Bad Behavior
Chapter Eight
Junhong POV

After that night, I went home. We didn’t speak about the words we had exchange, or how I had woken up with his head on my stomach, and he had woken up to me cradling him there. It was like it had never even happened, except it had, and we both felt strange because of it. I felt closer to Yongguk than I had ever felt to any person, excluding Jongup. I had confided in him things I was forbidden to speak about. Contempt turned to content, and I found myself looking forward to each session where he tutored me.

Honestly, they were the only things I had to look forward too. Without Jongup in the house, everything was awful. The air was heavy, and the fighting just as frequent if not more so. My mom took up cooking, since she had dropped some of her social responsibilities. Everything was dry and tasteless, just like them.

One week turned into two, and two turned into three, and three turned into four. An entire month had passed, and I was miserable. I had been hoping all along that they were just trying to teach me a lesson, and afterward they’d bring him back. I hadn’t gone out boarding since he left, because I felt to sullen to do much of anything. Jongup had always been the mood maker, smiling no matter what, and laughing even when there was nothing to laugh about.

Without Jongup we were all grumpy and cold. Dinners were silent and bland. I didn’t speak of my day, and I didn’t tell them anything about my tutoring sessions with Yongguk. My grades reflected his work, and so they couldn’t get rid of him. I did extremely well in school for the first time in years, and honestly, I was only doing it so Yongguk would remain there with me. I wouldn’t say that I was the type with many friends, and that’s what I had come to think of Yongguk as. My dearest, and most loyal friend.

The school work itself was easy for me. I prefered the times when he taught freely. Now that I was willing to listen, I noticed that he had definitely been a teacher. He paced like a teacher, and had the voice of a teacher that made even boring things like the concept of logic, interesting. He taught me different things, just on a whim. I came to notice how knowledgeable he really was, and I was so glad he had been more obstinate in the beginning than I had.

I had seen Jongup once since he was fired, but he called me every night to tell me that he was doing well and not to worry. He talked about Himchan in high regard, and had a dreamy sound to his voice when he told stories of when he cooked for him. In the pit of my stomach I was jealous. I was happy that he was employed, and being treated right, but I didn’t like the way he talked about that man, who I was quickly coming to dislike.

Kim Himchan was arrogant, and it drove me mad. I wanted to pop him in the mouth whenever he was with my father to discuss this contract or that contract, or to give his input on legal matters. Often times Yongguk would be tutoring me, and Himchan would be in the office with my father, and they’d simply wait to leave together. They never did any particularly show-offish in regards to their friendship, but that made it worse. They were friends so close that they didn’t need to display it openly for it to be known. I hated that.

I considered Yongguk my dear friend, and I wanted to be looked on in the same way. He talked to me like an adult one minute, but teased me and ruffled my hair the next. He was impossible for me to figure out; a complete mystery. Himchan seemed to get affection and adoration from both Jongup, and Yongguk, the only two men I cared for at all in my life, and so I came to hold more discontent toward him with each passing day.

On the Saturday four weeks after Jongup had left our home, that when I decided I truly hated Kim Himchan.

The day started tense, as per usual at that time. I got up when I felt like it, and didn’t bother getting dressed. My mother didn’t try to get me out of bed, and didn’t say a word about my garb. I think by that time, we had both reached a mutual lack of caring. I did whatever I wanted until it was time to eat lunch, which she prepared laboriously.

My father sat away from us, and we sat in silence. Once he was done he left without a compliment on the taste, or a word of thanks. She didn’t seem to care. I finished next, repeating the same steps he had. I left without telling them where I was going, and they watched me leave without caring to know. I was done with them. To me, they were simply people who lived in that big empty house alongside me, and unless I needed something, I felt no other reason to interact with either of them.

On the weekends, I didn’t see Yongguk so I hung out with a group of friends I had made at the skatepark. They criticized me for not being around enough, but I made up for it in paying for our exploits on the weekends. If Yongguk had seen them, I’m sure he would have thrown a fit, and if my mother had seen them, she surely would have had a heart attack.

There were three guys whom I mainly hung out with. Shaun was the first, and he had enough piercings for the rest of us and then some. Erick was the next, who was a chain smoker to boot. Armani was the little one with a temper unimaginable. They didn’t tell me their real names, and I didn’t tell them mine. We were friends of circumstance and not so much of mutual interests and tastes for each other.

Shaun and Erick were best friends, and constantly bantered, and lit each others cigarettes. Armani was quiet, always brooding and handling his teenage angst on his own. And then there was me, who was a to most of the things they did. Erick had tried to convince me to smoke for half a year now, but I was reluctant because of my asthma. They’d tease me every time, but eventually brushed it off.

All three of them had their first tattoos when they were younger than me, and gave me for that. If anything, we insulted each other and sized each other up more than we actually enjoyed each others company. Even so, they were human beings other than my parents, who didn’t go to my school, which made them the most appealing.

That Saturday when we met, we all shuffled into the tiny one room apartment that Shaun and Erick owned, and we bleached my hair. It wasn’t our original plan, but we didn’t exactly plan either. We just did as we felt like, when we felt like doing it. They all laughed with the bleach my eyes tear up, and I shot back with comments about how Armani cried  when he got his ears pierced.

“Shut up!” Armani growled, but Shuan and Erick were already roaring with laughter, and the attention had shifted. Once the pink was out of my hair, we went through Armani’s hair dye collection and picked out blue to stick in my bangs. Armani was good with hair and clothes and things, which is probably how he had gained that name.

Hair dyed, we mostly screwed around until the sun started to go down. We watched some movies on the couch, while Erick and Shaun made more use of their time watching on the computer. Armani and I, when left alone, didn’t talk much, but that day we did, talking about school and our parents. He was from a rich family too, with his dad being a politician, but he stayed with his mother, and his father mostly supported them in secret. Shaun and Erick had a secrecy pact about whatever had happened before they had ended up in this town, living here, and so I didn’t ask.

“Ever tried molly?” Armani asked after we had both gotten bored of the movie. I shook my head, and he laughed a little. “Have you done any drugs, ever?” he continued. I frowned a bit, shaking my head again. Leaning his head back over the arm of the couch he shouted to get our other friends’ attention.

“Let’s go get wasted,” Armani suggested. Without hesitation, his proposal was accepted, and we were all heading to a bar downtown. I had had little bits of wine at parties before, but I generally didn’t like the taste. My dad drank a lot, and my mother threw it in his face during their late night arguments. I had decided two years ago that alcohol was a waste of time, but for lack of better things to do, I went along with them anyway. I figured if they got drunk enough, I could escape drinking very much at all, and be free from the teasing.

Shaun and Erick were of legal age, and also pretty scary looking. The bar they picked was so packed, nobody probably noticed my baby face, and Armani’s tiny stature. Armani was a year older than me, making him still too young to drink, but had a bark just and fierce as his bite, and took from no one.

They all seemed to feel at home in this environment, letting girls grind on them as they waded through the crowd. I, on the other hand, felt pretty uncomfortable with the older women grabbing onto me with their breath reeked of alcohol. The air was hot and sweaty, and the population was so dense I could hardly breathe. There was smoke in the air, and I could feel my throat and eyes alike itching constantly. Shaun ordered a round of drinks, which of course, would be on me by the end of the night. We counted to three and downed them all at once, and I was the only one left grimacing.  

We drank fast and furiously, competing with one another, seeing who would get the most wasted first. I, having the lowest tolerance, was unfortunately the one who sucumbed to the effects first. After the first two or three shots, the alcohol lost its bitter burn, and I felt numb all over. I kept up with them into the fourth and fifth shots, and by the sixth I was too drunk to care anymore. They handed me drink after drink to sample, and I told them my thoughts.

“This one tastes like christmas trees,” I complained, pushing the gin away. My that point, my stomach so full of different drinks that I felt like I might puke. The room was spinning a bit, and I felt really bubbly. They were all laughing at me, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I handed them my wallet to pay for whatever and waddled off to the dance floor, just because I could.

The music was so loud I could hardly pick out the song, not that I could coherently associate the lyrics with much of anything at the time anyway. I was pretty dizzy by that point, and stumbling around, but the threshold of bodies kept me on my feet. Shaun followed me around to assure that I didn’t do anything too stupid, and I thought that was hilarious. I was laughing at everything so hard that I was crying, and it felt like the best night of my life.

That is, until I danced my way over to a pool table on the far side of the bar, where I saw a familiar silhouette bent over to make a shot. Even in that state, I knew Bang Yongguk from a mile away, so I called out to him, only to be blocked out by all the noise. I bounded toward him, excited to see him, wanting to throw my arms around him and buy him a drink, to show him I could do grown up things like this too, but two other silhouettes stopped me.

The first was Jongup’s. Jongup didn’t drink, I was sure of that much. If he had, I would have been notified. But worse than that, was Kim Himchan’s skinny frame, with whom he was sharing a good laugh. Yongguk glanced up and joined in the joke, moving to wrap an arm around Himchan. In that moment, I think my heart stopped.

I froze completely, and I was in a whole other world. There was no sound around me, and I could see no one but the group of men who were playing pool. Come to think of it, my phone hadn’t buzzed with the nightly message from Jongup, and I didn’t have to get caught in the act of rebellion. Here they  were, the two men whom I considered real friends, hanging on the every word of Himchan, a man I despised.

I almost went up and yelled at them, and shouted all my silly teenage logic at the two of them. I wanted to pull them away, and have them scold me for what I had done, but I did nothing. Tears welled in my eyes, and I shoved away from Shaun, getting lost in the crowd. I was so upset by that simple sight that my entire night was ruined in a matter of seconds. Drunk, and delirious, I found myself dancing with some guy. He was dressed in nice clothes, and had his hair pushed back. I wasn’t dressed quite as well as the other people in the club, in skinny jeans and T-shirt, and that probably gave my lack of experience  away.

He put his hands on my hips and smiled a snake like smile at me. He had eyes that were extra slanted, and his face was a bit sweaty. If I had been sober, maybe it would have been different, but at the time I found him extremely attractive. He danced with me, pulling me close with surprisingly strong hands. Before I had even noticed, we had moved to the edge of the crowd, and over his shoulder, I saw Yongguk once again.

The stranger’s lips were against my ears, as he whispered things I couldn’t quite make out. I gripped his shirt until my knuckles turned white, as Yongguk looked up. My heart skipped a beat, as he tossed a glance in my direction. Thinking that maybe he could see me, dancing with a clearly older man, I felt a thrill. I suddenly pulling the stranger’s face up and I kissed him until I was out of breath. It was a sloppy kiss, and he mostly lead because I was in no state to do much of anything, but out of the corner of my eye, I watched Yongguk, and for a moment, I thought I saw him squint to see me better.

Armani grabbed me and pulled me away after that, luckily keeping me from doing anything more crazy and catching an STD or something. We left the bar and headed to the skatepark to meet up with Shaun and Erick, who had gone to buy cans of spray paint. Handing one to each of us, they lead by example, adding to the graffiti that was already all over the park.

Deep in my stomach, I was still upset about seeing him there. There was a burning jealousy, not even to Jongup this time, but to Yongguk I couldn’t even explain. It’s not like we ever would have been going to a bar together, and they were good friends, it made sense for them to do so, but in my hazy teenage mind it was like a slap to the face that stung like crazy. I hated Himchan. I hated Himchan so sincerely I could hardly see straight.

I painted with violent movements, with sharp lines. I wasn’t sure what I even wrote, because that was the last time I visited that skatepark, and the last time I saw Shaun, Erick, or Armani. Because, after that day, I was focused entirely on Bang Yongguk, and worming him away from Himchan. I wanted to be the person he went to, and I wanted to be the person who made him laugh. And somewhere, in my intoxicated childlike mind, I knew that I wanted him to be the stranger with his hands on my hips and his lips on my ear. I wanted Bang Yongguk for myself, in every respect, and I knew just how to get what I wanted.

A/N:: Wow! So short right? It's like half of what a normal chapter would be, but I wanted to give you this before I go away for a couple of days! Some serious development from this point in, so forgive the filler ;)