When Aerin sees her boyfriend, she practically throws herself into his arms. Baekhyun’s eyes widened at the fact that about an hour earlier, she was fully clothed--and now she’s almost half .

“When did you change into this?” He asks, and his hands naturally wander around her waist.

“It was under my clothes,” Aerin answers and contemplates if she should tell him what just happened. She then figured that he would hear about it some way somehow.

“You look amazing.” Baekhyun has his eyes glued to his girlfriend. He pulls her into an embrace; her hands find their way above his shoulders while his stay around her waist. Aerin looks at his doe-like eyes and her gazes travels downwards his face, to his lips. Baekhyun acknowledges the tension and pulls her in closer… and closer.

“Hey guys!” A voice immediately pulls themself away from each other, and the two whip around to see a random girl they’ve never met before. “Party in the pool! Everyone’s heading out!”

“Everyone? I thought we were going downtown at midnight?” Someone else asks.

“Would you rather pay $50 at a bar or get drunk at a pool with an outdoors bar?!” The girl answers back, and the whole living room nods in agreeance. The crowd then travels outside; Aerin holds Baekhyun’s hand tightly.

When Aerin steps outside, someone shouts, “Alright, Aerin! Let’s give it up for Aerin, guys!” The person then starts clapping, which makes everyone else follow along. Aerin laughs awkwardly; never in a million years would she think that she’d be in this situation.

“Thanks guys! You can stop clapping now!”

Baekhyun and few of the boys look at her in confusion. “What happened while we were gone?”

“Oh--no big deal. Just told some girls off because they were being rude es!” Soojin answers and high-fives her.

“Damn, who?” Baekhyun looks at Aerin with a new look, impressed.

“Eh, no one important.” Aerin confidently answers. “Now, get undressed! Let’s jump in.”

Everyone that came from the house then started changing and undressing themselves into their swimsuits. When Baekhyun finished changing, Aerin and him went into the pool together. They then find a spot away from everyone else to talk between each other.

“You having fun?” Baekhyun says, and takes her hand. He gives her a peck on her hand, and it gives her butterflies in her stomach.

“Yeah.” Aerin answers and bites her lower lip.

“Don’t do that.” He whispers.

“Why?”

“Because… my gorgeous girlfriend is right in front of me--in a bikini--and now she’s trying to thirst trap me with a lip bite.” Baekhyun chuckles. “I’m not going to fall for it.”

“Suit yourself,” Aerin lets down her hair, letting her locks cascade on her shoulders. Baekhyun rolls her eyes, she’s doing it on purpose. “I bet I can hold my breath longer than you.”

“Stop flexing; I’ll have you know I was in varsity swimming all years of high school.”

“Well, I sat next to a guy who never showered in my high school, so I’m pretty talented at holding my breath.” Aerin jokes.

“Wanna test that theory? On count of three, we dip our heads under water.”

“One…” Aerin starts. “Two.... three!”

The two concurrently dip underneath the pool and start mentally counting. After about 5 seconds in, Aerin slowly opens her eyes. When they’re open, Aerin grins in delight when she sees that Baekhyun’s are already open.

Aerin smiles brightly when she sees her boyfriend; bubbles come out of and travel upwards to the surface. Baekhyun does the same.

It’s about ten seconds in, and the two continue to gaze each other. Baekhyun purses his lips together and slowly approaches her. Aerin keeps her eyes wide open as her boyfriend nears closer.

When Baekhyun is just inches from her face, his hands go down to her … then goes even further down to her bottom. Aerin gets tingles from the unfamiliar contact, but there’s nothing in her to stop him.

He leans in closer, the tips of their noses now touching, and Aerin starts to close her eyes. When her eyelashes finally rest, she feels his lips pressing on her’s. Aerin’s hand traveled to the back of his neck, and she leans in more. Baekhyun reciprocates and kisses her deeper.

When they finally separate, the two immediately get up from the water.

“How long do you think that was? 30 seconds? 40?”

Baekhyun chuckles and runs his fingers through her hair. “Not long enough.”

--

The day has finally come: the day Baekhyun meets Aerin’s parents. The pair are now packing together; it truly should not take long at all, as it’s only a weekend trip, but Aerin always overpacks.

“While Sehun is in America, Suho in England, and Soojin at Jeju Island, we are going to the suburbs. How fun, right?” Aerin says while stuffing her bookbag with clothes.

“It’s going to be so fun, don’t come in with that negativity!” Baekhyun replies.

“I don’t know… I told my parents I was bringing my boyfriend, and then they just bombarded the phone with a million questions. Oh my gosh, how did this happen? He’s Chanyeol’s best friend? How is your friend group? Way too much for me to keep up with.” Aerin scoffs. “Just don’t be weirded out with them, kay?”

“Noted.” Baekhyun laughs. “You got the train passes?”

“Yup,” Aerin shows him the two blue tickets in her hands. “Ready to go?”

“Ready. Our first ever road trip,” Baekhyun grins and kisses her on the forehead.

When the two arrive at the train station, excitement overwhelms Aerin’s body as they embark on their trip together. The last time she was home was when she left for college actually--the distance was too much for her to handle alone. Now, fast forward an entire semester, to her returning back with her new boyfriend.

Aerin and Baekhyun hand over their passes and find their seats on the train. They travel rows and rows until they finally catch sight of theirs; fortunately, it was just the two of them seated there.

“How long is this ride again?” Baekhyun asks once they sit.

“Four hours. Hope you don’t get tired of me too quickly.”

“You’re funny,” Baekhyun snickers. “That could never be true.”

“Eh, well don’t speak too soon. I snore like a whale.”

“Whales don’t snore. Or do they? Do they even sleep?”

“It’s gonna be a fun four hours indeed,” Aerin smiles. “Wanna play truth or dare?”

“Sure. I go first. I choose truth.”

“You just can’t choose what you want. We flip a coin. Truth is heads and dare is tails. Give me your phone and we’ll ask Siri.” Baekhyun hands over his phone, and when Aerin turns it on, she’s met with a picture of them both on his screen. It was a picture at the end of the semester party when both Aerin and Baekhyun were still in their swimsuits, smiling at each other.

“Siri, heads or tails.” Aerin talks to the phone. After a few seconds, the voice flatly says, “heads.”

“See? It was going to be truth anyways.”

“Anyways,” Aerin rolls her eyes. She then starts to think about all of the questions she’s ever wanted to ask Baekhyun, but it was either she was too scared to or she simply forgot. “What’s your body count?”

“Wow, coming out with the big guns up front.” Baekhyun takes a second to think.

“Too many that you have to count in your head?” Aerin says back. Although she wasn’t surprised, it saddened her just a little how differently they were. She had not ki