soundtrack: Bad blood by Bastille

At last it was Thursday and the girl she had met on Sunday was coming over before they went out together to give Scarlet a crash course in the local drinking and young people’s scene. Amy had called her the day before to confirm times and now Scarlet was waiting nervously on one of the barstools in her kitchen, this time drinking a classic English Breakfast to give her an extra bit of energy, although she felt she scarcely needed it with the adrenaline tentatively trailing through her veins at the thought of seeing Amy again (a friend! Her excited mind reminded her).

She shook off the spectres of her old anxiety, the ones that whispered she was too ugly, too clumsy and too much of a show-off to ever have real friends, as she jumped up to buzz Amy through.

Soon enough Scarlet was joined in the entrance hall and she was elated to see that she was not the only one to think dressing warmly on the breezy early fall night was a good idea. Both of them had opted for a comfortably pretty look, boots and jeans rather than a miniskirt and heels.

“Shall we head out then?”

“Let’s.”

So almost immediately after greetings were exchanged they went back down and out into the darkening evening.

They started out at some quiet indie bars, built into unassuming warehouses but richly furnished on the inside. They went to maybe three of these before they decided to explore Scarlets local area a bit more. They had been drinking for hours before they arrived at a a deserted childrens playground only partially lit by the surrounding park lights, carrying plastic bags full of green soju bottles and 2 dollar fireworks they had picked up in the liquor store.

She and Amy crawled over the children’s frame, giggling and scuffing her leather boots in the process. Her new friend hopped down, stumbled a little and then ran to light the tiny rockets they had planted in the ground before, as well as a giant sparkler with one bottle of soju still in hand.

Swinging on the children’s frame, watching as Amy made glittering arcs in the air with the tiny firework she smiled.  She forgot sometimes but she was still very young, in her twenties. She had a horror of growing old but sometimes she thought that this prevented her from being truly young. Flipping down and stumbling a little tipsily over to Amy she grabbed the lighter out of her pocket and lit a sparkler, white sparks soaring into the autumn night.

It was so nice to have found someone fun to hang out with- although she sought a totally new environment she hadn’t really given enough thought to just how great the culture shock would be. Amy was, she would guess, only a year or so older than her. She reminded her of the happy American exchange students from the first year of University, with their exotic accents and new drinking games.

Even this small piece of home was nice, and Amy appealed to her on a more personal level as well. She was outgoing and didn’t question the sudden detours they had made over the night, instead suggesting some of her own in order to better explore the area. It was great and it was almost sunrise, with the sky just beginning to show the first signs of pale dawn when they realised how long they had been out drinking and wandering in between semi empty parks.

She suggested that they crash at hers and Amy agreed. Stumbling back home arm in arm and congratulating themselves for rocking the no-heels grunge look they almost face planted onto the door step of the building and slumped down against the sides of the elevator. Now that they weren’t walking they could better appreciate just how incredibly unsteady they actually were.

“Uhh- I think you have a leaf in your hair?” she checked in the mirrored panels beside the doors and she did indeed have a little leafy hanger on. When she said this out loud they just burst out laughing again. This slumped over, leafy and very tipsy condition was exactly how they appeared to one Nam Woohyun and Lee Sungyeol when the elevator doors dinged open on the seventh floor.

This should have been the point where they both became magically sober and reclaimed their dignity by pretending that the very silent and surprised young men were actually there. However it had been some time before her last ‘I am sober I swear of course I haven’t been drinking I’ll justgotobedgoodnight’ walk past her parents and apparently even longer for Amy since neither of them did a very good job of acting cool, although they did attempt it.

This was ruined by Sungyeol suddenly bowing and then Woohyun following suit, both girls automatically bowed as well and at first the only non-Korean present thought this was standard and ready to move on to her awaiting cup of tea and then bed. This illusion was shattered by the very confused greeting of “Anyeonghaseyo, Ailee noona” from the boys.

For their part they were feeling pretty awkward. They were close to Amy Lee, better known as Ailee, as their promotions often overlapped but hadn’t seen her in a while. They were amused to see their pretty new neighbour had somehow managed to pick up some of the local wildlife in her hair.

Amy (or Ailee) handled it well and smiled brightly before explaining they were very ‘tired’ and they could hear the full story another time. For their part they accepted this and got into the elevator just as the doors were about to close. However on their way down and during their morning run to the convenience store their active imaginations created various explanations for how their new neighbour appeared at 4 in the morning with one of South Koreas most well-known female soloists.

Sungyeols’ strange suggestion of a secret network of pretty English speaking women was put down to the fact he hadn’t had his morning coffee yet. 

And so another chapter has passed!! Thankyou to my lovely subscribers and anyone else dropping in to read the story 

but please comment! I want to know what to improve or ot to make it better for you guys to read 

here have some babfinite as a treat ;)

cuties

Next time!!!: Sunggyu and Scarlet have some alone time ... dun dun duuunnnnn~~~~