“Hey!” Alli said, bobbing up and down as she walked into the room. She leaned over Key’s desk, drumming her fingers on his biology textbook. Key bared his teeth in a show of annoyance.

“Stop being happy,” Key said. “I hate when people look happy while I’m stuck being miserable.”

“Aww, is it that bio exam again?”

“Chemistry, actually,” Key said. “Although I will be miserable over bio next week, so try not to be happy next week.”

Key closed his book, giving up. He stood to put the book back onto his shelf. Alli followed, skipping along as she did. 

“I’ve got a job for you,” she said. Key laughed, but then quickly frowned upon hearing those familiar words. Alli often came to him with tasks she wanted him to perform, often involving unwanted situations. He wiped his hands on his lap.

“The last time I heard you say that, the Jewish club had me accused of ,” he said, squinting his eyes at her. “Whatever it is, no, I’m not doing it.”

“Oh come on!” Alli, walking after Key when he stepped out of the room to make his point. Alli was hot on his heels even as he descended the seven flights of stairs.

“I promise it’ll be painless!” she said when they finally made it to the ground floor. Key threw his hands up in exasperation.

“No, Alli!” he said. “I’m done doing these stupid jobs for you! No more date-dashes for your Greek life friends, no more three-dozen blueberry muffins by 7 PM, and definitely no more dog fashion shows with the Jewish club!”

“Oh, but weren’t those fun?” Alli said, giggling. Key hated when she giggled. Not because it was annoying, but because it was so terribly cute that she could get him to do anything with just a tilt of her head and that giggle. Christ, the girl probably didn’t even know how cute she was. Key shook his head, trying to snap himself out of it. The main focus for him at this moment was saying “no” to her request and then hoping that the dining hall hadn’t stopped serving grilled cheese sandwiches yet. Alli ran ahead and began to walk backwards so she could face him and walk at the same time.

“Taemin is in your bio class, isn’t he?” Alli asked.

“Who?” Key knew who Taemin was. He just didn’t want Alli to think he did, knowing that her “job” probably had something to do with that dance major.

“Lee Taemin!” Alli said. “He’s tall, black hair, kinda dreamy? Ring a bell?”

“Not the slightest of bells,” Key said, not sure why he tensed at her description of the boy. “Fine, let’s say he is in my class. What do you want from him? Or from me, for that matter?”

Alli stopped, putting both he hands on Key’s chest to make him halt. Key looked down at Alli. She was one of the few girls that he could actually look down at since many women on campus were either his height or taller. Alli was slight and short and small in every sense of the word, except in personality. She would win this round, as she had won every other round. She never stopped until she had what she wanted, and Key never minded helping her reach her goals. Alli looked up at him.

“Would you mind talking to him about me?”

“Oh god,” Key said, rolling his eyes. “It’s not one of those jobs, is it?”

“No, no, hear me out!” she said. “You don’t have to tell him I like him or anything! God, that’d be so obvious! And awkward, and embarrassing! I just… need you to have a conversation with him and then casually bring me up. Tell him some stories about me, just to get him thinking about me, you know?”

Key sighed. “Okay, but what kind of stories are we talking about here?”

Alli smiled and Key tried not to gasp. “You’re the best!” she said, throwing her arms around him. “Oh, and just any kind of stories are fine. The point is, I want him to like me. And you’re the best person I know and you know me the best, so who better to tell him about me than you, right? I trust you, Kibum. I know you won’t mess this up!” 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Key said. Alli let him go and followed him into the dining hall. With the job in place, Alli moved on to other topics of conversation. Key watched with enchantment as she regaled him with stories about the annoying kids in her classes. But he watched her face and tried to think of what stories he could tell Taemin. Stories to make him like her.

Key’s bio class that week was another review session for the coming exam. Taemin came to class ten minutes late as usual, but as dreamy as Alli said he was. Key watched the young man take his seat at the front of the classroom and couldn’t help but agree with his best friend: indeed, Taemin was handsome. And he was a dance major, which probably was half the reason Alli was so enamored by him. She loved music so the idea of dating a dancer probably made her feel like she was dating some kind of rockstar or something. Key scoffed at Alli’s taste in boys. Still, he did promise her.

At the end of class, Key walked out of the room and spied Taemin arranging his notes in his folder. Kabul approached, recalling all the stories he had collected from his years of friendship with Alli. 

“Taemin!” Key said, making the younger boy jump a bit. Taemin laughed at his own reaction.

“Oh, it’s you, Key,” he said. “Sorry, you scared me a little there.”

Key sat down on the bench, helping Taemin pick up the papers he had dropped. “No worries,” Key said, handing it back to him.

“So, are you stoked about the exam?” Taemin asked in an attempt at conversation. Key, not sensing that at all, suddenly jumped right into the job.

“Do you know Alli? ,” Key bit his tongue, realizing he had been a little too obvious. The plan was to “casually” bring up Alli, not put her right into the middle of the conversation at the very beginning of it. How could he play this off coolly, now? Taemin blinked and then laughed.

“Uh, yeah, I know her,” he said. “She’s in philosophy with me. You guys are friends, right?”

“Yeah, we are!” Key said, again, a little too enthusiastically. Taemin sensed he was uncomfortable with the topic. The younger boy was about to speak up when Key suddenly jumped back into the conversation.

“So, did you know that Alli used to be a girl scout?” Key said, starting off with stories-to-make-Taemin-like-Alli #1. Taemin blinked again.

“Uh, no… no I didn’t know that.”

“It’s true,” Key said. “She used to be a girl scout when she was thirteen, but she got kicked out of her troupe and excommunicated by the whole organization because she tried to show these girls how to make bananas fosters, which requires white wine to make, but instead, she brought the movie ‘Midnight Cowboy’ to a sleepover and played a drinking game, one shot every time Dustin Hoffman fell. The girls were so hungover the next morning at the scout meeting.”

Recalling the story to himself, Key began laughing. Taemin remained silent, laughing half-heartedly.

“That’s uh… that’s really something,” Taemin said. “I better get studying for that exam, now. See ya—“

“Wait!” Key said. “Did you also know that one time, Alli went to San Francisco with her parents as a teenager, and she kept asking the locals where she could see the Statue of Liberty?”

Taemin was frozen again, a little confused. “The… Statue of Liberty is in New York, though,” he said. Key burst out laughing again.

“Yeah, I know, right?!” he said. “God, she’s an airhead sometimes, but she was too excited, can you blame her?”

Taemin laughed halfheartedly again. “I guess not?”

Key thought back on when Alli first told him that story and he started laughing anew. A third story popped into his head.

“Oh god, there was this one time,” he said, not noticing the confused expression on Taemin’s face. “One time, she was in charge of the philantropy fest for her chapter of the sorority she’s in and she walked around all day with those toilet seat covers stuck to the back of her — “

“Uh huh,” Taemin said. The younger boy looked at Key, the way his face would split with laughter after every embarrassing story. “So, why are you telling me this?”

Key stopped laughing and stared at Taemin’s face. He was truly speechless just then. Key cleared his throat. “Uh, well, it kinda just popped up. Just thought you’d like to know.”

Taemin scoffed. “Me? Why would I want to know?” he asked. “You know, hyung, I think some things should remain between you and your girlfriend.”

“Oh, she’s not my girlfriend,” Key said, his heart sinking as he said it. Taemin raised his brows.

“No?” he asked. Taemin laughed again. “Christ, Key, for someone who isn’t dating her, I haven’t heard a guy in my life talk more about a girl than you have about Alli in the past five minutes.”

Key was dumbstruck. He tried to search for words of defense. Nothing. “I just…” Key said, “She’s a really great girl, Taemin. And you’d be lucky to date her.”

Taemin laughed again, patting his hyung’s shoulder. “, hyung, the only one with any business dating her is you.”

Alli was busy sticking a map onto a poster board when a knock came at her dorm room door. She took the roll of scotch tape out of .

“Come in!” she said. The door was unlocked and Key let himself inside. Alli smiled.

“Did you bring the construction paper?” Alli asked and Key produced the pack of colored paper from a plastic bag, tossing it onto the floor next to her shoes. He sat himself down on her bed, watching Alli snip pieces of tape to fix her project.

“And what is this?” he asked, gesturing to her poster board.

“It’s a diagram,” she said. “Our dorm building is having our annual spirit week soon, so the girls and I have to set up our game positions.”

Key scoffed. “You think that’ll keep us from totally creaming your team again this year?”

“Hey!” Alli said, turning around and sticking the piece of tape in her hands over his mouth. “You just keep your mouth shut and let the games do the talking.” Alli went back to her poster board and Key ripped the tape off his mouth.

“Oh, by the way,” Key said. “I talked to Taemin for you.”

Alli turned around, her face glowing. “You did? Oh my god, you did! Thank you so much! , what did he say? Wait, what did you say?”

Key laughed. “I just did what you told me to,” he said. “I told him stories that would make him like you.”

Alli jumped onto the bed next to him. “Okay, but which ones? Did you tell him about how I became editor of the yearbook staff in just four months in high school? Or that I got second runner-up in that pageant last year? Come on, tell me!” She tugged on his arm and Key stood up.

“Yah, let me go and then I’ll tell you,” he said. “I told him about the tie you got excommunicated from the girl scout program.”

Alli’s eyes grew wide. “You told him what?!” she said. Key smiled.

“Yeah, and your search for the statue of liberty and the philantropy fair with the toilet seat cover.”

Alli got up from the bed, groaning and pulling at her hair. “Key!” she said. “I can’t believe you told him that! God, I trusted you! I said tell him good stories! Stories to make him like me, not that! God, I can’t believe I let you just— you ruined it!”

Alli grabbed a pillow to throw at Key, but he caught it instead, a look of offense on his face. “What’s the big deal?” he said. “I did what you told me to, I talked to him! About you! And now he’s got in his head and you like him and—“

“Yeah, but I wanted you to tell him endearing stories, not that,” Alli said, sinking into her chair with a look of dejection on her face. Key scoffed, putting the pillow back down on her bed. 

“I don’t get you at all,” Key said. “I mean, I liked those stories. Those stories made me like you.”

Alli looked up at Key, who pulled out a stool so he could sit next to her chair. She looked at his face, trying to figure out just what he meant by that. Of course Key had told her before that he liked her, but never in a romantic sense. They had been friends too long to fall into that trap. Did he mean it that way this time? Alli narrowed his eyes at him.

“Those stories made you like me?” she asked. Key laughed but nodded anyway. Alli laughed.

“Shut up,” she said, making a move to get up, but Key grabbed her hands, pulling her back into her seat. 

“No, I’m serious,” Key said. “I mean, it’s greta that you were editor of the yearbook and you won a pageant and all, but your girl scout thing and the toilet seat thing, that stuff if cute, its endearing. Sure, it’s embarrassing, but that’s what makes it so great. And…”

Key bit his lip. “And any guy who can’t see that about you doesn’t deserve you, alright?” 

Alli smiled, looking down at Key’s hands wrapped over hers, and she was surprised with how good it felt, his touch. Perhaps she couldn’t trust on Key to impress a guy for her, but as she looked into his eyes, she supposed she could always count on him to tell the truth. Carefully, Key let go of her hands and began to stand up. This time, it was Alli who reached up and grabbed a fistful of his shirt, keeping him seated. Key, knowing how Alli could be, flinched a bit, thinking that a punch or something was coming his way. Instead, it was a gentle, gentle kiss on the cheek, and a whisper in his ear.

“I don’t deserve you,” she said. Key laughed gently. 

“You deserve more.”