• CHAERIN •

 

"What do you want?" sam frowns, staring back at me from his place on the couch.

 

I lean against the wall closest to me. "I need you to convince dara to go bowling with us."

 

"Us?" sam snickers. "Who said we were going bowling? I've got better things to do-"

 

"Hwang tiffany is coming."

 

sam is suddenly up. "I'm sure dara would love to go."

 

"I'm sure she would." I chuckle as sam brushes past me to go ask dara.

 

Works like a charm, I think to myself.

 

• DARA •

 

I stare blankly at my tv, unable to focus on the current showing of The Vampire Diaries. My mind was blank too. I don't want to think. I don't want to place pieces together. I just want a normal life.

 

"dara?" My bedroom door creaks open to reveal sam . "Can I come in?"

 

I shrug, allowing him to walk in and take a seat on the bed beside me. "So," He begins. "I was thinking that maybe you needed an escape from reality. You know? A friends' night out. You, Me, chae-"

 

I shoot him a glare before he can even finish. "chaerin? What's going on here, sam?"

 

He chuckles nervously. "Ok, truth is that tiffany invited chaerin and you to go bowling later and chaerin invited me because she thinks you won't go if I don't go, and..." His voice fades and he looks down. I can't help the slight blush rising in his cheeks. "I really want to meet tiffany. C'mon, dara. For me?" He throws me a pleading look along with am irresistible puppy face.

 

Don't give in, dara, I say to myself. You're better than that. It's just a puppy face...

 

"Please, dara?" sam keeps begging. "You need the escape anyways."

 

Don't do it, dara. Don't say it...

 

I sigh. "Oh, what the heck. Sure, sam. I'll go." sam's eyes light up and throws his arms around me in a hug, almost squeezing me to death.

 

"sam..." I manage. "You're...choking...me..." "Sorry." He flushes, pulling away. I flash him an it's-ok smile as I hug my knees to my chest.

 

"tiffany's going to love you, sam." I tell him.

 

He grins. "You think?"

 

"I know."

 

• • •

 

I somehow managed to find a good enough bowling outfit: a pair of capris with a cute, green tank. I slid on my favorite pair of flip- flops and made my way downstairs, meeting sam and chaerin out on the porch. chaerin flashes me a small smile which I weakly return as I rest my head against sam's shoulder.

 

chaerin looks away, her eyes glued on the porch's wooden floor. sam nudges me but I ignore him, finding myself staring at the ground as well.

 

Minutes seemed to drag on forever. When I finally heard the sound of a car horn, I heaved a sigh of relief, leaning away from sam and looking back at the silver Porsche with tiffany in the driver's seat.

 

"Sweet baby Jesus, she is so beautiful." I hear sam mutter beneath his breath. I chuckle and take his wrist, pulling over to the Porsche. sam opens the back door as I hear chaerin slip into the passengers seat. I jump in first, allowing sam to slide in after me and close the door.

 

"Hi!" tiffany chirps once we're all inside. She turns to face me and sam, a big grin spread across her face.

 

"You must be dara!" She exclaims in my direction. "It's nice to finally meet you!" Her eyes shift towards sam. "And you..."

 

"sam." sam smiles, holding out hand for tiffany to take. "I'm friends with dara and chaerin."

 

I hear chaerin smirk in the seat at the mention of her and sam being friends. Air quotes around friends.

 

"Nice to meet you too." tiffany keeps smiling, unaware of the sudden tension in the car.

 

"You too." sam returns the smile. "Did I mention of have beautiful eyes?"

 

tiffany blushes, tucking a piece of her dark brown hair behind her ears. "Um, thank you."

 

She bites her bottom lip and turns back around, adjusting her hands on the wheel.

 

I stifle a laugh, nudging sam. "She likes you." I mouth.

 

"I hope so." He mouths back, still grinning. The rest of the ride is spent with me and sam having our own conversation while tiffany and chaerin had theirs. Everytime sam caught tiffany staring at him through the review mirror, she'd blush, and everytime tiffany caught sam staring at her...sam would blush.

 

"We're here!" tiffany chirps as she brings the car to a stop in one of the bowling alley's parking spaces.

 

"Finally." I murmur, prying open the door and slipping out of the car, sam behind me.

 

"So," tiffany says. "What are the teams?"

 

"I think we would make a great team." sam blurts, grinning at tiffany.

 

My mouth drops. If sam went with tiffany, I would be stuck on a team with chaerin.

 

"sam!" I elbow him. "I don't want to be with chaerin!" I whisper-fuss.

 

sam pouts. "C'mon, dara. I like tiffany. Can you partner up with chaerin for me? It's just bowling."

 

I heave a sigh and flash him a frown. "Fine." I snap. "But I'm doing this for tiffany."

 

sam rolls his eyes. "Drama queen." I don't even respond, I just stomp past him and into the bowling alley, earning myself weird looks from both chaerin and tiffany.

 

• • •

 

"I got us a purple ball. Is it ok?" chaerin appears beside as I finish tying my bowling shoes, a purple bowling ball in her hands.

 

"It's just a ball." I mutter.

 

"I guess." chaerin mutters, setting the ball down. I stand up and look over at sam and tiffany. sam was holding a green bowling ball as they laughed about something I couldn't quite hear. They seemed happy.

 

"Should we start the game?" I call over to them. sam says something to tiffany and they both nod, looking over at me.

 

"I'll start!" She singsongs, walking up the alley and positioning herself. sam walks up behind her and whispers something in her hear. She nods and takes a step back, ready to let go of the ball.

 

And when she does...

 

She scores a perfect strike, squealing and turning around to high-five sam.

 

"They're going to win." I tell myself. "Because I have never bowled a day in my life."

 

I take the ball from beside chaerin and step up to the alley, wondering what position I was supposed to stand in. I eventually gave up and began to swing my hand back... Until I felt someone's hand on waist.

 

"What are you doing?" I snap, already knowing it was chaerin. sHe places her hand over mine.

 

"Helping you." sHe whispers.

 

"We're supposed to be taking a break." I remind her. "This isn't exactly what 'taking a break' means."

 

sHe sighs, her hand falling from my waist. "I miss you, dara. Maybe you don't miss me, but I miss you so much that it's killing me. My plane leaves tomorrow and the fact that you're not leaving with me is just tearing me apart."

 

I bite my lip. "You don't get it, charin. I'm going through a tough time right now. I just...I need time alone."

 

"You need me, dara." sHe tells me. "Not time alone. Me. We'll only make it through this with each other. Not alone."

 

"It's my problem, chaerin." I snap. "Not yours." sHe spins me around to face her and the ball slips from my hand. The sound of it hitting the floor echoes throughout the bowling alley.

 

chaerin's eyes search mine for a while before she speaks. "Believe it or not, dara." sHe says. "This is become my problem too."

 

I crinkle my forehead. "What do you mean?" chaerin sighs, running a hand through her hair. "I found something."

 

"What?"

 

"It's..." sHe pauses. "dara, did your Aunt ever happen to have a daughter?"