Chapter 8 - Girls just want to have fun

‘’Oh my! You look so pretty!’’ Jea squealed when she entered Chaerin’s room. She dropped her bags in the corner and sat on the chair on my left. Chaerin was doing my make-up and I admit I grew frustrated with it. She always went overboard whenever she got the chance to dress me up. When it came to make-up, she would always try many products and colors, then she would remove them just to apply others again until she was fully satisfied with my look. And this girl was hardly satisfied. I gave Jea this weak smile since I was tired of sitting in that chair. My began to hurt and I was done with this make-up stuff, it was too much really.

‘’Sit still!’’ Chaerin roughly turned my head when I was about to look at Jea. I hated this, who actually did this for fun?

‘’Can we just get it over with, it looks fine. It looked fine twenty minutes ago!’’ I whined. Chaerin gave me this stern look but gave in when she saw the desperation in my eyes. ‘’Oh, alright,’’ she answered.

I felt relieved and walked towards the mirror to have a better look at myself. It looked good on me I must say. For the first time I felt really pretty and I loved this confident feeling I was getting. It’s funny how girls often need make-up to feel this confident and good, or it was just me… who felt that way. I don’t know.

‘’You’re welcome,’’ Chaerin said when she saw me eyeing myself satisfied. I gave her a smile. ‘’Now, for your hair and dress,’’ she added. I actually forgot that had to be done too. I growled. Jea laughed before she started to work on herself. She didn’t need the help, I was the only one who wasn’t used to applying make-up and styling my hair in a fabulous way.

‘’Sit again.’’ Chaerin commanded. I obeyed since she could easily burn me with the straightener she was holding at the moment if I were to be difficult. She smiled satisfied when I sat down. She began to make waves in my hair resulting in a wavy hair style. It took her some time but I was satisfied with the result. I looked like an actual celebrity, it was unbelievable what make-up and a different hairstyle could do.

‘’Don’t you dare to touch it,’’ she warned while giving me this stern look, ‘’you will mess up the waves.’’

I gulped. I would certainly touch it sooner or later. Whenever I felt stared at, nervous or uncomfortable I had this habit of playing with my hair.

I walked towards the mirror again, to have another look at myself. I looked so different that I could only imagine how the other students would look at me. The feeling made me quite anxious so I unconsciously started to grab a lock of my hair and started to play with it while eyeing myself.

‘’Ah! What was that for!’’ I yelled at Chaerin when she slapped my hand away.

‘’I said don’t touch it! I’m not going to do it again if it gets ruined!’’ She fired back.

I muttered a sorry before sitting down on her bed. It would the best if I would just sit still here while they would dress up. Chaerin hadn’t done anything to herself yet, so I knew it would take a while before we would leave. She always took the longest to get ready.

Jea had her outfit on already. She wore this white jumpsuit which looked like a dress, but wasn’t. It had a of fabric on her left hip and some green decoration around her area. It was simple, but cute and most important comfortable. She wouldn’t have to worry about showing underwear or private parts whenever she would sit down or dance which was clever at a party with a lot of alcohol. She was putting on her heels. They were this cream color, almost white, and had an open toe. It also had this strap around her ankle. The heels were quite high. She looked satisfied when she eyed herself in the mirror.

‘’It looks good on you,’’ I complimented which resulted in a smiling Jea.

Jea was about to apply her make-up and do her hair. I was bored since I was already done with that. I only needed to put on my dress and heels. And I figured I would do that when we would actually leave.

I grabbed my phone that lay on Chaerin’s desk, checking if the device could keep me amused. I had one message from my mother, it was a text.

Mom: Are you coming home tonight? Or are you staying over at Chaerin or Jea’s?

I already told her that I would go to this party. She was cool with it, she was cool with a lot of things actually. She wasn't strict at all. The only thing she always needed to know was if I were to come home, apparently she couldn’t sleep if she didn’t know. Of course I hadn't told her that parties like these were labeled wild, but I was responsible so it didn't matter anyway. Besides I wouldn't want to worry her.

Aerin: We’re sleeping at Chaerin’s. So you can sleep in peace :)

Mom: Okay, good. Have fun and be careful.

She wouldn’t be my mother if she wouldn’t add the ‘be careful’ part after every last sentence. But I loved her for that.

My phone wasn’t that interesting, unfortunately, which left me quite bored. Jea was already done with her make-up and hair by now. She didn’t really do anything with her make-up since she only applied a little amount. She sat beside me and looked at my face while tilting her head a little.

‘’You look really pretty,’’she concluded.

‘’We look pretty!’’ I corrected her before opening the camera app on my phone. I motioned her to come closer and we took some pictures of ourselves. Of course Chaerin squeezed herself into the picture when she figured out we were taking them. We laughed because of her behavior before I started to swipe to check the photos. Most of them were ugly, but there were some pretty ones between them too. This one photo was really pretty, it looked really spontaneous because I had shot it by accident.

“This one is pretty,’’ I said while showing it to them. They both nodded.

‘’Send us those photos in our group on Kakaotalk!’’ Jea suggested. I nodded before doing so.

This photo was really pretty, I realized. The more I stared at it, the more I felt proud for having friends like them. Wasn’t it weird to feel pride because of a picture? I decided to post it on Facebook, since it was a while ago since I last posted something. The toughest thing about posting a photo though was to come up with the name for it, or at least I thought so. It wasn’t really that important but I liked to give my photos random names, like quotes or the lyrics I was hearing at the moment. For this one, however, I would use a name that suited the situation and wasn’t so random: Girls just want to have fun. I pressed send and waited for it to be uploaded. The first like came quick enough, it was from this friend of Jea.

I threw my phone somewhere on the bed and stared at Chaerin. Her make-up was done by now and she was painting her fingernails. She was painting them black. I was quite surprised that she was done this quickly, it was unlike her.

‘’Put on your dress,’ Chaerin ordered when she noticed I was doing nothing in particular.

‘’You aren’t even ready yourself!’’ I exclaimed. She just gave me this stern look again so I did as I was told. She reminded me of my mother.

I walked towards my bag and started to search for the dress. After I had found it, I laid it down on her bed. Suddenly I wasn’t very comfortable with wearing this dress anymore, I grew kind of embarrassed actually when I thought about wearing it. It was so unlike me to wear something y like this. I started to play with my hair while eyeing the dress again. I noticed I wan't suppose to do this and immediately stopped before Chaerin would scold me. Fortunately she didn’t see it. My dress was black and rather simple. The straps crossed somewhere above my s which left a little opening for my cleavage. It was quite short too.

Why did I let Chaerin pick the dress again I wondered? I undressed myself and put on my little short, I would always wear this underneath a skirt or dress so I could somehow move freely, before putting on the dress. It was a little tight but I must admit it looked y on me - for as far I could be y of course - I felt like a SISTAR member.

‘’What time is it?’’ Chaerin asked disturbing my thoughts.

I searched for my phone I had thrown on the bed earlier to give her an answer but Jea beat me to it.

‘’10:30 PM,’’ she replied, ‘’what time was it supposed to start, Chaerin?’’

‘’At 10:00 PM,’’ Chaerin answered simply. Jea and I rolled our eyes. Chaerin always made us come late for events. According to her it was fancy to do so.

I kept searching for my phone. I didn’t want to look for it when we were supposed to leave. I always lost my phone whenever it wasn’t convenient. I opened Facebook when I finally found it, I saw quite some likes on our photo. I was about to check who liked it when another one came in. It was from Daehyun. Somehow I felt this weird feeling from his like, maybe because I was being acknowledged by someone popular or something. It was a silly feeling, it was just a simple like after all. One tab on a phone screen, nothing more.

Chaerin finished her hair after a couple of minutes. She looked very good overall, cute but still y and pretty too. Her make-up was surprisingly light, like she didn’t even apply anything which is why she wasn’t taking long. Her hair was brushed to the side. Right now she was putting on her dress. It was a strapless one with a wider skirt. It had the same colors as Jea’s. She finished her look with accessories such as bracelets and a big necklace. She looked good, but of course she knew that already.

‘’Ready?’’ She asked happily while putting on her heels. They were stilettos, the same color as her dress. Both Jea and I nodded.

‘’Alright, you guys can go to the car already. I’ll be there in a second,’’ Chaerin said.

Jea was already walking away without doubting anything. I, however, found it strange that she wouldn’t come with us right away. I shrugged it off though. We entered the living room and were greeted with a smiling Mrs. Kim.

‘’You girls look very pretty, have fun!’’ Both Jea and I thanked her before Mrs. Kim went to the kitchen. Jea was already making her way towards the door. I gave a last glance through the mirror and saw that one part of my hair was already straightened. I had ruined my hair a little bit already, . I quickly ran upstairs to get my comb inside my bag. It would be wise to bring it with me, just in case.

‘’Will I see you there then?’’ I heard Chaerin ask in a sweet voice. When I entered her room I was greeted with a smiling, no beaming Chaerin on the phone. She seemed embarrassed when she noticed I caught her red-handed but she stayed composed as she quickly ended the call. ‘’Okay good I’ll see you later, bye.’’

I frowned. ‘’Who was that?’’ I asked curiously. She adjusted her dress properly before casually answering, ‘’Yongguk.’’

‘’Ah… I see.’’ I said while looking through my bag. She was amazing, no guy stood a chance against her.

‘’What are you looking for?’’ Chaerin asked trying to avert the topic from Yongguk to me.

‘’Just… my bracelet.’’ I lied. It wouldn’t be wise to tell Chaerin I already ruined a bit of my hair before we even arrived at the party. Luckily she wasn’t really paying attention to me, so she didn’t notice herself. She just shrugged and left the room. I quickly got my comb and placed it in my clutch. I hastily walked down stairs towards the frontdoor and eventually Chaerin’s car.

‘’Ready?’’ Chaerin asked while settling herself behind the wheel.

‘’Ready.’’ Both Jea and I said in unison.

The first thing I noticed when we drove through the supposed street was that it was quite crowded and we weren’t even in the house yet. We couldn’t find any parking spot nearby so we drove around for some minutes before we spotted a place three streets further. The three of us got out the car and walked a while. It was annoying to walk three streets with high heels on in a rather cold winter night, but there was no other choice. I kept pulling on my dress to make it longer somehow because I would get the feeling that everyone would look at it. Of course it didn’t work and of course I wasn’t the only one who wore a short dress. Every girl did practically, I noticed when we neared the actual party.

There were a lot of people outside, they were just hanging in the little yard in front of the house. It was pretty cozy at the door opening too. I eyed the house, it looked rather big. Seokjin must be a rich guy I thought. My eyes averted to the door opening again and I actually spotted the said guy.

‘’Wow,’’ Jea said stunned. ‘’There are a lot of people here.’’

I nodded while we walked towards the entry to enter the house. I felt stared at and became a little self-conscious. Seokjin was probably checking out who was entering his party which was why he was standing there with his close friends. One I knew as Park Jimin. Jimin eyed me from head to toe and gave me this dirty smirk. Seokjin suddenly halted me by stretching his hand out so I couldn’t go into the house any further. Chaerin and Jea had walked in front me and didn’t notice me being halted so they just kept walking towards the living room, disappearing from my sight.

‘’You look very nice tonight Aerin.’’ Seokjin said while gazing at me. He had this absurd smile on, like he was drunk already. I gave him a small smile while peeking inside the house in hopes of seeing Jea and Chaerin before I would lose them for good. I couldn’t spot them however. Seokjin’s eyes were still on me and his goofy smile was still apparent.

Great.

______________________________