I don't even know how we got to this point. 

It was a large group of us at the mall. We were just stopping for lunch on our way home from a choir trip and we needed to eat. But why not do some shopping while at it? I broke off of the large group with my best friends, Lizzy and Minhyun, heading straight for Hot Topic. Of course, Minhyun got bored soon and dragged us to Banana Republic. On the way there is when it started. 

We saw some of the other members of our group standing around and chuckling to each other. One was my ex-boyfriend, Baekho. Of course, I couldn't stand seeing him around, staring at other girls and laughing with his friends, Aron and Ren. 

"Hey, Liz! Wanna make a bet?" Aron called out to us. "I bet that I can get more numbers than you guys can!" 

"Well that's rude," she replied, being her sassy self. "What makes you think that?" 

"Girls can never get numbers," he replied, equally as sassy. 

"Fine! You're on!" she yelled. "Most numbers with the whole team combined, wins!" 

"You can only get numbers of the opposite ," he replied with a smirk. 

"No! That's not fair!" I exclaimed. "None of us are straight!"

"Too bad," Aron said, laughing and high fiving Baekho. "Have fun, losers." And they started walking off like badasses. 

" you, es!" Lizzy screamed at them, despite standing next to a mom with a toddler. "We'll still be your asses!" 

After her little tantrum, she turned and we started heading out to the main section of the mall to search for lonely guys. Now I know you might think it's rude to play a game such as this, but I would disagree. It boosts the confidence of both the person asking for the number and the person being asked. So I think it's no problem at all. 

Except I was currently done with guys because of my of an ex, and Minhyun didn't want anything to do with a female. 

"So what should we do?" he asked, looking around and blushing at the different groups of guys walking around.

"Smile and flirt, Min," Lizzy explained. "You could totally just get a guys number and give it to us. That would count, right?" 

"That's definitely cheating," I remarked. "Besides, I could just get the girl's numbers and give them to him. But I couldn't even attempt to pick someone up in this terrible outfit." 

"You look fine," Minhyun commented. 

"It doesn't count, coming from you," I laughed, punching his arm playfully. "But let's sit down and think about a strategy." 

"There's no strategy!" Lizzy laughed. "Just grab a guy and get his digits!" 

Unfortunately, this plan didn't work well, seeming as none of the guys we walked by seemed elligable for me or Lizzy. And Min sure as hell wasn't going to go after a girl. 

"Hey, Liz! Raina! Where are you guys going?" we heard a friend call. It was Nana, the only straight one out of our little group. 

"Nana! You've got to help us," Liz said. "Aron was being an again and now we're playing the numbers game." 

"Oh come on, you guys," she sighed. "I can't leave you alone for two minutes." 

"Please!" Lizzy asked. "You can pick out a cute guy for me!" Nana only rolled her eyes. 

"Ok, fine," she said, walking over to a bench right in the middle of the walk way. There, we could watch all around. Nana just sat and watched as people walked by. Lizzy tried to get a group of guys to give her their number, but nothing. 

"There," Nana said. 

We all turned to see who she was pointing at, and my mouth dropped. She was pointing at a average height boy pushing a trashcan towards the outside door. And he was HOT. 

He had a Starbucks apron around his waist and his glasses were sitting on the edge of his nose. 

"No way." 

"He's so cute." 

"I hate being a guy." 

"I call him!" Lizzy screamed, turning back to our group. 

"No, I want him!" I yelled back. "He's so adorable!" 

"Techincally, she called him," Minhyun piped up. 

"Shut up, Min!" I laughed. Just then, the Starbucks boy walked back inside. We caught ourselves staring, but before I could say anything, Lizzy beat me to it. 

"Hey," she said, giving him a sweet smile. "How are you doing?" He looked surprised that someone was talking to him, but replied without even stopping. 

"I'm awesome," he said, giving a shy smile back to her. A red tint lit on his cheeks as he kept walking towards the Starbucks and turned the corner in. We waited until he was gone before we bust out into little fangirl screams (including Min). 

"He's so cute! Did you see that blush?" I giggled. 

"Why am I gay?" Minhyun moaned, pretending to fan himself. 

"I talked to him first! He's mine!" Lizzy said, triumphantly. 

"No fair!" I sighed, jumping up and down. 

"It's fair," Minhyun shrugged.

"Oh, shut up!" I laughed at him again. But I decided to give up. "Fine! Well go get his number." She walked a few feet away, before turning back to us. 

"I don't want to go alone," she said, blushing slightly. We all busted out laughing. 

"I'll go," I said. "I want to see you get shot down." 

"I want a coffee anyways," Min shrugged. 

"You guys are so supportive," Lizzy frowned at us, sticking her tongue out. "Come on, then. What about you Nana?" 

"I'm just going to stay here and wait for Aron and them to get back," she said, leaning back on the bench. 

"Ok," I mumbled, "We'll see you soon, then." 

"Good luck," she waved as we walked off towards the Starbucks. We walked in, Lizzy in front, trying to look extra confident. Minhyun got in the back of the long line and Lizzy and I walked up to the side counter. There, we saw the highly attractive teen tying the back of his appron. His glasses were pushed up all the way now and his hair was messed up a little more now. 

"It's now or never," I told her. She nodded and headed over to where he was. 

"Um, hi," she said, giving him an adorably flirty smile. He looked up at her and blinked. 

"Hey," he said, already blushing again. Jeez, this guy can't handle anything. "So, are you following me now?" 

"Maybe a little bit," she replied, batting her eyelashes. Oh she is so good at this. "Um. I was wondering if I could maybe get your number." 

Well she got to the point really quick. I would've flirted a little more, but hey. She claimed him. 

"Oh...um...." he stammered, trying to figure out what to say. I just love the socially awkward types! "I don't actually have a phone..." 

"...oh..." Lizzy said, eyes wide. Well that was unexpected. Who doesn't have a phone? "Well...if it counts, I would've given you mine..." I could tell she was embarassed as we rushed out, mostly because we left Minhyun in there by himself. I followed Lizzy as she rushed back to Nana. 

"Does it count if he doesn't have a phone?" she asked. I rolled my eyes, as she was still only focused on the numbers game. I just wanted to get that cuties number. 

"I don't know," she laughed. "It's not my game. Ask Aron. He just went that way." 

"No way!" Lizzy said. "I'm not going to ask him for anything." 

"Here," Nana said, handing an old receipt to Lizzy. "Write your number and email down." 

"Oh, great idea!" she replied, taking the paper and grabbing a pen out of her bag. She wrote down a cute, flirty message, complete with a smiley face and a heart. "Ok! Let's go back, Raina."

"Go back by your self," I shrugged, sitting down next to Nana. 

"No," she whined. "Come with me!" I rolled my eyes, again and stood up. 

"Fine," I chuckled. "Let's get this over with." 

I followed her towards the Starbucks yet again and we were almost there, when Minhyun walked out, a smirk on his face and a coffee in hand. 

"Is it crowded in there?" Lizzy asked. 

"She wants to make another attempt," I explained to him. Min immediatly started chuckling. "What?" I asked. 

"After you left, one of his friends walked up to him," he said, biting his lip slightly. "You'll never believe what she said." 

"Goodness gracious, Min!" Lizzy yelled. "Just spit it out!" 

"She said that you two were 'barking up the wrong tree'!" he exclaimed, busting out laughing. 

"What?" Lizzy mumbled to herself. 

"He's gay!" I realized, and immediatly burst into a fit of giggling. "No way!" 

"What?" Lizzy repeated. 

"I was flirting with him," Minhyun said, smiling. "He's definitly gay." 

"No! I was so close!" Lizzy said, balling up the reciept and shoving it in her pocket. "That's so unfair!" 

"No wonder he blushed when Liz talked to him," I laughed. 

"He's so cute!" 

"Min, did you get his number?" I asked, grabbing my friends arm excitedly. 

"He said he doesn't have a phone," Liz piped in. 

"That was obviously a lie to get you away," I explained, brushing her off. "Come on, Min! Let me see it!" 

"I-I didn't get ask him for it," he whispered, blushing and glancing away. 

"What?" I yelled.

"Shut up, he'll hear you!" Minhyun said, covering my mouth. Lizzy chose this moment to run back towards Nana, so we followed slower. She ran up to our friend and shook her shoulders. 

"You didn't tell me that he's flaming gay!" she cried out. "That's so embarassing!" I ignored her and turned back to Minhyun. 

"Minnie, you have to go back in there" I said, as Lizzy kept pouting over her loss. "It's the perfect opportunity. We might be barking up the wrong tree, but you as sure as hell won't be. Come on! He's cute!" 

"I want to really badly but-" Min started to say, but was cut off by a loud adult. 

"It's time to get to the bus!" the teacher called loudly. We watched as the kids flooded out of the stores and headed towards the exit. Min looked like he was about to cry. 

"You guys!" Nana called. "Let's go!" Lizzy threw her hands in the air angrily. 

"We didn't get a single number," she moaned. No way, she's so focused on that game that she doesn't notice the hurt in Minhyun's eyes. 

"Maybe we have time to just run in and ask him," I said, but I knew we didn't have time, so I just followed Min out the exit and we headed to the bus, hand in hand. We sat down quietly and Lizzy sat down behind us. A few moments later, the loud group of boys got on and Aron sat on one side of Lizzy and Baekho sat on the other, right behind me. 

"So, how many numbers did you get?" Aron asked, smirking at us. I wanted to wipe that damn smirk off of his face and go back to comforting Min. 

"ing zero," Lizzy huffed, puffing her cheeks up. 

"Ha!" Aron bursted out. "I got three all by myself. Looks like we win." 

"Let me see!" Liz yelled at him, smacking his arm. I risked a glance at Baekho and saw that he was rolling his eyes and looking out the window. I don't  even care anymore, I try to tell myself. I just decided to ignore them and go back to Minhyun as the bus started to pull away from the mall. 

"Hey babe," I said, flicking his nose gently. 

"We have to go back," he whined, leaning back in the seat and covering his eyes. "He was perfect!" 

"I know, sweetie," I said, leaning on his shoulder. "I'm sorry." 

"Will you take me back?" he asked, giving me a puppy dog face. 

"This is two hours away!" I exclaimed. "I am sorry about your little cutie, but no way." 

"Why didn't I just ask him for his number?" he whined. "I'm so stupid!" I didn't know what else to say, so we just sat in silence for almost the entire rest of the bus ride. That is, until we got closer to the school, our destination. He turned to me, so I pulled my earbud out to listen to him. 

"I really do regret not asking him," he sighed. I ruffled his hair, gently. 

"I know, kid," I chuckled. "Your time will come soon enough." 

"Whatever you say," he replied, gathering up his things. We all filed off of the bus, Baekho rushing off to his car to avoid me, Liz and Aron still arguing, and everyone else heading back inside. When we got inside, only the adults stayed out to check the bus over. Half of us went into the back practice rooms, but Min and I went to sit with Lizzy and a few of our other friends on the couches. 

"Aron is such a jerk," Liz ranted. "He probably didn't even get any numbers. That liar. He wouldn't show them to me, so I don't believe him. He's such a ! I should've never even talked to him!" Ignoring her sounded like a good idea. Especially when the adults came in the room with the items that had been left on the bus. 

"I've got a bow tie and two coffees from the back of the bus," the teacher called out, holding up my bow tie. 

"Oops! That's mine!" I called, rushing up to grab the tie and tucking it in my pocket. "My bad. One of those coffees is probably Min's." 

"One coffee says Minki on it and the other says JR and has a bunch of numbers," the teacher said, looking at the Starbucks cups. 

"Numbers?" I asked, confused. "Let me see." He shrugged and handed me both of the drinks. I put Minki's on the table and looked closly at the other before gasping out. Quickly, I ran back to Minhyun, who was sulking next to the STILL ranting Liz. 

"Min! Min! Min! Min!" I laughed, jumping up and down. He stood up and grabbed my shoulders, trying to hold me still. 

"Calm down!" he exclaimed. "What?" 

"You didn't look at your coffee, you idiot!" I screamed, shoving the cup into his hands. "Look! Read it!"

"JR, 555-2453, you can bark up my tree any time."

It took him a second to realize what was scribbled on the side of his coffee cup, but when he did, his eyes widdened. 

"No way!" 

"Way! His name is JR," I smiled, dreamily. "That's so cute!" 

"He gave me his number!" he screeched, uanble to contain himself as he jumped up and down in a fangirly way. Lizzy heard this and her head snapped up. 

"H-his number?" she whined. "He really does have a phone! No fair. That liar. I can't trust gay guys anymore." 

"Oh shut up, Liz," Min smiled, hugging the cup to his chest. 

"Just be glad you didn't throw that out, you big idiot," I said, folding my arms in front of my chest triumphantly. "Now text him your number, before I steal that cup from you." 

"Trust me, he's mine now!" Min sighed happily. "I'll see you later, single lady." 

"Oh, come on!" 

---

The end~ 

That's not at all how it really ended though. 

My friend never got the cute barista's number......and he complained to me the whole bus ride home about being a wuss. I told him that he should've done it and not complained to me about it. But whatever! I though this would be a cute ending. 

Comment? 

~Gemini Loves You!