One thing Haseul hadn't expected was for her and Vivi's time together at the bonfire to lead to more communication. 

I mean...of course, they didn't talk about what happened that night. Vivi probably forgot, or just didn't think it was a big deal, and definitely decided it was awkward to discuss, just like Haseul had. 

But they did communicate more, simply via text message. 

Apparently, Haseul's message to Vivi that night to ask her to come hang out had made it okay for them to text each other. Vivi didn't bombard her: usually, it was just a message once or twice a day about something funny she saw at the beach, or a link to a tiktok she liked, or a quick check up. Haseul was chill about it to (even if she absolutely didn't want either to have to be chill), and Haseul was quickly realizing her hatred of communication of any time went away easily when the person she was communicating with was Vivi.

Vivi even started dming Haseul instagram memes (yes, Haseul had an instagram, she'd never posted but it was still up). Yeojin, Heejin, and Hyunjin absolutely insisted it was a sign that Vivi was madly in love with her. Haseul of course didn't believe them, but...she felt that there was an inkling of truth to what they said. Sharing memes was a big deal. At the very least, it meant that Vivi liked her as a friend, and a close friend too. 

The quiet pings of her phone, the short vibration in her back pocket, the notification pop ups when she was watching youtube...each one brought her a little drop of joy Haseul could never have even considered existing before. 

See? Haseul thought to herself. Small moments of bravery can lead to big happiness....at least sometimes. 

But anyways....another day off, another day on her way to the beach. 

Her and Yeojin were walking down the quiet, empty road, the ever present noise of the waves crawling back and forth across the shore long faded into the background for them. Instead, Haseul's ears were pricked for the ding, the buzz, the clack of her phone. And Yeojin was looking at her, deadpan. 

"She's at work, Haseul." 

Haseul whimpered stupidly. "But- but-" 

"You mean a lot to Vivi. But not quite enough that she would look down at her phone and let some kid drown for you." 

"Ugh." 

"If this wasn't total progress from you, I would roast you until your brain fried." 

"You already do roast me until my brain fries! Every single day." 

"If you think this is roasting..." 

Yeojin stopped because the girls had arrived at the beach and Vivi was right there. Standing in front of them, at the very start of the sand, as if she'd been waiting, and desperately so. 

Immediately, she turned shy. The little tendrils of orange creamsicle hair that escaped her ponytail fell in front of her wide eyes, and she looked down at the sand. 

"H-hey." Yeojin snickered, and Haseul lightly kicked her ankle. 

"Hi!" Haseul answered a little too cheerfully...anything to make Vivi less uncomfortable. 

"Waiting long?" Yeojin teased. Haseul kicked her ankle again.

Vivi swallowed and sat up a little; as if giving herself the courage to not be embarrassed. "Not really. I got off of my shift just a second ago." 

"Oh good!" Haseul breathed a sigh of relief that Vivi wasn't ignoring her, both girls falling quiet, just looking at each other. 

My god is Vivi pretty...perfect, model like, delicate features that just draw you in until you can't escape-

"Should we sit?" Yeojin spoke slowly, as if to a child. Haseul blinked to cl ear her thoughts and Vivi cleared , and they both nodded. 

"Sounds good to me!" 

After Yeojin and Haseul took off their shoes they walked to their usual spot, the bright sand coming up between their toes, hot but not burning beneath their feet. Haseul laid down the sheet and Yeojin pulled out the multitudes of snacks, and the girls sat down. 

"Are you ready for more swimming lessons?" Vivi asked as she comfortably opened up a bag of frosted circus animals. 

"Are you ready for me to fail at treading again?" 

"No!" Vivi whined as Yeojin gave Haseul a look, grabbing a magazine out of her bag (was that an old issue of People? She must have stolen it from grandma...) "You're gonna do great, Haseul. I know this time you'll get it." 

Haseul took a deep breath. "We can't know if I'll do okay until I try, right?" Without waiting for an answer from Vivi she threw off her outer clothes and ran into the water, screaming a little when all her skin, even what was covered by her swimsuit, hit the cool water. 

"Wait for me!" Vivi called after her, laughing and racing into the water after her. Yeojin laughed at them herself from the shore, and Haseul swore she heard a final snicker from her before diving back into her magazine. 

But Haseul couldn't pay attention to her cousin for too long when Vivi was right beside her, giving her the brightest of smiles as Haseul could only shiver. Quickly Vivi dived under, pushing her hair back out of her eyes, straight out of a movie. Haseul could only stare. 

"Come on, just dunk. You're still shivering! I promise it helps." 

Haseul returned to reality and remembered that despite how horrible it seemed, Vivi was right about just getting her hair wet. 

"Ugh. You're right, you're right." 

Taking a deep breath, Haseul dived under and came back up as quickly as she could. For a moment Vivi was frozen as a statue, looking at her, before she turned back to reality. 

, she probably looked dumb as hell. Haseul pushed her hair back and tried to straighten it out, trying to get a look at herself in the water. 

"Ready to start?" Vivi asked. 

Not really. But it was just nice to be with Vivi. "Yup." 

"Do you remember treading?" Vivi asked gently, not any hint of a patronizing tone in her voice (despite Haseul feeling like maybe, she deserved it). 

"How could I forget?" 

Vivi chuckled and the girls waded out to where the water was a little deeper, where Haseul couldn't touch (but could just a foot or so over), where when they first started, she had to dog paddle so hard she splashed water everywhere just to stay afloat. 

And Vivi began to tread the water, just like she always did. 

And just like Vivi had taught her, Haseul began to tread to. 

And for once....it worked. 

For a few seconds, at least. Soon enough Haseul was sinking again and she was dog paddling to bring herself up but just for a few moments in time, it worked. 

When Vivi looked back at her it was like she'd never failed at all, smile blooming bright on her face, grabbing Haseul's arm without question to bring her back to the place where they could touch. 

"You did it!" She squealed, loud enough to draw attention from other beachwalkers but Haseul didn't give a single . 

"Only for a few seconds-" 

"But who cares! You did it Haseul. I told you that you could, I told you." And without a moment's question, she pulled Haseul into a hug. 

Frozen. The sixteen year old was simply frozen in Vivi's delicate limbs. She was soaked, saltwater dripping off her skin but Haseul could not find it in herself to care, wet strands of hair landing across her skin. 

It took a few too many moments for Haseul to come too, but then, it was easy. 

Oh yeah was she nervous, but she held Vivi back. 

I mean...it would be weird to hug someone and not hug them back, so Haseul had to, just to make sure Vivi didn't feel awkward. 

And, entirely selfishly, she'd been practically desperate for a Vivi hug basically since they met. Vivi didn't have to know it was more than just a hug to her. 

Vivi pulled away far too quickly for Haseul's liking, looking down at the water and clearing before sitting up straighter. Like she was coming back to reality, like she was collecting herself. 

It couldn't be, right? In Vivi's eyes, it could only be just a hug. 

"Ready to try again?" Vivi asked. 

This time, it wasn't a lie. "Absolutely." 

~~~~~~~~~~

For once, the swimming lessons had gone well. 

She had finally mastered treading. Finally! What she had only been able to do for a few seconds an hour ago, and not at all a couple weeks ago, she was totally capable of doing. It was ing amazing, all thanks to Vivi's gentle, patient teaching. 

And maybe, too, the little victory at the beginning. Maybe it was that little glimmer of hope, that push of something happening to make the whole thing actually follow through. Maybe that was what made Haseul finally able to tread. 

Just like with texting Vivi. That one invite to a party opened the door to daily texting, daily talking, all the communication that Haseul so desperately craved from her beautiful, beautiful crush. 

Maybe...that catalyst could do more. Maybe that something of communication could lead to the whole thing. Maybe, they were closer now. Close enough to hang out...or go on a date. Just, go somewhere different, just the two of them. 

No way. Vivi would always reject her.

As a lover, of course she would, Haseul countered inside her own mind. But as a friend? 

They were friends now. Haseul could confidently say that. And friends hung out all the time, just the two of them, together. It totally wasn't weird. 

Maybe...Haseul could ask Vivi on a date. A friend like date, where Haseul could pretend it was real as soon as she got home all the way until she fell asleep at night. 

She could do that. 

"I have to," Haseul mumbled out loud. "Before it's too late." 

Too late? 

Haseul felt her heart sink. The summer would end at some point. And maybe she was always regret not being Vivi's lover, but there was nothing she could do to change that. What she would really regret is not hanging out with Vivi, one on one, at least once. Even as friends and just friends. 

"What?" Vivi asked. 

The two girls had been emerging from the water after their lesson to go pig out on snacks (while Yeojin mercilessly teased them) when Haseul, as per usual, had gotten caught up in her thoughts and ing spoken them out loud. Thank god Vivi at least didn't hear what she said. 

Right. Vivi. Vivi who she one day, one soon day, won't be able to meet up with at the beach or see at her job. Vivi, who it didn't matter if she could or couldn't ask her to hang out. At this point, she had to. No matter what. 

"Vivi?" 

"Yeah?" Vivi's face fell, she looked concerned.  Haseul was being way too serious, , she had to calm down. 

She was asking her on a friend date, right? To hang out? That wouldn't be a big deal, right? So she has no reason to be nervous. 

Haseul took as unnoticable of a deep breath as she could, shifted her weight to one leg, and thought. 

"So, ya wanna chill sometime?" 

"Uh?" 

"Chill. Chillax." Haseul chuckled falsey, controlling her tone into almost uncomfortable neutrality. 

Vivi giggled a little but Haseul's nerves were thrumming so loud that she couldn't hear, couldn't really feel much else other than everything going on inside her head. 

"Like...hang out?" 

"Yup, my dude. Like...not here on the beach though. Or at Allison's. Just like...somewhere. You and me. Yeah. Chilling. Chillaxing." 

It was an immediate change. Vivi's confused expression morphed into a big smile immediately, the kind that reached all the way up to her eyes that made Haseul's weak heart ache more than it already did in that moment. 

"Yeah! Yeah, I...I'd really like that." 

"Really?" Haseul squealed before immediately gathering her self control back up. 

"Yeah. Of course I would." 

"How about....tomorrow evening?" 

"Like seven o'clock?" 

"Sounds perf, dude." 

"Should I eat before?" 

Wait...was that a date like question? Did you usually asks your dates this because it was a date and you might get dinner together? Or was it just a normal friend thing? Haseul didn't know. She didn't know anything about dates or even friends, really. 

"Nah," she finally answered. "Let's eat together, a nice dude meal." 

Vivi giggled again, but it was clearly a little giggle of joy, not of uncomfortableness. 

"That sounds so good to me." 

"So it's a date!" Haseul said a little too enthusiastically before immediately falling silent. 

Oh my god oh my god oh my god. 

After everything she had done to make it seem like this hangout with her and Vivi was just that, a hangout, between two friends who were just friends and would never be anything more than friends. The wording, the tone, the body language that Haseul had so tightly kept under her control to make this not weird, to not say anything more than what she was sure Vivi could return. All of that...gone. In just a second, just four simple words.

Slowly, Vivi smiled back at Haseul, a look in her eyes Haseul wasn't sure she had ever seen from her before. "Yeah. It is." 

Haseul just about ing died.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: sorry for late update....again. gah. more than two weeks since the last update this time. if you didn't tell me what loona fic you want me to write next in the comments of the last chapter, please tell me now! the options/more information is in the notes of last chapter (chapter sixteen, and there's a poll there too) anywayz, i hope you enjoyed! hopefully see yall soon.