A/N: Sorry this update took long. I wasn't satisfied with the first draft and I had to revise. I am now though. I hope you like it!

- Bluekimchi

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"Transportation's here, kids!"

Kids. 

The term is accurate and neither Sooyoung nor Yerim seem to want to correct Tiffany. Instead, they reinforce the older girl's notion of them by not bothering to hide their excitement as they race for the pickup truck that had just pulled up on the pavement.

"Shotgun!" Yerim yells, jumps up and down as the driver alights.

"I just called dibs, Yerim." Sooyoung says with a frown.

"Ey, calm down. Taeyeon sunbaenim is driving. That means her girlfriend gets to ride shotgun, you dorks." Kibum appears at her shoulder.

"Did you just call us dorks, oppa?" She asks, raises an eyebrow. He shrugs and picks up the cooler as Minho lifts the other end.

Joohyun watches their interaction with a smile on her face. Today is going to be a great day. She looks up at the bright sky, admiring the weather. Sunny with some clouds. Perfect for going to the beach to hang out with her friends. Perfect for keeping her promise to Seungwan. And perfect for the travel club to do some actual travelling. 

Minho and Kibum load the cooler on the back of the truck before they turn to her.

"Where's Seungwan and Seulgi?" Kibum asks.

"Bathroom. They'll be here soon." She replies.

"Oh. Well, it looks like all of you girls will be riding with Taeyeon noona." Minho says.

"Unless you want to ride with us? The wind can be strong. You've no cover here." Kibum says. She shakes her head at him.

"We'll be fine. Besides, I think it'll be fun." She says.

Kibum nods. He and Minho, then, squat and let her step on their palms as they catapult her up on the back of the truck, similar to the way cheerleaders are given boosts during routines. Joohyun thanks them, laughs a little upon the realization of what just happened.

"Wah. It's Joohyun!" She turns her head and smiles upon seeing who had called her name. "I almost didn't recognize you without Seungwanie and Seulgi next to you."

There it is again. Joohyun ignores it, chooses to pay attention to the fact that she actually missed this senior.

"Taeyeon sunbae-nim! Long time no see." She bends down to let Taeyeon's hands cup her cheeks in a sweet sisterly gesture.

"Yup. I hope you've been good to the younger ones. Yerim looks too young to be here. Are you sure she's a college student?" Joohyun laughs.

"We checked her records to make sure. Yes, she's enrolled in the program. I think she started schooling too early?"

"That explains it. Hey, where's the other 2/3's part of you?" Taeyeon gives her a wide grin. One in three. Three in one. The Holy Trinity. Yup.

"Seungwan and Seulgi?" Joohyun looks over her shoulder. "They're around here somewhere-" She stops midsentence, spots the two walking towards them.

"Oh, there they are." She thinks she hears Taeyeon say. She's not really sure because she's too busy watching the other two girls.

Seulgi climbs up the truck first, uses her hands to pull herself up before turning to Seungwan so she could help her. A crease forms on Joohyun's forehead as her eyes focus in on Seulgi and Seungwan's entwined hands. Seulgi pulls Seungwan up and they end up standing very close to each other. The former sends a charming smile at the latter. Seungwan laughs, one arm encircling the taller girl.

"Alright. That's the complete set. We better go." Joohyun looks back at Taeyeon. She nods to her out of politeness and then turns to look at Seungwan and Seulgi again. 

The crease on her forehead is still there and it deepens with each passing second until Seungwan points it out.

"Is something wrong, Joohyun unnie?" Seungwan had stepped right in front of her.

Joohyun swallows. Is there? She shakes her head, notices that Seulgi is also looking at her peering at her from Seungwan's shoulder.

The engine roars to life and they take that as a signal to settle down. They sit with their backs against the back window of the truck, side by side. But Seungwan suddenly stands and pushes Seulgi to sit next to Joohyun so that Seulgi is in between just before the truck starts to move. And this position is so unlike the arrangement with Seungwan in the middle that Joohyun's used to.

For a brief moment, Seungwan looks at Joohyun with a glint in her eye and she knows that this has something to do with what they talked about a few nights ago, when they watched that foreign film. 

Joohyun doesn't mind, really. She doesn't mind that Seulgi sits between her and Seungwan, doesn't mind that with her on one side, they're completely away on a world of their own, joking, laughing, and horseplaying like dumb and dumber. There's nothing to it. They're same age friends. It's perfectly normally. So what if Seulgi looks at Seungwan like she's looking at a star strewn sky? Doesn't she look at Seungwan like that too? Wait. Seulgi looks at Seungwan in the way Joohyun does.

Her stomach lurches in uncomfortable knots, twists and turns like she could be getting carsick.

Seulgi's hands grasp Seungwan's and she pulls her to stand as the wheels move at 60 kilometers per hour underneath them.

"H-hey, why are you both standing?" Joohyun manages to say.

Seulgi grins at her, pulls her up too. 

The wind blows and it whips against their faces as their hair tumbles around in messy state but Seulgi and Seungwan just laugh, throw their hands up in the air.

Nervous. Joohyun becomes nervous. Well, she could fall off the side if she wasn't careful.

"Unnie, loosen up!" Seulgi says to her. 

"It's fun! Go on and try!" Seungwan joins in.

She swallows, grips whatever part of the car she can hold onto. Seulgi laughs again, stretches her long arms, telling her to copy her but she's too busy shaking at the moment.

Fear aside, Joohyun gets an inkling that the feeling could be nice. Exhilarating, maybe? She looks at Seungwan and she sees that she's smiling so brightly, white even teeth visible between those pinkish lips, eyes doing that half wink it does when she's really happy. 

Just looking at her makes Joohyun envious. She wants to feel whatever happiness she's feeling so she raises her arms too, clenches and unclenches her fist over and over as if she's trying to catch the wind. 

Finally, she loosens up. She throws her head back and she notices the fluffy clouds overhead, throwing some shade over them. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. 

This feeling. Could this be how it means to feel infinite? It's almost as if none of the world exists. That it's just her and Seulgi and Seungwan (just her and Seungwan, even).

But her eyelids flutter open and the first thing she sees makes her wish she never opened her eyes.

It's as if she's invisible and Seulgi and Seungwan own the world.

Joohyun's stomach constricts tighter.

"Thank you, Seulgi." Seungwan says, voice soft but still so loud and so clear. She, then, presses her body into Seulgi's side. She could be doing it for support, really, so she won't fall off but Joohyun fears that she isn't.

"What for?" Seulgi asks, turns to Seungwan so their faces are only inches apart.

Seungwan doesn't answer, just shrugs before leaning towards Seulgi, tiptoes and all, to kiss her cheek. The latter's eyes disappear into crescents, mouth stretched into a grin.

Joohyun feels herself getting weak, like her heart has just dropped to her stomach. Is she getting left out now? Is she jealous? Whatever the case may be, she knows she has to do something so she charges forward, hugs Seulgi tight and even throws all of her weight on the younger so she falls sideways into Seungwan and that effectively burst the 94-liners' exclusive bubble.

The three of them share a look and Joohyun fears that they may see through her actions but Seulgi and Seungwan just laugh like they're having the time of their lives so it's clear that they don't. Sadly, this fact doesn't give her any comfort.

To some degree, their arrival at the beach offers some form of peace to Joohyun. She can lie to herself and say that it's the scenic view of waves crashing on the shore, or the feel of sand on her bare feet, or the joy of watching everyone having fun but really, it's the fact that she doesn't have to stay too close to Seungwan and Seulgi and watch them get, well, closer. Something about that just doesn't sit well with her (and don't ask why because she doesn't know the answer to that either).

One of the boys lay out a blanket and someone else brings out the picnic baskets. Nearly everyone gathers around except for Seungwan and Seulgi who seem to be too busy playing in the water to notice that it's mealtime. That's just adding fuel to the flame that is the horrible feeling in the pit of Joohyun's stomach.

"Why don't you call them, Joohyun? The food is getting cold."

The food is just sandwiches, really but she doesn't have a choice when a sunbae gives her a direct order like that so she goes (even if her feet drag against the sand as her mind tells her not to go). Seungwan sees her approach and immediately meets her, Seulgi just follows her.

"What's up, unnie?" Seungwan smiles at her, eyes wide and waiting. Joohyun feels a bit hurt and annoyed. Of course, she's oblivious but Joohyun wishes that she can at least keep it on the low and not make it feel like she's rubbing her happiness from being with Seulgi on her face.

"Lunch." Joohyun tries to keep her jaw from clenching.

Seungwan gasps, like she just remembered something really important and then runs to where the food is, without even waiting for Joohyun or Seulgi.

"Aish. She must be hungry. She even forgot about her shoes." Seulgi mutters but watches Seungwan skip away with a smile on her face. "Let's get it for her, unnie." 

Joohyun nods and follows Seulgi to a tree, in the opposite direction of the picnic. She spots two pairs of sneakers hanging by its shoelaces on a branch. Seulgi untangles it both while she waits.

She huffs hot air through and mumbles under her breath. She was really looking forward to this trip and now it kinda . Seulgi looks at her carefully. And then, as if she decided that it this is the right time, speaks in a sure voice (like she's rehearsed what to say a hundred times over).

"Seungwan... I like Seungwan." Seulgi finishes untying the shoes and has taken them off the tree. She looks at Joohyun, waits for a response.

But Joohyun doesn't say anything, just blinks back at her.

"I like Seungwan, Joohyun unnie." Seulgi repeats. "And not in the friendly kind of like. I like her and I'm going to confess."

For the second time in one day, Joohyun feels her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. She gapes at Seulgi for a moment or two before she catches herself, laughs nervously.

"Uh, why are you telling me this?" She says, hopes that she didn't take too long in replying but the silence lingering in the air tells her that she did.

"Because we're friends. And whichever way my confession would lead to, you have a right to know." Seulgi takes a deep breath ans adds "After all, you like her too."

Time stands still. Joohyun blinks again.

"What? But I don't like Seungwan that way." She tries her best to sound incredulous and she actually does (theater major, remember?). 

As the words roll off her tongue so easily, it leaves a bitter after taste. She's never been good at lying. And she's not sure how it matches up because this is not exactly lying. If it is then that would be admiting to herself that the reason why she's so sulky is because she's jealous. And being jealous would mean that she does feel something for Seungwan. 

When did it all get so complicated?

"I guess I was wrong." Fortunately, Seulgi buys it. She nods slowly. "Wish me luck then, unnie." She  looks at her and smiles expectantly.

"Yeah. Good luck, Seulgi." Joohyun smiles back, doesn't know how she does it but pumps her fist in the air for her. "Fighting!"

Seulgi grins dumbly, clutches her and Seungwan's sneakers against her chest.

"Thanks, unnie. It really means a lot to me." She says.

The two of them walk back to the group. Seulgi even puts an arm around Joohyun as they do, completely unaware of how she just turned her entire being upside down.

Seungwan is all smiles when they join the group. She hands them sandwiches and juice boxes, nags them playfully about being late. Seulgi mocks feeling offended, shows her that the reason she and Joohyun were late was because they had to retrieve her shoes.

Joohyun just watches them blankly. She wonders how it came to this. She's always seen them like this. But still, she didn't see it coming. Was she expecting Seulgi to keep herself from venturing past the friendship barrier with Seungwan when she, herself, did not? Maybe. But she wasn't going to do anything about it. Joohyun wasn't. And now Seulgi is. 

It does make some sense now - why Seulgi's been a bit awkward with her.The younger girl sees her as a sunbae, as a friend, and as competition for the girl she likes. Joohyun might have underestimated Seulgi because she's  a lot sharper than she looks.

"Unnie?" Seungwan calls her.

"Y-yeah?" Joohyun looks up, sees that Seulgi has gone off to somewhere, leaving her and Seungwan alone.

"Seulgi says she got us tickets to the new amusement park. Want to come?" Seungwan's smile is disarming and Joohyun realizes that this must be where Seulgi is planning to confess.

For a moment, she wants to say 'don't go with Seulgi' and 'don't accept her feelings''. 

But she realizes that won't be the right thing to do. She and Seulgi are friends, they're all friends and friends should help each other out so she says "I, uh, can't." 

Joohyun frowns at her hands. "I have to get serious about rehearsals for the play now." She explains. 

Seungwan might have mistaken that look for annoyance because she wouldn't get to go with them so she starts to say "Oh. That's too bad. Maybe we shouldn't go-"

"No! By all means, go." Joohyun says firmly. "I mean, you and I, we, did that movie thing together so you and Seulgi should get to bond on your own too." 

Seulgi comes back and Seungwan looks at Joohyun with eyebrows raised, like she wants to ask her something but she just looks away, pretends to be busy with her barely touched sandwich as she gets immersed in her thoughts again.

Seulgi likes Seungwan and Seungwan could possibly like Seulgi too (why would she not?).This could be the start of Joohyun being the third wheel. Maybe that's it. The reason why everything doesn't sit well with her, why she can't look at them now without wanting to cry. 

If only it was that simple.