I’m basically jolting to class because of my alarm malfunction this morning. I mean normally I wouldn’t think much of it and just roll onto the other side of bed and fall back asleep, but god knows I at chemistry and I need to attend my lectures. Of course when I get there all the seats are pretty much taken, and I almost resort to sitting in the front row until I spot one empty seat in the middle.

“Is anyone sitting there?”
She looks up at me and shakes her head before answering.

“No, go ahead.”
She answers. It took me a moment before I remembered that she was in my lab, she was pretty and I admit that I liked looking at her.

“Isn’t she hard to understand sometimes?”
She leans over and smiles.

“Yeah, tell me about it.”
I laugh along with her, taken back that she was talking to me. I caught a whiff of her perfume as she leaned in and I swear it made me dizzy for a bit, it made me feel like I wanted to know her; like REALLY know her.

“Hey, you look kind of familiar… do I know you or have we met before?”
She asked me as everyone was getting their bags and exiting the lecture hall.

“Uhh, not really but kind of? We have bio lab together.”
I hoped to god I didn’t look awkward, or that my voice was shaky because that could be what makes or breaks me at this moment.

“Oh yeah, you’re the one who always knows the right answers.”
She laughed as she walked up the steps with me, still making eye contact. I couldn’t help but notice how nice of a smile she had or how her laugh was so contagious. I barely even knew the girl but god do I want to know her.

“Ayyyy, I wouldn’t say that. I’m just… I understand it that’s all.”
I answered modestly. I mean I hated biology too, but it was easier to understand than chemistry; I’d definitely pick it over chemistry any day.

“I think I understand chemistry more than biology.”
She wrinkled her nose, it was so cute I wanted to pinch her cheeks. If we were actually friends it’d be easier to do, but alas… this was our first conversation ever.

“If you ever need help, we could study together sometime. You can help me with chemistry and I can help you with biology.” 
I figured I would get rejected anyway but I wanted to give it a shot. It’s pretty much a win-win; we both pass our classes and I get to look at her.

“Really? If you have time I think that would be cool, we’d both be benefiting! Oh, I’m Y/N by the way.”
She held out her hand and I shook it carefully.

“Mark.”
We made eye contact for what seemed like ages, but I didn’t want to break it.

“And don’t even worry about it. Actually, if you’re free now I’m going to have lunch with a couple of my buddies, would you like to join? I mean you could invite your friends too if it’s weird…”

“Is this where you try to hook up your friends with my friends?”
She laughs a little louder now and I feel stupid for it coming out that way.

“No, no, no I swear I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought –”

“Sure Mark, I’ll join you guys for lunch.”
She adjusted the strap on her bag and walked a bit ahead of me. She was going to be a fun chase, I could feel it in the way she talks to me.

When we got to the cafeteria, I heard Jackson before I could even see him.

“Isn’t it a bit early to be excited? Especially on a Monday.”
She pointed towards Jackson, trying to be discreet.

“His name is Jackson, he’s always that excited.”
I’m mentally punching myself in the face as I think about my choice of friends

“Oh you know him? I only know him as the one who seems hyperactive.” 
I could see se was trying not to offend me but let’s be honest here, Jackson is hyperactive at times.

“He can tone it down sometimes, he just likes to have a good time and wants everyone else around him to have a good time too.” 
I lead her to them and the minute we got to the table, Jackson stared at her. That was it, he just looked at her, and it made me wonder if I looked almost as dumb as he did when I looked at her.

“Hey guys, this is Y/N. Y/N, Jackson and Jinyoung.”

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you.”
She held out a hand and Jinyoung took it first, although the look on his face made me think he would have let Jackson do all the talking.

“So how do you know Mark?”
Jackson asked as soon as she sat down.

“We have chemistry.”
She looked over at me and smiled, I heard Jackson huff.

“Okay, we’ve never met you before, how do you know you have chemistry?”
I really wish I could punch him right now…

“She meant the class Jackson jesus.”
Though I’m still mentally punching myself at my choice of friends, I’m practically jumping for joy inside as she comfortably sat next to me.

“It’s nice to meet you Y/N.”
Jinyoung smiled at her before he returned to whatever it was he was doing on his laptop.

That’s how we first met. I mean it isn’t even anything worth mentioning because it was such an average meeting, but I’ll never forget about it. Aside from Jackson and Jinyoung, she really became my best friend.

“Hey you, what are daydreaming about?”
She interrupted the moment I wasn’t aware I was having.

“Oh, sorry I’m just kind of tired that’s all.”
It’s obvious I couldn’t tell her that I was thinking about how it would feel to hold her hand, or how her perfume smelled.

“Wanna take a break? Let’s go grab a bite, or we can totally give up on studying and go find out what Jackson and Jinyoung are up to?”
It hadn’t taken long for her to get close to Jackson and Jinyoung; I liked to think that the three of us were a good trio, we were just easy to get along with.

“How about we go eat and then go find them?”
I enoyed being the only one she was comfortable spending time with. I figured it would change once she established her friendships with the other two, but for now I was going to ravel in this.

“Okay, my head was hurting anyway. And if I have to do another X isotope undergoing alpha, beta or gamma decay… I think I am going to kill myself. I might be good at chemistry but it doesn’t mean I like it.” 
She was good at chemistry, and because I’m terrible at it – and I was too busy watching her – I couldn’t understand a thing she said.

“I’m sorry I don’t understand, are you speaking English?”
I joked as I shoved the books into my bag.

“You know Mark, it might do you some good if you didn’t sleep during the lecture.”
She laughed as she linked her arm through mine.

“You’re probably right. But you know I have an awesome study buddy.”
I nudged her which made her laugh. Did I ever mention how much I love the sound of her laugh? God I swear it’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.

“Whatever. Anyway what do you want to eat? Here’s an option: you can never go wrong with pizza.”
She raised her eyebrows at me, hinting that pizza was what she wanted.

“You know, if you wanted pizza all you had to do was ask.”
I laughed at her ‘trying to be discreet’ behavior.

“I want pizza Mark.”
She finally said as she led us out the doors of the library.

“You see how easy that was? You should try it more often.”
We walked to the pizza parlor that wasn’t too far from campus and made small talk while we ate.

“Thanksgiving is coming up, are you heading home for that short break we get?”
She asks as she chows down on her pizza. I loved seeing sides of her like this. A lot of girls think that when you’re with someone you should be different, but not her; she’s just the same person. I love that she’s not sitting here and lightly picking at the pizza but she’s actually eating it.

“Yeah, Jackson, Jinyoung and I are all heading home. Our families normally celebrate it together since we’ve been friends for so long.”
Should I invite her? I feel like my family is going to be weird about it, like ‘oh my god he brought home a girl’ or bombard her with awkward questions like ‘are you his girlfriend’, or worse… the baby pictures.

“Ahh, so you can’t get away even if you wanted to huh?”
She joked as she continued to eat.

“I guess I never thought of it like that; we’ve been friends for so long it’s like we’re brothers. I like having them around, it’s comfortable.”
She nodded in understanding. We sat there for a while and continued eating until we saw Jackson and Jinyoung knocking on the window.

“You guys didn’t invite us!”
Jackson complained as he sat next to her.

“Sorry, it was kind of late. But we were coming to find you guys when we were done eating I swear.”
She holds up her right hand and sits taller as she faces Jackson. Jackson pinched her cheeks and immediately forgave her.

“It’s okay, we just got out of work anyway. We’ll order another pizza, it’s on us.”
Jinyoung smiled and walked up to the cash register as he ordered another pizza and some more drinks.

“So how was studying?”
Jackson put extra emphasis on the word studying as if it were something dirty.

“Jackson… we really were studying, and it was boring as usual. I mean when is studying ever fun?”
I rolled my eyes at Jackson for making it awkward and I was hoping my face didn’t turn red or anything.

“Guess you’re right. I hate studying too.”
Jackson rested his arm around her seat as he leaned back.

“Thank you Jinyoung!”
She smiled to Jinyoung when he returned with drinks for her.

“You’re welcome. Did you study well?”
He asked as he directed all his attention to her. What’s up with these two tonight? They were acting weird… or maybe I’d just become more aware of how I felt about her.

“Ehh, chemistry is boring and it makes my head hurt. But Mark was really attentive when he was helping me with biology.” 
She gave a thumbs up as she sipped on her soda.

“That’s good. If you need any extra help, I am at your service.”
Why would she need extra help if I was already helping her? Suddenly I felt that four was too much company, I had to get out before I suffocate.

“My head kind of hurts guys, I think I’m going to head back to the dorm. I’ve been awake for way too long. I’ll see you tomorrow during class Y/N, and I’ll catch you two at the dorms later.”
I got up and left after we all exchanged goodbyes. What was this feeling in my chest? Why was I so annoyed with Jackson and Jinyoung being there? It’s not like it was a date or anything, or that we were even more than friends. But just something about the way they talked or acted towards her, I don’t know… 
It’s not like the three of us hadn’t hung out with a girl all at the same time, so why was it different this time around? When I got into my room it hit me right in the face, like a deer in the headlights: Mark Tuan, you my friend are jealous.