Wendy’s internal dialogue had been reduced to a long, high-pitched scream as she sat across the table from Irene in the new hipster eatery that had opened downtown.

And the screaming only increased as Irene reached over to flick the bill of her baseball cap with her fingers.

“A hat at the table?” Irene laughed.

Wendy hastily doffed the offending article and gave Irene a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I forgot I was even wearing it.” It was only a half-lie. As soon as Wendy had seen the way Irene was dressed for their completely friendly, entirely platonic, no-hidden-motives, thank-you dinner, she had become acutely aware of the fact that she was severely underdressed in her jeans and sweater.

Or maybe it was simply the fact that Irene looked really good out of her school uniform.

Word choice, Wendy.

But there really was something about the way Irene looked tonight, dressed all in black: perhaps it was the way her hair spilled down her shoulders as she turned away, or the way her ruffled top plunged and exposed her pale skin, or - Wendy recalled with a silent prayer - the way Irene had looked walking ahead of her in those tight jeans.

“Wendy?”

“Yes?!”

Irene squinted at her in bemusement, and gestured at the waiter who had come to take their order.

“O-oh, right!” Wendy took solace behind her menu as she quickly made a selection. “The… uh, the carbonara… this one here,” she indicated, pointing at the menu. She sighed as the waiter left and sank back into her seat a bit.

“You seem a little tense,” Irene remarked with a raised brow.

“Me?” Wendy asked and gave a nervous laugh. She really did need to calm down; landsakes, it was just dinner. “I’m… I’m gonna go wash my hands,” she said suddenly, scooting up out of her seat. And maybe splash some water in her face.

Irene smirked, tilting her head in admiration at Wendy’s retreating figure. She always had preferred Wendy’s posterior to that the rest of the club members...

+++

A few tables away, Yeri was placing an order for two, since Seulgi lay with her head on the table, staring off into space.

“I regret signing you up for the club if it’s going to make you this dramatic,” Yeri intoned once the waiter left.

“I just don’t understand.”

“Oh, boy.” Yeri sighed and leaned down in front of Seulgi’s lifeless eyes. “What don’t you understand?”

“Why doesn’t she like me?”

Yeri blinked. “Wendy? What are you even talking about? Do you like her?”

Seulgi raised her head and looked at Yeri with this mournful expression. “That’s not the point. Is there something wrong with me?”

“Wait, are you trying to tell me you’re upset because she rejected you?”

Seulgi closed her eyes painfully at the word ‘rejected’ and rested her forehead on the table. “Did I do something wrong?” she asked, her voice muffled against the wood.

“Oh my god, Seul. You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“What if I’m alone forever?”

“SEULGI.”

Seulgi looked up at her again and Yeri was surprised to see that she had bags under her eyes. Had this kept her up last night…? But Yeri wasn’t going to let her friend sulk over this.

“Your existential crisis is going to make me lose my appetite- Oh, thank god, our drinks are here,” she said as she accepted their sodas. Seulgi took hers begrudgingly and stirred the ice with her straw.

“Well? Why do you think she said no?” Seulgi asked more soberly.

“What do you mean why? You asked her completely out of the blue,” Yeri reasoned.

“You told me to ask her!” Seulgi countered.

Yeri opened , in search of a retort, but Seulgi was right. She was kind of responsible for that scene in the auditorium, and now she was left picking up the pieces of her friend’s broken heart as a result.

“Fine, but I still don’t understand why you’re reacting like this. If you’re really upset about it, why don’t you try to take her out on a date or something? You know, instead of just flat out asking her to be your girlfriend?”

“But you said she already liked me,” Seulgi pouted.

“Yeah, well, I say a lot of things,” Yeri responded, though she still felt a little bit guilty. “Besides, I thought you were going on and on about how pretty Irene is, but now suddenly you’re all about Wendy?”

Seulgi blinked. She wasn’t sure she’d go so far as to say she was ‘all about Wendy’. “Well, Irene is really pretty. Yesterday, she-” but Yeri just raised a hand before she could continue, already sensing a problem.

“You need to be more subtle about this or you’re going to blow my- your chances in this club.”

“Blow my-?”

“You don’t want to create trouble and get kicked out of the play, do you?”

Seulgi’s eyes widened. “You think they’d do that?”

“If you keep messing around with their members-”

“Hey! I’m not ‘messing around’...!” Seulgi barked indignantly.

“Then stop moping over Wendy!” Yeri exclaimed, and suddenly there was the sound of two figures stumbling next to their table, and the crash of an entire party’s worth of orders being upended onto the floor.

“Oh my god! Wendy!”

“Wendy?!”

“Well, speak of the devil,” Yeri muttered as she stared in shock at the girl on the floor, covered in a house salad.

And now Irene was there too, carefully trying to help Wendy up.

The waiter and Wendy immediately started speaking over each other in an attempt to apologize as Irene delicately brushed shredded parmesan cheese from her shoulders.

"I am so sorry…! I wasn't paying attention and then I-”

“I can't believe I didn't see you there, I should have been more careful…!”

Wendy was mortified. Not only had she been startled to see Seulgi and Yeri here at the restaurant as well, but to hear that they had been talking about her? In her surprise she had accidentally backed into a server and instead of sneaking away inconspicuously, she had now gained the attention of the entire dining room.

Perfect.

“Oh, hi Seulgi,” Wendy heard Irene say, and she closed her eyes. She could smell the acrid vinaigrette on her clothes.

After quietly running through her life choices up until this moment, wondering exactly what she might have done to deserve this, Wendy forced a smile and waved at the two girls. “Seulgi, Yeri! What are you guys doing here?”

And that’s how the four of them ended up eating dinner together and going back to Irene’s house to work on their parts for the play.

+++

Irene’s room wasn’t very large, but her parents hadn’t exactly been thrilled at the prospect of the four girls working on a musical in the living room, so there they sat, Yeri and Irene on her bed, Wendy at her desk and Seulgi on the floor.

Wendy had been convinced to change into a pair of Irene’s clothes if for no other reason than to spare the rest of them the smell of the dressing she had been doused in. The borrowed clothes were clean, but Wendy was wholly distracted by how they still somehow smelled like Irene - like some high-end fabric softener mixed with a subtle warmth she couldn't place. She brought her legs up and hugged her knees to her chest in the desk chair in an excuse to keep breathing in the scent.

What a night.

“This actually works out nicely,” Irene stated as she pulled her script out of her bag. Nicely for her, at least. She was curious about what Seulgi was like outside of the setting of their school, and wondered how the resident heartthrob would act when half her attention wasn’t drawn away to her fawning fangirls.

“You’re her understudy after all,” Irene said as she looked at Wendy, “so we can work on our scenes together.”

Yeri nodded in agreement, having dragged Seulgi to this table reading of sorts, but Seulgi just looked warily between Irene and Wendy and wanted to put her face in her hands.

She gathered her courage and asked, “Where should we start? I didn’t realize I was uh, going to come over so I didn’t bring my stuff.”

Wendy unfolded from her curled up position and reached into her bag for her own copy of the script and passed it over. “Here, please use this-” but Seulgi caught her wrist.

“Come down and read with me; we’re both Tony after all,” Seulgi said with a big grin. Yeri marveled to see how quickly Seulgi had been able to put aside her despair from earlier, even while faced directly with the person who had rejected her.

And Wendy felt the same. She had been sure the last person Seulgi wanted to see tonight was herself, based on the conversation she had overheard, but Yeri and Irene made quite the persuasive team. She was relieved to see that there didn’t seem to be any hard feelings between them, and she scooted down onto the floor with Seulgi so they could once again read side by side.

Irene watched them critically. She could see Seulgi had a way of charming Wendy that Wendy didn’t seem to be able to refuse, but perhaps that was simply part of Wendy’s nature. Now that Irene thought about it, Wendy rarely refused anyone anything… except for yesterday. She didn’t realize she was wearing the exact same appraising expression as Yeri, seated beside her on the bed.

“Why not start with the Tonight, Tonight duet, since Wendy and I were supposed to be practicing the songs anyway?” Irene suggested.

“Sure,” Seulgi agreed, and let Wendy flip them through to the correct page.

“Wendy sang it so beautifully for me the other day, even Maria's parts,” Irene lilted, as if she were speaking to herself. She glanced over at Seulgi to gauge her reaction. How would the heartbreaker deal with a little competition? Yeri eyed Irene suspiciously.

“Really? Gosh, I’m kind of intimidated now. Why didn’t you try out for Maria?” Seulgi asked, and Yeri wore a winning smile. That’s her Seulgi: humble and genuine to a fault. Whatever game Irene was trying to play, she’d find poor sport in Seulgi.

“Oh, she did,” Irene went on before Wendy could speak up. “I’m not sure why they didn’t give her the part, frankly. She was really good.”

Wendy was bright read and she began to stutter, “W-wait, wait, I’m sure you did really well t-too, otherwise they wouldn’t have given you the p-part-!”

“But I’ll admit,” Irene continued, “I am glad she got cast as your understudy. If you don’t happen to be able to make it to the show,” she paused, letting her intense gaze settle on hapless Wendy, “it’ll be really nice to play with her.”

Word choice, Irene.

None of this quite had the effect on Seulgi that Irene had been going for. Instead of getting a rise out of the jock, testing her ego, Seulgi actually somehow looked a little guilty. And poor Wendy herself looked like she was going to faint dead away if Irene kept on like this.

But before either of the other girls could speak up, Yeri interrupted.

“Seulgi’s going to be a great Tony, you’ll see! She can sing, she can dance, and she’s got that stage presence- I mean look at her. Wouldn’t you agree she’s got that charisma about her?” the blonde prompted, and Irene and Wendy found themselves nodding along before they could help themselves.

And now it was Seulgi’s turn to be flustered. She reached forward suddenly and clamped her hands on Yeri’s mouth before she could say anything more. “So, what scene was it again? The duet? Wendy why don’t you start so I can hear what it’s supposed to sound like?”

Wendy was more than happy to get to work and have something to distract them all from whatever strange conversation they were currently having. She immediately began singing Tony’s wandering opening to their duet, and then paused, waiting for Irene to jump in with Maria’s part.

But Irene faltered, entranced by Wendy’s recital. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she stammered and began. Her voice quavered a bit before gaining confidence as she went on. And Wendy flawlessly joined in again when it was her cue.

Seulgi was pleasantly surprised by how nicely their voices blended and was excited to take her turn. She was starting to have some fun with this drama club stuff, though she wasn’t sure she wanted to admit that to Yeri just yet.

As they concluded harmoniously, Yeri and Seulgi clapped and Wendy pointed at Seulgi with her script. “Now it’s your turn!”

Seulgi shyly accepted the script and looked over the lines. She had been listening to the soundtrack when she had free time and had been working on the steps to the choreographies that she saw in the movie, but this was her first time practicing the songs out of the comfort of her own home.

She stood nervously, and so Irene stood as well to match.

“Once more, with feeling~” Wendy chorused, and Seulgi timidly began.

She didn’t quite have the confidence that Wendy had, but the girls still found her voice quite pretty despite stumbling over the words. Irene instinctively stepped closer as a form of support as she came in with Maria’s part once again, and tried to help Seulgi follow along.

But as the song went on, Seulgi felt better about her carriage and even began making the grand, dramatic gestures written in for Tony’s character.

Irene laughed and fell into character as well, mimicking Maria’s wide-eyed innocence and infatuation with the moment, and as the song concluded, she continued to read on through to the end of the scene.

“I cannot stay, go quickly!” Irene admonished.

“I am not afraid,” Seulgi said with enchanted bravado.

“They are strict with me, please!” Irene pleaded, speaking of her protective brother, Bernardo.

“Goodnight,” Seulgi concluded. “And then they-”

And then they kissed.