21. Intoxicating Kiss

Pairing: Baekseul [Baekhyun and Seulgi]

Inspiration: Pretty Great | Fickle Friends

Concept: college!au

Pretending to be someone she was not had always been something Seulgi wanted to try. Don't get her wrong, it wasn't as bad she made it sound. She didn't want to catfish someone on Tinder or lie about her whole life to the first stranger who decided to make the mistake of starting a conversation with her, she just wanted to act out-of-character. Seulgi wasn't the type to put up a front to seem more alluring and mysterious than she was or to do weekly makeovers for the Friday nights she would never spend going out with her friends at bars and it was getting boring.

Seulgi was not like the other girls and it was seriously getting boring to be different. Yeah, she was the type to sketch on Friday night or to watch the latest foreign movie at the oldest movie theater across town because certain things like art were more important than making memories she wouldn't remember at a party with too much alcohol. But Seulgi realized that she spent so much time in her comfort zone that it was slowly becoming uncomfortable. There was nothing wrong with what every other girl in her twenties was doing on Friday night so why couldn't she do it?

Seulgi knew exactly why she couldn't do it when she stepped into the intoxicating old house reeking of cheep beer and punch juice mixed with the most popular vodka among university students. The house was old to the point where the sticky floor tainted with red sugary drinks cracked at every hesitant step she took into the life of the party.

Was this really what she wanted?

Apart from her daily identity crisis, justifying-herself-to-herself-about-bad-decisions-that-she-made-on-her-own session and other meaningless questions she didn't have the answers for, Seulgi didn't seem to get the idea of what a Frat party was. She accepted without hesitation when Sooyoung asked her to come with her to the winter party of the Alpha-Pi fraternity because she dreaded the hours she would spend curled up in her couch wondering about all the other things she could do if she wasn't so introverted but truly, was that what she really wanted?

Seulgi felt overwhelmed with the scent of the alcohol and the loud music blasting in her ears surrounded by so many pretty girls and stupidly good looking guys who talked among each other but tried to brush it off by pretending to look for Sooyoung. It only hit her then that she would never fit in or be able to keep up a conversation with any of them. What do cool kids even talk about? Tik Toks? Instagram? Kpop groups? What did she have in common with any of them except that they were spending their Friday night in the same house?

Leaving her temporary loser mindset aside, Seulgi made her way towards the end of the room to finally talk to someone she knew. The look of relief was probably too apparent on her face because Wendy returned a gleeful smile when she saw her.

"You're the last person I would've ever expected to see here," Seulgi's old friend joked.

"Yeah me too," Seulgi tried to smile. "Have you seen Sooyoung?"

"She's probably near the free beer, you know her." Wendy laughed way more than she should to her own joke, signaling to Seulgi that she had lost her friend to alcohol. Nothing was more annoying than someone who refused to admit that they were tipsy and Wendy was one of those people who would still try to challenge someone into a fight to prove that they were not drunk even if they could barely stand on their own two feet. "But you're so cute tonight, what's with your top? It's so cute! Cute cute! THIS COLOR IS CUTE ON YOU!"

Seulgi tried to control her face to not show how Wendy's tipsy vocabulary made her feel self-conscious, especially after the two awkward eye-contact she made with the people around them who were obviously less drunk than her friend and wondered who was acting up.

"I'm too sober for this," Seulgi mumbled under her breath. "Where is the bar?"

"Yeah you need some alcohol, your social lube," Wendy laughed again. "But wait I need to present you to someone."

Seulgi didn't have the time to say no that Wendy scurried over to get the attention of two guys, one who seemed to own the place and another one who looked like everybody in the room was his friend, either way very intimidating. Seulgi made eye-contact with one of them and almost choked when she recognized the senior Wendy was trying to present her. Seulgi quickly turned around and pretended to not hear when Wendy yelled her name as she got closer.

"That's my close friend Seulgi, she doesn't usually come to parties but she decided to come to yours, you should feel lucky," Wendy explained to the tall guy who smiled at her.

"I'm Chanyeol, it's nice to meet you Seulgi," Chanyeol said. Seulgi knew he was one of the higher ups in the fraternity but she couldn't remember what was his exact position. She gave him a shy smile and turned her attention onto her friend who gave her a coy smile.

"And that's Baekhyun but you should know him, everybody knows him," Wendy said in a suggestive way that made Seulgi blush. "You shouldn't feel lucky, she's probably here just to see you," she said to Baekhyun.

"Stop teasing her," Baekhyun said. "We already know each other," he said with a warm smile. "Hi Seulgi."

Seulgi returned his smile and felt like the ground was shaking when his eyes lingered on her for too long, as if hoping that she would say something. There was nothing scarier for an introvert than silence in a conversation at a party with someone they barely knew and that they wanted to get closer too. Wendy let out a small joke that made the too guys laugh and started a new conversation while Seulgi was trying to understand what was the joke about. If she envied something from her friends, it was their ability to talk about nothing and everything with absolutely anyone. The power of small talk was underestimated among people, Seulgi couldn't do it. Talking just to talk to people she barely knew and being able to make them laugh with it? It was beyond her.

Definitely too sober for this, Seulgi thought.

Without realizing, the conversation shifted and the three of them were talking about her and Seulgi blushed again when her eyes met with Baekhyun. Truthfully, Wendy was tipsy but she didn't lie, Seulgi was indeed here to see him. Sure she wanted to try new things and stop missing out on the opportunity of living life as a young university student, whatever that meant, but Baekhyun was a significant pros of coming to this party. As a senior, it was his last semester and she couldn't waste what was maybe her only chance of seeing him outside of her literary class.

They didn't know each other enough for her to casually ask him out for lunch but they were not strangers to the point where she wouldn't smile at him every time they passed by in the hallways. They argued on Shakespeare together, if that wasn't romantic, what was?

Their eyes locked for the third time and it was enough for Baekhyun to make a move.

"Do you want anything to drink Seulgi?" he asked.

"I was actually looking for the bar earlier," she nodded.

"I'll show you the way."

With his arm around her shoulder, Baekhyun casually walked through the crowd towards the end of the room.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter