Double update! 

Mark woke up the next morning with a frown.

Not the best of ways to wake up, no.

He was still confused from yesterday.

Maybe I should tell her how I feel about her. That would clear things up, wouldn’t it? Besides, she wouldn’t have kissed me if she didn’t mean it, right?

He ran a hand through his hair and had to stop himself from groaning out of frustration. It was funny how the thought of Youra of all people, was making him frustrated early in the morning.

He got out of bed and walked to the bathroom, looking into the mirror. There wasn’t really anything special about him, brown eyes, bleached blonde hair, features you would find on any guy.

What made him think Youra would like him back?

Years of friendship and hanging out with each other? Psh, that made it all the more easier for her to not like him like that. They were just friends.

He grabbed his toothbrush and squirted a bit of toothpaste on it before brushing his teeth. He was starting to get more and more insecure about his feelings. The idea that he may get rejected was slowly starting to set in.

What if it ruins our friendship?

What if it makes things awkward?

He stopped brushing.

Then maybe she will actually end up falling in love with Jackson.

He shook his head and continued brushing.

No, that won’t happen. Jackson wouldn’t let it happen.

He spit out the toothpaste and looked at himself in the mirror again.

If not now, then when?

You know Youra, better than almost anyone else. She would never make things awkward between the two of you. Besides, after yesterday, there’s a slight chance that she actually likes you back. You can’t give up so easily.

He rinsed out his mouth and nodded to himself.

Today was the day he finally came clean about his feelings.

-

Jackson groggily patted around his night stand for his phone which had been ringing incessantly for the last minute. He found it and put it to his ear, not bothering to see who it was.

“Hello?”

“Jackson? You’re awake, oh thank God. Liste-”

“Are you dying or on the verge of dying?”

“What? No. I-”

“Is your house on fire?”

“No! What are you talk-”

“Then, talk to ya later.” He was about to cut the call when he heard Mark’s voice again, this time much more urgent.

“Wait no, Jackson! Come on, help me out here.”

“What is it? It’s like,” He looked at the time on his phone. “10 o’clock, I had a late night, now let me sleep.”

“I’m going to tell Youra how I feel about her.”

Jackson snorted. “Yeah right, and I’m Neil Armstrong.”

“No, I’m serious! I’m walking over to her house right now so get your outside and give me a pep talk before I turn around.”

Jackson opened his eyes and immediately sat up. “Really? You’re really telling her?”

“Those are my intentions but I don’t know if I can do this.”

Jackson quickly got out of bed and ran downstairs, ignoring his parents who were wishing him good morning, and walked out the door. He spotted Mark a few paces away, opened his gate and walked to him.

“Woah,” Mark ran a hand through Jackson’s hair who quickly swatted it away.

“Woah indeed, I didn’t even get to brush because of you.” He grabbed his shoulders. “Now, are you sure you want to do this?”

“Weren’t you the one pressuring me to tell her a few days ago?”

“That was a few days ago. But are you really sure?”

Mark turned his head to Youra’s house and back at Jackson. “Yes.”

Jackson smiled and patted Mark’s back. “Then go get her tiger.”

“But what if,” Mark asked, looking at Youra’s house. “What if she says no?”

The look on Mark’s face was one that Jackson did not get to see often.

Mark was always the confident one.

Jackson was cocky, Youra was optimistic and Mark was confident.

It was very rare to see Mark shy away from something. It was like he always knew what he had to do and how to do it, so there was no point in hesitating.

He just did it.

But there were incredibly rare moments like now where Mark would falter in his step. He could see the goal right in front of him but unlike what he normally did, he would stand and look at the goal and could feel the worry set in. And if the worry set for too long, Mark would find it harder and harder to convince himself to accomplish something.

This was where Jackson came in.

Being the youngest and the cockiest of the three, it was often his job to give his friends that extra push they sometimes needed to move forward. He knew that if they put their mind to it, they could do anything, but he also knew that they occasionally needed to be reminded that someone had their backs, which was a job that Jackson found incredibly redeeming.

“But what if she says yes?” Jackson questioned. “What if she falls right into your arms?” He dodged Mark trying to hit his arm before grabbing Mark’s shoulders.

“On a serious note though, if you don’t tell her now, then when? When someone else comes and sweeps her off her feet? By then, it’ll obviously be too late. Now’s the time, Mark.” He pushed him off in the direction of her house. “Go get her.”

Mark stumbled before gaining his footing again. He looked back at Jackson who nodded at him before looking in front of him. He took a deep breath and continued walking.

Jackson was right, if he waited too long then he would lose his chance.

He opened the gate to her house and used his key to open the door.

“Youra? You up yet?” Mark shouted as he came inside, but there was no response. He closed the door behind him and thought about what to do.

Maybe he could come later?

Oh! He could make breakfast.

He walked to the kitchen and started looking through her pantry for the ingredients for French toast, another favourite of theirs. He grabbed all of them and a bowl and whisk before cracking eggs and whisking them with the sugar. He whizzed around the kitchen like that for a while, making breakfast before taking out plates.

It was weird how he knew where everything in her house was now.

He heard someone come down the stairs and smiled. He piled the toast on a plate and turned around.

“Youra hey, I-”

His eyes widened when he realised it wasn’t Youra that had come down.

It was her parents.

-

Youra woke up to noise from downstairs and frowned.

Who could be at her house now? At 10 o’clock in the morning?

She ruffled her hair before walking to the stairs and peeping to see who was making noise. She froze when she saw her parents standing with Mark, looking at her.

Why was he holding a plate of food?

“Mom? Dad? When did you guys get home?”

Mark coughed and looked away from Youra while her mom stared at her.

“What’s g-”

“Youra, go put on some pants for God’s sake!”

Youra’s eyes widened when she realised she had gone to sleep only in a sweatshirt. She quickly turned around and ran back upstairs.

She banged her head on her door and scrunched her eyes closed.

God, how embarrassing.

Her eyes shot open when she realised Mark was still downstairs.

Mark with food + Pantless Youra…

Oh my God.

She quickly threw on some pants and ran back downstairs to where her parents were awkwardly standing around, with Mark nowhere in sight.

He probably went home out of embarrassment.

“Mom, dad, I can explain.” She started slowly.

Her mom tapped her foot against the ground impatiently and crossed her arms. “Oh, you better start explaining.”

-

Meanwhile, Jackson was dying of laughter as Mark grumbled and was resisting the urge to choke him.

“Oh my God, I totally forgot about her parents!” Jackson clutched his stomach and wiped away a tear. “And you had a key! This is better than any sitcom!”

Mark shoved him away from him and face palmed.

This was so not how he had planned for things to go.

Jackson’s laugh faded to bated breaths before he looked at Mark. “Okay, so tell me what happened again. I was too busy laughing after hearing you saw her parents.”

“I opened the door with my key and figuring that she was still asleep, I went to her kitchen to make breakfast. After making breakfast, I heard someone coming down the stairs and naturally assumed it was Youra. When I turned around, it was her parents.” Jackson laughed but quickly stopped on noticing Mark glare at him.

“Needless to say, it didn’t really look like the best of situations. I awkwardly said hi and after a long silence, her mom asked me if we were staying together after they were gone.” He groaned and covered his eyes. “It was so embarrassing, and then Youra came downstairs wearing no pants.”

“What? You didn’t tell me that!” He burst out into laughter again. “Oh my God, they are never letting you in their house again! They’ll probably change the locks or something.”

“Would you shut up already?” He grumbled while uncovering his eyes.

“I can’t believe I woke up at 10 o’clock for this man. I was so excited for you.” Jackson whined. “I didn’t even brush my teeth! I mean I did now, but like then.”

Mark sighed and got up, feeling completely dejected even though he hadn’t even told her anything. “I’m going home and most likely never coming out again.”

Jackson got up and patted his shoulder. “You can try again some other time, not like this means you should give up.”

He shook his head. “My brain hurts, I’m going home. Bye.”

Jackson chuckled, he felt bad for Mark but at the same time found the situation absolutely hilarious.

His best friends were going to have so much fun narrating their love story to their children, he just knew it.

-

“So you two weren’t staying together while we were gone.” Youra’s mom stated, even though she sounded unconvinced. “Then how did he get in?”

“Mark and Jackson both have keys. They got them because they were worried about me staying at home alone.” Youra explained to her parents.

“So they just come in whenever they want? That’s not very safe, and who allowed you to give them copies of our house key like that?”

“Ji-eun, that’s not the point.” Youra’s dad looked at Youra and she had to stop herself from wincing. “What I wanna know is, why was Mark making breakfast if you two weren’t staying together?”

“I have no idea! I had literally just woken up when I came by the stairs. I woke up when I heard you guys talking. You didn’t tell me you were coming back.”

“Your father got early tickets back, we figured we had been gone long enough. And we were right.” Her mom hit her arm, making her wince. “How many times have I told you to wear pants when you go to sleep? Is that how you roam around the house with them over?”

“No! It was an honest mistake, I didn’t mean to.”

Her parents looked at each other before looking back at her. “Alright, we trust you. But just tell the boys to use the keys only when it’s an emergency now that we’re home, ok?”

Youra nodded before taking a slice of French toast and walking upstairs.

-