October the 7th arrived soon and Yixing threw a small get-together for his birthday that turned into a packed party with the help of Jongdae’s loud mouth.

I lingered by the food table, picking my way through little hotdogs on sticks and those little bread-circles with melted cheese and ham over them. Not remembering where I put my can of Pepsi, I pushed the thought away and shoved another piece of food in my mouth. Music that was sourced from the living room was bouncing through the walls. I glanced around the place, catching sight of the pile of gifts Yixing was kindly refusing for a good ten minutes before he let them be.

I spotted Luhan lingering by the bottom of the staircase that led to the upstairs. Getting on my toes and craning my neck, I was about to step forward towards him when I recognized Hyejung talking to him already. Luhan’s back was facing me, though I could see Hyejung’s slightly flushed face.

A pair of hands suddenly yanked at my shoulder, pulling me in an odd angle. Baekhyun was hiding behind me and looked to be avoiding Chanyeol who came running my way with a basket of croutons cradled in one arm.  

“I’m so sorry, Jinah!” Baekhyun wailed through the music.

My eyes bugged at the sight of Chanyeol raising a crouton in the air. “Are you using me as a human shield?!”

“Yeah, stay still.”

“Chanyeol! Chanyeol, if you hit me I swear to god I will end you.” I held out my hands, shielding myself.

Ignoring my death threat, Chanyeol flicked his wrist and the crouton soared through the air. It thumped against my forehead. There must have been serial killer written all over my face because Chanyeol scurried away with a shriek and took off towards the living room. Baekhyun was gone in an instant as he ducked behind the piano.

Squeezing myself through bodies of people, I had my sight dead set on Chanyeol. His height was easy to spot from a distance and it was really just futile to try and hide from me—

“Jinah.” Junmyeon pushed his way into my vision, obscuring my path to destroying Chanyeol.

“Is Chanyeol using you as a shield now?”

He blinked. “What?”

“Nevermind.” I gave up my chase with Chanyeol with a defeated sigh. Junmyeon had on a blazer—that looked too expensive to wear in a place where he could get someone’s vomit all over it—and a striped shirt underneath. “What did you get Yixing?” I asked him.

“An iPad.”

My mouth fell. “What? You just made my gift look bad.”

Junmyeon re-adjusted his collar, looking as if he might have been sweating through his layers. “What did you get him?”

“A red string.”

“...Why?”

“So he doesn’t forget things anymore.” I shrugged. “He forgot to turn his stove off last week, remember? But I’ll get him a real gift tomorrow. But really? An iPad? There must have been a limit, because Minseok got him a plastic and he’s going to be pissed at you.”

“Ew.” He cringed. “Plastic ?”

“It’s a stress ball.” From over his shoulder, I watched as someone ran past the TV mounted on the wall with toilet paper over their head. “Anyway, sorry that I haven’t gotten Hyejung and you together yet.”

“That’s okay. You don’t have to.” Junmyeon shrugged in an attempt to look careless and nonchalant about the topic, but the hurt was still evident in his voice. “I’m pretty sure she likes Luhan anyway.”

Noticing that Junmyeon had been looking at something over my head, I followed his gaze and spotted Luhan and Hyejung still by the staircase. I watched as she intentionally leaned into Luhan a little closer in order to hear him through the music. Laughing at some joke, Hyejung slapped his arm flirtatiously. Even though I couldn’t see Luhan’s face, I had to look away when I saw how he leaned against the banister to talk to her.

I felt bitterness warming at the pit of my chest, though the rules said I couldn’t interrupt their time together. I felt useless and small. “You can’t be sure,” I told Junmyeon.

“I’m very sure, actually.” He pursed his lips. “But if Luhan likes her, then... I guess there’s nothing I can do. I’ll just let them be.”

“You can’t just let them be together like that.” A second passed before I realized what I had blurted, surprising myself. Junmyeon paused to stare at me oddly. “I mean,” I flicked the hair out of my eyes, “you can’t just give up like that. There’s always a way.”

Junmyeon forced a smile. “I don’t know where the way is, but thanks.” He muttered a sorry to a boy who bumped into his shoulder as he looked over our heads to find something. “But the way I need right now is the way to the bathroom though. Do you know where it is?”

“Upstairs on the left, I heard.”

“Thanks again, Jinah.” Junmyeon patted my shoulder once before he blended away with the crowd, though I couldn’t reply because there was nothing he could really thank me about.

Spotting a taller head over the group that was crowding beside the couches, I locked gazes with Chanyeol. With his eyes reading fear, two seconds ticked by before he turned and made a sharp spin away from me, bumping into a girl who barely caught her purse in time.

“Chanyeol, you little—!”

“Hey, Jinah!”

Driving my attention away from murdering Chanyeol for a while, I turned at my heels to the voice that called my name and saw Luhan and Yixing standing near the food table. Yixing cupped a hand around his mouth as he called out to me and he hurried me along to them with a wave of his hand towards himself. I wondered where Hyejung had gotten to if she wasn’t with Luhan. Not really having much of a choice, I figured Chanyeol was just lucky again this time.

“Happy birthday,” I greeted Yixing as soon as I neared them.

“Thank you.” He was eyeing the guacamole and wearing a pointed cardboard hat that had pictures of balloons and cake. “Thanks for coming.”

“Guess what kind of cake he got,” Luhan said to me, seeming to include me in a conversation that they left off on.

“Ice cream?”

“No, fruit.” Yixing beamed.

“I love fruit cake,” I said mostly to myself as I picked up something that looked like some sort of cheese wrapped in bacon from the table. “Especially with the strawberries and peaches and chocolate.”

“Did you want it to be your birthday right now then? So you can have as much cake as you’d want?” Yixing joked, his dimple forming with his cheeky smile.

“I’ll have as much cake as I want either way.” I wagged the toothpick at him that had previously held together the bacon-wrap.

Yixing pointed at something behind me towards the living room. “Hey! Put that couch down!” He was storming away before I could even turn to see the commotion. A group of three was attempting to lift some guy on the couch who seemed to have passed out on the cushions.

“When’s your birthday anyway?” Luhan asked, diverting my attention back to him.

“Next month on the 11th.”

In his red cup, he swooshed the beverage he had. “I’ll get you your fruit cake.”

I snorted. “Really?”

“I promise. I’ll be there. Just you see.” Luhan took a huge gulp from his drink, exposing his neck to me for a good second.

“Promise?”

“I promise,” he repeated, enunciating his words more this time. “Anyway, Halloween is this month, so don’t make any plans.”

I scoffed, reaching to rearrange the clip on my hair. A section of my hair wasn’t cooperating with me that day and I couldn’t have Luhan noticing. “Why can’t I make plans? I thought you’d encourage me to go out more.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Luhan shook his head. “I meant I was going to take you somewhere, so don’t make plans.”

“Oh.” I hoped that there wasn’t too much surprise in my voice as I transferred my gaze from him to see the bowl of Cheetos a flock of boys were devouring. I thought he’d much rather prefer spending his Halloween with his guy friends. “Just the two of us?”

He absentmindedly nodded. “Uh-huh.”

I let out one big laugh. “Is it a date this time?”

“Um, w-we…” Luhan scratched his nape. “We’ll make it a date… if you want.”

For once, I was at a loss for words. Mouth probably slightly gaping, I measured his expression carefully and found no trace of a joke, though I originally meant it as one. Luhan eyed me carefully, as if doing the same inspection on me.

“Sure, it’s a date,” I somehow managed to say.

I could have been imagining things, but I thought I saw him break into the brightest smile I’ve seen. “Sounds good!” Clearing his throat, he reached across the table for a miniature kebab. “Are you sure Junmyeon isn’t your boyfriend though?”    

“I think I would know more than anyone if he was my boyfriend or not. And he’s not.” I could have rolled my eyes at that. This must have been his second accusation. Daring myself to step an extra mile, I asked, “Why? Are you jealous?”

“I’m very jealous. It hurts right here.” He thumped his chest with a fist.

“So,” I slowly began. “You’re serious about us going on a date though?”

He grinned in amusement at me. “Jinah, I’m serious.”

Feeling my face heat up by ten folds, I had to look down at my shoes. “But only if you want to—”

“I want to.” Leaning over platters, he reached for another appetizer. “I’ll make it the best date you’ve ever been on. You’ll be so amazed that it will knock your socks off.”

I sputtered into laughter. “What does that even mean?”

Kyungoo held his phone in the air like a trophy. “Can we all take a picture with our groupie?”

Chanyeol shoved his shoulder. “We’re not going to be cool if you call us a groupie. Do you think we’re in elementary?”

Junmyeon and Jongin got into formation next to a potted plant and motioned for everyone else to join them. I don’t think I’ve ever seen twelve boys get into an arranged group so fast in my life.

“I’ll take the picture,” I volunteered, seeing Kyungsoo hesitate with his phone.

“Thank you!” He handed me the thing before sprinting to squat between Sehun and Tao on the floor.

Positioning the phone in the air, I tapped on the screen and waited for the camera to auto-focus. Through the screen, I watched Hyejung quickly get into the shot in order to rush towards Luhan. She readjusted the collar of his shirt, which I thought was completely pointless. Hyejung made a quick turn to get out of the shot, though Luhan held her back by the arm.

“No, stay,” he told her.

Obediently, Hyejung couldn’t be more than happy to wrap herself around his arm and smile directly into the camera.

With my eyes trained on Hyejung’s interaction with Luhan, I snapped the photo. The click that sounded off announced that the photo had been taken and the boys dispersed briefly.

“Hold on! Hyejung was in the shot!” Jongdae pointed an accusing finger at Hyejung. “Get out. It’s our groupie’s photo!”

“Stop calling us a groupie!” Chanyeol whined.

“Okay, okay. Hold on!” After dusting off Luhan’s shoulder, Hyejung ducked out of the photo and stood off to the side.

Waiting for a second until everyone paused in sync, I took another photo and a moment later returned the phone to Kyungso