I stared at their cheerful faces as they shared flirting glances and if it wasn't for the burning feeling in my stomach, I'm sure I would have ended up second guessing if this was a nightmare. 

"Naeun" Someone calls out my name and I take my time to rip away the spiteful gaze and stare at the intruder of my thoughts "Can you help me get Jake into the car?" Jungwon is looking at me with a questioning look since I seemed to be the only other person sober enough to complete the task 

"Sure" I reply, setting my cup down on the first free space I see on the already filled dining table. Well, I guess I wasn't going to be coming back to that drink.

Jungwon leads me closer to the pair but not actually approaching the two as I begin to focus on the sleeping male slumped all over the couch as if he could sleep there for eternity.

We each sling an arm over our shoulders as his feet drag and Jungwon tries to shift the drunk man's weight by holding him tighter at the waist than I am. This helps as we grunt for each step towards the car out front

Throwing him into the back seat, he gets comfortable and I make sure to wrap the seatbelt over him before closing the door and making light steps back into the house with Jungwon leading the way 

"Round up everyone" He splits off from me once we enter and I purposely walk past the flirting couple that obviously are eye-ing each other for everyone to see. I make a straight shot to my childhood friend Jihoon situated in the kitchen to let him know that it's time to leave and he nods, the girl sticking her s in his face clearly not affecting his attention towards me.

I don't bother waiting to see if he's going to follow along and find another friend we had came here with. She was one of two people who knew my deepest and darkest secrets. The one person I knew I could trust with my life 

"Ryujin" I call out as she takes another big inhale of a lit joint, looking up at me as she blows the smoke out "We're heading out. Hurry it up before Jay abandons us" Ryujin doesn't care and insteads sticks the burning drug out to me. 

It takes about five seconds for temptation to get the better of me and I shrug thinking that it's not going to hurt in the long run as I take it away from her slim fingers and take too many puffs of the intoxicating substance. She smiles before passing it onto the next person and standing to follow me out 

The next two people on the list were none other than Niki and Yuna who were still stuck in the same position since I left. Much like the same old song you're tired of hearing on repeat over and over, all you wanna do is mute the song and hope to never come across it again. 

"Let's go" My order short and straight to the point without much care that they would get left behind if I hadn't said anything and though that option was definitely number one on my list, I couldn't stand the thought of those two complaining that no one let them know

"Okay!" Yuna smiles widely at me, already tagging along like a little puppy with Niki gravitating towards her.

When we're outside, the others are already packed in the mini-suv of Jay's car as he rolls down the passenger window to tell us "Take Jake's car to our house and just stay the night. We'll drop you guys off tomorrow morning" With no notice, he simply tosses the keys out the window and I quickly catch them with two hands, glaring at Jay who is smiling at me with affection

The rest of us move over to the smaller car with me driving, Jihoon in the front passenger seat, Ryujin, Niki and Yuna in the back. I curse under my breath when I see that Yuna had to sit in the middle which meant that everytime I glanced at the rear-view mirror, I had to also get a good look at her face. 

I would have tore out the plastic if it wasn't for the fact that this wasn't my car. 

The drive was pretty quiet with the sound of Jihoon's playlist constantly playing music and as I kept one hand on the steering wheel, I suddenly feel an urge to speak 

"I'm hungry." The statement is random and unlike me which I conclude that it's the aftereffects of smoking as the munchies creeped up on me unknowingly. Ryujin bursts out laughing as she leans over and grabs on my right shoulder, lightly gripping and shaking it 

"That's what drugs will do to you. I'm letting you know now that this will be the best meal of your life" Her words not filling my stomach up at all as I ponder if I should stop by a place to eat but a voice from directly behind me stops me from making a turn to the 24 hour fast food joint 

"I didn't know you smoked" He says and I shrug "I don't but I felt like it tonight" My reasoning simple but he still responds to my previous statement

"I'll cook when we get to my place. I'm hungry too" Not much emotion in his comment but I just agreed since I was in no mood to complain. Though it was quite generous knowing that he was not one to interact with me much

"Thanks Niki" 

------------------------

The next morning was not bad for me at all as some of the others groaned and whined about their lurching stomachs and throbbing headaches. Jake for one who was hands down the most hungover had to have about six trips to the bathroom to rid the stomach acid boiling away from all the alcohol and god knows what other things. 

"I can't function today." He complains, leaning back on the couch with his forearm covering his eyes and Sunoo simply coos at him like a mother "Go back to sleep and we'll wake you up for tonight" My eyebrows scrunch at the thought of partying another night in a row. After all, it took a lot of energy to always babysit the others who didn't know their limits 

"I'm going to sit out on this one," I say, gulping my bottled water stolen from Jihoon who is still soundly sleeping next to me on the air matress in the living room "I have an exam on Tuesday" Giving a probable excuse wasn't enough for them to beg me to go out but my answer was set in stone 

"Once I pass this last exam then I'll get accepted as a candidate pre-med resident at the hospital" With a lot at stake, I didn't have a choice but to focus and get my priorities straight even if that meant that my friends would give me a lot of for it

"Aren't you confident that you'll pass" Jay sneers out of jest but I shrug "When have I ever failed?" He has to ponder over my questions, trying to recall any moment where I had gotten lower than a 90 percent on any assignment or test 

"Wow I wish I could be like you Naeun" Yuna has big shiny eyes pointed at me with her hands clasped together, admiring me. 

As she should. 

"I guess I just don't need to hold anyone's hand to pass a class" My unamused stare pointed right at her as my words echoed between the four walls. We were all aware that Yuna had always taken any chance she got to beg others for help whether it was about not being prepared to take notes, forgetting about the assignment or depending on her partner for a group project. We all had been victims to her constant pleas hence the blunt comment.

Don't get me wrong, there are times when you need extra support to get through difficult concepts in class but because of her lack of self-awareness that burdened others, it made me truly understand how pitiful and empty that brain of hers really was. 

I still wonder to this day how she ended up attending college in the first place. 

"Don't be like that Naeun" Niki says with hard eyes but Yuna jumps in "She's just kidding Niki" The female forces out a chuckle and I immediately light up as if Yuna's ignorance rubbed off on me "Yeah Niki, I was just kidding" I say with the same tone and he rolls his eyes before looking away

I guess this was why we tried to not interact as much. 

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