DOGGY STYLE

Once again I was back in the territory of not knowing were I stood with Minah. I mean, there was a large chance that she didn’t know that I was allergic to coconuts because that’s the dumbest food allergy in the world. But then again it was impossible for Kyungsoo not to have told her what had happened that day. And he was the one in charge of ordering the cake, not her. Unless Minah had decided to take charge of that as well. 

I kept trying to tell myself that I was just over-thinking it, but that was impossible. Surely Minah was hiding something from me. 

“That is the ugliest ing dress that I have ever seen and I refuse to get inside of it.” 

Minah, Chorong, Krystal, Naeun and I were bridesmaids dress shopping in Apgujeong that day. Or, at least, we were trying to, Chorong (who was the one that had just made that comment) hated everything that Minah picked out, Krystal was raging about Jongin not calling her, Naeun was asking if Krystal’s Jongin was the same as her Jongin (they were the same person, obviously,) and I was once again on Bongie duty and was holding onto Minah’s dog. 

Also, I'm pretty sure that dogs weren't allowed in there. But no one had said anything yet and Bongie was out in the open, so I guess that it was all good.

"Chorong, you've hated every dress that I've picked out so far!" Minah groaned, waving the green lace contraption in the air. It was a hideous dress, I'm not going to lie. And that was coming from me.

"That's because you have a ty taste in clothes." I wonder why Minah even chose for Chorong to be a bridesmaid in the first place. Nothing against Chorong or anything, but she is difficult to work with. Her and Minah had never agreed on anything. I don't know why Minah thought that this would all mystically change just because she was getting married.

"I do not have a ty taste in clothes. You do. This is my wedding and I get to pick out the dresses!" Minah shot back, slamming the dress back on the rack.

"I never offered to be a bridesmaid and I have no problem walking out now!" Chorong threatened.

This was going to be the longest day ever.

"But, like, you do know that Jongin and I have a thing, right?" Krystal was interrogating Naeun in the corner.

"I don't have anything with Jongin. And I never will. I have a boyfriend. And he's just barely nineteen. I can do better than that." Yes, Naeun, that was why I liked you. That and your fairy hair. "In fact, I have done better than that. If you want Jongin, then, by all means, go for it," she reassured her.

"I am going for it," Krystal muttered, scuffing the toe of her heel against the ground. "It's just that there are so many distractions."

Oh my god. Krystal had the life of the average eighteen-year-old girl. She basically had the life that I always wanted. Wait, no, not really. Even the thought of having to find anything desirable in Kim Jongin was nauseating to me. And being a teenager really does because no one lets you do anything. Or maybe that was because there wasn't much for me to do in the first place, but still.

Since I was still trying to avoid the civil dispute taking place between my two best friends (I could still call Minah my best friend, right? She hadn't said anything rude to me yet so it wasn't like we were fighting,) I decided that my best bet of staying invisible was by to keep staying in the corner next to Krystal and Naeun.

"Aw, who's the distraction?" Naeun cooed sympathetically. And Naeun was like the older sister that I never had (Cara likes to ignore me most of the time because this one time I told her boyfriend Ilhoon that she once chased after a taco truck whilst she was trying to lose weight and it all just got the better of her.) Really, my parents couldn't have just traded Luhan for a girl? It couldn't have been that hard.

"Her," Krystal said icily, turning and pointing directly at me.

Me? What the hell, Krystal? Could you not tell by my lurking in the shadows that I did not want to be noticed? Not to mention that she had just called me a distraction. I know that I had been (slightly) envious of Krystal just seconds ago, I wasn't a big fan of her anymore.

"Avery?" Naeun squeaked out in disbelief. Wow, guys. Don't be alarmed that someone finds me desirable.

Wait, no, that wasn't the way that it was supposed to sound. I did not want for Jongin to find me desirable. I wouldn't be able to bring him home to my parents. Because he was twelve and my parents would probably think I'm a e.

"You think that Avery is the distraction?" Naeun repeated.

"I'm­ - I'm not the distraction. I'm not any distraction. I don't even like the kid." I really had no choice but to step in. Besides, I was telling the truth for a change. We should be celebrating that.

Krystal rolled her large eyes at me. "But he talks about you all of the time."

My eyes widened to my typical deer ­in ­headlights response since what she said wasn't exactly 'O' ­face worthy. "What?" I did not want Jongin talking about me. I didn't want Jongin talking in general. Or taking pictures. Because every time he did anything that involved a subject and made my life got a hell of a lot worse. "Why? What does he even say?"

"Okay, so maybe he wasn't actually talking to me," Krystal admitted sheepishly, twisting a lock of blonde hair around her finger. And she had normal hair. I was slightly jealous.

"So you were eavesdropping?" Naeun raised an eyebrow at her. "Krystal, you know that's not right."

We just aren't going to bring up the whole me-­stalking-­Kim-Minseok-­for-­all-­of-­first-semester thing. Or how I was technically eavesdropping on Naeun and Krystal a few minutes ago.

"Yeah. I mean, I didn't mean to. I was trying to talk to him and he was on the phone so I just thought that if I waited there, possibly behind him, he would quickly finish his conversation and then talk to me," Krystal explained, looking slightly embarrassed. "And I just happened to hear him talking about some girl. And the word ‘Avery.' He was talking about this Avery girl and I knew it was you because Avery is an American name and you're the only American named Avery in all of Seoul," she let out a frustrated sigh, running her hands through her hair. "It wouldn't be that hard to just talk about me."

I guess I was self­ centered too because I didn't care about whatever the last part that Krystal had said was. "He didn't, like, profess his love for me or anything, did he?" I asked, worried. We were not about to make this a love triangle.

Krystal shook her head. "No. He was talking about you and some guy being perfect together, though. Do you have a boyfriend? Is it Yixing?" Her eyes lit up in excitement.

Meanwhile, my face turned red because it was obvious that Jongin had been talking about me and Kyungsoo. See? That was exactly why nothing good happened whenever Jongin ... got involved or something like that. And why the hell would anyone think that I was dating Yixing?

"Um, no, Krystal, I'm single. And Yixing has a girlfriend," I smiled politely.

"Oh, yeah. That Ying girl. Minah doesn't like her," Krystal shrugged. Did Minah like anyone though?

I really wanted to ask why Minah didn't like Ying but something told me that now wasn't the best time for questions like that. Let's just add that to the vault of things that everyone else but me seemingly knew.

But suddenly I learned that Krystal was a talker. Well, I probably already knew that, but whatever. Anyway, Krystal kept talking. Could this be the beginning of me getting my questions answered?

"Apparently Ying-"

"Avery, try this on." Of course, that would be the moment that Minah jumped back into the scene, waving a white dress in my face.

Damn it.

"What?" That was me because I couldn't understand the four words that Minah had said.

"This dress. Try it on. Because apparently Chorong is too good for my fashion sense and is just going to show up to my wedding in her ing pants," she spat towards Chorong, who just smirked and shrugged. "So I need you, Avery, to try this dress on. For me."

I stared blankly at the dress in her hand. It wasn't bad looking. Then again, it was Minah, and she had impeccable taste. It was a simple long, white, satin dress, with delicate beading around the neckline. And it kind of looked like a nightgown.

"Why-­why me?" I asked. "I mean, there are three other people that could try this dress on and would look so much better in it."

"Avery, the dress is in your size," Minah rolled her eyes at me. "I'll hold Bongie while you go and try it on, okay?" Except it wasn't like I had much of a choice since she shoved me into the dressing room, slamming the door behind me. I could tell that she was standing on the other side through the slits in the door. "Don't worry. I'll wait here."

I needed to learn how to stand up for myself. This was getting ridiculous. But I did have to wear something at the wedding and I knew that whatever I picked out would be ill­ fitting and probably neon. So I slid the dress on. It was very pretty, and you could definitely tell that it was something that would have looked great on any other girl. But on me, I looked like I was wearing a nightgown. A long, satin nightgown. I looked like Wendy from Peter Pan.

"I can't wear this," I said flatly, swinging open the door.

"Oh my god, this dress is bloody brilliant!" Minah squealed. Wait, was she blind? Could she not tell how I looked like I was seven and was growing up in the 1930s? "It looks so adorable on you, Avery!"

"Um, no, uh, actually, no it doesn't." Okay, so I stammered it out. But that does count as me growing a spine, right?

"No, your hair and makeup is just all wrong." I didn't have any makeup on. "It'll look totally great at the actual wedding though, trust me." Yeah, sure, Minah. I'll start trusting you again. "Here, can you take Bongie out for a toilet break while I get the other girls in their dresses," she said, shoving Bongie back into my arms.

Stupid dog better not pee on my dress.

Alright. Now stand up for yourself again and say that you would not watch Bongie because you were not a dog­watcher.

But it was too late. "Chorong! Get your over here, I've finally found a dress that you're going to like!" Minah was already shouting across the store. We must have been the worst customers ever. It was a good thing that Minah had money and was actually buying something there.

I guess it was back to me and Bongie. "You better not pee on my dress," I repeated to the toy poodle in my arms.

Chorong and Minah were causing a scene again so it wasn't hard for me to duck out of the store for a few minutes. I set Bongie on the ground and gripped her leash tightly in my hand. She wasn't running off this time.

Bongie looked at me with a face of defeat. It was sad that my only victory from the past month had been making sure that a dog didn't run off, but whatever. It made me happy. However, Bongie wasn't ready to call it quits so easily. She gave me another dirty look (I swear that she did, okay? That dog could sense human emotions) before taking a few steps down the street.

She wanted to go for a walk? Well, Avery, she was a dog.

"Bongie, I can't leave," I whispered to her. And I was back to talking with an animal. I was like your everyday Eliza Doolittle. "I'm wearing a very expensive dress that doesn't belong to me. I can't just walk off with it on!"

Either I was wrong and Bongie couldn't understand what was going on or she was just as big of a as I thought she was because she took a few more steps, stretching the pink leather leash to its maximum. And then she barked.

I looked behind me at the store. Through the window, I could see Chorong and Minah still going at it. We were going to be there for awhile.

"Alright, fine, you win," I mumbled to the dog. So now the score was tied. "But we're only going a few blocks, a