“No,” is all Devon could say the moment she saw Gina. Followed by, “what in God’s name are you wearing?”

“Good to see you too, Dev!” Gina faked a grin and ran up to her friend, arms open for a hug. She squished their bodies impossibly close while Matt pretended to be offended.

“I guess I don’t matter, I guess I’ll just go back to where I didn’t come from,” he said, sighing and picking up a duffle bag. “Don’t bother writing, I wouldn’t have time to read anyway.”

“If that’s a snide comment about my inability to keep in contact with people properly, I really don’t care,” Gina stuck a tongue out but released Devon from her loving death grip to give Matt some acknowledgement.

“After all of these years, being my friend, I thought I taught you better,” Devon said, pointing at Gina’s pants in disappointment. “Seriously, in public?”

“Hush, child,” Gina responded, picking up a different duffle bag of Matt’s and turning to walk in the direction she just came from. “We don’t have time to argue about my lifestyle choices and even if we did, you know, I probably wouldn’t listen anyway.”

Devon narrowed her eyes but Matt said “True.” and followed Gina like the kind of puppy he’d always been.

Dev and Matt were apart of the tight crew Gina had somehow got into sophomore year. It most likely had to do with the fact that they’d also been considered outsiders in their own way. Devon’s mom was black and her father was Korean. They’d created a beautiful baby but a baby that’d always been debated on like a fraction problem.

“You’re not really black, though,” full Korean blood kids would say but then “You’re not really Korean, though” the handful of black kids she met would say.

Meeting Gina was a blessing for her because Gina didn’t care about specifics.

“Whatever you identify as, you are,” she’d shrugged a few days after they met. They then went out for tea and that was the beginning of their best friend friendship.

Matt was a white boy who’d been an exchange student in high school but decided to also continue his studies here in college to build up his resume and cultural diversity (or whatever colleges called it these days.)

The reason Devon felt so personally insulted by Gina’s outfit was because all of her mother’s side of the family was really into fashion. Devon herself had gone to school for fashion but growing up surrounded by racial tension, gave her another insight to the world. She found it could sometimes be cruel and people needed more help than they thought.

That’s one of the reasons Gina loved Dev. To an outsider, Dev might’ve seemed like a stuck up Barbie brat that cared too much about “silly” things like clothes but she could out talk anyone about social issues while simultaneously slaying them in the looks department as well.

“If you were in such a hurry, you should’ve called. We could’ve gotten a cab,” Dev said, trailing after her friends unsteadily. She was the shorty of the group. Just over five feet in height with a love for heels. I may not always walk perfectly, but at least I look perfect, she’d say if people pointed it out.

“You know how cabs get on the weekends and besides, it’s really my pleasure,” Gina insisted.

But also, the airport cabs were always a hassle because drivers would be too distracted asking the three of them questions like why they were in SK and where they learned Korean and such. It was hard knowing that Gina could live there for another ten years but she’d still be nothing but a foreigner. Meanwhile, Dev got her own special treatment- most of the time drivers weren’t that bad but every once in awhile they’d come across one that acted like it was Cash Cab. Playing 21 questions to figure out if Devon really was “authentic.”

Gina didn’t want to get into it anytime soon but out of the three of them, Matt was always respected the most. Even though his Korean wasn’t as good as theirs.

“Damn, I didn’t know I was this popular,” Matt motioned towards the groups of girls they’d come across. Some girls were still crying from seeing their idols, others were quickly texting fan accounts. “My fans await.”

“Oh, yeah, one of those groups just flew in,” Gina rolled her eyes, nudging Matt to get over himself.

Devon laughed. “Aw, look at the little babies.”

“They’re not babies. They’re devil children. I nearly had my hair ripped out,” Gina began, while getting on the escalator. “There should be laws against this kind of stuff. My parents would’ve beaten my if I skipped school to see a couple of boys walk across the damn airport like they owned it.”

“You have to admit, some of them are pretty cute,” Dev cocked her head when they reached the first floor.

“Don’t say that too loud, or else the sasaeng fans will come after you for stealing their men,” Matt joked.

“There are plenty of cute guys that aren’t famous and big headed around town too. I’ll stick to them,” Gina said, placing the bag she was carrying aside and lifting her arms for a security check.

“Interesting outfit,” the guard said.

“So I’ve been told,” Gina smiled.