It is a beautiful afternoon, the sun settled in just the right position in the sky - not too hot, not too cold - a boy, clad in a dress shirt and a neat bow tie, knocks on a door. A girl opens it; she's wearing a fluttery sun dress and the gloss on her lips is impeccably done. They greet each other, shy smiles on their faces, and he reaches out his hand. She accepts, and she closes door behind her. The beginning of a perfect date.

You see, that's how Nayeon imagined for things to happen. 

In reality, the dress she originally wanted to wear got ruined in the laundry because she was too scatter-brained to remember the difference between regular detergent and bleach. So she opts instead for blue skinny jeans and a white top. She also accidentally smudges her lip gloss so that it looks like she doesn't know how to color within lines (she promises she passed kindergarten). But by the time she's about to reapply and fix it, the doorbell rings, so Nayeon grabs her purse in a haste and sort of trips over the rug leading to the entry way. She opens the door.

"Hi," she breathes, taking a moment to brush some stray hairs out of her face. The boy in front of her grins.

"Hey."

His name is Jisoo, but his English name is Joshua, which she thinks is - cute. Everything about him is cute. And pretty. And shockingly handsome. 

He's not wearing a bow tie (thank goodness, or she would totally be outdressed), but he's always known how to clean up nice, what with his slicked back hair and the bright, attentive look in his clear eyes. His eyes are probably her favorite part, how she can practically drown in his gaze.

In any case, this is their first official date, after their couple years of friendship and few months of awkward push-and-pull and not-quite-friendzoning and everyone-else-can-tell-we-like-each-other-but-we're-too-stupid-to-do-anything-about-it. The thing about Nayeon is that she likes to be sure of things before she goes through with something. She guesses that Jisoo is the same way. Cautious, but persistent, that's what he is. Persistent in that endearing quiet way of his.

"Ready?" he asks, scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah," she replies, locking the door behind her. "Let's go!"

The movie theater is actually close by, only a bus ride away. It's not the first time they've been to the movies together (albeit usually it's with their friend group), and it's also not the first time they've sat next to each other on a bus. But somehow, today is different, because today is an actual date. She sort of blushes at that. Maybe that's why the conversation is more awkward than usual.

("Nayeon..." he had said out of the blue as they finished up their school project at her house the day before.

"Yeah?"

He looked at her for a brief moment, then glanced away shyly. She pursed her lips, not really daring to even contemplate what he is thinking about. It can't be...?

"There's this really good movie coming out tomorrow," he said, almost robotically.

She had to hold back a laugh. "And...?"

"Let's go together?" He was now gripping his pencil so tight that his knuckles turned white. 

"So you're asking me out on a date," she summarized, her heart beating out of control. She barely even waited for his tentative nod before she said, "Okay, it's a date!" And she had grinned, her bunny teeth showing, and he had sort of collapsed on her bed in a fit of relieved laughter because his entire body had been so stiff with anxiety. 

"Okay," he said, smiling.

"Yeah, okay.")

She starts giggling once she recalls the whole fiasco the day before.

She feels his arm nudge her side. "What?" he asks. He's sort of pouting. Nope, that kind of adorableness shouldn't be allowed.

"Nothing," she smiles to herself, her hands clasped together resting on her knees. "Just. I was thinking about how this is an official date." She almost dies while saying that.

"Me too," he surprises her by saying. His head sort of leans on top of her own head, and she can feel his warmth grow closer to her. 

And they sit in silence for the rest of the bus ride, in all its comfortable awkwardness.

By the time they get to the movie theater, however, Nayeon knows that something else is up. She had already given up on the prospect of having one of those idealistic first dates, but she never quite imagined...this.

"Did I just see Dahyun?" Jisoo raises an eyebrow, gesturing to their left.

She looks over, and sure enough, her eye catches a streak of pink among the crowd. She shouldn't even be surprised, honestly. "She totally would," Nayeon deadpans. "Doesn't she have anything better to do than trail our date? Goodness, I shouldn't have told her about it."

"Maybe she's just here to watch a movie," Jisoo suggests. Sometimes he's a bit too innocent for his own good.

She stares at him incredulously. "Right. She would totally come here randomly to see a movie while wearing a leather jacket in the middle of June. With Hansol."

It's his turn to look surprised. "With Hansol?"

Nayeon simply juts her chin in their general direction, and when Jisoo catches sight of a very descript-nondescript Hansol wearing sun glasses and a hoodie, he almost chokes on his Coke. "...Why?" he asks.

She shrugs. "Beats me." An amused smile creeps onto her (imperfectly) glossed lips. "Children, right?"

"It's okay, we'll just ignore them. This is our day, right?" And it's the little things that he says, like that, which somehow makes Nayeon fall for him even more.

He takes her hand boldly and leads her into the theater.

Once they're seated inside and the lights have dimmed, she and Jisoo are being the movie nerds that they are and discussing the prequel to the movie they're about to see. Contrary to what others may think, Jisoo is actually pretty talkative when he gets into something. She may or may not be able to listen to his voice all day (he is, by the way, very good at singing).

However, in the middle of watching his mouth move and glancing once in a while at the movie previews on the screen, Nayeon cannot ignore the commotion going on behind her. Someone had spilled their drink on the floor, and she can hear a flustered Dahyun whispering apologies and Hansol quietly grumbling at her while simultaneously mopping up the evidence. Thirty seconds later, she hears a surprised yelp as Hansol probably trips over someone - he's not exactly been the most coordinated person. Those two are partners-in-crime (but Dahyun obviously wears the pants in the friendship), so this shouldn't be anything new. Go figure.

Nayeon refuses to turn her head back though, even as she can hear their whispered conversations right in the row behind. She rests her hand on Jisoo's knee, and he quietly places his hand on top of hers, grasping her fingers tightly. He gives her hand a squeeze, as if to reassure her.

"The movie's starting," he whispers, sticking some popcorn in and laughing when she jumps a little in surprise.

The rest of the movie consists of Nayeon being too engrossed in the plot to even remember that she's on a date with Jisoo (and that Dahyun and Hansol have crashed said date), Jisoo overreacting at the littlest things on screen, and both of them finishing their popcorn and drinks before half the movie ends. It is a good movie though, and when they emerge into daylight again, she has to take a second to adjust to the brightness.

"I might be going blind," she jokes.

"It's okay, I'd still like you," he says in an abrupt confession, and that makes them both giggle and glance away, the ground suddenly becoming profoundly interesting to look at.

Jisoo looks around, sort of smells the air. "There's some food trucks around here, wanna walk around and see?"

Her stomach answers for her in the form of an embarassing gurgle, and he laughs. "Well, that's decided then," he simply says. 

They walk along the sidewalk, Jisoo shoving his hands into his pant pockets and Nayeon fixing her hair and reapplying her lip gloss. Despite the silence, she always finds these times with Jisoo very relaxing, like she doesn't need to say much for him to understand. For someone who's normally very outgoing, Nayeon does need quiet time some days.

The two of them stop by a certain food stand, eating their free samples first. Jisoo takes one sample of kimbap and hesitantly feeds her. (In the distance, she hears a squeal in Dahyun's typical happy-go-lucky manner, followed by a groan from Hansol.) "This is something that...boyfriends...do, right?" he whispers, his ears reddening.

"Well, yeah," she says with full, her heart even more full. "It gives off a whole different feeling, right? I always imagined us doing this," she confesses, and honestly, by now, she could not give a crap about saving face or retaining her dignity. 

"Really?" His eyes widen. She knows he likes it.

"I mean, that's the kind of stuff you daydream about when you like someone..."

He shivers, even though it's the middle of June. "Yeah, I know." A pause. "But aren't we being a bit too cheesy here?" he jokes, shoving her shoulder playfully.

She merely pouts and shoves him back, rolling her eyes. "Whatever."

Half an hour later, she can no longer sense the presence of a certain pair of troublemakers, and she thanks God for his providence. It's like killing two birds with one stone. "Now we get actual alone time and they can get alone time too," she winks.

He snorts. "Don't tell me you like them together."

"Don't tell me that you don't see it," she fires back.

"No lie there," he admits. 

When they finally eat to their heart's (and stomach's) content, they ride the bus back to their neighborhood, this time with non-stop talking on Nayeon's part because food apparently energizes her vocal cords and increases her lung capacity so that she can speak in headache-inducing run-on sentences. Once in a while Jisoo cuts in to say something but most of the time he just nods, or chuckles, or looks out the window. Sometimes he says something that is totally unrelated to the subject at hand, and when the conversation sort of screeches to a halt as a result, he just blinks and defensively goes, "What?" It's all part of his charm, she supposes.

"So." They are standing outside her house, the streetlights now illuminating the road. 

"So," he repeats.

"Today was nice," she shyly admits. 

"Yeah." Awkward shuffling of feet.

She looks up at him, and that's when he gently steps closer, wordlessly wrapping his arms around her torso and pulling her close. This is the part when she truly realizes that "gentleman Joshua" isn't just a random nickname that his friends have given him. She smiles into his shirt, tightening her grasp around him.

She wonders if he could feel her palpitating heart against his chest. Nayeon gulps. Nope, she didn't quite plan for this, but she's not complaining. Not at all.

"See you tomorrow?" he says after a while, slightly pulling away, regretful. "It's getting late. And cold. You should go inside."

She nods. "Okay." She waves goodbye, glad that this time, there is no Dahyun and Hansol to freak out over what just happened.

(Not to say that she isn't freaking out over what just happened. Be still, her beating heart.)

Shortly after she goes inside her house, her cell phone rings. Dahyun. She rolls her eyes, bracing herself.

"Hello?" she says, grudgingly.

"Nayeon! How was your date?!" Dahyun practically screams into the phone, causing Nayeon to wince.

"I don't think I need to tell you because you were basically there the whole time," Nayeon replies teasingly.

Silence on the other end. Nayeon has to hold back a chuckle.

"Earth to Dahyun?"

"Um, well, I - you know, I was just making sure that nothing bad happened to you."

"Right."

"Okay fine, I just - I don't know, I wanted to see it for myself? You two are soooo cute???"

"Whatever. Just please, don't do it ever again. You know I love you but -"

"Not as much as you love him," she cuts in to remind her.

Nayeon rolls her eyes. "They are different types of love, you know -"

"Wait, Hansol is trying to call me. Do you mind?"

Nayeon chuckles. "No, of course not. Have fun, lovebirds."

"WHAT," is the reply from the other side.

It is Nayeon who presses the end call button first. Serves her right, she thinks, a mischevious grin upon her face.

She's gotta get Jisoo in on this one. He'd totally love messing with them (don't let that angelic exterior fool you). She shoots him a quick text before sinking back down onto her living room couch. The taste of revenge is so, so sweet.

Author's Note: The continuation of the previous chapter (Vernon/Dahyun) :D Don't know how I managed to write this much fluff lol.