Saturday instead of using it to mope around like teenage girls.” Junhyung didn’t respond and Doojoon took this as a sign to keep going.
“We’re men – manly men. We should be out on dates right now, talking to girls and the like.” Junhyung looked at Doojoon sceptically and scoffed.
“Uh huh, but clearly we’re not doing that are we.” Doojoon ignored this and went on.
“Where are there a lot of girls that’s not a club that a lot of people go to on the weekends…” Junhyung shrugged, and took another sip of beer. Doojoon was thinking intently – it was summertime so everyone should be out and about outside…
“The beach!” He said, the air with the hand that held his bottle. The beer splattered all over the couch and Junhyung got up instinctively, avoiding the liquid.
“Watch it, this stuff stains you know!” Junhyung said incredulously, ignored by Doojoon for what seemed to be the billionth time.
“Let’s go ‘scouting’ at the beach, if you know what I mean.” A mischievous smile played on Doojoon’s lips and Junhyung raised an eyebrow at him before smirking.
“You’re such a ert, but whatever – it beats sitting around all day.”
The coffee brewer made a soft clicking sound, signalling that the coffee was finally done brewing. Doojoon grabbed a mug from the cupboard and proceeded to make himself a simple black coffee with three teaspoons of sugar. He picked up his mug and walked into his room and began to gather his things, throwing them all inside a black duffle bag. He quickly freshened up in the washroom and grabbed his sunglasses off of the kitchen counter and left the apartment.
Junhyung was already at the basement of his apartment and started up his car’s engine and proceeded to drive up to the surface. The sun hit his face through the windows, momentarily blinding him. He took his glasses and placed them over his eyes, his vision returned and slightly darkened from the shade of the glasses. He drove a little quickly and made it to another condominium not too far away from his own. He drove around to the front where Doojoon stood, already waiting. The passenger door opened, the car beeping loudly and Doojoon plopped down on the seat, turning around and throwing his bag to the back seat, landing soundly on top of Junhyung’s bag.
“Hey watch it!” Junhyung hit Doojoon’s shoulder but Doojoon just smiled and closed the door shut. Just as Junhyung began to press the gas pedal, Doojoon held out a hand for him to stop with an odd expression on his face.
“What now?”
“Let’s call up Gi, maybe she’ll want to go as well.” Junhyung’s eyes widened in surprise and his expression quickly turned to an eager one which went on unnoticed by Doojoon because he was wearing his sunglasses.
“Yeah whatever, you can call her if you want.” He said nonchalantly to which Doojoon smiled and he flipped out his phone, dialling the number. There was a short pause and then Doojoon spoke up again.
“Hey Gi, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the beach with Junhyung and I?” Another pause and Doojoon’s eyebrows rose up and another smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
“Oh really? Well why don’t we meet up and…yeah…yeah okay…no that’s great! We’ll see you in a bit then.” Doojoon took the phone away from his ear and closed it, turning to Junhyung.
“Looks like she’s on her way there already and she’s bringing a friend!” Junhyung heard something in Doojoon’s voice and he removed his glasses, looking at his friend with a worried expression.
“What are you thinking about now you ?!” Doojoon rolled his eyes and scratched the back of his head, looking to the front.
“Why must you think that everything I do or think about involves something erted?” Junhyung threw him a look that oozed scepticism and Doojoon shook his head.
“Such little faith my friend, now hurry up and drive, she said she’ll be there in 20 minutes.” Junhyung placed his glasses on his face once again and hid the fact that he was feeling elated. Doojoon remained clueless beside him, turning on the radio and turning up the volume, bobbing his head to the beat of the song. He was happy that he’d be seeing Gi again so soon, but he was also nervous. He felt the butterflies in his stomach and he tried not to squirm and focused on his driving for the rest of the way.
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