"Argh!" I crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it into the trash bin by my desk. Then my phone buzzed.

    Text from: Taehyung
       What did the paper ever do to you?

I growled.

       Stop stalking me, you creep! But it's math. I don't suppose you want to help?

He texted back almost immediately.

    Text from: Taehyung
       I'll be over in a minute.

I put my phone down. Taehyung knocked on my window approximately thirty seconds later. "Are you crazy?" I asked as opened the window. "You do realize it's one in the morning, right?"

"Yeah, well." He climbed in and shut the window behind him. "Guess you're lucky I'm your next door neighbor."

And he had been ever since his family had moved in about ten years ago, when I was in second grade. Even though he was one year older, we became close friends. Ever since childhood, sneaking over during the night had become a normal thing, especially since both houses only had one floor, and our windows were directly across from each other. It was never unusual for my mother to come into my room one morning to wake me, and find Taehyung there as well, and vice versa. But recently, for some reason, seeing him casually enter my room had been getting me more excited than necessary. It had something to do with his height, maybe, or the ease with which he just walked over, or his smile when he saw me, all of which my friends had pointed out to me. "I'm pretty sure he likes you," my friend Yuna had told me. "Do you really not like him? You'd be so cute together!" And even though I shrugged it off, telling her that we were just childhood friends, I'd started to noticing the little things about him.

So even though my heart started beating so hard that I could hear it, I told him, "I didn't tell you to come over."

Taehyung settled into my bed and raised his eyebrows at me. "No? I vaguely remember you asking if I would help." As he put his arms behind his head, his shirt rode up a bit, exposing his stomach, which I found very distracting.

And for which I mentally slapped myself. "Okay, fine. Since you're here, help." I sat back down at my desk, glaring at the textbook problems I was supposed to be doing.

With a sigh, Taehyung got up and stood behind me, leaning over to peer at the textbook. His breathing tickled my ear, in a pleasant way. I ignored it. "Well, what's wrong?"

I retrieved the crumpled-up paper I'd thrown minutes before and showed him my work. "Ahh," he said. "See, you added when you're supposed to subtract."

Looking over my work, I realized my mistake. "Oh. You're right. Thanks."

He settled back into my bed. "No problem. Can I sleep here today? I'm kind of lazy."

After correcting my work, I realized that I'd already completed the last problem. "No. It only takes you thirty seconds to get back home anyway. Unless, of course, you were stupid enough to lock yourself out. Did you?"

"No."

I put my books away and headed over to my bed. I climbed in and kicked him out in the process. But he just moved over to the other side, leaving room for me. I didn't bother telling him to get out anymore, and we lay side by side in silence for a while. As I began to drift off, Taehyung cleared his throat.

"You're still here?" I asked, half asleep.

"Yeah." After a moment of silence, he continued. "So I was thinking..."

I looked over at him, and he looked serious, though he was staring at the ceiling. "You know how I'm a senior this year?" I nodded. "Well, senior prom is in a week..."

"Yeah."

Taehyung seemed to be struggling with something. Then he blurted, "Will you be my date?"

I was completely shocked. "What?"

It was hard to tell in the dark, but I could've sworn he was blushing. "I mean, yeah!" I amended lamely. "But I thought you were going to go with Dahye. I mean, you've been looking at her a lot lately..."

"You noticed?" he asked, looking straight at me with a smile.

"I--uh..."

"It's okay. I'm a person with many charms. I understand."

I smacked him in the arm, hard. "Ow," he complained, but grinned.

I turned so that I was facing him, and closed my eyes. After a while, I began to drift off, but Taehyung also turned so that he was facing me, and after a moment, put his arm around me.

He probably thought I was already asleep. "You know," he whispered. "I'd come up with a million different creative ways to ask you out for this, but it turned out to be so boring. And not sincere enough..." He moved his arm so that he could run his fingers through my hair. "I'm sorry. I probably should have just told you, but I was scared. And even though you're sleeping now, I'll tell you anyway. I like you. I've liked you for a long time now." He sighed. "I don't know why that was so hard to say to your face. But I wonder...did you just say yes because we're friends? Because you felt sorry for me for not having a date yet? I should have just told you as I asked, huh..." After a while, his hand stilled, but his arm was still around me.

I moved closer so that my face was buried in his chest. "I said yes because I like you too," I mumbled into his shirt.

He stiffened, and for a second I thought I'd said the wrong thing. Then he relaxed and started my hair again, humming softly. After a few minutes, he whispered, "Good night." I could hear the smile in his voice.

I smiled back into his shirt. "Good night."