Chapter 37

Friends

You awoke in the early morning, still tired from the rough sleep you had last night, mostly due to a foggy dream about Lay as he whispered ‘Only look at me’ to you over and over again.

You sighed and rolled over onto your side, still snuggled up in your blankets. Could you really only look at Lay? You thought to yourself, biting your lip. Or, you thought more precisely, do I want to look only at Lay? You didn’t know, not yet, and not so soon after Luhan. You shook your head, finally getting up to brush your teeth. Besides, you thought again, it would just make you feel like you were using him to get over Luhan, and you really didn’t want that. However undecided you were, you didn’t want to hurt Lay or Luhan.

Luhan.

You sighed again. I wonder how he’s doing…

EXO Household

“I swear to god,” Chen warned, losing his patience with his usually close friend, Luhan. “Say one more stupid ing pun and I will punch you in the face.”

It was breakfast time at the EXO household and an unusually stressed Chen was being teased by an unusually persistent Luhan.

“Alright, alright, damn.” Luhan breathed out, putting his spoon down, “Don’t know what you’re so mad about, working up a sweat being all angry.” Luhan took a sip of his drink, “Maybe you need something to pick you up,” Luhan shrugged, a small smirk forming, “Maybe something like a…

Chen took a deep breath and closed his eyes, “Don’t-”

“CHENery drink-“

“THAT’S IT! COME HERE!” Chen launched himself at Luhan, knocking his bowl of rice over as Luhan easily dodged his attempt to grab onto him

“Alright, alright, that’s enough.” Suho warned, looking up from his newspaper in disapproval, “Don’t make me get Kris.”

However, hearing the commotion from the kitchen, Kris was already sauntering his way out with a bowl of cereal in hand and an annoyed scowl on his face. “Chen, sit down. You’ll only encourage him.” He ordered smoothly, accustomed to their bickering.

“And you,” Kris gave Luhan a hard glare as he sat down next to him, “Ease off with the patronizing. Chen’s going through a hard time.”

Luhan knew what he was talking about, recently Chen had failed two exams and was not receiving good feedback from his teachers. If he kept this up, he wouldn’t be able to pass his senior year. However, that was the least of Luhan’s concerns. He shrugged, “Not my fault he’s a .”

“I dare you to say that again,” Chen growled, his fist clenching around his spoon, fed up with Luhan. If this was any other day, Chen would be all but glad to play along, but he had real problems to deal with now. He didn’t have time to play around.

Luhan slowly leaned across the table, in a mood for a fight. “Not my fault you’re a dumba- OW!” Luhan’s hand flew up to the sore spot on the back of his head. Looking up to see Kris standing above him.

“I said, ease off.” Kris repeated, his hand raised. “Or did you want to get slapped again?”

Luhan scoffed, turning back to his breakfast as he obeyed Kris diligently. “Whatever.” He mumbled, sulking, “I’ll stop.”

Chen gave Luhan one more glare before he left the table, already having enough problems to deal with without Luhan’s input.

“Can’t even take a joke.” Luhan muttered into his food.

Kris sat down again, sighing. “What’s up with you?” He asked, taking a mouthful of cereal in.

Luhan shrugged, “Nothing.”

“Yeah, right.” Kris let out sarcastically with a roll of his eyes, “You’re being a lot more annoying than usual.”

“Am not.” Luhan muttered again.

“You are.” Kris declared, putting the subject at rest. “Did something happen with Saerom again?” He guessed, sensing his mood.

Luhan flinched, he was sick of hearing about you, it just made him miss you even more. “Not really.”

Kris raised an eyebrow, “Really?” He replied, unconvinced. “Then have you done anything to make it up to her lately?” He asked, sounding a bit hopeful for his friend.

“Um…” Luhan hesitated, wondering if he should tell him or not. “I did try something.” He admitted, moving the rice around in his bowl idly, his appetite slowly dissolving. “It kind of backfired. though.”

Kris sighed. Why am I not surprised? “What was it then?”

Luhan shifted uncomfortably in his seat, flinching at the memory. “I may have… tried to make her jealous by using Kim Sunha from class 3-B.”

Kris dropped his spoon in his bowl with a loud clank, giving Luhan a stern look, “And did it work?”

“Well, no.” Luhan replied, replaying the memory of you and Lay running around together, looking over to you only to find Lay kissing your cheek, running after him afterwards. A sharp pain stabbed him the chest just thinking about it.

“Surprise, surprise.” Kris said sarcastically again, picking up his spoon. “It’s almost like you should have taken my advice on not using immature tactics.”

“Whatever.” Luhan muttered. Was he just here to rub salt in my wound or what?

“Well,” Kris began, getting up, “I’ve given you all the advice I can, man.” He a clasped a hand down on his shoulder, “Good luck.” He said before adding, “And seriously, ease up on Chen. He really is having a hard time.”

“Alright, alright.” Luhan grumbled, shaking Kris’s hand off. “I got it.”

Kris chuckled, leaving the room and greeting Lay as he came out from the Kitchen, rice and soup in hand. “Morning, Lay.”

“Morning,” Lay offered with a yawn.

“Well, well, well,” Luhan started once Lay had taken a seat at the table and Kris was successfully out of ear shot, “If it isn’t the girlfriend stealing scumbag.” Luhan announced loudly, glaring at Lay as he leaned back into his chair.

Lay narrowed his eyes, putting his food down on the table carefully. So that’s how he wants to play it, huh? “Good morning to you, too, cheating .”

Luhan scoffs, “You know she’s gonna come back to me.”

Lay shrugged, taking in a mouthful of soup, “We’ll see.”

Luhan clenched his teeth, Lay was always so calm about everything, he never realized how infuriating that was until now. “She still loves me, you know.” He persisted, dissatisfied with his lack of reaction, “I can see her watching me.” That much was true, you were about as subtle as a yellow elephant. But, and he hates to admit it, you were beginning to stare less often, too preoccupied with Mina and Eunhee, or, as Luhan had begun to bitterly realise recently, too busy with Lay.

Lay looked up from his breakfast, his voice coming out cold. “Maybe she’s just wondering how she could have stayed with a dickhead like you for so long.”

Luhan stood up, his chair making a loud noise as it screeched across the floor, “I’ll be dead before I see her with you.” Luhan had gotten a reaction alright, but not the one he wanted.

Before Lay could throw an insult back, Suho threw his newspaper to the side. “I’ve actually had enough of this crap.” He said, sounding tired, he had been through this with Kai, Mina and Baekhyun, and was not going to do it again. “I don’t care who loves Saerom or vice versa, but if I hear one more utterance of an argument under this roof about her, you’ll both be sleeping outside. Is that understood?”

Lay and Luhan were still silent, glaring at each other.

“I said,” Suho repeated, his voice firm, a tone used for enforcing discipline. “Is that understood?”

“Yes,” They both muttered, Lay going back to his breakfast while Luhan, appetite now gone, went to the kitchen to drop his dishes off before storming out of the house, his mood taking a turn for the worse.

*

Back at School – Lunch

“So are you coming?” Asked Eunhee, excited about her birthday party this weekend.

Eunhee was finally turning eighteen and ever since the beginning of the month, she had been telling you and Mina about the glorious plans for her party. It was going to be a house party, an EXO household party, and she was just over the moon about it.

“Of course I am.” You replied, and you were. However, you would be lying if you said you weren’t a little bit hesitant, the last time you had gone to a house party it had been the one where Luhan had cheated on you. Plus, you hadn’t spoken to Luhan in a while and you weren’t planning on changing that.

“And don’t worry,” Eunhee began, sensing your concern, “There’s going to be a lot of people there, so that will limit your chances of running into him at some point.”

You couldn’t help your sigh, “Limit, not eliminate.”

Eunhee rolled her eyes, “You can’t avoid him forever, Saerom. It simply isn’t healthy.”

“She has a point,” Mina added, munching on her sushi, “The more you avoid him, and everyone else, the more things are going to be weird. It has been a month.” She pointed out, another truth.

You shifted in your seat, feeling guilty for making them stay away from the others simply for your sake, and it had been a while. But it was Luhan. You were afraid if you got too close with him you would just end up back at square one, infatuated and stupid. Still, though, “I…” You sighed, “I do miss him, in a way.”

Eunhee recoiled dramatically, “I think I just threw up a bit.”

Mina touched your hand softly, ignoring Eunhee, “That’s normal, and if you want to be friends with him again I suggest-“

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Eunhee butted in, again, “When I said to not avoid him, I didn’t mean be friends with the jackass.”

Mina frowned, “I know he made a mistake, but-“

“A mistake?” Eunhee repeated in a scoff, “A mistake is forgetting to cross the letter T so it ends up looking like an I. Not shoving your tongue down someone’s throat when you have a girlfriend, that’s not a mistake, that’s a decision.”

You flinched. Eunhee never ceased to amaze you with her ruthless straightforwardness.