“It’s happening tonight. I can feel it!”

“Jess, it’s going to happen, it’s ridiculously obvious. Why do you think he wanted you to go tonight? Besides, you two were all over each other yesterday.”

She scoffed indignantly and slapped my arm lightly. “We were not. We were just talking. He’s actually a really nice guy.”

“Oh, please. He was practically drooling over you. And you were, too.”

Her eyes widened marginally. “Oh, God. I wasn’t too obvious, was I?” she groaned, not waiting for me to respond. “Of course I was too obvious. Gosh, he probably thought I was pathetic and clingy and needy.”

“Jessica.” I rolled my eyes. “Enlighten me. When has a guy ever said you were clingy or needy?”

“Well, they’re obviously not going to say it to my face.”

“Let me rephrase the question. Think of every guy you’ve ever wanted to hook up with. Has there been one time when it hasn’t happened?”

“I think if I’d hooked up with Dave Franco, I’d remember,” she grumbled.

I rolled my eyes at her. “Real guys, Jess. Not celebrities.”

“Well…” she hesitated. “I’m sure it’s happened some time.”

“I rest my case.” I grinned triumphantly. “I don’t get why you’re so jittery tonight. Now, are you going to take a shower or what? If you don’t hurry, we’ll never get to the party.”

Not that I’d mind, but if Jessica missed this party, I’d never heard the end of it.

I was getting ready at Jessica’s, but, as usual, she was taking forever. I already had my dress on – a simple blue dress that hugged my body and stopped mid- thigh- while Jessica was still in gray sweatpants and a “More Issues Than Vogue” T-shirt. She hurried into the bathroom and I made myself comfortable, knowing it was still going to be a while before we could leave.

Thankfully, I had brought my computer, and I was on the final pages of “The Rescue,” by Nicholas Sparks. I opened the document excitedly, flipping to the page where I’d left off, and began to read.

“Twenty minutes later, Jessica opened the bathroom door to fin me curled up on her bed, bawling.

“Oh, my gosh, Soo, are you okay?” Her eyes widened with a worry for a second before she saw me holding my computer closely. She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re crying because of a book.”

“Jessica, it was so beautiful!” I blubbered. “He- he said-“

I was interrupted by Jessica’s laugh. “I can’t believe this,” she guffawed. “This is priceless! Oh, wow, you should just see your face right now, it’s hilarious. Actually, I need to document this.”

She reached for her phone on her dresser, and I shut my laptop down and covered my face with my hands. “Don’t!”

She was still laughing. “Come on, Soo, look at me. I promise I don’t have my phone anymore.”

“Yeah right.” I wiped some lingering tears from my cheeks and buried my face in her pillow. “Go get ready instead, you take forever.”

“If you haven’t noticed, we’re at the exact same point right now, with only our dresses. You haven’t started with your hair or make-up either, and by the looks of your face right now, that part’s going to take a bit longer than usual,” she giggled.

“Hey!” I looked up in dignation, sniffling.

“Your eyes are all red and puffy from crying. Great idea to read that before a party, Soo. You couldn’t just go on Facebook like a normal person, could you?” she teased me, running a comb through her tangled hair.

“Oh, shut up, you jerk. It’s not like I knew I was going to cry. And besides, it’s not that bad.” I ran my hand through my wavy brown hair, smoothing it out. After lying on her bed, I was sure it was sticking up every possible way. “I’m going to start getting ready. I mean, I don’t even want to go tonight, you should be the one hurrying up.”

“Not that I don’t want you to come, but why’d you agree then?”

Because if not, Luhan would’ve told Kris I practically insulted him and I honestly don’t want you to kill me. “I don’t know. Moral support for you? At least it’s less pathetic than staying in with another novel.”

“You finished one anyways. Do you think this dress is okay?”

She was wearing a dark red dress with only one shoulder. It was completely covered in black, see-through lace, and it had a thin belt running through the middle. “Yeah, yeah, you look great. Now go, we’re going to be late!”

“I’m going, I’m going!”

                                                                             ***

The party was in full swing by the time we finally arrived, almost an hour later. I had been ready in fifteen minutes, but Jessica had spent forever on her make-up – redoing it twice – and had changed into three different dresses before finally settling on the original red one. We’d barely been inside for five minutes when Jessica giggled at her phone. “Kris is asking where we are! I think he’s coming over here. I look fine, right?”

I rolled my eyes at her. “What’s with you tonight? You look great, chill.” Her eyes were scanning the room for people we knew, bright with excitement.

It was in that moment that said guy appeared in front of us, looking handsome in a dark blue button-up shirt and black trousers. He barely even acknowledged me before taking Jessica’s hand and pulling her to where everybody was dancing. “Dance with me, gorgeous?”

Jessica beamed at him and nodded, following him into the mass of people. Just before they disappeared inside the crowd, she turned back to me, grinning and waving before mouthing, “Sorry!”

Not ten minutes into the party and I was already left alone. Great.

Instead of standing by the wall like some loser, I decided to wander through the people, pretending like I was looking for somebody specific. I walked around for a couple of minutes before seeing a familiar mop of dirty blonde hair by the makeshift bar.

When I reached him, I poked him in the side and he jumped in surprise, almost spilling the beer he’d just taken out of the cooled. “Jesus, Soo! You scared the hell out of me!”

I grinned. “Nice to see you too, jerk.”

Key beamed at me. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but what are you doing here? I thought you said you weren’t going out this weekend.”

“You know how Jessica can get when she’s after a guy,” I sighed, skipping over the part where it had technically been Luhan who’d made me come. Technically, it was still Jessica’s fault. If I weren’t so scared of her wrath, I’d be curled up on my bed in my pajamas by now, crying again over some other book.

“Ah.” He nodded in understanding. “Who’s the victim tonight?”

“Kris Wu, of course. And I wouldn’t exactly call him victim. We hadn’t been in here for five minutes before he came to whisk her away.”

“Good point. I doubt he’ll mind.”

He handed me his untouched beer, pulling another one out of the cooler. I took a sip and scrunched up my nose – I’d never been a big fan of beer. “By the way, where’s Hyo? You two are usually inseparable.”

“Running late. As usual.” He rolled his eyes. “She says she’ll be here soon, though, so hopefully it wont be long.”

“I doubt she’ll be much longer,” I assured him. Secretly, though, I was hoping she would take a little longer. Hyoyeon was awesome, and so was Key, but they were so in love it was borderline disgusting. And this was coming from a hopeless romantic. When they were together, you could practically smell the love in the air from miles away.

That meant that as soon as Hyo arrived, I was on my own again.

This party just got better and better.

                                                                                  ***

About twenty minutes had passed since Hyo had arrived to whisk Key away, and I’d given up the pretense of looking for a nonexistent friend to hang out with. Instead, I had opted for sitting on one of the barstools, still nursing the same beer Key had handed me over half an hour ago. There were barely any people I knew, so I wasn’t really worried about what anybody would say about me. I had decided to give Jessica a while longer, and then text her to see if she was okay with me leaving or if she wanted me to wait for her. She could take care of herself, but I always worried.

The only thought running through my head was, I could’ve told Luhan I’d come and skipped this completely. It’s not like he would have noticed.

I had gotten to the point of boredom where I was surfing the internet on my phone when I was somebody sitting on the barstool beside me out of the corner of my eye. I looked up in surprise to see Luhan sitting there, smiling at me.

“Drinking your problems away?” he asked, motioning to the drink in front of me in amusement.

I cracked a smile, surveying my drink. I’d barely gone through half of the beer. “Not exactly. Remind me again what exactly I’m doing here?”

“Oh, come on, you can’t be that bored. It’s a great party.”

I shrugged. “I’m not saying it isn’t. I guess I’m just not feeling it tonight.” Plus, I’m a total loser who has nobody to hang out with because her only friends here are busy with their love lives.

“What, no guy has come to whisk you away yet?”

I laughed dryly. “Quite the opposite, actually. It’s fine, though. I’m leaving soon anyway, I just want to see if Jessica’s fine with me leaving.”

“Based on what I saw like ten minutes ago, she’s more than fine. I only hope they at least take it outside.” He shuddered mockingly and I chuckled, thinking about how thrilled Jessica was going to be.

“But come on, you can’t leave this early. At least dance with me for a while.” He stood up, stretching his hand out to me. “You’re not going to leave me hanging, are you?”

It certainly beats sitting here by myself. “ Sure, we can dance.”

Abandoning my half-finished drink, I followed Luhan as he pulled me into the crowd. A fast song I wasn’t familiar with was playing, but I let him slip my hands in his and pull me closer.

I had nowhere to put my iPhone, so I held it in my hands as we danced until Luhan took it from me gently, smiling. “I’ll save it for you in the meantime, don’t worry.”

Luhan was a good dancer; there was no denying it. I wasn’t the best dancer ever – okay, I was pretty clumsy – but I found myself following along to his moves without too much trouble. I’d only stumbled a couple of times, and miraculously I hadn’t even come close to tripping on my own feet. I found myself relaxing and loosening up the more we danced.

As we danced, I also took the opportunity to look him over. It surprised me to see that he was good looking – I hadn’t noticed. He wasn’t good looking in the obvious way like Kris was – the way that made girls turn their heads and go crazy as soon as they were in proximity to him. But he was definitely handsome; his mussed up brown hair and bright eyes gave him a boyish look that was cute, his features were overall nice looking. For a moment, I almost forgot how eager I’d been to leave the party. Almost.

I pulled back a little, separating myself from him. “Well, this was great, but I should really get going. Thanks for holding my phone.” I motioned toward his pocket so he’d give it back to me.

To my surprise, instead of giving it back, he caught my hand in his once more.   “Don’t be a party pooper, this is just starting. Stay with me a while longer.”

I could feel my inner cynic coming through. He was a guy. And older guy, who I’d just met last night for about an hour. Why would he want to hang around me for so long? It dawned on me that he probably thought that since I was friend with Jessica, I was willing to act the same way.

“No, really, I’m good, thanks. I’m tired, I just want to go to bed.”

“If you won’t dance with me, at least stay a while longer. We can go outside to talk if you want. I do have your phone, after all.” He flashed me an adorable half-grin, and I noticed a single dimple on his left cheek.

I sighed, wishing he’d never taken my phone in the first place so I would be free to leave. “Fine, but just for a while.”

“A while’s great.” We made our way through the crowds to the door that lead outside, trying and mostly failing not to run into people on our way. When we’d almost made it out, I caught sight of Key, who was holding Hyoyeon lovingly as they swayed to the rhythm of the song. When he saw me looking at him, he lifted his hand up to wave at me before catching sight of Luhan. When he realized I was following him outside, his eyebrows shot up in surprise, as though he couldn’t believe I was going out with a guy.

Thanks for acting so surprise, Key. It really boosts my confidence.

When I shrugged, he waggled his eyebrows at me and mouthed, “You go, Soo!” I just shook my head and rolled my eyes at him, and he pointed his finger at me as though he was saying I’m watching you. Right before he disappeared out of sight, I gave him the finger and watched him laugh in response.

There weren’t many people outside, which was a nice contrast to the inside party. The music could still be heard, but at a volume much more decent for the human ear. We walked around the vast garden for a while before sitting on a small bench.

“So tell me about your love life. Who’s the lucky guy?”

“Love life? What’s that?” I joked sarcastically.

He burst out laughing. “Amen to that. But seriously, there’s nobody?”

“Nope. Never has been, either.”

The surprise that registered on his face was slightly flattering. He looked incredulous, like it was so hard to believe that I’d never so much as been in relationship by my junior year in high school. “Why not?”

I somehow doubted it was appropriate to admit that I liked fictional guys more than real ones. “I don’t know. It’s just never happened. A matter of timing maybe? It’s okay, though, I don’t mind.”

“I can’t believe no guy has been able to get you. Whoever manages to do it will be lucky – you are quite the catch.”

I blushed. “Thanks, I guess. What about you?”

“Riding solo for now, as well.” I rolled my eyes at the use of the phrase. “Haven’t been in a relationship since I broke up with Krystal a couple of months ago.” So many people knew about the drama between Xi Luhan and Jung Krystal that I wouldn’t be surprised if it were on the national news. They’d been the golden couple until Krystal had cheated on him with an older guy at a party.

“Do you want to be in a relationship?”

He shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind it, but I’m not desperate. If I find the right girl, then of course I’d want to date her.”

“That’s exactly what I think. I don’t see the use in rushing anything.”

“Good to see there are sane girls left in this world. I’d begun to think that all girls with even a sliver common sense were either imaginary, or taken.”

I laughed. “You have no idea how much I can relate to that.”

“Well, all in good time, I guess.”

“Definitely.” There was a slightly awkward silence, before I decided to start the conversation back up. “What do you do in your free time?”

He smirked. “You’ll laugh at me, but typical guy stuff.”

“Meaning?”

“I don’t know. Video games. Movie. Food. Partying. Doing stupid stuff with my friends – the usual.”

“The stereotypical teenage guy.”

“That’s me.” He grinned. “What about you?”

I considered lying and saying something else for a brief moment, but decided I didn’t really care what he thought. “Reading, mostly.”

“What do you read? I bet you read super duper deep stuff.”

1. “I love cheesy romance novels,” I admitted, blushing slightly.                           “You could say they’re my….guilty pleasure. Don’t judge me.”

He burst out laughing. “Romance novels? Really? I wouldn’t have pegged you as the romantic type.”

“Well-“

“Actually, ignore that. You look completely the type.”

I raised my eyebrows expectantly, not knowing if I was supposed to feel offended or if it was supposed to be a compliment.

“Let me see. I bet you’re the kind of girls who’s secretly in love with a fictional character.”

“Hey!”

“Do you cry when you watch movies and read books as well?”

My blush came back with full force. I could feel myself going redder by the minute. “ I- “

“You totally do!”

“Fine, I do. And so what?” by this time, I was laughing along with him. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“And so nothing. I just think it’s funny,” he said nonchalantly by way of an explication.

“Care to explain why?”

“I don’t know. I guess I’ve always found it slightly weird to watch – or in your case, read – romance when you could go out and try to experience the real thing.”

I scoffed. “See, if all guys weren’t such s, that might actually be a good option.”

“Ouch.” He put his hand on his heart, pretending to be offended. “I’m hurt.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s true. It’s a statiscally proven fact.”

“I somehow doubt that’s true,” he laughed.

“Hey, I blame my high expectations of men on every romance writer that has ever been born.”

“Then why torture yourself? Not all guys are that bad, that’s something I can assure you.”

“Maybe not,” I shrugged. “I have yet to be proven wrong, though.”

His mouth dropped open as he feigned being hurt again. “Are you calling me an to my face, Soo?”

“I’m not saying you’re an , but I’m not saying you aren’t one, either. I don’t know you enough to make that judgment.” I couldn’t resist grinning in amusement at his face. Servers you right, I thought. He was probably used to girls fawning over him and turning into puddles at his feet.

“Tell you what,” his smile widened and his eyes turned to mine, clearly posing a challenge. “I have a proposition for you.”

“I can’t promise I’ll like it.”

“Hear me out. I’ll prove to you all guys aren’t s. I mean, the fictional guys you love have to have been based on somebody real, right?”

“Everybody dreams, Luhan. I want the flying unicorn of my dreams, and the fact that I write about it doesn’t mean it’s based off of something real.”

His face twisted in confusion for a second. “You have a flying unicorn of your dreams? And you write about it?”

I blushed in embarrassment at what I’d just blurted out. “Of course not. That was just a metaphorical example. You get my point, don’t you?”

“Sure, I get your point. Do you get mine? I will show you that not all real guys are as bad as you think.”

“You’re wasting your time.”

He shrugged. “I need something to do with my life that’s not Call Of Duty anyway. I’ll be successful, too.”

“Fine, you’ll lose though.”

“Tell you what, let’s bet. If I win-“

“Unlikely,” I interrupted him.

He barged on, unfazed. “If I win, I get to ask you to do something.”

“What?”

“I’ll think of it when I win. Which I will. Besides, if you’re so sure I’m going to lose, why are you so worried?”

I raised my eyebrows at how confident he seemed. He looked like he really thought he could convince me that there was at least one guy somewhere here that could chalk up to any of the guys in romance novels. I doubted he realize how high the bar was set. My expectations were quite unrealistic; even I had to come to terms with that.

“Fine, then. If – when –I win, I get to ask you to do something.” I had some time to think about what I’d make him do.

He stuck out his hand. “Choi Sooyoung, prepare yourself.  You've got yourslef a deal."