The breeze of the night was chilling. As the wind hit your face you could feel the chill run down your entire body. It wasn’t usually this cold, especially during this time of the year. But for some reason it just happened to be this way tonight.

Despite the cold it was peaceful. The stars twinkled brightly above you and the street lamps lined along the streets created a nice ambience.

Thankfully the sky was clear enough to even view the stars. The extra light from them and the overly lit moon made the trek home that much more visible.

It was well past midnight but the thought of anything happening to you on the way home didn’t even faze you. Sure it could be dangerous for anyone traveling by foot at this time of night. But it didn’t seem to bother you much.

At this point it was such a reocurring thing. It seemed like this had become the usual Friday night ritual. This path, etched into your brain. Short cut through the forest that edged the park, cut through the school field then take the back path along the hill to the left, eventually leading to the curbs and turns of the neighborhood you lived in. 

Maybe it was complicated, certainly anyone following that advice would get lost but you’d done this so often it was impossible for you to forget now. It could be done even if you were drunk. Which you were. Not to mention you were also dragging along an extra body on your back.

She had long legs and could easily walk herself home but she used those big eyes of hers to talk you into carrying her drunk back with you, again.

Her blonde hair caught the wind and it blew in your face, tickling your nose. She didn’t care to notice your drunken self struggling to keep her on your back. Your hands gripped her thighs tightly, desperately trying to keep her from sliding off. You stopped briefly to pop her up since she had started to slide down. She barely noticed.

“You know, you have legs right?” You don’t know how or why but you find yourself in this position after every party. 

“Mmhmm.” Was all Jiho said in response.

“Why don’t you make my life a little easier by using them.”

“I can’t- “ she nuzzles her head into your neck. “- I’m drunk.”

“What’s the point of having long legs if you don’t use them.”

“What’s the point of having you if you don’t carry me home.”

Her hot breath hitting your neck contrasted the cold air hitting the rest of you. Your body acted as a barrier for her, shielding her from the stinging air. “And this is the thanks I get.” You scoff out loud, pretending to be hurt by her words. “I carry your heavy on my back for miles and miles. And on top of that I offer my home to you for the night. Tsk tsk. I suppose I should just let go and let you fend for yourself the rest of the way.” 

Her grip around your neck tightens, slightly choking you. “Oh shut up! You love me too much for that.”

“If I disagree are you gonna choke me out!” You say as you let out a cough. She realizes that her hold on you tightened too much to the point of discomfort for you. Quickly, she lets her arms around you loosen their hold, allowing you to breath normal again.

You were close to clearing the forest path along the edge of the park by now when you stumbled catching a rock that threw your balance off. 

“Oh…oh okay got it.” You dramatically stopped standing still. Arms out in front of you as you regain your balance. 

“Congratulations! Now keep going...Go!” She points forward.

You shook your head listening to the demands of the girl on your back. She was lucky she had you. No one else at the party was gonna take her home or make sure she had a way back. Aside from the usually bunch of suitors chasing after her. Those jerks irritated you. Every party included a line of people trying their hardest to get her attention. None of them were worth it, all of them only looking for a quick . This is also probably the reason why your not quite as drunk as she is, you needed to be sober enough to fend off any unwanted people hitting on her. You know she was grateful to have you there, even if she never said it directly to you. You were her safety net ready to catch her whenever she needed you.

She wasn’t as heavy as you made it seem though. In fact she was very light. In a way it made you feel good having her want you to carry her, like you knew she needed you. Who doesn’t like feeling needed?

Her drunken self finally seemed to be more awake as you could feel her lift her head off your shoulder. “How are we not there yet?” You could see her head glancing around you, trying to figure out exactly where you two were.

“Well if you want to switch roles and carry me, we can see just how fast you are making the trek back!”

“Nooo! Your doing just fine.”

You finally made it to the high school football field, which meant you were at the half way point. As you entered through one side, getting you and Jiho through the gate, you could feel how comfortable she was. Too comfortable. You knew you had to do something about that. As you made your way onto the grass you picked up your breathing. Dramatically taking bigger breaths. “Too far...can’t make it” your legs started to take bigger steps followed by your body starting to slump over. 

You could feel her shifting on your back as she felt you getting lower and lower. “What are you doing?”

“Oh no...I’m falling.”

As soon as you said the words you collapsed onto the grass. Falling forward slowly enough so Jiho didn’t get hurt but enough so she was slung off you. You rolled onto your back taking a huge breath of air. “That’s better.” You tried to hold in a laugh as you looked over to the girl that rolled off your back landing in the grass. She was already glaring at you. But even if she tried to be mad at you she couldn’t help but notice the grin on your face holding back your laughter. 

“What are you doing way over there!” You managed to get out before the laughter erupted from her. “Y/N!” She yelled at you before you finally joined in laughing with her.

Her laugh was contagious. It wasn’t like how the other girls in your grade laughed. It was distinct. Purely Jiho! Even on your worst day hearing her laugh with that smile on her face made everything better. 

She stretched her arms out in front of her and laid her head down. “The ground is sooo cold! I hope your happy! I’m gonna freeze because of you.”

You let out the last bits of laughter you had. “Oh I’m very happy.” You opened up your arms motioning for her. “Come over here!”

She rolled into your embrace snaking her arms between your shirt and your jacket, trying to up every ounce of warmth she could. Luckily for her you had a naturally warm body temperature. 

“How are you so warm right now?” She tried getting even closer to you, which was impossible since she was already pressed up against you. She was close enough to smell the perfume you wore radiate off you. It was one her favorite smells, kind of intoxicating in a way. She wasn’t sure if she just really loves the perfume or if she loved when you wore it specifically.

You wrapped your right arm around her back, giving her more warmth. “Well you know I’ve been told I’m pretty hot...so.”

She lightly hit your side which made you chuckle. You continued to lay on your back, the stars catching you attention as they glistened in the sky above you. Now was your chance to really take in the view.

There was millions of them. Just there. It left you in awe thinking about just how big the universe was. 

“What are you looking at?”

Jiho brought you back down to earth, cutting your thoughts as you turned to look at her. Both your faces inches away from each other. Your eyes subtly looking at her with such detail.  

“Y/N?”

“Hmm.” You hum in response, realizing you stared at her longer than you intended. 

“I mean I know I’m pretty, but you don’t have to be that obvious!” She said as she started batting her eyelashes at you. You rolled your eyes at her before you pushed her off you. This resulted in the girl letting out her infamous laugh again. 

“Okay....Jiho, whatever you say.”

“I knew it! I knew you couldn’t get enough of me.” She teased you while flipping her hair. “You love me!!!” She said in the most sarcastic manner she could while also sticking her tongue out at you.

This banter was something you both did all the time. All your friends would swear that you two were meant for each other, like soulmates. It was to that point where you could finish each others’ sentences or know what the other was thinking just by the look on your faces. It drove people crazy, especially people dating you or wanting to date you. 

She continued to mock you which you couldn’t take any longer so you got up and ran at her, which resulted in her jumping up faster than you could breath and quickly darting across the field. 

“Oh. So slow!” For someone that was suppose to be drunk, her balance and quirky self seemed to be doing just fine. “Are you sure you play basketball? Isn’t running like the point of the game?” She continued to poke fun at you. 

Just when you thought you had her, she was quick on her feet and escaped your grasp. 

This time the alcohol seemed to be getting to you as your energy level started to drop followed by the inability to breath normal. Maybe it was just the cold air hitting your lungs. You stopped and leaned over, hands on your knees as you needed a second to let the air come back to you. 

Jiho stopped prancing around the field as she saw you actually struggling to chase her. “Y/N are you okay?” Bits of genuine concern in her voice. She made her way from the other side of the field to you. As soon as she was close enough you lifted your head with a smirk plastered on your face. She saw just before she reached you. “You cheater!” Before she could run off you finally engulfed her in your arms, but her determination to free herself was still there. Instead of breaking out of your hold she ended up falling back with you landing above her.

She quietly laid beneath you as you hovered over her. Neither one of you saying a word. Her chest was moving up and down rapidly. She looked into your eyes, which had a look she was sure she’s never seen before. 

You heart started to race as you saw the position the two of you were in. You could feel her looking into your eyes. For some reason you found yourself unable to look away. Her big eyes had a hold on you, one you didn’t want to get out of.

She her lips as her eyes trailed from yours eyes to your lips. Not even conscious of her own actions. Her hands gripped the neckline of your shirt and slowly pulled you down. 

You didn’t resist. Instead you let her. Both your lips almost touching.

“WHO’S THERE?”

Both of you shot up, fast. The loud voice scaring the daylights out of you. 

Towards the school the faint light of a flashlight could be seen flashing in your direction. The stupid night guard must be making his rounds around the school grounds. 

As fast as the both of you could, you ran for the exit. 

Neither you or Jiho stopped until you were sure you were a far enough distance away from the school. 

You found that you had strayed away from the usual path home, a slight mishap while escaping the guard. He wasn’t actually a threat. Too far away to have identified you or Jiho. The both of you could have stayed put longer to toy with him a bit since he had to get through the gate closest to him and run half the field before he could even have a chance at catching you two.  Not a very fit guy to begin with, you wondered what the point of him being there even was. 

“He’s not gonna chase after us right?” Jiho asked. 

“Not a chance. No way he could catch us even if he tried!”

“Well he did catch us in a way. He saw us on the field...” Her arms wrapped themselves around her body nervously.

Your eyes widened a bit by her statement. “Ye-yeah...but’s it a not like we were doing anything.” You stuttered. Your chest tightened a bit. You weren’t doing anything besides joking around. You always joked around. And it’s not like anything else was going to happen anyway. It was all harmless fun. 

“Right.” Was all she said. Stern with no sarcasm. 

The rest of the walk was quiet. A strange quiet. She walked along side of you as you both kept a somewhat comfortable distance. Your hands were in your pockets and hers were still wrapped around herself. 

“Cold?”

She pursed her lips into a pout. “A little.”

You took off your jacket and handed it over. “No, Y/N it’s fine. I’m-“ You placed the jacket around her shoulders before she could finish her rebuttal. “Now your gonna get cold.” 

You shrugged. “I’m hot remember. I think I can manage. You on the other hand...” The look on you face accompanying that last remark said all you needed it to.

“Well you wouldn’t have to worry if we could get to your house already.” She looked around, not recognizing the street or the houses. “Tell me were not lost.”

“Okay. Were not lost.” 

You weren’t lost. You just weren’t in the right area. The good thing is you left the field in the right direction. The adrenaline from the frantic interruption must have skewed your brain, resulting in you taking the long way back home instead.

It took longer than it should have. What should have been a quick 20 minute walk ended up taking you longer and you didn’t get home til close to 2.

Slowly, the two of you crept pass the front of your house, making your way up the side of the garage. You dipped below your parents window, making as little sound as possible. Once in the backyard, Jiho made a beeline straight for your window, wanting to get out of the cold. The window creaked a little, but worked in your favor providing enough room for you and Jiho to slide in.

As you locked the window, the warmth of the house eased your trembling nerves. 

Jiho fell back onto your bed. “I’ve never felt so happy to be inside.”

You gave a her small smile. She sat up on your bed, looking in your direction. “Can I borrow some clothes to sleep in.”

“Since when do you ask?” You said as you kicked off your shoes and threw your jacket onto your desk chair. 

“Your right.” She got up and rummaged through your dresser until she found the clothes she wanted. 

You stretched your arms and twisted your side until you successfully cracked your back. “You want something to dri-“ 

Your attention was stopped as you turned to see Jiho taking off her shirt and sliding her shorts down. 

She’s undressed in front of you hundreds of times. In fact she had done this every Friday night, every time you left a party together. It’s something that was so commonplace. You’ve seen her without clothes and vice versa. So why was this time different. Why did your cheeks feel like they were burning? And why did it seem like someone started a fire inside your chest? 

You quickly turned around. Panicking. 

She finished putting on a pair of your pajama bottoms and a loose fitting shirt. “Did you say something?”

“I-I was just wondering if you were thirsty?”

Her eyes widened. “ I am! I’m gonna make some tea.” She exited your room quietly making her way to the kitchen. 

She was very comfortable in your home. Even if she ended up waking up your parents, they wouldn’t be shocked to find her here. 

You took this chance to quickly change out of your clothes into something more comfortable. For some reason you wanted to make sure she wouldn’t be in the room when you did so. You grabbed your clothes off the floor to put into your laundry basket and could feel the blush creep back onto your cheeks as you remembered seeing her undress. It was beginning to bother you, that something about this night had been off. Now that you thought about it, there were multiple things that were different since the night started.

You knew you had a naturally flirty attitude and everyone that knew you accepted that as part of your personality. It wasn’t uncommon for you to flirt with girls from your school especially while out at a party. Occasional hook ups happened every now and then, but you still always came back home with Jiho. And like wise. If she was interested in someone, it wouldn’t bother you, she did whatever and at the end of the night she’d go home with you. You were best friends, well known to the entire school and you both had this routine developed.

You didn’t think much about it earlier, but the people that hovered around her did seem to irritate you more tonight than it usually did. And when you were chatting up Sana at the party, Jiho seemed a bit more clingy than usual, not giving you a moment to yourself. Maybe you were over analyzing something that didn’t need to be analyzed. But these little thoughts started to flood your head. 

Jiho stood in the kitchen with the lights off not wanting to wake your parents. She had two mugs out on the counter with tea bags, waiting for the water to finish heating up. She couldn’t shake the thoughts of you from her head. She kept replaying the look in your eyes. You looked at her differently while you were in the field and it made her feel something she couldn’t put a word to. She was also silently scolding herself for grabbing your shirt and pulling you toward her. She didn’t know what she was thinking. That entire moment at the field kept replaying like she watching reruns of her favorite episode of friends. 

What exactly had the guard caught you two doing? Were you both just harmlessly playing around like you always did or was something else about to happen. 

The water finished heating up and she poured the water into the mugs letting the tea bags do their job. She added honey to hers and a little bit of sugar for you since you liked your tea that way.

She walked back to your room, with the mugs in her hands. You grabbed the mug she held out for you. 

“Can we watch a movie? I’m not very tired.”

You took a sip, making sure to be careful so you didn’t burn your tongue again like you did the last time.

“You pick then.”

She turned your tv on and searched thru Netflix to find something. Eventually, some random rom-com came on. Setting the mug on the side table next to the bed, you grabbed the blanket that was at the foot of the bed and threw it around the both of you.

“Your not still cold are you?” 

“I won’t be for very long. Thanks.”

She sat closer to you so she could wrap the end of the blanket all the way around her. The two of you leaned against the headboard. She placed her head against your shoulder, like she would usually do. This was one of her favorite parts of the night. 

Sure going out with her other friends was fun. But at the end of it all she’d prefer this over everything else. She wasn’t one to be too sentimental but she couldn’t deny that there was something special about ending up in your embrace at the end of the night. 

She looked up at you. Your eyes focused on the tv, so engrossed in the plot of the story. She could care less, she honestly just didn’t want there to be any awkwardness even if it was still there beneath the scope. 

There was no easy ways to bring it up but she wanted to talk about what happened. Something in her gut told her she needed to know if you were really going to kiss her. But she was scared. Scared to hear your answer. To hear you say no you weren’t going to kiss her or worse that you were. It was these thoughts that kept her from engaging in the silly rom-com she chose.

“Y/N.”

You were too busy watching the scene in the show unfold for you to notice she was calling your name. The characters were in a classic push and pull scenario. Neither one wanting to admit to the other that they actually had feelings for each other, when it was painfully obvious to the viewers. As an audience member you wanted to shout at them, so they could stop making excuses for themselves and look past their egos to just be with each other.

“Y/N.” 

Again she called your name. Truthfully she would prefer if you continued to ignore her. At least this way she could use it as an excuse to avoid the conversation she was so adamant on having. She didn’t know why she even opened . Clearly her head and were operating on different wavelengths. 

Suddenly you turned toward her.

“Jiho.”

Instead of answering you. The both of you were caught locked in each other’s gazes again. 

She saw it this time. That same look in your eyes as before. It wasn’t lust, no it was love. That’s what was so mysterious about them. You told each other you loved each other all the time. Matter of fact you both did. Every time those words came out of either of your mouths, you meant it. But of course you had meant it in a different way...right? Or had it always been there lingering inbetween all the things you did. 

You don’t remember why you called her name, but the second her eyes locked onto yours, all other thoughts vanished. Her eyes were beautiful. It was one of her most distinguishable features. How could you not have noticed how mesmerizing they were. You broke eye contact so you could look at the rest of her. 

The blonde hair framed her nicely, flowing past her shoulders. It had been done up for the party earlier but now it was just the right amount of wavy, a look you were growing fond of. Her lips, were plump and a shade of pink that matched her perfectly. 

You didn’t need her to grab your shirt this time, because you started to lean in on your own. You needed to taste her lips, they were drawing you in. Just before your lips could touch you felt a hand on your chest preventing you from moving in further. 

“Wait.”

She knows she wanted you to kiss her but she went from being scared to terrified the closer you got. Would a kiss simply be a kiss, or would it mean more than that. She wanted it to be more than just a kiss but she didn’t want to lose the best friend she had in you. Her heart and head started a war that she couldn’t handle.

“What’s gonna happen if we kiss.” She finally let out the words she’s been wanting to ask.

“I don’t know. All I know is I want to kiss you right now.”

She gave you a knowing look. “Oh. So you want to kiss me?” 

“And you don’t?”

“No. I do. Ju-just tell me things will be okay after we do.” Unbeknown to her you had slowly continued to inch forward until your lips finally connected. 

She shuttered at the sudden contact but soon reciprocated the kiss. It was soft, slow, and gentle. 

The way your lips molded together felt right. You moved rhythmically with each other as if it had always meant to be. Your hand found its way up to her hips and rested there on her side. Her hand came up cupping your chin as the kiss slowly intensified. 

You broke apart, moving back to regain some air. Everything felt rapid. Your chest was heaving up and down as did hers. Your stomach was doing somersaults as she felt nothing but butterflies fluttering throughout her body. 

And that was it. No words needed to be said. The look in both your eyes this time told you all you needed to know.