ROUGHER

Oh. My. God.

Oh. My. God.

Were they having ?

They being Chorong and Joonmyun, of course. I was just sitting in my room, trying to resort back to my old good student days by studying for my test when I heard it. It being the thumping sound. And ... noise making. Which lead me to believe that Chorong and Joonmyun were having . Because it wasn't like they were decorating her room.

I mean, I understand and I love Chorong and Joonmyun and everything, but still. Did they not know that I was still there? I know that I hadn't left my room in a while, but come on.

I put my headphones on before I could have an emotional breakdown because there is nothing more unappealing then knowing that there are two people just going at it on the other side of the wall. It was almost grosser than walking in on Bongie and Other Dog at the park that one time. Oh my god, this was so gross.

Maybe if I waited it out they would stop. But then they would know that I was there if I walked out of my room and that would make for a very interesting conversation. talks were always awkward, no matter who they were with.

Holy , they were loud. What the hell was going on in there?

But what if they didn't stop? What if they decided that they were just going to keep it up all night and that I would be trapped in my room forever? What would I do then?

Wait a minute, Avery. You were a college student and Joonmyun and Chorong had been dating for as long as you had known them. You would just do what you normally did when you speculated that there would be ual taking place in your apartment: you left.

And it was finals season so it meant that there would be people in the library. People that were not having , too. So I could just sneak off down there without Chorong and Joonmyun noticing and then let them keep having their moment. And then, when it got late and I got tired, I would just call the apartment a bunch of times to make sure that the coast was clear and then I could go back home and I would live happily ever after.

It was one of my better ideas, so I ran with it. I quickly threw my laptop and random books into my backpack and sprinted out of the room, avoiding any possibility of having to see two of my best friends having with each other. The first time that I had walked in on them I didn't sleep for a week. I'm not even kidding, either. And then I washed everything in the house. Chorong didn't complain about that, though, because she hated cleaning.

The walk to the library was always kind of dreadful because it literally was on the opposite side of the campus. It was kind of like a small hike just getting there. It was comparable to climbing to the summit of Mt. Everest when the weather was bad. Which was, like, all the time, except for that night. But whatever. It was better than having to sit at home and listen to my roommate have with her boyfriend.

I was casually walking down the sidewalk (although everything is kind of a sidewalk at Hanyang) when I heard someone say my name.

"Avery?"

Squash, was that Kyungsoo? What was he doing there? Well, that was dumb. I knew that he was there. He was on campus almost every night doing wedding stuff with Minah because she didn't have time to make the hour commute to Kyungsoo's house and it wasn't like he was in school or anything. But how did he notice me? It was dark and I wasn't wearing any glow in the dark clothing. Not that I owned any glow in the dark clothing.

Maybe I could just keep walking and pretend that I didn't hear him. Yeah, that was a good idea. It was dark out and maybe I was just hallucinating his voice. Yes, it was a long shot, but there was always a possibility that it might work.

"Avery, is that you?" Okay, there was a zero point zero that my plan was going to work. Squash.

"Um, yeah?" I wasn't really left with many other options but to turn myself in. Well, I mean, there was always me turning and running away, but I was probably (actually) going to have to see Kyungsoo again and I didn't want to have to bring that up. "Hi. What's up?" And I once again sounded like a thirteen-year-old. My life was getting better and better.

"What are you doing out here?" And I know that nobody probably cares about his fashion choices, but he was wearing the same glasses that he was wearing the first time that I had met Baek/Baekhyun and he looked really good. Kyungsoo, I mean. He looked good. Not Baek/Baekhyun.

Also, Kyungsoo was also out there too, which meant that I could've asked him the same question. But I didn't because I'm socially awkward and there would be no reason for me to ever do anything the normal way.

So I lied. "I'm going home." Geez, for someone who lied so much I was really bad at it. Not even I believed what I had just said.

"I thought you lived that way," Kyungsoo said, pointing in the opposite direction. Wait a minute, how did he know where I lived? Had he always known that?

"I'm ... lost?" What the hell is wrong with me?

"You're lost?" Kyungsoo tilted his head adorably to the side, probably thinking that I was playing some sort of game or something. I wasn't. I was just a horrible liar.

"Yeah. Hanyang after dark. It's a crazy place," I said before realizing that we were the only two people on the sidewalk.

"Well, lucky for you, Avery, I know exactly where you live," he said with a wink. Oh my god, he had just winked at me. He was seriously one of the only people that ever winked at me and I thoroughly enjoyed it, which is weird, because normally winking is creepy and it makes me nervous. "Come on, I'll take you there."

Normally I would have jumped at this offer. But there was still a chance that my roommate was (still) having rough with her boyfriend and I really did not want to walk in on them. I was going to have to jump ship if I wanted to make it out of this thing alive.

"Um, no, it's fine. I'll just ... hang out ... here." What? Seriously? That was all that I could come up with.

Kyungsoo laughed. "Then I guess I’ll just hang out here with you."

I think that this was the first time that I had ever wanted for Kyungsoo to stop talking to me. Well, minus the first two times that we met. And maybe the third. And possibly all of the times that I borderline ually harassed him.

"You should go and do ... whatever you were doing here in the first place." Yeah, like how Chorong was doing Joonmyun. And oh my god, that was horrible.

"I was just going to go sign something over at Minah's while she's working." Minah would work during finals. She wouldn't study at all and would still manage to get some of the highest grades in the class. Smart people. "I can walk you back to your place. It's on the way."

Hell, I was so far from my room at that point that pretty much anything was considered ‘on the way.' But I still didn't want to go back. "No, thanks, I think that I'll just go to the library. I'm supposed to be studying anyway." Hey, look, a truth! Maybe there was a chance that I was going to make it into heaven after all!

"Why don't you just study in your room?" Kyungsoo asked me. Because there were people banging each other in there? Either that or they were doing some serious redecorating.

"Because Chorong's in there?" I explained weakly.

I should have known that Kyungsoo was going to ask questions for me to elaborate. It was probably really entertaining to him. Unfortunately, it wasn't that entertaining to me. "Why can't you study in your room if Chorong's in there?" 

"Oh, you know ..." And that was Park Avery delivering what could possibly be the worst answer to any question of all time. Way to go, Avery. How do you feel? Super? And now I was having an internal conversation with myself.

"Actually, I don't know," Kyungsoo said with a smirk. And I really think that he didn't know, not that he just wanted me to cave and tell him that I had been iled by my roommate/best friend.

The constant questioning was making me nervous, though. Because I knew that I was horrible at holding my own ground and would eventually say something stupid or awkward or embarrassing, or maybe even a mixture of the three and then would have to hide in my room for the next three days. Which I would have been doing then if my roommate wasn't having loud with her boyfriend.

Kyungsoo was still lightly teasing me, trying to find out the real reason I didn't want to go back to my room because even he could tell that I was a horrible liar and was hiding something from him. Well, something other than my slight obsession for him.

"Rough !" I blurted out, causing him to stop whatever he was saying in a sing-song voice to me. And that would be a good time for me to elaborate. "I can't go back to my room because of rough !" And that was the worst explanation known to mankind. I was on a roll that night.

Kyungsoo adjusted his glasses. He looked really cute when he did that. Maybe it was because he didn't do the nose piece brim push that the stereotypical nerd (me) in the movies always did. I should take notes from him. "You can't go back to your room because of rough ?" he repeated for clarification. That or he just wanted to see me blush when he said ‘rough .' Which I did, by the way. I would never turn down a good opportunity to blush.

"Chorong." What? Hey, Avery, remember how you were taught how to speak in complete sentences? "And Joonmyun. Chorong and Joonmyun are having in the apartment right now and I cannot go back," I explained breathlessly. Wait, why was I out of breath? All I had done was lie and blush.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "They are? Did you walk in on them?"

I shook my head frantically. "No, no. They were just making a lot of noise. And I'm pretty sure that they weren't redecorating because Chorong doesn't decorate. And neither does Joonmyun." Well, this was getting sufficiently awkward.

Kyungsoo looked like he was trying to hold back a laugh. "You can come study at Minah's," he offered, nodding towards my backpack.

Minah and I were friends again, right? Which meant that it would be okay for me to go to her house while she wasn't there. And it wasn't like I was going to be there for a long time because Chorong and Joonmyun had to stop having eventually. Right?

"Come on, I'll help you study for whatever test you have. It'll be fun," Kyungsoo reached out and grabbed my hand, eager to lead me towards Minah's apartment.