“I think I’m done for the night,” Baekhyun says and closes his history textbook. He makes his way over to his girlfriend, who’s on the other side of their table at the library, and embraces her from behind.

“Yeah, I think I should be too. We’ve been here the whole day,” Aerin agrees and closes her laptop afterwards. “Do you feel good about your exam tomorrow?”

“I feel prepared more than ever with your help,” Baekhyun says and sneaks a quick peck on her cheek. The students on the neighboring table catch a glimpse and shoot a look of disdain.

Aerin swings Baekhyun’s arms off of her and starts packing up her things. “You’re cute,” she says, “did you ever get your grade back from your math exam?”

“Yup. An 89!”

 

“That’s awesome, Baek.” Aerin says and a genuine smile spreads upon her lips.

Aerin and Baekhyun have been dating for the past few weeks. The boys and Soojin took no time to adapt to the new couple; it was as if they had anticipated for it, anyways. For the past few weeks, and even the time before they were official, Baekhyun got more serious about his studies and life in general. He focused more on things that mattered, Aerin being one of the highest priorities.

“All of these exams are frying my brain. I cannot wait for finals to be over,” Baekhyun sighs.

“Me too. I feel like we haven’t had a break in so long.”

“What do you want to do when we’re on break? Should we go on a skiing trip? Or do the opposite and go to the beach?”

“Beach in December does not sound bad at all,” Aerin cooes. “We’ll see.”

Suddenly, Aerin is reminded on her phone call with her mom, when her mother urged her to bring a friend back home. Aerin quickly contemplated if she wants to bring Baekhyun; her parents might be shocked that their shy, lone daughter was able to pick up two boyfriends within a semester.

It couldn’t hurt, right?

“Hey,” Aerin starts. “If anything, would you like to meet my parents back home during the break? My mom really wants to meet a college friend. Like really, she’s all up my about it everyday.”

“Meet the parents?” Baekhyun repeats, as if he’s surprised. “That’s a big step.”

“Yeah, it’s nothing big. We can just spend the night and have dinner with them. I live kinda far away though, we’d need to take the train.”

“Roadtrip with my girl?” Baekhyun says and looks at her in joy. “Say less.”

--

It’s currently 8PM the Friday night of semester break. That means all exams are dead and gone, students are off for the next four weeks, and there is a new year ahead of those eager to have a fresh start.

But first, it calls for a celebration.

There was some end of semester party thrown at someone’s place, and then it would be moving downtown to the bars at midnight. Aerin overheard that more than 150 people were invited, and it is above her understanding how that can work out.

She gets ready with Soojin at her place. As if it’s the routine, Soojin does her magic on Aerin’s face; tonight, it’s a classic cat eye look with bronzed cheeks and a lip. She opts for a look with an off the shoulder crop top, ripped black jeans, and printed leather boots.

“Hey, Rinnie. Let’s take shots while we get ready!” Soonjin suggests and hurries to her kitchen, grabbing the blue bottle of vodka from her counter.

“Vodka? Can’t we just take sips of wine? I’m gonna get drunk real fast.”

“Oh, don’t be lame! Six months of this hell-of-a-semester, you are getting drunk and that’s not an option!” Soojin proceeds to pour a shot and hands the glass over to her friend. “To getting wasted tonight!” She cheers.

“To getting--yeah.” Aerin laughs and clinks the shot glass with her’s. Aerin quickly downs the shot to avoid actually tasting the drink; she feels the burn go down and twists her face in response. “Damn, it’s been so long since I’ve done that.”

“Same, let’s take like three more and get out of here. Where are we going again to meet everyone before heading out?”

“Uhhhh… Jongin’s? I think,” Aerin replies and goes on her phone to revisit her text messages. She clicks on her boyfriend’s name, and the most recent texts from him have a bunch of hearts emojis. “Yeah,” she chuckles before continuing, “it’s Jongin’s.”

Soojin finally gets done getting ready; she went for a bold, red lip with a contrasting white skin-tight dress.

“Are we missing anything?” Aerin says before they head out. It was very on-brand of her to double check everything.

“Oh yeah! Our swimsuits!” Soojin yells excitedly.

“Swimsuits? Did you forget that we are in the middle of December?!”

 

“The party has a pool, Aerin! Literally on the invite says to bring them if you want to. Here--” Soojin then throws her one of bikinis at Aerin and whacks her in the face. “And it’s not going to be that cold. Global warming, remember?”

“Right.” Aerin takes the bikini--it’s a pastel purple--and excuses herself to change into it in the bathroom--just to make it more convenient. They then both down the other three shots and head their way out to Jongin’s place.

“Baek,” Aerin calls out when they step inside and hugs him warmly. By this time, Aerin has felt a little something from the three shots and is a bit more affectionate than normal. “I missed you!”

“Missed you too,” Baekhyun chuckles and kisses her forehead. “Did you drink already?”

“Perhaps….” Aerin replies and continues to hug the rest of the guys. When she leaves, Baekhyun meets eyes with Soojin and gives her a smile. They certainly do not have any bad blood between them, but it was still difficult to be comfortable around her.

Baekhyun takes the initiative to go up to her and asks how she’s been doing.

“I’m great! What about you?”

 

“Good, just really glad that the semester is over.” Baekhyun answers. “Really looking forward to just re