I sat in my dorm on my bed, back leaning against the wall, pondering on the last few weeks.

I had been very busy with university. My orientations were finally over and classes had begun. My professors seemed to like to pile useless projects, all at the same time with very close due dates. The first exams were also around the corner, but my mind was so fried I barely looked at my textbooks piled all over my desk.

The door unlatched and a bouncy Key babbled in, taking his spot on his bed opposite my position. He dumped his bag out and looked around for something in the mess of chapstick, pens, pencils, and whatever else was in his bag. He found it, plucking it out of the pile and chucking it towards me. I caught the little trinket and noticed it was a little puppy.

“I bought that for you in town today. It reminded me of that guy you always talk about, but have never brought around,” Key chatted as my mind wandering off.

That guy. Jonghyun. I hadn’t seen him since he asked me out over a month ago. He had left one of his cards at the store when I had a day off, but I had failed to contact him. I was trying to sort out my feelings, but school had gotten in the way. I frowned slightly, eyeing the drawer of the desk the card was in, my fingers on my phone.

“Yah! Are you hearing me? When are you going to text him,” he hollered, recapturing my attention.

“Not... sure,” I hesitated, setting my phone aside, scratching my neck.

Before I could stop him, Key rolled off his bed and snatched up my phone. He pulled the drawer out of my desk and entered the number into my phone.

“Call him, text him, I don’t care. If you haven’t by the time I come back from lunch I will hurt you,” he said, throwing the device in my lap, exiting the room.

I eyed the phone, the digits in a contact labelled “Jjong” (the nickname Key had given him). I picked up the phone and held it in my hand, my thumb hovering over the call button. I frowned a moment, debating on sending a text message, but that seemed too impersonal, especially since it had been so long since I had even spoken to him. I firmly pressed the green button, hand shaking as I brought the cell up to my ear. After the third ring, the line clicked and my stomach dropped to my feet.

“Hello?” a sweet voice mouthed on the other end.

“H-hi, Jonghyun,” I responded hesitantly.

“Who is this?”

“Jinki,” I mumbled, embarrassed as my voice fluctuated from high to low pitches.

“Oh! I didn’t notice your voice when you are nervous. It’s very cute. I thought you had forgotten about dear ol’ me.” A laugh played over his words. My cheeks began to burn.

“I’m sorry. I’ve been really busy with work and school. How are you?”

His voice turned cold. “Very uninspired.”

“Oh? Why?” I questioned, playing with my socked feet, waiting for a response.

“Nothing. When are you free,” he bubbled, quickly shifting the mood and the subject.

“I’m free tomorrow, finally. Class isn’t in session until finals week and I have the day off. Where were you thinking, y’know, so I dress right and bring enough money...” I laughed awkwardly, hoping I had enough money since I hadn’t been paid in a few weeks.

“Don’t worry about money. Wear something semi-nice. I’ll handle the rest. Just tell me where your dorms are so I can pick you up. Okay, darling?”

My heart skipped a beat when I heard the word ‘darling.’ I told him where the dorms were located and he insisted that I told him how to precisely get to my dorm. I groaned at that thought wondering if he was going to make some sort of scene or not.

I was saying my final goodbyes when Key popped in the room. A colossal smile spread across his face when he heard a ‘see you tomorrow, Jonghyun’ escape my lips. I hung up the phone and stared at Key, my cheeks burning again. I was slightly embarrassed he had come in on that.

“So,” he teased, sitting on the edge of my bed, batting his eyelashes at me. “When is the date?”

“Tomorrow night,” I sighed. “He’s paying for everything and didn’t even tell me where we are going.”

“Oh, Onew, we need to go shopping before your man comes.”

“What? No I have nice clothes,” I protested, moving towards my closet. I pushed aside my casual clothes and revealed a crumpled dress shirt and slacks that still had a stain from the pasta I ate at senior prom.

“Let me think about this,” Key began pretending to calculate something in the air. “How about.... no. Those clothes are old and nasty. You need something new. Don’t try to argue with me. You know I’m right.”

Reluctantly I agreed to be pulled to the mall later that night. Key picked out a million and one things for me to try on before he finally decided that none of the formal outfits at that store would cut it. He dragged me from store to store repeating the process until we wound up at square one with one of the first outfits he made me try on. I ended up spending well more than I planned on some dark wash designer jeans, a deep maroon dress shirt, a black blazer and various accessories including a skinny tie. My wallet had never felt lighter after one shopping trip, but that was Key and clothes for you.

I went home and laid everything out for the next day and struggled to sleep. Why was I so nervous?