YooA waited patiently in the lobby of the school, hand tucked under her chin as she leaned lazily into the support, other hand mindlessly scrolling through her phone. Her phone suddenly pinged with another notification, but as she jolted forward to grasp the phone with both hands, she just as quickly sat back and sighed. She checked the time.

7:40.

YooA frowned. When Seulgi said to meet her for a late date, YooA hadn't thought she meant this late. It was a school night, and YooA hadn't finished as much of her homework as she'd like, earlier reasoning to herself that she would have time to finish it once she got home. At this point, however, YooA was thinking that she'd very much regret not doing more of her homework. But Seulgi... Well, it was worth it for Seulgi—if she'd show up. YooA's phone pinged once more, this time a phone call, and yet again Seulgi's name failed to appear.

"YooA? You said you'd text when you left school. Are you still there? I thought your date was at 7:30?"

"Hi, Hyojung. It was..."

"Oh, YooA. She didn't even text you or anything?"

"No, but I'm sure she has a reason—"

"Still, a text isn't that hard to send. Any other day, any other person, maybe I'd think she does have an excuse, but you know how she's been making you feel lately with how close she and Irene have been. You tell us all the time how Irene is pretty much boring a hole in the back of your head 24/7!"

"I know I said that, but I'm probably just imagining things, Hyojung. They're really close friends, they've known each other for a while, and Irene just seems... I don't know. Really protective, I guess. Even if there was something up, Seulgi wouldn't do anything like that to me."

"But would Irene? Protective or not, if you had any hint at all that she might be up to something, I wouldn't ignore it. It's your gut feeling, YooA. I don't think you'd just make these things up on a whim."

"Irene and I have our differences, but she doesn't seem like one to do anything either... Not seriously. She seems like she holds back a little too much, if we're being honest. I don't know what she's thinking, hiding, whenever she looks at me. She seems like she's trying, like, figure me out? I don't even know."

"Maybe you should talk to Seulgi about it. Irene might matter to her, but you matter, too. You're dating!"

"I don't even know what I'd talk to her about exactly. 'Hey, Seul, I think your friend hates me! Also, the amount of time you spend together makes me uncomfortable! She makes me uncomfortable!' Like, what am I supposed to say? If you dated someone and they told you these things about me, how would you feel?"

"Okay, okay. I see your point. Even so, communication is important. Maybe just ask her if Irene likes you. Put a feeler out there, you know?"

"I... You're right. I should talk to her about it. All this suspicion is driving me crazy. I feel like I'm crazy. We can't function like this." YooA pulled the phone away to glance at the time.

7:50.

"Hyojung, I have to go. Seulgi's running pretty late, I should check around."

"Okay. Take care. Love you."

"Love you, too. Bye!"

"Bye!"

YooA tucked the phone away in her bag and stood up from the table, stretching her arms out before heading down the hall. Where could she even check? Where would Seulgi be, held up for twenty minutes? YooA stopped to look around. There were a few kids walking far down the hall, probably headed home. It felt like everyone had gone home, except for her.

And Irene?

YooA snorted. As if. She was just being paranoid. Hyojung had made some points, though. Lately, YooA had been having a lot of doubts about Irene and her intentions. She didn't really know what they were, but she just had this strong feeling that Irene liked Seulgi, which made her feel even more crazy, because Irene had just broken up with Bo Gum, and she'd been giving YooA looks since before the breakup. Plus, wasn't Irene supposed to be straight? YooA guessed there was the possibility that she wasn't, but maybe she was, which would make YooA even more crazy.

YooA swore she was going to take a nice, long, hot bath after this. Screw sleep. She was too stressed to sleep.

Seulgi yawned and stretched her arms out as far as she could, the satisfying sensation running down through her fingers and down to her toes. There was something warm against her body. It felt nice. She opened her eyes and saw Irene sleeping against her chest with an arm laying across Seulgi's stomach. Irene's fingertips pressed into Seulgi's side, holding her close. Seulgi smiled fondly at the sight and moved a hand to  Irene's hair. It felt silky and soft and slipped smoothly between her fingers like honey.

Seulgi didn't want to do work. She just wanted to stay on the couch, napping comfortably with her Irene.

Seulgi tried to reach for her phone without waking Irene, inching her hand between their bodies to dip into her pocket. She yanked the phone free at last only to see a dozen notifications all from—

"YooA," Seulgi said under her breath. . ", , , , . . . Irene? , Irene, wake up."

"Hmm?" Irene stirred quietly and removed herself from Seulgi, who scrunched her nose discontentedly at the sudden lack of warmth but quickly focused.

"Irene, I have to go. I'm sorry. I... , I overslept. I have to meet YooA. ."

"Seulgi, you can tell her you overslept. It was an honest mistake."

Yeah, sure...

"," Seulgi sighed and inhaled sharply through her nose. "I have to go."

YooA.

"Seul..."

"I gotta go," Seulgi said distractedly, messily stuffing her things into her bag. "I just don't want to let YooA down, alright? I—I'll see you later."

"Okay. Bye, Seul—" the girl had already disappeared out the door, "—gi."

Irene sighed and smacked a hand to her forehead. She couldn't believe she'd managed to mess up Seulgi and YooA, and it wasn't even on purpose! It was like her inner desire to be with Seulgi was taking over subconsciously. She knew she was lying to herself when she wanted to support Seulgi and YooA's relationship. She wanted Seulgi for herself, but she also just wanted to be a better friend. Seulgi deserved that much, at least, didn't she? Even then, Irene secretly felt content remembering how it felt to wake up against her crush, knowing that Seulgi chose her over her girlfriend, even if accidentally.

Irene liked it. She relished in it. She didn't regret it. Not fully, anyway.

Seulgi rushed down the hall and tapped frantically at her phone.

"YooA? YooA, baby, I'm so sorry. I accidentally fell asleep while studying, but I'm on the way now. Where are you?"

"It's okay, Seul. I'm in the lobby. Just hurry to meet me, okay?"

"One minute. I'm almost there."

Seulgi ran like hell, bookbag bumping against her arm as the one strap slung over her shoulder began sliding down.

"YooA! YooA, baby. I am so, so, sorry."

YooA smiled softly as she caressed Seulgi's cheek. Seulgi's eyes fluttered shut as she leaned into the touch, holding YooA's hand in her own.

"Seul, it's okay. Seul?"

"I'm so sorry..."

YooA brushed away the tears that had begun rolling down Seulgi's cheeks. "Seulgi, babe, come here."

"Sorry..."

Seulgi cried quietly into YooA's shoulder, grabbing for her hand. YooA, in turn, gave her hand a squeeze before wrapping her arms around Seulgi and holding her tight. YooA was taken aback by the sudden outburst of emotion. Her heart felt like it had cracked in two. Seulgi seemed so distraught, and for what? Oversleeping? YooA wanted to hold Seulgi and never let go, whispering comforts into her ear until the crack of dawn.

"Shh, I forgive you. It's okay. You only overslept a bit. Of course I forgive you, Seul. Let's go get some ice cream or something. You'll feel better, babe."

Right, I only overslept. Right...

"Okay..."

YooA thought Seulgi felt guilty just over being late, when really, deep down, just like Irene, Seulgi knew she had no regrets, and it killed her. She chose Irene over YooA, and almost wished she could've stayed longer. Why wouldn't she feel guilty?

Seulgi ran her thumb over the back of YooA's hand as their fingers intertwined. Maybe her relationship with her friend and her relationship with her girlfriend couldn't coexist any longer. Seulgi gripped YooA's hand tightly, pushing down the intrusive thoughts and a little scared to think deeper into what she is trying to hold on to.

"And that's the last of college applications!" Irene pressed the submit button and sighed happily before flopping back onto the bed. Finally. Wendy looked up from her spot on the floor next to a sprawled out Joy who tapped mindlessly on her phone.

"Congrats, unnie!" Yeri squealed in delight and jumped on the bed. She threw her arms around Irene, who smiled tiredly in return. "Now you can finally stop stressing about college and instead focus only the stress of high school."

And feelings, Irene thought to herself. Ugh.

Irene returned Yeri's hug before nestling back into her pillows.

"Wendy unnie finished hers last week," Joy cut in, eyes still glued to her phone.

Wendy rolled her eyes with an amused look. "I had some extra time on my hands. Irene's been running on fumes with how busy she's been and still managed to get the last of her applications in a day early."

"Actually the last one is due today... Got the date wrong," said Irene sheepishly, as she let out a big sigh of relief. "Guess it just slipped my mind or something so thank god I decided I was going to finish today. You're so lucky you got this done early."

Wendy grinned as Irene scrunched her face. "Yeah, maybe a bit."

"Oh, whatever," cut in Joy, who had finally taken her eyes away from her phone. She took to smoothening out Irene's face with one hand, phone still in the other, as Irene sputtered. "This is a huge accomplishment, and I'm proud of you, unnie! Wendy's right with how much you've been stressing lately. Now this is one less thing on your plate." Joy brought her phone up excitedly. "And now that I have all of your attention, what do you think about this skirt?"

"The only thing on it is a gigantic wolf face."

"Well, glad to know you aren't blind, Yerim. I'm obviously joking!"

"And you obviously are just saying that now that Wendy is making a face!"

"It could be camp, and I think that Sungjae might even like it on me!"

"Then why aren't you asking Sungjae, huh?!"

The two argued as Wendy sighed and reached forward to pry them apart. "Can we have just five minutes to celebrate Irene? She's just finished applying to college, for crying out loud!"

Yeri froze, fingers pinching Joy's cheek. Joy took the opportunity to shove Yeri off and rub at the now red spot. "Ow!" She shot a pointed look at Yeri, who just pouted. "Anyway, you're right. We should totally celebrate? What should we do?"

"Call Seulgi?" 

"Ha, ha, ha." Irene forgot that Wendy, dearest holder of her secret, was not the only one in the room and just ignored the strange look from Joy.

"I think she went out with YooA today, but maybe she's free by now?" Wendy took out her phone. "I'll text her."

"Didn't they go out just yesterday? Man, they're spending a lot of time together." Joy wiggled her eyebrows.

"Like you can talk. You spend a lot of time with Sungjae, don't you?"

"Not anymore."

"What?"

"Not to put a dampener on everything, but things are not going that smoothly right now. Anyway, where were we on deciding how to celebrate Irene?"

"Joy, do you want to talk about—"

"Not now, Yeri. I... Maybe another time. Seriously, are we getting Seulgi or what?"

Yeri kept shut and resigned to making a concerned face.

"Looks like they're still out, but she says she can probably join us later. Let's go eat something, our treat," Wendy shushed Joy's protest before it could begin with a wave of her hand, "and o