Nana was feeling pretty out of place. First of all there was no one she knew here and second of all her only dress was a bit too short to be truly comfortable. It was the same one she had used for her 8^th grade graduation and she guessed she had grown taller since then.

She had not wanted to come but her mom and Bora, both of them totally excited at the idea of her branching out, had pretty much blackmailed her. Together they had too much dirt and leverage to ignore.

Plus you never know, Suho might confess his love to you tonight.

Nana had caught no sight of neither Jongin nor Baekhyun nor Taeyeon yet. She wasn’t too put out because of that.

The stank smell of alcohol was getting to her though and there was still an hour left in the allotted time that she had bargained to be here for with her mom and Bora.

She decided to sneak out through the back door for some fresh air. Not like anyone was going to miss her.

The cool air stung her nose but she welcomed the breath. Her head was starting to clear again as she made her way down the deck and towards the large pool in the backyard.

The pool was lit and the only source of light except the light seeping through the windows of the house and so she didn’t notice any one else there until a voice called out.

“It’s pretty hectic in there huh..?”

Nana closed her eyes, recognizing Jongin’s voice. He had scared her for a moment there.

“Nana uh… are you okay?” He asked tentatively when she did not turn around to face him or speak for several moments.

Nana’s eyes shot open and she spun to face him, “Oh uh yeah. I just wasn’t expecting anyone else to be here.”

He didn’t reply but just stared frowning at her face. When he started raising a hand and coming towards her though, she took a step back.

Oh god he is a ert. Good looking guys can be erts too. You’re an idiot Nana, you shouldn’t come to dark places alone at these types of parties.

When the backs of her feet reached the ledge that separated the pool and the rest of the backyard, she stopped. He kept on coming though and just as his hand touched her check she pulled the HapKiDo move she had learned for her current belt to keep him off her.

What she wasn’t expecting was his natural deflection of the move. Her hands spun as they fought with his and they kept on sparring until finally two moves collided in a quick, short fall. Right into the pool.

She clutched Jongin as they fell in, not knowing how to swim. She could feel herself struggling in the water until strong arms pulled her up.

“I was just trying to take something off your face,” Jongin explained as he pulled her up. He was a good treader and easily helped her reach the edge of the pool.

Just as he was helping her out, all the lights came on and she saw everyone watching them on the deck. Heat gathered in her ears again and she quickly got out of the pool, looking down. Her dress was up pretty high.

She noticed Jongin looking at her legs and inched it downwards. But he frowned and reached his hand towards the top of her knee. She tried to do a move on him again but he grasped her hand and explained.

“I think you cut yourself,” His voice was soft and as Nana looked down she saw he was right.

It was barley a scratch but it must have happened in her haste to get away from the pool. She probably brushed it against the rough ledge.

“It’s okay,” she muttered but truthfully it was not okay. She was cold, tired, half-convinced Jongin was a ert, and that scratch had really started to sting.

“No it’s not,” Jongin said firmly and clasping her hand he led her to the deck, through the crowd and to Taeyeon and Baekhyun who were holding hands.

“Can you get her something?” He asked Taeyeon who did a quick look over Nana and nodded. She motioned towards Nana, signaling for her to follow and made her way inside the house and upstairs.

“So are you liking the party?” Nana wasn’t surprised to hear that the girl’s voice was so soft. Kim Taeyeon was noted for her quiet, introverted personality. Maybe she needed Baekhyun to liven her up.

Like I should be talking about someone not being ‘lively’ enough.

“Uh yeah. It’s great,” Nana lied hoping this line of conversation wouldn’t continue.

Taeyeon gave her a smile that said she knew Nana was lying. They reached a room upstairs and Taeyeon opened the closet immediately after coming inside.

“This is Baekhyun’s room. His mom isn’t here anymore so there are no clothes for girls so you’ll just have to wear something from here. I’m sorry,” Taeyeon gave her an apologetic grin, “I also do not know where they keep the first aid kit so I guess we’ll have to go back downstairs.

Nana was confused. Jongin had asked Taeyeon to take care of her and so she had thought that Taeyeon probably knew exactly what to do with the scratch and the wet clothes. But it would be pretty weird for Taeyeon to already have clothes at her boyfriend’s place a few days after they started dating. So why did Jongin ask her…?

He probably knew I thought of him as a half-ert and he didn’t want to reinforce the thought.

Taeyeon gave Nana a shirt with a slight inexplicable grin and left the room, telling her to come to the kitchen after she was done changing.

Nana looked at the T-shirt. It was an old graphic tee with some faded zombies on it. It was actually longer than her dress but she still felt exposed with only it.

She went downstairs happy that the t-shirt wasn’t too weird at this party. Most of the girls were in slouchy-in-an-on-purpose-way clothes.

The first person she saw when she went into the kitchen was Jongin whose eyes widened when he noticed her. He looked at her up and down and Nana was rethinking her ert standpoint when Taeyeon and Baekhyun came bustling in. Taeyeon with a first aid box and Baekhyun with a smirk.

“So the little lady finally arrives!” Baekhyun ran up to her, got on one knee, and took a hold of her hand.

“As the first person to witness the happiest moment of my life, will you be my best man at the wedding,” Baekhyun was completely serious but Nana was shocked.

First of all she was a girl and second of all a wedding?

Jongin kicked Baekhyun out of the way and rolled his eyes, “Don’t worry about him Nana. What he says is nonsense 99.99% of the time”

“But what do you know? This could be the 0.01%.” Baekhyun muttered as he got himself up.

Taeyeon started opening the box with a slight red twinge on her cheeks and Nana watched as Baekhyun smiled when he saw her. Okay they were pretty cute.

After Taeyeon disinfected and band-aided her leg, she went with Baekhyun to get Nana a drink.

Nana turned to Jongin who was again staring at what she was wearing.

“Um, when should I return this to Baekhyun?” she stammered.

“What? Oh um actually it is mine. I leave some clothes at Baekhyun’s in case… well anyways you can keep it if you want. This is very, very old,” Jongin tore his eyes away from the shirt and looked at Nana.

No wonder he was staring at it. In books boys always like it when their girl wears their clothes. Oh what are you thinking Nana? You aren’t Jongin’s ‘girl’.

As heat gathered in her ears she muttered out a quick “I’ll give it to you on Monday” before running out of the kitchen.

She bumped into Taeyeon and Baekhyun on her way out, both holding drink cups.

“Oh I’m sorry,” Nana apologized as she saw the cups, “But I have to go now. I promised my mom I would be back by 11.”

She turned to leave after yelling another “Sorry” behind her back.

It had been a crazy night.