It’s not until when she almost trips over her own two feet in the bathroom that she finally realizes she might have had too much to drink.

Not that getting drunk hadn’t been the plan all along. After all, midterms season had just ended and her group of friends had all come out to play at the biggest house party of the semester. Unfortunately, what had been deemed a girls’ night had quickly devolved as soon as Tzuyu ran into Wen Junhui, who she’d had her eye on since freshman orientation. After that, Mina had decided to join her dance friends, and Chaeyoung had gone outside for a smoke.  

Dahyun peers into the mirror as she washes her hands, making a face at her messy hair and the sheen of sweat on her forehead. It’s way too hot inside the house, with tons of students crammed inside, drinking and dancing their worries away. As soon as she finishes, she resolves to venture outside to look for Chaeyoung.

The pounding bass of the music fades away as she steps outside, the crisp fall air a welcome reprieve from the stuffiness of the dance floor. Small clusters of students are chatting and laughing out here, probably because they can actually hear each other without screaming into each other’s ears. Chaeyoung is nowhere to be found among them. At least, Dahyun is like 73 percent sure, because she’s pretty drunk and it’s really dark and she kind of remembers Chae telling her at some point that she was thinking of heading back to the apartment. She’s not sure though. Her memory’s not to be trusted when everything is this fuzzy.

She plops down on the back porch and takes out her hairband, letting her tresses fall freely down her back. She’s not too worried about making it home. Being drunk does that – makes you care less about things that you should probably worry about. She can sit here for another 30 minutes or so, wait to sober up a bit, and head back. The dorm is only 6 blocks away.

“You okay?”

Dahyun looks up at the voice and squints. It’s dark outside but with the light shining through the glass sliding