g o o d b y e   s u m m e r

part two of two

“Stop whining, Henry,” Amber says, rolling her eyes. She pauses for a moment to listen to him rant, then huffs, interrupting him. “You’re in Japan! How am I supposed to write a song with you when you’re in another country? Plus, you’re doing promotions. The best you could write is, ‘wow I could use a sandwich and a nap right now,’ like seriously Henry, have you heard yourself compose when you’re half asleep?”

Gen Neo stifles a laugh as he sets up the equipment in the recording studio. The instant he’d tweeted a picture of Amber, him, and Neil, Henry had called. It was pretty impressive, considering that Henry should’ve been resting, or practicing, but instead he was pathetically complaining to Amber about the fact that she chose to write a song with Gen, and not Henry.

Gen realizes now that it was probably a bad idea to post that picture, but Amber was going to win this fight anyway. She was starting in on a full-fledged lecture to Henry, who had settled for whining instead, even though he knew he wasn’t going to win this argument.

Not that Henry ever won any argument. He really didn’t know how to pick his fights.

“I’m going to record with Gen, and that’s it, Henry. Stop being a jealous brat.” Amber sighs, and this time, Gen Neo can hear Henry’s shout of, “I’M NOT JEALOUS!” through the phone. His eyebrows shoot up so high, they disappear underneath the bangs of his hair.

Amber snorts at the sight, but quickly covers it up with a cough when she hears Henry’s indignant protests on the line. “You’re jealous,” she affirms, then follows with, “I’m going to hang up on you. Bye.” and promptly presses the “end call” button on her phone.

Gen Neo adjusts his mic, his headphones around his neck, glancing at her. “Is he okay?” he asks, and Amber just smiles, waving him off.

“Eh,” she shrugs. “He’ll be fine. You wouldn’t believe how jealous he gets. Of everyone. I think he nearly had a fit that one time Donghae tweeted about me.” Gen Neo laughs at this, remembering the incident. Henry had actually called Gen at that time, whining and complaining about how Amber didn’t seem concerned at all.

He doesn’t blame Henry, though. Amber could be one of the most oblivious girls on the planet when it came to guys and their affections. It was a miracle she even recognized his back then. Amber had totally missed all of Henry’s hints, too, when Henry first confessed.

“Let’s just record,” Amber says, blatantly ignoring the phone call she was receiving from Henry. She turns her phone to silent and shoves it in her pocket, pulling the headphones over her head and signalling the team behind the window. Gen puts his own headphones on, and they wait for the music to start.

To be quite honest, Gen was never really sure it was something they needed to talk about.

Looking at Amber now, he knows that it isn’t. They’ve both matured, figured out their own lives and found their own paths. The fact that Gen used to love Amber, and that Amber used to return those same feelings...it doesn’t matter anymore.

She knows. Sometimes you fall in love with someone, and stay with them forever. And sometimes, actually, a lot of the times, you move on, and you fall for someone else. Amber fell for someone else.

And Gen was okay with that.

Yeah, he loved her. Loved. It was in the past, and whatever affections he had for back then, transitioned into something else. Amber was one of his closest friends. They’d been through a lot together, and now they finally settled into something that was easy, smooth, right.

So no, Gen hadn’t meant to fall in love with her that summer. No, he hadn’t wanted to let her go, and no, he wouldn’t ask for a re-do, where he could confess properly, not just through the uncertain looks in their eyes, or the gentle brushes of their fingers when they walked side by side that summer.

No, Gen was perfectly fine right where he was. He was content watching Amber finish recording, before finally answering that call from Henry (it was the seventh one) and rolling her eyes at whatever it was he was saying. He was happy to watch the way her lips curved into a smile when Henry let out a particularly loud whine, asking her if she was even paying attention to him, and he was just fine, knowing that Amber loved Henry.

Baby, I’m sorry that this is a monologue,

Actually, I love you. (But I  moved on.)

If our long-time hidden secrets were revealed,

I would hold you in my arms. (Right now though, it’s okay.)

The friendship label is a label I grew to hate

(Now it’s perfect, it’s what we should be, what we are)

A heartbreaking story, (I’m glad it’s over)

I’m sorry, summer, now goodbye. (Our time is gone, stay happy with him.)

AUTHOR’S NOTES

i’m...probably gonna write another short little chapter featuring jelly!henry because it’s so cute askjhfasdfjkg

yeah this was a short chapter and i probably coulda made this a one-shot but oh well

this was actually a pretty ty ending but /shrugs i didn’t know what else to write..

yeah

goodbye summer~~~