Junho hit the speed dial on his phone and placed it by his ear as he closed his car door.

“Hello?”

“I’m here. Open up.”

Junho didn’t wait for her answer as he removed the phone from his ear and hit the end call button. Stuffing it in his pocket, he walked up to her door and waited until she opened up, appearing with a scowl on her face.

“You’re early.”

“Actually,” he replied as he let himself in. “I’m on time, but now we’re going to be late.”

“Junho!”

“Hi Mrs. Kim.” Junho turned and smiled at the petite woman that had appeared.

Taeyeon’s mother was always happy to see him, and although he and Taeyeon were arguing more often than not, he could never keep that sarcastic mood when he was around the elder woman.

“Junho, how’s your mom?”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Taeyeon tense, but Junho merely smiled. “She’s doing great, thanks. How are you and Mr.Kim?”

“We’re doing well, same old same old. You should visit more Junho, I missed seeing your smiling face here.” She turned to her daughter. “You’re still here? Hurry up or you’ll be late.”

Junho grinned up teasingly at Taeyeon as she ascended the stairs, narrowing her eyes down at him before she disappeared from his view.

Her mother turned back to him. “Thank you Junho.”

“It’s not a problem Mrs. Kim.”

Taeyeon appeared in a beige short sleeved sweater, the neck swooping down for style and a black belt cinched around her waist.

“Bye mom.”

“Bye honey. You two have fun, don’t come home too late.”

“I’ll bring her back safe,” Junho assured her as they left.

When they were both inside his car, Taeyeon turned to him. “She knows nothing of your evilness.”

Junho laughed out loud as he backed out of her driveway. “Right, but your mom does love me.”

“I know, it’s not fair.”

The rest of the ride consisted of light chatter as Junho drove to Jessica’s place.

“You look nice.”

Junho turned to her briefly in surprise as they walked up Jessica’s driveway. “Thanks,” he said offhandedly.

They stopped by the door and Taeyeon turned to face him as she narrowed her eyes. “You know nothing of manners.”

Junho glanced back over to her and broke into a smile before complying. “You look nice too.”

She grinned up at him and for a moment, all she saw was a good looking boy with a dazzling eye smile in a button down shirt and dark wash jeans. Silence hung in the air as she looked up him, and he looked down at her before the door suddenly opened and they both turned towards it in surprise.

“Saw your car Junho… am I interrupting something?”

“No,” Junho replied automatically as he made his way past Chansung and into the house.

Chansung’s eyes briefly followed Junho in before he turned back around to Taeyeon and gazed at her helplessly.

“Hi Chan,” Taeyeon said as he held the door for her as she walked in.

“Hey. I… didn’t do anything right?”

Taeyeon shook her head as she unconsciously looked at the floor. It was evening, and the fading sun had cast a soft glow on Junho’s face, etching the moment in her mind.

“Taeyeon!”

Taeyeon turned to see Jessica walking over and they hugged. “Happy belated Sica.”

“Thanks. Everyone’s downstairs.”

Taeyeon briefly waved at Jessica’s mother who was lingering in the back as she asked, “Are we the last ones?”

Jessica shook her head. “No, there are still a few missing.”

Chansung nodded to them before heading to the stairs to the basement, and Jessica made her way to the kitchen with Taeyeon in tow.

“Who’s here?”

“I think the better question is who’s not here,” Jessica replied with a small laugh. “Seulong and Sunny aren’t coming, and Khun’s gonna late.”

“Wait, who did you invite again? Everyone?”

“Well, all of us in the squad.” By us, Taeyeon knew Jessica meant the upper years and those who they always hung out with. “And the dance team. Oh, Kwon’s not here either…”

“Did you invite Junsu?” Taeyeon inquired.

Jessica shook her head. “Do you think Fany will mind?”

It was Taeyeon’s turn to shake her head. “Naw, I don’t think so.”

“Okay, I wasn’t sure. I’m not that close with him, and my basement can only hold so many.”

Taeyeon nodded in understanding as they made their way down the stairs. Although it had been almost a year ago, everyone knew that Junsu had liked Tiffany. The question at the time was whether or not she reciprocated those feelings, and Taeyeon had spent many nights on the phone with her best friend as the latter tried to sort out those feelings. In the end, Tiffany had turned him down, and it had become awkward for a time between the two.

Lucifer by SHINee was playing from the speakers as Taeyeon was greeted by her friends. Hyoyeon was on the couch with Sooyoung, the latter sitting sideways with her feet settling on Hyoyeon’s lap. Taecyeon and Yoona sat side by side on the carpet leaning against the same couch, and Tiffany sat in the one person couch beside them. Jay was sitting by the computer, sifting through songs with Chansung and Junho on either side, watching him go through the list.

“Who are we missing again?”

“Yuri and Woo,” Sooyoung spoke up.

Taeyeon’s eyes briefly flicked up to where Junho was, the trio still gazing at the computer. “You invited Wooyoung?” she turned to ask Jessica.

Jessica nodded. “His first party with us, right?”

Taeyeon nodded. She knew Jessica wasn’t close with Wooyoung, which probably meant that Jay had convinced her to invite him. Taeyeon wondered if Jay knew about the minor thing between Junho and Wooyoung as she joined Tiffany, squishing the both of them on the small one-person couch.

“Hey.”

“Hey, how long’ve you been here?”

“Not too long. Did you come with Junho?”

Taeyeon nodded again as she grabbed a snack.

”We can’t do anything till everyone is here,” Sooyoung whined from her relaxed position beside Hyoyeon. Hyoyeon tickled Sooyoung’s feet and the latter quickly withdrew them with a laugh.

“I say the last one to arrive has to do a dare,” Tiffany suggested.

“Aren’t we playing truth or dare later anyway?” Yoona asked.

“Did I hear truth or dare?”

Jay walked over at sat down next to Jessica on the carpet, and Chansung sat next to Taecyeon while Junho went over to take the armrest of the couch by Hyoyeon.

“I thought you guys wanted to play spin the bottle,” Chansung said as he grabbed some chips.

“Spin what bottle,” Jay replied. “We’re not spinning no bottles.”

They heard the door open as Yuri made her way down the stairs, and Taeyeon was sure she saw Taecyeon shift in his seat.

“Yuri!” they chorused as she greeted them.

“Sorry we’re late.”

We? Taeyeon narrowed her eyes in confusion before she noticed Wooyoung following Yuri down the stairs. She chanced a glance over at Junho and sure enough, a sour look had crossed his face.

“That’s everyone!” Sooyoung exclaimed happily as she pulled herself up and turned into a sitting position on the couch.

“Why do I get a feeling that I won’t like what you’re going to say next,” Jay stated as Jessica nudged him playfully.

“Charades.”

There were low groans and incoherent mumbles among the group. Sooyoung pouted as she looked at her friends. “It’s early. We have to start with the PG stuff first.”

“There’s not-PG stuff planned for later on?” Chansung turned in his seat to look at her in mild surprise.

“Don’t worry, when we do the fun stuff I’ll warn you so you can go upstairs.”

Chansung stuck out his tongue and Sooyoung made a face right back at him, and almost simultaneously a knowing look past between the rest of them. Taecyeon turned to the others, his back to the pair as he wiggled his eyebrows and Yuri had to visibly stifle her laughter with a hand. The quarrelling pair turned back to the group, looks of confusion crossing their faces as they stared at their suddenly quiet friends.

“So, how we dividing up the teams?” Tiffany spoke up, innocently interrupting the silence.

The group started shouting suggestions, in obvious effort to pretend that no exchange had occurred, and Sooyoung and Chansung eventually matched their pace as the group debated on teams.

“Girls versus guys.”

Their heads turned to the speaker, and Jay grinned at his girlfriend. “The birthday girl has spoken. Girls versus guys it is.”

“But they outnumber us 7 to 5,” Taecyeon commented with a whine.

“Stop complaining Taec,” Jay replied blankly. Although there was no joke in his tone, everyone knew that despite being in different extracurricular groups, Jay and Taecyeon were the best of friends. “We’re not at a disadvantage.”

“Says you,” Jessica commented with a tiny smile as she leaned closer to her boyfriend. She lightly tapped his nose with a finger before she stood up, and a small chuckle escaped his lips.

They moved to opposite sides of the room according to gender: Jessica, Taeyeon, Tiffany, Yuri, Yoona, Sooyoung and Hyoyeon on one end and Jay, Taecyeon, Junho, Chansung and Wooyoung on the other.

Let the games begin.