"Jae! Come on, we have to hurry!" 

"Hurry where?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at Hyeri.

She looked at me, dumbfounded. "My house, duh." 

Still not catching on, I asked, "Why?" 

She shook her head at me, whacking me on the shoulder. "Today's Friday. You have a date with the love of your life-"

"Excuse me, first he's my friend, second it's a hangout with thirteen other people. I barely consider it a romantic date."

"Yeah, well, let a girl hope. We need to get you home to dress you up!" 

I stared at her with large eyes. "You. Are. Not. Serious."

The last time we played Dress Up with Hyeri, I ended up in fashion way beyond my territory. I mean, really, I'm a lazy person so I tend to be attracted to comfy and casual, while Hyeri, my socialble counterpart, breathes beautiful and delicate, popular clothing. But one glare from Hyeri and I knew I'll never make it out of this event alive without her support. 

“Okay, fine, but it has to be considerate clothing. Appropriate for the weather and event. Alright?”

She nodded cutely, her beach wave hair flouncing innocently. As if.

“Kwon Hyeri….” I groaned, upon looking at my reflection. We were in her bedroom in the girliest scenario possible. Her beanbag chairs settled in the corner of her carpeted room, we had a bowl of sea salt chips in front of us, two cups of chai latte, and her bed was blanketed with rejected outfits.

“Aww, you look sooo cute!” she crooned at me, trying to get me to change my mind about the outfit.

“If by cute you mean really desperate, I agree,” I rolled my eyes.

She quickly glanced at her bed, at the clock, then at her victim, yours truly. “No time, Jae. Date in an hour!”

“An hour is a lot of time to me,” I disagreed. “Let’s just go with the t shirt and-“

“And get tossed aside by Peterpan for a Wendy that’s probably not half as sweet and beautiful as you are? No way!” She cheesily stuck her fist out to me for a brofist, so I lazily responded, but her enthusiasm and support put a wide smile on my face.

I acted as her mannequin and model for the next twenty minutes, and we finally decided on a black chiffon top, blue high waist shorts over black leggings, and a big black and white polka dotted bow that she begged me to nestle in my hair.

“Do you want to do some homework before we leave?” I asked anxiously and chuckled when she gaped at me.

“There’s the weekend, let’s work on your hair!” she squealed. “I haven’t had time to do this since last dance.” “Yah, my hair is fine, but what about your outfit?” I asked.

She shrugged, “You’re the main star anyways, I’m your sidekick.”

Hearing her say that made my heart break. She’s such a supportive friend, never minding when I speak about my past, family issues, boy problems, homework troubles. She’s a wonderful listener and for me, sacrificed so much of her potential social life and relationships.

“Yah, you’ve done so much for me, the least I can do is help you find an outfit.”

She laughed, “you’d be helping me if you didn’t help me choose,” and I pushed her gently onto the beanbag chair before inspecting her wide closet.

I grunted, pulling at a soft piece of pink silk. “This!” I exclaimed, holding up a pink skirt with a bow at the front.

She looked surprised. “I haven’t worn that in awhile, but if you find a suitable top I’ll go with it.”

I threw a medium sleeved, black and white striped shirt at her. “Put this on.” I ordered.

“Have you been paying attention to fashion, Lee Jae Mi?” she teased as she complied.

“Maybe, maybe not,” I responded, watching her as she stepped hesitantly in from her washroom to her room for me to see.

I clapped, and reached over to let down her hair from its focused bun. I felt happy seeing her dressed up, her hair spilling over her shoulders in all their chocolate brown glory.

“Get ready to attract a herd of Seoul Private guys.”

~~

“Jae!” I heard a voice call the moment Hyeri and I stepped into Peter Pan’s.

Sehun’s head popped out from behind a booth, already filled with rowdy boys. I recognized some of them from my previous visit to the dentist, and nodded at Sehun while responding to Baekhyun’s bright wave.

“This is Jae Mi,” Sehun stood up and ushered me nearer to the booth of curious eyes. “This is Hyeri,” I said loudly, dragging Hyeri by the wrist.
When I looked at her, she wasn’t looking my way, but at a boy in the farthest seat, nearest to the window, on the left bank of the table. He was quite tanned, but in an attractive way, he had lazy eyes but a bright grin.

Sehun looked expectantly at the circle. “Well? Hyungs?”

“Jae, sit by me,” Baekhyun offered, patting the seat next to him. I looked briefly at Sehun, but he was looking at his phone, so I did so, waiting for a response from Hyeri as well.

“Hyeri? Are you not … gonna sit?”

“Sit here!” a deep voice issued and I turned my head to a tall man sitting between Baekhyun and the tanned boy.

Hyeri nodded enthusiastically, and Baekhyun and I filed out of the booth to let Hyeri slide in. She cautiously held her skirt close and glided into the booth, smiling widely at everyone, who all looked fascinated with her amiable personality. I felt a surge of pride, seeing her socialize so openly. I didn’t care that she wasn’t beside me because she had a right to make new friends as well.

“I’m Kris, and I’m an international student from Canada,” I heard someone offer and snapped my back to the source of the voice, meeting with a pair of charismatic eyes.

“This is Luhan, Tao, and Yixing. They’re my friends, they're all Seoul U students that transferred from China.” Kris continued.

“I’m Minseok, and I’m the oldest of all these kids.” A puffy cheeked guy introduced and he smiled at me. He looked at the guy to his left.

“Jongdae,” a boy with chiselled cheekbones blurted.

“I’m Kyungsoo and this is Joonmoney,” Kyungsoo laughed and Joonmoney(?!) glared at him. “I’m Joonmyun.” He properly introduced.

“I’m Park Chanyeol,” the tall man that offered Hyeri a seat said. I sent him a warm smile to thank him for welcoming Hyeri. “I’m Jongin,” the tanned boy said last, and I could see a smile playing on her lips as he said his name.

The bells on the door tinkled, resembling that of a flush of pixie dust, and a young girl rushed in. Her somber black hair tingled actively with the air around her, dancing as she flounced towards us. I could recognize her from the picture.

“Dahyunnie!” Sehun jumped up nervously, holding out an arm for her to be escorted by. I felt Baekhyun tense and a veil of awkwardness fall over the table.

“Sehunnie,” she cooed, kissing him European style on both cheeks, and he easily allowed her to. Beside me, Baekhyun coughed and diverted his eyes across the table, to an equally uncomfortable queue of the older, Seoul U boys.

I bit my lips subtly and looked at Hyeri, her eyes widened upon seeing my expression. ‘Don’t worry,’ she mouthed.

Dahyun surveyed the table and her eyes landed on me. A perfectly plucked eyebrow jumped.

“I-I’m Lee Jae Mi,” I mumbled, sticking out an awkward hand. Her manicured fingers touched mine for a brief second, then pulled away as if she contacted a pool of germs.

“Kim Dahyun,” she sniffed, and looked down at my outfit, as if judging my credibility to be acquainted to her. “From what Sehunnie told me about you, I must be your unnie.”

I looked dangerously at Sehun and he shrugged. “I’m 17,” I inputted. “20,” she replied. I pointed at Hyeri. “This is Hyeri, Kwon Hyeri, she’s 17 too. My friend.”

Dahyun coolly regarded her with a tip of the chin, and looked at the booth. “No room for me?”

“Nobody likes you,” I heard Chanyeol whisper and Baekhyun nudge him. Sehun looked embarrassed. “You, um, you can sit on my lap.”

Dahyun looked pleased, and gingerly sat down on him. I trembled slightly, with envy, anger, and a hint of regret.

A waitress, upon seeing the eager hands asking to order, bounced to our table, feasting on the table of handsome guys. “Welcome, what would you like to order?”

Because I sat at the outer part of the booth, I ordered first. “An iced green tea latte, please.”

“Iced red tea for me,” Sehun said.

“Water, please. Coffee stains your teeth.” Dahyun said and the table snickered.

“Caramel frappe,” “Caramel cappuccino,” Hyeri and Jongin said simultaneously, then both looked quite embarrassed and shy. Jongin waved his hands to let Hyeri finish.

“Caramel frappe,” she said quietly.

Wait. Wait. Hold up, twenty minutes in and I think she feels something for him. But what if he’s not perfect enough for her?

The rest of the time we spent at the cafe, I watched Jongin quietly.

I saw him gesture for the other members to retrieve the donuts first, I saw him offer a sip to Minseok, who finished his tall drink already.

We assembled after paying the bill, outside of the cafe. Sehun walked over to me, shrugging off Dahyun for a slight moment.

“Do you like Jongin?” he accused.

“Me? What?” I asked, shocked.

“You keep staring at him and smile whenever he does something nice.”

“Why were you watching me, anyways? Pay attention to your girlfriend.” I hissed.

“So you don’t like her either, huh? Nobody ever does, I don’t understand…” he murmured.

“Tell her that coffee may stain teeth but it rids cellulites.” I offered. He looked at me, flabbergasted.

“To be honest, I like-“

 “Guys! I say we go to the karaoke down the street! Then we can get some more food,” Tao interrupted. I stared at him, surprised.

“He just finished...a few bowls of rice…and ricecakes…how does he?”

Sehun looked relieved at the chance to escape from our current topic. “He does wushu in his spare time so he digests fast. He’s a black hole for food.”

From the corner of my eye I see Jongin and Hyeri joking and exchanging information. I sighed, watching Sehun return to Dahyun.

Well, two out of three girls getting a guy isn’t bad in a theoretical probability, but it when you’re the one that’s left out.

---

GUYS GUYS GUYS EXO RELEASED TEASERS FOR GROWL OMG THEIR REPACKAGE JFSLKDJ:FLFDK Jso yeah i wrote this to celebrate! 

thanks for reading and please comment <3