Basket
The Best YearsBy the time I returned from my excursion, my cheeks noticeably less pink, the food fight talk had quelled. Thankfully. I missed the first one, and I didn't want to be a part of a second one.
I clasped my hands together, quietly walking back to the table. Sitting down between you and Jongin, I picked up my water bottle to take a quick sip.
"Hey, that's mine!" pointed out Jongin.
I made a show of running to the railing and spitting out the water onto the lush green grass below before calmly returning as if nothing happened. As everyone laughed, I wiped my mouth thoroughly, reaching for my bottle to drink from.
Jongin pouted as he watched the whole ordeal. "That hurt."
"It's not like I spit it out at you," I said, suppressing a smile.
"Yeah, but it hurt here," Jongin said, taking my hands in his and pressing them to his chest.
A mixed chorus of sickly sweet 'awww's and whistles filled the air. Embarrassed, I tried to pull my hands back, but Jongin kept a gentle grip on them, smiling at me. I turned my head, eyes widened in panic as my face heated up like a pot of boiling water. Instead of being helpful, you winked exaggeratedly and proceeded to 'accidentally' knock into me.
Guess who fell into Jongin's lap.
After regaining my balance and sitting up, I tugged my shirt back into place and ran a hand lightly through my bangs, puffing out my cheeks, glaring at you. You picked up a cookie and bit into it, as if nothing was wrong, and after swallowing, gave me the brightest smile I'd seen all day. Rolling my eyes, I leaned closer, pasting a creepy grin on my face. You frowned at me, scooting closer to Chanyeol. In a random act of retaliation, I knocked the rest of your cookie out of your hand. Leaning back, you fell on Chanyeol, knocking him over like a pair of dominoes, narrowly missing Baekhyun who jumped up to avoid one of the Twin Towers, as we called him and Kris [A/N: Okay, I didn't mean for this to be a sick joke].
Chanyeol sat up, his arms around your waist to lift you back into a seated position. Turning to me, you glowered, for the cookie and for Chanyeol. I smiled radiantly at you, holding my thumbs and pointer fingers above my head in the shape of a halo. Huffing, the frown slipped off your face as you polished off your cookie.
[A/N: Wtf am I writing any more?]
After we'd basically finished eating, everyone pitched in to clear the table so that nothing would get tossed around, blown by the light breeze that caused forgotten green leaves to flutter to the ground, swirling around the trees. Everyone gathered all the trash that they could carry, walking over to one of two trash cans situated against the wall of the school.
"FOR THE THREE!" called Tao, his hands in the air, a bundle of aluminum balled up.
His wrist cocked back, and he shot it up, arching it over the oblivious head of Joonmyun and cleanly dropping into the half-filled can with a dull thump.
"Yeah!" said Kris, high fiving the happy panda. "My turn!"
Kris walked to the edge of the patio, legs forming crisp angles as he stepped, turning professionally before touching onto the grass. The breeze blew his fringe into his eyes, and he flipped his head, hair flopping perfectly into position once again. Confused, we stood still, eyes trained on the tall, lean figure that was Wu Yifan.
A fierce expression masked his face as his tongue made an appearance, showing only when he was concentrating. A second later, he broke out into a run, zigging and zagging around us, eyes trained on the trash basket. So intent on his goal, he failed to notice the empty can on the ground between Jongdae and you. His foot rolled, panic filling his eyes as his arms windmilled, fighting gravity to stay upright.
Kris couldn't look cool all the time.
With a yell, he fell backwards, his broad back nearly blocking out the sun as he closed in on you. Instinctively, you held out your hands, bracing your arms, ready to save his life.
"Oomph!" you said, falling backwards as a result of Kris's unexpectedly heavy frame.
"Beibei!" called Xiumin, the first to rush over to you. "Are you okay?"
Sehun and Chanyeol wrapped their arms around Kris, pulling him up and off of you. He hung his head, wincing, his pride more bruised than his tailbone.
After order had been restored, we all returned to the table to enjoy the rest of the lunch period. The sun shone, winking in and out from behind the fluffy white clouds that floated across the sky, leisurely moved along by the gentle breeze that ruffled our hair like a well-meaning mother's hands. I leaned towards you, a smile breaking through. "Guess what I saw posted? The groups for the field trip in two weeks!"
You clapped your hands excitedly, inadvertently catching the attention of the group. "What were the groups like?" [A/N: I honestly cannot see you clapping your hands for joy. When laughing, sure. But this? Idk.]
"Well, the good news is that we're all in groups together," I answered, a little sadness coloring my tone.
"That's aweso-- Wait, 'groups'?" asked Baekhyun, noticing the plural, cocking his head and furrowing his brow slightly.
I nodded solemnly. "We were split into three groups, since this isn't one of the educational group field trips."
"But we're just going to an amusement park, aren't we?" asked Joonmyun.
"I think they decided to switch it up. Instead of a day trip, we're taking a week-long trip!" said Baekhyun.
"What's the point of groups when we're allowed to roam around by ourselves?" asked Chanyeol.
"Well, we'll have to meet up with a chaperon twice a day around meal time to make sure that we're all accounted for. It makes it easier for them to keep track of us," I explained.
"Basically, we just have to meet with our chaperon, but we can hang out with whomever we want?"
"Yeah. The groups, though, are who we'll be rooming in the hotel with," I said.
"Don't rooms usually have two full or queen-sized beds?" asked Kris, worried that he wouldn't be able to spread out and let his mind fly to dreamland. [A/N: What am I saying?]
"I heard that the rooms will be bigger than a standard hotel room with two king-sized beds. And there will be a couch," you said.
"Couch." muttered twelve voices at once.
Looks were exchanged across the table. Some were confused, since they weren't sure how it'd work with two girls, and some were excited, since they'd be able to do whatever they wanted to in the rooms.
Zitao quickly did the math. "But... 14 isn't divisible by 3."
"Each group has five people, but one has four?" guessed Minseok.
"Mhm. The first group consists of Sehun, Joonmyun, Luhan, Yixing, and Minseok."
Sehun and Luhan high-fived, their faces splitting involuntarily with large grins, like the Cheshire Cat. Yixing and Minseok nodded, acknowledging my words, but continued eating. Joonmyun merely smiled, though it wasn't nearly as large as Hunhan's.
"Hopefully Minseok will help me keep these little tykes under control," he said.
Luhan pouted. "I'm not a 'tyke'! I'm older than you!"
"Physically by two months," pointed out Joonmyun. "But mentally, I'm older."
Kris pulled out a piece of paper and a marker, beginning to doodle. I glanced at him, his face showing deep concentration, before returning to the conversation.
Yixing nearly choked when he heard Luhan's words. He swallowed before laughing. "You're a little deer."
"A manly deer," corrected Luhan, puffing out his chest and sitting up straighter.
I cooed, imagining what Luhan would look like with little deer antlers.
Jongin shot me a look, then leaned in closely, breath warm on my neck and whispered a question in my ear.
"Oh, it's nothing. I just thought it'd be so cute if Luhannie wore deer antlers."
Luhan looked pained, whether from the image or from the nickname, no one was sure.
I jutted out her lower lip slightly. "Did I hurt your feelings, Luhan?"
He shook his head, but I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or lying to protect my feelings. Though, we'd been friends for long enough that we should all be comfortable with sharing our honest thoughts.
"He wants people to think that he's manly, not cute," explained Sehun, throwing an arm around his manly friend. "All anyone thinks when they see him is 'cute' and he wants people to know that he's more than his looks."
You reached over and pinched his cheek as Chanyeol laughed, his voice vibrating in your ear as he rested his chin on your shoulder. "But he is cute! He's just.. a manly kind of cute!"
Luhan seemed to sit up straighter, a smile popping [A/N: I WROTE 'POOPING, BUT I CAUGHT IT.] on his face, satisfied.
Pouting, I mumbled, "Do you not like that I think of you as 'cute', Luhannie?"
Jongin glowered slightly, watching me use aegyo on Luhan. [A/N: Of course, Lily didn't notice a thing because she's oblivious like that.] He aimed his glare at Luhan, fighting the urge to slip a hand around my waist and pull me closer.
"Ah...ah, no! I like it!" he stammered, flustered.
The pout melted off my face as I brightened, getting up to hug the flustered little deer. I stood up, lifting my legs carefully over the bench, and stepping over to the other side. But my left foot caught, causing me to stumble forward. You grabbed onto the belt loop on my pants, and I caught myself before I hit the ground, grimacing at the effort I had to put in.
"Oops," you said quietly.
I felt a breeze on my back, and I quickly stood up, facing the group before pulling my pants back up, shooting a look in your direction. You answered with a smile before jumping slightly when Chanyeol blew warm air in your ear to attract your attention.
I walked around the table until I reached Luhan, then sat down on the bench between Luhan and Sehun, who had moved over to create a space for me. Luhan pulled me onto his lap and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, pressing my cheek into the crook of his neck. Jongin got up after ten seconds, the longest ten seconds of his life, prying Luhan's arms off of me and dragging me from Luhan's lap back to our spaces at the table.
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I'm proud of myself. I wrote almost 1800 words in an hour. ^^ I wasn't sure what to do...so I just wrote. I should think about getting into the habit of re-reading or editing my writing before I post it.
Ah, it's been three weeks since I've updated this story, and I decided to do so, since I've updated all my other stories recently. Lori, I hope you like it. ^^ I promise that the next few chapters will be much more Chanria. Since this story is supposed to center around you, I won't be writing about my classes. Of course we'd spend a lot of time together on the field trip, so I'll be included there~
I hope everything has been going well for you and that your health is improving! Stay strong, mei mei.
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