FRIDAY evening, Isabelle goes over to Nicole's place as per her request. Jinwoon and a few of her friends are over as well: a hip-hop-esque fellow English speaker named Amber, a glamorous bodied Min, and an stylishly dressed Key. They called for Chinese delivery of jajangmyun (black bean sauce noodles) and jjambong (spicy seafood soup) for dinner, which was a first for Isabelle. And she (surprisingly) thoroughly enjoys the company of this interesting group of friends.

"So...how did you all meet each other?" Isabelle asks the question she was curious of since meeting them.
"Well, Amber and I are both from Southern California and we had a mutual friend who introduced us," Nicole answers.
"Min and I briefly went to the same dance studio here in Seoul a few years back," Amber adds. “We started hanging out and I introduced her to Nicole."
"And then we just picked up Key off the street," Min jokes with a shrug.

Key gives Min a look. "Excuse me, bish? I was here before you- recognize!"

Min gasps dramatically. "So savage."

Key smirks. "You know I love you, girl."

"I luh you too, boo." Min tosses her hair.

Jinwoon shakes his head with an amused smile. "Kibum, Nicole, and I attended the same college. They met first, so when Cole and I started dating we all just naturally hung out together."

Isabelle nods slowly. "Wow, that's really interesting...you guys all seem really close."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Jinwoon eye smiles.

Nicole nods. "They're the best friends anyone could ever have."

Key fake-gags and Min nudges him while making a face, and Amber just laughs. Isabelle smiles a little sadly, reminiscing and feeling a twinge of envy. Friends...friends are actually good to have, no? After they finish eating, Jinwoon has to go to rehearse with his band. As soon as he leaves, Nicole pulls Isabelle into her room to pick out an outfit for her, her friends trailing behind.

"Try this on and this...and this," Nicole says as she pushes various pieces of clothing to Isabelle.

Isabelle holds onto the clothes in surprise, a little apprehensive.

"Oo, this one too! And this!" Min exclaims, handing two dresses to her.

Isabelle looks over at Amber and Key sitting on Nicole's bed and Amber gives her a sympathetic smile while Key just smiles with a thumbs up, approving of the various outfits.

"Go, try them on! Ppalli ppalli~ (quickly, quickly)" Nicole lightly pushes Isabelle toward her bathroom.

When Isabelle's in the bathroom with the door closed, she stares at the pile of clothing on the counter and lets out a long breath through her lips before biting down. This is like a flashback of when Katie and them dragged me out to that party and dressed me in their skimpy clubbing clothes... This is different though. This is absolutely not the same situation. I'm going to my cousin's band performance, and his girlfriend means well. The clothing's not the problem anyway; it's the alcohol. If there's alcohol at the venue, I just won't drink- or at least, I'll be sure not to get drunk. It's fine. It'll be fine. Isabelle nods and begins trying on different outfits, each time going out into Nicole's room to show them and getting their opinion. After trying on about six different ones... Nicole gasps and claps her hands.

"Oh my god, yes, mama!" Key snaps his fingers. "This one! This. Is. The. One."
"Really?" Isabelle squeaks out, hesitant.
"I agree!" Amber raises her hand. "I think this one's the best so far."

Min nods. "A pair of strappy flats would be the cherry on top."

"But...it's short." Isabelle bites her lip, looking down at how the skirt barely reaches mid-thigh. "And the back..."
"What? Turn around," Nicole demands.

Isabelle turns around, showing them her , save for her bra, as the flowy, spaghetti-strapped black dress she has on has a low back that dips down to her . That’s not the worst part- since it’s loose-fitting, anyone standing behind her could probably look down and see her underwear… Key hoots and Min whistles at the sight.

“It’s fine! Just don't wear a bra," Nicole says nonchalantly.
"Nicole..." Amber looks at her in surprise.

Nicole chuckles at both Isabelle and Amber's shock. "I'm kidding! I have pasties."

"Paste, wha?" Amber raises an eyebrow.
"You know, those sticky things to cover your nips, in place of a bra?" Key explains. "Come on, Amber, even I know this."

Amber puts her hands up in surrender and Min laughs, bumping her shoulder with hers. Nicole hands the packet to Isabelle and she eyes two little sequined flowers in wonder.

"Don't you have anything more...conventional?" Min asks, amused.
"Jinwoon likes them," Nicole says with a shrug.

A chorus of voices fill the room in mixes of shock and disgust. "Not what I asked!" "Oh my god, !" "Nicole, freaking TMI!"

Isabelle merely watches Nicole and her friends laughing together and a small smile lines her lips. For one, she chose to ignore that little "TMI" bit of information, but also, it was nice seeing this group of friends' interactions. They were hilarious, but more importantly, they were comfortable with each other. She wanted that. Wow...I'm actually craving relationships. How weird is that? It was like I was set on being a loner, just fine being by my introverted, antisocial self, but now I want to fill that void? Dang, what happened to my heart?

"What are you doing just standing there, girl?" Nicole questions with an eye smile. "Go get those bad boys on!"

After choosing the outfit, Min wanted to do Isabelle's full-face make-up, but Isabelle opted out. Nicole then curled her hair and braided her side bangs out of her face, clipping it back with bobby pins.

"Girl, you look so good!" Nicole squeals excitedly.

The rest of them nod in appreciation.

"Remind me why I'm getting a makeover just to attend my cousin's performance?" Isabelle inquires.
"Oo~" Amber chuckles. "You sassy, huh?"
"Because~ Jinhyeong said you have boy candy, and there will be boys at the venue. It never hurts to be prepared and look good." Nicole winks.
“If you got it, you flaunt it, girl!” Min raises her eyebrow with a sly grin.
“Mm, mm, mm~” Key nods with pursed lips.

Isabelle smiles awkwardly at their comments, finding it amusing, but at the same time…what the hell am I doing dressing up like this?? However, looking in the mirror- not to be egocentric or anything- she had to admit that she looked really good. Oh, why not? What's a little confidence boost for a girl now and then, eh?

—x—

Jinwoon's band doesn't perform until 10pm, so Isabelle went around Hongdae with Nicole and her friends, exploring the area and also club-hopping to listen to the different bands performing at tonight's Live Club Day. They were met up with Amber's friend or "friend" *wink wink* Scott and Min's Chinese friends from her current dance studio, Jia and Fei. The streets of Hongdae were filled with people and the sounds of music from the various clubs lining them. Isabelle could feel herself getting a little claustrophobic, but as long as she stayed surrounded by the people she knew, she did fairly okay. Ten minutes before Jinwoon's band is to start, they're approaching the club when someone calls out Nicole and Isabelle's names.

"Nicole noona! Oh, Yijin-ie noona!?"

Isabelle turns to see Jinhyeong walking toward them, and who else next to him, but Brian... They lock eyes and Brian has a look of surprise on his face before that grin slowly takes over and brightens his sharp features. Isabelle watches Brian's eyes as he gives her a glance-over from head to toe. She rolls her eyes, but internally she feels butterflies in her stomach and all that good stuff. He's wearing a white cap, a black sweatshirt, and his signature ripped jeans (with his bandages peeking through the holes of the knees). How could something so simple make him look so good..?

"Oh, Jinhyeong-ah!" Nicole exclaims.
"Hey Jinhyeong." Isabelle gives her tight-lipped, dimpled smile as they stop in front of them.
"Izzy..." Brian grins.
"Brian..." Isabelle echoes Brian with a nod.
"Younghyun hyung..." Jinhyeong mouths to Nicole with a mischievous smile.
“Ohh!” Nicole's eyes brighten. “Hi there!"

Brian's eyes snap to Nicole, having forgotten that other people were there besides Isabelle. "Ah, ne."

"Nice to meet you!" Nicole greets. "I'm Isabelle's cousin's girlfriend Nicole."
"Ah." Brian smiles. "I'm Brian. Nice to meet you."

Nicole smiles between Brian and Isabelle, but Isabelle pretends she doesn't see her doing that. The rest of the gang does their introductions with Jinhyeong and Brian before they finally head in to the venue. Isabelle falls back from the group along with Brian who's walking in step right beside her.

"I see how it is," Brian says, ducking his head a little to Isabelle's ear.

Isabelle nearly shivers a