STRIPPERS

Algorithms.

Squash, Avery, you really should've considered reading that book all the way through. Because now I knew absolutely nothing on that stupid final.

Okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration. I did know most of the things listed on there. But still, for the only person on campus that even bothered studying, everyone else seemed to be just flying through it. Sure, there was the overwhelming possibility that they were all just guessing and actually knew nothing, but there was also the chance that I was simply just the dumbest student at Hanyang. Super.

Not to mention that more than half of the class was already finished. What the hell? There was no way that they had actually memorised everything in that book.

Plus I had to be at Minah's bachelorette party as soon as this thing ended (classes at Hanyang have super weird scheduling. Night classes are actually a lot more common than you'd imagine.) I'd never been to a bachelorette party before and really had no idea what to expect. Especially because it involved strippers.

I had only been to a strip club once because Luhan had messed up the address for my great uncle's funeral and we ended up at one of those. It really was one of the most disturbing things that I had ever lived through and was completely unhygienic. And I had been there with my brother, which is so wrong that it's not even funny. Not even like it possessed the possibility of ever being funny; it was that bad.

Anyways. Algorithms. Or, more specifically, the aspects of Algorithms that we had never discussed in class before. Really, this day was getting better and better. It was my last day of my sophomore year of college and I was still taking a final that was full of things that I had never learned before. You can do this, Avery. This final was probably the least of your concerns. I still hadn't taken the time to talk to Kyungsoo because I had been studying and packing and avoiding him and apparently not studying hard enough.

Okay, I was over thinking it. I was over thinking everything. I just needed to let loose. Isn't that was people did at bachelorette parties? I scribbled in the rest of the answers to the test and stood up, walking over to my professor's desk to hand my test in. There were only four people left in the classroom.

"Thank you, Avery. Have a great summer back in America, okay?" My professor smiled at me. Yeah, I would've been happier if you would have covered at least half of those questions in class.

But I didn't say that. "Thanks, Professor! I'll see you in the fall!" was what really came out. Then I made a mad dash out of the classroom because I was going to be late to help Chorong start setting things up for Minah's party, which was being held at Chorong's off-campus apartment. Yes, the strippers were going to be gyrating all over my future home.

I was tripping over my own feet when my phone went off. The ID said that it was Chorong. Great, she was probably going to yell at me for something.

"Hey, I'm on my way there now," I said, brushing some lint off my top. 

"I need you to go pick up one of the strippers," came the voice on the other end of the phone. I mean, it was still Chorong and all, but it was also Chorong talking about strippers. And one of the strippers? How many did she buy? Or rent. Do you rent them?

"Um, what?" I choked out, still holding onto the piece of lint in one of my hands.

"The stripper. One of them is stuck down at the bus station and he needs a ride up here because apparently, he's too lazy to walk," she grumbled. "So I need for you to go get him while I finish getting things ready."

I did not even want to know what she meant by ‘getting things ready.' "Um, I don't have my car at the moment," I pointed out. That was important. I didn't have my car because it was getting a check-up at the mechanics so it wasn't like I was going to be a help with getting him up there.

"Just borrow mine. The key is in the top drawer of my bedside table. Joonmyeon will take me back to my house. Please, Avery, I beg of you. His name is Kris but he goes by The Dragon or some like that and he’s coming into the station that is only five minutes away from the building that you're at right now." Wow. It was quite the rare day when Chorong begged me for something. Plus I kind of had to help her because she was letting me stay with her ­ for free ­ and she had also prevented Minah from killing me.

"What if the thought of being in a car with a stripper makes me bizarrely uncomfortable?" I asked into the receiver. It did make me pretty uncomfortable.

"Avery, he's not just going to whip his schlong out at you just because he's a stripper. I mean, he might, but he's not getting paid for that. And I also have a strict no- policy in my car. Can you please just get him? Minah is going to be here soon and the apartment isn't ready yet and I do not want for her to me out for the rest of the night." Wow. She sounded kind of exhausted. Maybe she had a bad final, too.

And did she really have to say ‘schlong?' Because that wasn't helping whatsoever.

"Uh, okay. I'll get him," I said because of the whole thing me not having an option.

Gangnam was an hour away (which, again, was too much time and effort) from us. The closest relatively interesting place was the sketchy Chinese restaurant that I had met Kyungsoo at and I was not planning on going there anytime soon.

So, thirteen minutes later, I found myself sitting outside of the bus station, waiting for the male stripper.

Maybe I should've asked Chorong what he looked like. It wasn't like I could just start screaming ‘Are you the stripper?' to everyone that walked by. Squash, this was uncomfortable.

Or maybe I could just judge people by their appearance. Would that work? Except it was kind of hard to judge people appearance wise at Hanyang because we all kind of looked the same. I mean, yeah, there are the Minah and Minseok's that always look remarkably well while the majority of us just looked like half crazy zombies in jeans and sweatshirts. And that was what everyone at the bus stop was wearing. Great.

"Um, excuse me?" a face suddenly appeared on the other side of the driver's side window.

I screamed, jumping nearly a foot in the air, which also caused for me to bang my head on the ceiling of the car. "Um, hey?" I winced, grabbing the massive poof on top of head. I guess that was one of the benefits of having thick hair; things like that didn't hurt.

"Are you Avery?" he asked me. Was this the stripper? Wait, no, he had to have been the stripper. There was no way that someone that attractive would ever know my name. Did Chorong tell him my name? She must've told him. So she had a stripper's phone number?

"Uh, yeah. That's me. Avery. Are you The Dragon?" Wow, Avery, were you ever not going to give an awkward introduction? I released my mound of frizz and unlocked the car. "Um, I mean, come in?" And way to make everything sound like a question.

The stripper didn't comment, though, and instead climbed into my (Chorong's) car. He didn't look very stripper­y. I mean, he was wearing a plaid shirt and jeans. He looked like the average American student. Except he was Korean. And a stripper. But he was carrying a backpack, so maybe he was going to change clothes. Oh, squash, did he say something? He did say something, didn't he? Ugh, great, now I was going to have to make this even more uncomfortable.

"Huh?"

"I asked if you were a stripper too," he repeated, nodding towards my huge jumper dress that I was sporting.

Yep, I'm positive that I was bright red. "Um, no," I shook my head ferociously, starting the car. Oh my god, this was horrible. Thank god that Chorong only lived five minutes away. And that this was a stripper so I would probably never have to see him again because I don't do things that involve strippers.

"Oh. Um, that's cool, I guess."

And then we didn't say anything for the rest of the six minute, forty­seven second trip to Chorong's apartment. Once there, we rode the elevator, also in silence, and entered her house, in silence as well.

"Thank you so much, Avery!" Chorong bombarded me as soon as I set foot through the door. Her apartment looked a lot like a nightclub. Granted, my nightclub experience was extremely limited, but it had that club-esque feeling about it. Not to mention how Chorong was wearing sequins. Yeah, they were black sequins, but still. Chorong was wearing them. "Why are you still wearing that?"

Wow. People were all about the outfit that night. "You're right; I should go change now," I said before ducking into Chorong's room.

"Wear something with glitter on it!" Chorong shouted at me before turning to say something to the stripper. "And straighten your hair!"

Straighten my hair? Yeah, Chorong, like that was going to be as easy it sounded. It would take me about three days to even find my scalp. Oh. Wait. Was Chorong doing me a favor? She knew how much I hated social situations. Was this her way to distract me from the fact that there was probably going to be male parts being openly exposed?

I really hoped that was the case. Chorong really was a great friend, even if she rarely showed it. She had even left out a glitter mini dress for me, which was probably something that she has stolen (borrowed) from Minah. Sequins were one thing, but Chorong wearing a glitter mini dress was nearly impossible.

Even though she had basically given me a gigantic opportunity to hang out in her room for as long as I wanted (I didn't want to ask what was going on in my room. Chorong lived in a two room apartment), that still didn't mean that I was going to straighten my hair. Because that really does take a good hour with a professional straightener at about 450 degrees, along with several bottles of water paired with my blood, sweat, and tears.

So instead I went and put on the mini dress and then played around with multiple hairstyles until I could hear people start to fill up outside of the door. Well, it wasn't like I could be a recluse forever. Yes, it had been my goal on multiple occasions, but not for that night. It was time for me to branch out. Wasn't that the point of bachelorette parties?

"Alright, Avery," I whispered to myself. Squash, was I really having self-conversations again? I had kinda hoped that I had grown out of that stage. Whatever; it was a pep talk. Anything goes. "Don't make a fool of yourself. This is what kids your age do. This is what kids younger than your age do. I'm pretty sure that Jongin has been to multiple strip clubs." Sadly, that was probably true. "If he can do it, then you can do it."

Yes. That was going to be my (pathetic) mantra. I took a deep breath before reaching over and twisting the doorknob, stepping out into the actual party.

Hey. There were a lot of people there. I had to give Chorong props for actually inviting Minah's friends. This also meant that I didn't actually know anyone there, but that was fine. It was a party and we all obviously knew Minah so that meant that we were friends by association.

"Did you talk to Minah?" I nearly had a heart attack as Chorong popped up from seemingly out of nowhere to talk to me.

"Um, no," I said, placing my hand on my heart to make sure that it was still beating properly. "But I'm going to. Her and Kyungsoo aren't speaking until the wedding because some famous person did it and I'm just trying to think of the right thing to say to her." I wasn't even lying about that. I had typed out about three different manuscripts about how to talk to Minah about everything that had happened between Kyungsoo and me.

"Then you might want to hide," Chorong hissed, shoving me into a corner. Oh my god, what was going on here?

"Hide? Hide from what? I'm trying to be social. I am trying to blow off steam because I just had a horrible final about Algorithms and if Jongin can have a good time then I can have a good time as well," I explained to her quickly.

Chorong shook her head at me after giving me a strange look after I brought up Jongin's name. Okay, she didn't understand that reference. That was fine. "I think that Minah knows."

For some reason (the fact that I'm socially awkward and can't pick up on the most basic of social cues) I did not understand what my best friend was talking about. "Huh?" Classy, Avery. Super classy.

She grabbed my elbow and led me back into her room, or, in other words, away from the party. Was there stripping going on in there? I really hope that there were no body parts touching where we were going to be eating. I don't think that I would be able to handle that.

"I think that Minah knows that you kissed Kyungsoo," she repeated, pushing some of her hair out of her eyes. "Actually, I'm positive that she knows. Because I can hear her ranting about it from all the way down the hall."

Sweet baby Jesu. "What?" I squeaked out once I had made my totally appropriate ‘O’ face. "Why­why would she know? Oh my god, Chorong, did you