AFTER SCHOOL

“Where do you wanna eat?” Minseok asks as she retrieves her bag from her locker and slams the door shut.

Nodding in the direction of the doors, Han pushes off the adjacent locker and starts to walk off with Minseok easily matching his pace. He shrugs, his own bookbag bouncing on his right shoulder. He’s trying his hardest to be cool because this is legitimate progress and, who knows, if today goes well maybe she’ll actually agree to be his girlfriend. “Noodles?” he suggests, thinking of all of the places within a reasonable distance and quickly ruling out McDonalds, Chipotle, and that one small eatery one of his exes works at. Two are horrible places for a date and rule 34 of dating is never have the prospective girlfriend meet the past girlfriends.

Minseok hums as she ponders over his choice. Her loose bun bounces with the slight tilt of her head and Han sobs on the inside.

Everything about her is so cute. It’s like she was put on this planet with the sole purpose to turn him into a pile of stupid.

“Sounds good to me,” she says at last, offering him a pretty smile that quickly falls into an uncomfortable grimace. “And sorry about earlier.”

Han shakes his head and pats her on the back. “Nah, I’ll do something to deserve it later.”

That is true, Minseok realizes, suddenly not feeling as bad as she used to. Now that she thinks about it, she wouldn’t be surprised if Han’s said or done something to her and she never found out. How many times has he been a complete creep and gotten away with it?

Ew, why is she even taking him out to eat?

“I’ll drive,” Han offers, unknowingly yet effectively breaking Minseok’s train of thought as they pass through the exit doors and walk out into the parking lot. “Unless you want to.”

“Ah, actually, I took the bus today so even if I wanted to…” She scratches her nails along the rough strap of her bag and puffs air into one of her cheeks absentmindedly as she follows him to a black Lexus.

Han digs his keys out of his pocket to unlock the doors and just as Minseok pulls the passenger door open, he shuts it with his palm on the window.

Raising an eyebrow, Minseok slowly looks up from the handle to his face and stares at him like he just grew a third in the middle of his forehead.

“That means you don’t have a way home, right?” He wiggles his eyebrows.

Again, why is she torturing herself like this?

“No, there are these things called buses — long, rectangular, carries a lot of people who either can’t or don’t want to drive, stops at multiple places including the street a couple blocks away from my house. Perhaps you’ve heard of ‘em.” She frowns.

Han crosses his arms over his chest. He has that disgusting smirk that he always makes when he’s trying to flirt with her on his face and she’s about five seconds from punching him in the gut and passing it off as a really fierce muscle spasm. “But, like, really, you—”

Minseok yanks the door open and it slams into his side. Ignoring his pained groans, she slips into the passenger seat. Before she closes the door, she says, “Get in the car, pretty boy. You’re wasting my time.”

Han involuntarily glares at her because he hates being called pretty and just hearing the word makes him irrationally angry. Rubbing his sore elbow, he walks around the front of the car and climbs into the driver’s seat. Minseok’s eyes are on him the entire time and the firm press of Han’s lips pushes into a childish pout at the attention.

“I was just saying…” he mumbles as he starts the car and shifts it into reverse to pull out of the space. “I could give you a ride home if you want.”

“This isn’t a date, Han,” Minseok emphasizes. “I also don’t want you to know where my house is.”

He on the inside of his cheek. “Way to crush all of my dreams.”

“Maybe you should find better dreams.” When he doesn’t respond, she looks over at him and places her hand on his leg.

He flinches and takes his eyes off the road for a quick second to glance at her oddly.

“Your persistence is cute. Really.” She smiles at him softly and takes her hand back.

Glancing at her again, he catches the smile but instead of returning it, he focuses on the road in front of him and bites his lip.

Minseok’s smile widens and she chuckles when she notices the pink color to his ears. “Your approach is utter , on the other hand.”

He blinks and pops his lip from between his teeth. “Wow, okay, I was super happy for a sec there and then you ruined it.”

Minseok only shrugs.

Sehun stops outside the doors leading to the parking lot to dig around the pockets of her bookbag for her bus pass. She usually hitches a ride home from Minseok after club meetings but since Minseok is out torturing herself by voluntarily spending time with Han, she has to find another way home. No matter how much she hates the public buses around here, she doesn’t have enough for a taxi.

Finding her wallet wedged between her math binder and her psychology folder, she cracks it open, hoping the little plastic card is in there and not someplace useless like on her nightstand.

“What are you looking for?”

Jumping because she didn’t hear someone come up behind her, she gasps and drops her wallet. Snatching it off the floor, she turns around to glare at Yixing and his lazy smile.

He chuckles. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Making a noise of disbelief, Sehun reopens her wallet and quickly finds her bus pass squeezed into a slot with her debit card. “I thought you left,” she says, glancing at him shortly as she pockets her wallet.

“I was contemplating if I wanted to wait with Jongin for Chanyeol to get out of volleyball practice,” he replies, watching as Sehun heaves her bookbag onto her back and grabs her duffle bag. “Don’t you usually ride with Minseok? How are you getting home with all that?”

“Well, I plan to play a little game called ‘Piss off a couple old ladies on the bus by taking up three of the handicap seats with my and refusing to move’.”

Yixing quirks a brow. “Do you want a lift?” he asks, knowing she isn’t joking about committing a social faux pas like that.

“From you?” She sniffs. “No, thanks.”

Yixing laughs through his nose and holds out his hand to take her duffle.

She eyes him warily. “I said no.”

“Mhm, I heard you.”

But he never puts his hand down and he has the most patient expression on his face and Sehun really curses her face heating up over some stupid junior boy and his stupid chivalry.

Huffing, she hands over the bag with a scowl, immediately crossing her arms over her chest once her hands are free.

“Don’t look so mad.” Yixing ruffles her hair, grinning widely when she slaps his arm down. “It makes me want to tease you more.”

Having a feeling that she’s blushing harder than before, she turns around and walks out into the parking lot. “Shut up. Drive me home.” She waits until he’s in front of her, leading the way to his car (which is thankfully not a pick-up truck) before she drops the act and bites her lip, screaming internally.

After swearing off relationship drama after being rejected last year, she has no idea how to handle these sudden feels.

Stupid Yixing.

Jongin taps his fingers against his thighs as he mumbles the words to Sistar’s Touch My Body. Yixing said he was going to the bathroom and, unless he’s taking a bath in the toilet, he should be back by now. Sighing, he tilts his head back, ‘ow’-ing under his breath when it thumps against the wall. Waking up his phone, he sees that Chanyeol’s practice should be over and she and the other girls should be coming out of the locker room soon.

As soon as he drops his arm to his side, two girls walk out of the girl’s locker room door across the hall, chatting about how much homework they have to turn in.

“Oh, hey, Jongin. Waiting for Yeol?” The tallest girl and the only one out of the two that Jongin recognizes, smiles at him.

He stares at her before he realizes that he needs to respond and he returns the smile with a pained, tight-lipped smile of his own. “H-Hey Zitao. And yeah.”

Zitao hums before waving goodbye and walking off, continuing her conversation with the other girl.

Jongin glances at the door as other members of the volleyball team file out. He shoves his hands into his pockets and tries to blend into the wall. He should really learn how to talk to girls other than Chanyeol, Sehun, and Minseok.

Chanyeol waves, a huge grin on her face, as she exits the locker room. She takes down her ponytail and wipes at the few beads of sweat beneath her bangs.

He smiles effortlessly at her. “Ready to go?”

Chanyeol nods and they start to walk to the exit. “You know, you don’t need to wait for me after my practices every week.”

“I’m already here on Wednesdays for dance and I don’t mind staying late the other days.” He shrugs. “Yixing was supposed to wait around with me today but only god knows where he went.”

“Text and ask if he’s still here.”

“Why?”

“So we don’t leave him here accidentally, genius.”

At the same time Jongin takes out his phone, Chanyeol gets a text of her own. “Oh, never mind. He’s with Sehun,” she says as she reads over Sehun’s text.

Jongin rolls his eyes, not surprised. “Of course he is.”

“He’s been talking to her a lot more lately. Do you think he likes her?” Chanyeol wonders, smiling at the thought. Sehun and Yixing would be sorta cute together. They’re not even together and she’s already jealous of how cute they would be as a couple.

“I hope not,” Jongin grumbles.

Chanyeol looks at him skeptically. “Do you…like Sehun?”

“Wh—” He covers his mouth, afraid he’s going to get sick. Him liking Sehun?! “She’s like my sister!” he whispers, scandalized.

“You know some people are into that sort of thing,” Chanyeol comments, unable to keep a straight face when Jongin bumps their shoulders together. “If you don’t like her then why is it a problem if Yixing likes her? Hypothetically speaking.”

“Sehun can’t date until she’s twenty five,” Jongin says, completely serious.

Chanyeol rolls her eyes at his idiocy. “And what? Are you her father?”

“Yes.” Jongin nods.

It’s Chanyeol’s turn to push Jongin. She uses a little too much force in her arm and almost sends him tripping into a locker. “Sorry. But really, Jongin, Yixing seems like he would be a good boyfriend.”

He’s not too bothered by almost wiping out and shakes his head. “Absolutely not. I would know. I only hang out with s and tools.”

“At least you can admit it.”

Making a face, Jongin glances at the taller girl. “You’re not supposed to agree.”

Chanyeol shrugs. “Your friends, not mine. But I don’t think Yixing is like them.” She blinks. “Why are you hating on Yixing as if he’s on Han’s level of supreme douchebro?”

“Isn’t a little weird that he’s being so nice to her now? Like they’ve know each other for a year now and they’ve never been close enough to spend time with each other outside of club.”

Upon passing through the side exit doors facing the soccer and baseball fields, they head toward their bus stop.

“What’s wrong with them becoming closer friends? And if he does like her, feelings don’t just develop immediately. I didn’t fall for the guy I like as soon as I saw him either.”

It takes a couple seconds before what Chanyeol said clicks in Jongin’s mind. “You like someone?!”

Did I really admit that just now? Chanyeol groans under her breath. “Jong—”

“What’s his name so I can hunt him down and beat his face in.” He means it. He’ll go grab Han, Yixing, and whoever else and corner this kid somewhere and show him what hell feels like.

“Jo—”

He turns to her with a glare. “You can’t date until you’re married and that’s final.”

They find a two-person table toward the front of the restaurant after they order. Han tries to pull her chair out for her but it was already out so he pushes it back in and pulls it out with a cheesy grin and a, “For you, madam.”

Minseok can’t help but laugh at him and roll her eyes as she takes a seat. It’s things like this that confuse her because he has his moments where he’s sort of cute but nine times out of ten he’s the enemy of all women. She starts to say something but then her ringtone plays through her bag and she gets distracted by Sehun’s text about how if she goes missing, the kidnapper is Yixing.

Han is perfectly content with staring at her shamelessly as she responds to her texts. Her cheeks round when she giggles and she’s so damn cute, it hurts. Even after she places her phone down on the table and sips absentmindedly at her lemonade while looking out the large glass front window, he continues to stare, offering up a smirk whenever she looks at him out of the corner of her eye.

He stops when the server brings their food out, not noticing how hungry he was until there’s a pulled pork sandwich sitting in front of him and a small bowl of noodles and a grilled chicken salad in front of Minseok.

“Are you gonna eat all of that?” Han asks before taking a typical alpha male bite out of his sandwich.

Stabbing a chunk of chicken and lightly dipping it in the sauce covering her noodles, she nods. “Sure am. All I had for lunch was five french fries and a fruit cup because I had to finish a chem lab.”

Humming sympathetically, Han nods and returns to his sandwich. He doesn’t know what else to say. It’s weird. Like he’s actually afraid of ing up this non-date.

Minseok appreciates the silence, surprised that Han isn’t talking her ear off with a bunch of erted nonsense. She doesn’t think there’s ever been a time where she’s felt even remotely comfortable around him. If he was like this all the time, maybe she wouldn’t mind going out with him. She chews on the inside of her cheek as she thinks. Putting her fork down, she wipes at the corners of her lips with her finger. “Han, can I ask you something?”

He glances up at her. His cheeks are filled with food and she almost giggles (giggles) at the way he holds up his hand and tries to finish chewing as quickly as possible. “Yeah, go ahead, shoot.”

“Do you like me?”

Han stares at her and blinks twice. He sits up straight and clears his throat. “Minseok, I’m sorry, but that has to be the dumbest question I’ve ever heard,” he says. “I’m pretty sure everyone knows that I like you.”

Minseok rolls her eyes. “No, I mean, do you actually like me? As in, I-want-to-date-you kind of like me, not I-want-to-have--with-you kind of like me.”

His heart stops at the mention of the forbidden word but he reels himself in. Despite popular belief, he is capable of keeping his hormones in check. He just wasn’t expecting for any of their conversations to take this turn today and he knows that depending on what he says, everything might very quickly go to .

Minseok sighs and shakes her head when he takes too long to respond. “You know what, forget it.”

Han frowns himself and hunches over, propping his elbow up on the small, round table. “I’m going to be honest with you, okay? Yeah, I want to have with you.”

Well that’s no surprise but it disappoints her for some reason nonetheless. “Now that I think about it, this isn’t really a proper place to have this conversation.”

“But I legitimately like you, Minseok. As in, I want to be that guy who comes into school early on Valentine’s Day and obnoxiously fills your locker with rose petals and who interrupts your first period class to give you a teddy bear half your height at the risk of getting detention-kind of like you.”

Minseok blinks at the serious expression on Han’s face.

He looks up at her in surprise when she suddenly stands and grabs her bag off the back of her chair. “Where are you—”

“Hush.” She holds up her hand at him before touching her cheeks. Okay, not warm. Good. “I think my heart just skipped,” she mutters to herself, horrified.

“Are you okay?”

She glances down at his wide, concerned eyes before shaking her head. “I need to go. I-I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He watches her power-walk out of the restaurant, still touching her cheeks and mumbling to herself. He waits until she’s out of view before he leans back in the chair and crosses his arms over his chest, a cocky grin spreading across his face. He didn’t think that would actually work. Damn, he’s too good.

Phase one, complete.