you've been having a very stressful day. the first half was wasted at a mandatory greek council meeting with all the other chapter presidents, listening to a lecture about spring break rules that undeniably could have been an email. spring break had literally started two days ago—why hold a meeting now? to make matters worse, you had to force yourself to pay attention to a training module so you could send coherent notes back to your sorority.
right afterward, you had to start packing. you hadn't had a spare second to touch a suitcase all week, and suddenly it felt like every single person in the house needed something from you. you had honestly forgotten just how many people lived in the sorority house until they all decided they needed to ask you something back to back.
"y/n, do you have some sunglasses i could borrow?" youngseo asked, wandering into your room.
"umm, yeah, just look on my desk," you said, not even looking up as you shoved another pile of clothes into your bag.
"y/n, are you bringing sunscreen?" yes, and you need to as well.
"are we allowed to take pics during the break?" why would i stop you from doing that? just don't show any alcohol on public accounts.
"have you seen my phone?" why would i know where your phone is?
"you wanna take a shot?" okay, you did, in fact, pause your chaos for that one.
"you wanna get some stuff from the store?" i am currently very busy.
"what day are y'all coming back?" look at the group chat.
"are you done packing yet?" as you can clearly see, i’m not.
in reality, none of it was that terrible, but your patience was stretched thread-thin. you just wanted to pack in complete, total peace. luckily, you finally zipped the last bag closed. it was 9:00 pm, and the plan was to hit the road around 11:00.
"are you finally done?" yunah asked, leaning lightly against your doorframe.
"fuck yes," you sighed, dropping your hands to your sides.
"thank god, i've been bored all day because i packed earlier," yunah said, strolling into the room and crashing onto your couch.
"you couldn't go outside or something?" you asked, collapsing into a chair.
"i just wanted to hang out with my friends, but everybody's all stressed and shit," yunah said. "and then half the house already left too."
"and thank god for that. there were too many people running around," you muttered.
"yoonchae asked to come over early because she was getting stressed at her place, and i was like, girl, it's no better over here," yunah said.
"you can tell her to come over now if she's actually done," you said.
"you wanna go get her?" yunah asked, glancing over at you.
"y'know what, yeah, fuck it," you said, pushing yourself back up to your feet.
"what time did you even tell them to get here?" yunah asked as you grabbed your keys.
"like 11, but i told her we might leave around midnight, so they'll probably show up later," you said.
"who do we think is gonna cause the delay this time?"
"either jay or anton's ass," you said without hesitation.
"is lara usually on time?"
"lara's probably gonna be late, so i'm not even gonna tell her to take her time," you said.
here is the polished continuation, keeping all of your original dialogue untouched while building up the vivid room dynamics and fast-paced pre-road-trip energy:
you went and got yoonchae from her place, telling her to just dip out before anybody noticed you were even there. once you smuggled her back to your house, the three of you hung out and talked in your room for a while until youngseo ended up joining you.
"bro, are you going to sleep right now?" yunah laughed as yoonchae laid down.
"nono. i'm just resting my eyes," yoonchae shook her head but kept her eyes closed.
"yeah, she's gone," youngseo said.
"i'll just take a little nap; don't worry about it," yoonchae mumbled, pulling the blanket higher and getting even more comfortable on your bed.
"i've heard that before," you said, scoffing lightly.
"anton and sohee are coming over," youngseo announced, checking her phone.
"and everybody just finna be in my room," you said.
"it'll be fun," yunah said, sprawling out on the couch.
"just don't let them wake yoonchae up," you said.
you ended up hanging out in your room with yunah, youngseo, sohee, and anton for the next hour, the room growing warmer and louder until it was almost time to head out. right on cue, the door swung open, and aeri and ning walked in.
"so everybody just in here?" ning said, leaning against the doorframe.
"please save me from these children," you said, scrambling out of your chair and rushing up to them.
"you're a year older than us," sohee said, rolling his eyes.
"still older," you said instantly.
"we gotta start packing up the cars," aeri said.
"is jay back?" anton asked, looking up from his phone.
"should we go check?" you asked.
"do we wake yoonchae up?" youngseo asked, pointing toward the sleeping lump on your bed.
"might as well so she doesn't wake up alone," you said as you walked over and gently shook yoonchae awake.
"we gotta start packing the cars up," someone called out as everyone began grabbing bags and shuffling toward the front door.
downstairs, you checked the time, realizing you’ve yet to see half the people that are coming on this trip. "it's been like two hours; where the fuck are they?" you asked, grabbing your phone to check their locations.
the group crowded around your screen as you tapped into the app. "okay, lara's on the way, jay's like twenty minutes away, sunghoon's at..." you zoomed into the map pin, squinting, before your jaw dropped. "is this his ex's place? oh my fucking god."
"somebody call that man," yunah laughed.
"i don't know if i want to," anton said.
"the fuck is he still there for? he was just supposed to go get his frat cooler back," sohee said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"man's done forgot the mission," youngseo shook her head in disbelief.
"i'm giving him ten minutes before i pull up there," you said, locking your phone with an irritated click.
since jake was already there with his van parked in the front, you headed outside and started helping load bags into the trunk, keeping one eye on the road as you waited for everybody else to show up.
eventually, lara and the rest of the crew finally pulled into the driveway.
"lara, these people are stressing me out," you complained instantly as she got out of the car with the rest of her friends.
"she's being overdramatic," sohee called out, leaning against the porch railing.
"shush," you snapped, turning around to glare at him for a second before spinning back to lara.
"what have they done?" lara chuckled as she hugged you.
"been in my room for hours terrorizing me," you grumbled.
"you kidnapped yoonchae?" megan asked, eyeing you suspiciously as she walked up.
"she came willingly!" yunah defended from the open front door.
"y'all stay taking her away," sophia said with a laugh.
"but anyways, we're almost done packing up jake's car, and we're just waiting for jay and sunghoon's asses to get back here from doing god knows what," you told them as you backed away from lara.
"there's a theory sunghoon is getting back together with his ex," anton added.
"if he shows up with her, i swear i might riot," you rolled your eyes. "but basically, the seating arrangement is me, you, sophia, and megan in my car."
"manon and yoonchae?" lara asked.
"yoonchae said she wanted to ride in the van, which is fair because there's literally a mattress back there. so that's jake, youngseo, yunah, and yoonchae," you explained. "and then manon is in jay's truck because she's doing something with aeri and ning, plus ni-ki’s with them too."
"sunghoon's taking his car for fun, i guess," you shrugged. "but he's also gonna have anton and sohee, so it does leave room for us to fit more stuff, since they were originally just gonna squeeze into the van and truck."
"i can't really fit that much stuff in my trunk, so it's just gonna be our luggage," you added, gesturing to your compact car. "jay and sunghoon are gonna have the coolers, pool stuff, and whatever else—i don't fucking know, i'm stressed."
"you're doing great, sweetie," ning said soothingly, patting your shoulder as she walked past.
"and then we're gonna do a shareplay party so we're all listening to the same playlist at the exact same time," you said, catching lara, sophia, and megan up on the plan.
"we just finished making it, so it should fit the vibes perfectly," yunah called out.
a while later, headlights swept across the driveway as jay pulled up in his truck—somehow managing to beat sunghoon, who was literally miles closer. you left lara so she and the rest of the girls could put their stuff in your car.
"why is everybody outside?" he asked, stepping out and squinting at the crowd.
"because it's almost midnight, motherfucker," you sighed heavily.
"where's sunghoon?" jay asked, looking around the driveway.
"your buddy is at wonyoung’s house," you rolled your eyes.
"fuck, bro," jay groaned, rubbing a hand over his face.
"yeah, deal with that before i have to go over there myself," you said, giving him a look.
"'cause he over there rekindling old flames and shit," jake said, sauntering over after overhearing the tail end of the conversation.
"i don't even care that he's doing it, but he could've at least not done it the exact day we have to leave," you said.
"i knew it wasn't gonna be no in-and-out mission," jake chuckled, shaking his head.
"this is the second road trip, and i swear these people have learned nothing!" you yelled to no one in particular, turning on your heel and walking back inside to finally grab your own luggage.
once you dragged your bags back downstairs, you began hauling them into your trun/
"where's your stuff?" sophia asked yoonchae as she passed by with a duffel bag.
"in jake's van," yoonchae answered smoothly.
"i forgot you're riding with them," sophia said.
"she doesn't wanna ride with us," megan teased, throwing a hand over her heart.
"i just know the van is gonna be way more comfortable," yoonchae said with a shrug.
"it's fine, we know you hate us," manon joined in.
"you're literally riding in jay's truck," yoonchae pointed out.
"only because i have a group project with aeri and ning," manon defended.
"y'all should've been finished with that shit," you said.
"we literally haven't had time to meet up," manon said.
"at least y'all got the whole car ride and break now," you said.
"plus, i rode in jay's truck last year, so it's fine," manon said.
"oh yeah. last year, like half the college and some other schools were on that spring break trip," you recalled, leaning back against your bumper.
"i'll never forget our jet ski dying in the middle of the ocean," manon laughed.
"it's crazy, cause i had just gotten on yours, too," you grinned.
"i swear she broke it," manon whispered to the group.
"ok, bro," you rolled your eyes.
"why didn't i get invited to spring break last year?" lara asked, stepping up beside you with her eyebrows raised.
"oh... i didn't think you'd wanna come cause we weren't really talking back then," you said, rubbing the back of your neck.
"you better be glad you didn't come either," manon mumbled.
you whipped your head around and glared at her, which she immediately took as her cue to shut her mouth.
"wait, tell me," lara said, her curiosity piqued as her eyes darted between the two of you.
"none of my business!" manon held both hands up in mock surrender and quickly backed away toward jay's truck.
"so you're still not telling me anything?" lara sighed, crossing her arms.
"i just spent last year's break with this girl i used to talk to," you admitted softly.
"is she in your sorority?" lara asked, throwing a quick glance toward the front door.
"yes, but like, we barely even talk anymore," you said.
"still lives here?" lara asked, referring to the house.
"hmm," lara hummed, tilting her head.
"just interesting," lara said.
"you don't need to act weird about it. it's such an old thing," you said, grabbing your car keys from your pocket.
"i don't think so," you said.
"how many people have you dated in your sorority?" she pressed, stepping closer.
"ok... talked to in your sorority?" she reworded.
"lara, honey, don't ask questions you don't want the answers to," you said, tossing your head back.
"we're leaving!" sunghoon yelled, sticking his head out of his driver's side window.
"when the fuck did he get back?" you questioned, blinking in genuine shock.
though you were grateful for the sudden divine intervention, you unlocked your car doors. "let's get ready to go," you told lara, leaving her question entirely unanswered as you walked to get in the driver's seat.
you made sure everybody was ready to go, had everything they needed, and were completely good to hit the road. luckily, the group had already agreed on a gas station beforehand so everyone could fill up at the same time.
"we have to get gas before we leave, where we can also get snacks and stuff, and then we're gonna get dutch so that the people that are driving can stay up," you told the rest of the car, adjusting your rearview mirror.
you drove to the gas station, filled up your tank, and then pulled right across the street into the dutch bros drive-thru line.
since the line was ridiculously long and moving at a crawl, you decided to reach into your bag and pull out your laptop so you could finally finish that last assignment hanging over your head.
"are you doing homework right now?" lara asked, eyeing you from the passenger seat as you opened the screen.
"yes, i have one more thing, and then i'm free," you said, already typing in your password.
"you didn't think to do it in those two hours you were waiting?" lara asked, raising an eyebrow.
"i was too busy trying to get all my stuff packed, making sure i had everything, and checking up on other people," you said, casting her a quick side-eye.
"what are you even doing?" megan asked from the back seat, leaning forward to peek at your screen.
"this drug assignment, because apparently i need to know how to make those or something," you said, scrolling through the assignment portal.
"can i try?" megan asked.
"you wanna do it for me?"
you certainly weren't going to complain, passing the laptop right back to her. she shifted over so you could watch what she was doing just in case, and you ended up guiding her whenever she struggled with something.
you were looking at the screen seriously when a knock on your window made you jump. looking up, you saw manon and jay standing right outside your door.
"how are y'all both here?" you asked, leaning out the window in disbelief.
"the car's in park, don't worry," jay said, flashing a grin.
"i wanted to check on everybody," manon said, peering into the back seat.
"please, i'm not actively doing cocaine," megan muttered, clicking around frantically as she tried to bypass a mandatory helpline pop-up on the screen.
"actively?" jay questioned.
"i clicked one thing, and now it's acting like i need an intervention," megan defended herself.
"why does your homework have a helpline?" manon leaned closer to look at the screen.
"that's what i'm saying," you sighed.
"i feel like that's probably a good sign," jay laughed.
"it keeps assuming i'm manufacturing drugs,” megan said.
"i mean, in a way, you are," sophia pointed out.
"for educational purposes!" megan defended instantly.
"just excuses," jay smirked.
"i hope the line starts moving while you're over here," you said.
"now that’s just messed up," jay said.
"wait, why’d it actually start moving right now?!" sophia burst out laughing from the back seat.
“witch!” jay pointed an accusing finger at you.
with the convertible top down, the crisp night air filled the car, making it effortlessly easy to shout back and forth between the rest of the caravan.
“we haven’t even hit the expressway yet, and i’ve had my seat kicked ten times,” ni-ki complained, sticking his head out of the truck’s sunroof.
“what’d you do to them?” you yelled back, resting your arm on your open window frame.
“nothing, bro, they just hate me,” ni-ki whined.
"he's trying to portray this false image that he's some little perfect angel, and he's not!" ning yelled, sticking her head out of the back window.
"yes, i am!" ni-ki yelled back.
“i’m just getting payback because he bullied my girlfriend,” ning shouted.
“she bullied me,” ni-ki shot back defensively.
“i believe her!” megan yelled from your back seat, immediately taking sides.
“she can’t even prove it,” ni-ki scoffed.
"i have video footage!" aeri piped up loudly. "i have video evidence!"
"you beat me up in the corner," aeri added.
"no, i did not," ni-ki shook his head.
"i will send it to the group chat!" aeri threatened.
"you're lying on my character," ni-ki said, looking deeply insulted.
"there was footage," aeri said.
"you showed a video of what happened that day," ni-ki argued, pointing back into the truck.
"and it showed exactly what happened!" aeri snapped back.
"i retaliated to what you did to me!" ni-ki yelled.
“bro, why did you corner aeri to fight her?” sohee stuck his head out of the window from the backseat of sunghoon’s car.
“because she bucked at me first,” ni-ki said.
“i did no such thing,” aeri denied.
“exactly, because why would aeri lie?” you said.
“she literally bullies me all the time,” ni-ki said.
“i’m not winning here,” ni-ki threw his hands up in defence.
“i believe ni-ki. i once tried to hang out with her in the study room, and she told me to kill myself,” anton said, leaning out from behind sohee.
“so no, you took that out of context,” aeri said, pointing back at him.
"umm, excuse me, you didn't text me; you told me that straight to my face," anton said, narrowing his eyes in complete seriousness.
"you stupid," you laughed.
"anton, context!" ning yelled from jay’s truck, cracking up. "not a text!"
"same difference!" anton yelled back as you shook your head in disbelief.
“sounds like y’all just need to corner anton and ni-ki into a corner as payback,” you shrugged.
“you’re onto something,” ning smiled.
"you are instigating so hard right now," lara laughed.
"i'm simply supporting women's rights."
"and women's wrongs," megan added immediately.
"especially those," you nodded.
"see?" ni-ki pointed dramatically. "nobody here likes me."
"i don't dislike you," sunghoon said.
ni-ki's face immediately lit up, "thank you—"
"i just think it's funny when people gang up on you,” he finished.
"yeah bitch!" you yelled as you stumbled backward, almost falling into the center console. "i probably need to shut up."
"yeah, get down," lara said as the cars finally started moving again, laughing while you dropped back into your seat so you could actually drive.
you pulled the car up into the queue, but once you got up to the employee, you realized you didn't even think about what you wanted this whole time.
"what does everybody want?" you asked towards the back, rolling the windows down so they could order directly.
sophia, megan, and lara quickly rattled off their orders, leaning over each other to make sure the employee heard them.
"and that's it," you told the employee, handing over your card to pay for them before she moved onto jake’s car behind you.
"i love riding with y/n," megan said, sinking back into her seat.
"you're not getting anything?" lara asked.
"sunghoon's getting mine," you told her.
"why is sunghoon paying for you?" lara asked, tilting her head.
"because sunghoon owes me," you said. you stood back up in your seat so you could communicate with them across the drive-thru lane.
"what do you want?" sunghoon asked you while hanging out of his sunroof, holding up his phone.
"i texted you what i wanted!" you yelled back over the roof of your car.
"y'all know each other?" the dutch bros employee that was taking his order asked, looking back and forth between the two cars in amusement.
"oh yeah, we're going on a road trip together," jay called out of his truck behind you.
the barista leaned over to take a closer look at your setup. "you're taking your laptop to the beach?" the dutch bros employee asked since you were just holding it up while you were talking.
"i gotta finish my homework," you responded with a dramatic sigh.
you accidentally made eye contact with a random person in a nearby car who was definitely not part of your crew. reality hit you, and you immediately sat back down in your seat.
"they're laughing at us,” you muttered, suddenly aware of how unhinged you all looked in this drive-thru at midnight.
“laughing at you,” sophia corrected.
“oh yeah, cause we were definitely not a part of that,” lara added.
“ok, fuck y’all, i’m keeping the drinks,” you said, resting your hands on the steering wheel.
“wait, no,” lara said immediately.
you eventually pulled up to the window, grabbed the tray of drinks for everybody, and then pulled out into the parking lot to wait for sunghoon so he could hand over yours. a few seconds later, his car pulled up beside yours, and he got out of the car to give you your drink.
“sunghoon, we gotta talk,” you told him, taking the cold cup from his hand.
“whatever y’all got going on,” megan muttered under her breath.
“i just have to ask him some questions about his frat cooler,” you said, shooting her a side-eye before looking back at him.
“i’ll tell you when we get there,” sunghoon chuckled, shaking his head and then walking back to his car.
“you fucking better,” you said before taking a sip of your drink.
once everybody had their drinks and were ready to go, you all finally pulled out of the parking lot and headed out toward the highway. the night stretched ahead of you in a long blur of red taillights and open pavement. with the shareplay playlist synced up across all four vehicles, the first stretch of the drive was surprisingly peaceful.
of course, peace never lasted long with this group. up ahead, jay’s truck was going all over the place, and you knew he was just doing it for fun since you were behind him. you narrowed your eyes through the windshield, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter as his brake lights flashed unexpectedly.
"that motherfucker is swerving in front of me," you complained at jay's truck, tapping your brakes to keep a safe distance.
"they're probably in there fighting," megan leaned up between the front seats to stare at the truck.
"well, he needs to win so he can stop," you said.
as the clock pushed past 2:00 am, the slow jams started working against you. your eyelids were feeling heavier by the mile, and the exhaustion of the entire day was finally catching up.
noticing you zoning out, lara shifted in her seat and turned toward you. she made good on her promise to stay up with you until you got to the house, keeping a steady stream of conversation going, passing you snacks, and singing along to songs to keep you awake.
by the time you all had gotten off the highway and into the neighborhood, the roads had gone quiet. the only cars around were yours as everyone followed the gps through winding residential streets before pulling into the driveway of a large two-story airbnb.
"we made it," you sighed, putting the car in park before letting your forehead rest against the steering wheel for a second.
"you survived," lara smiled.
one by one, doors opened up, and trunks popped open across the driveway as people stretched, complained about how stiff they were, and immediately started grabbing luggage.
"i forgot how much stuff i packed," megan groaned, struggling to get her suitcase out of the car/
"you packed for a month," jay laughed.
"i like options,” megan shrugged.
“and she’s not crazy for that,” manon agreed with her, equally as large suitcase.
"you two are the reason we needed multiple cars," jake muttered, dragging his own duffel bag toward the front door.
someone punched in the door code, and the lock clicked open.
"oh, it's nice in here," manon said, stepping inside first and slowly looking around.
the entryway opened into a spacious living room with high ceilings, warm lighting, and a massive sectional that immediately caught everyone's attention. beyond it sat a huge kitchen with an island, while the staircase wrapped around toward the second floor.
while everyone wandered around admiring the place, you set your suitcase by the staircase and pulled up the room assignments on your phone.
"okay, listen up," you called out over the chatter. "room assignments."
the group slowly trickled back into the main space, dragging their feet and luggage with them.
“of course,” sunghoon coughed.
“don’t think i forgot about you; you’re lucky i’m too tired to talk tonight,” you pointed at him.
“we’ll talk in the morning,” sunghoon promised.
"yoonchae, youngseo, and yunah."
"called it," yunah grinned, immediately heading toward the stairs.
"we're literally gonna be asleep in five minutes," sophia announced, already yawning.
“i pray for whoever is next door to them,” sohee said.
“it’s you,” sunghoon joked.
“and next door to them is anton and sohee,” you said.
“what did i ever do to you?” sohee frowned.
“ok, the roommates were on purpose, but the rooms were totally randomized,” you said.
“it’s fine, we’ll manage,” anton shrugged.
"and then ni-ki and sunghoon."
"i already know i'm not getting any rest,” sunghoon let out a heavy sigh.
"i don't even snore," ni-ki said defensively.
"that's definitely not what i'm worried about," sunghoon muttered.
with everyone finally assigned, you hauled your bag into your room, with lara following right behind you. it featured a king-sized bed tucked against the wall, a dresser across from it, and a sliding glass door leading out to a small balcony overlooking the yard.
"i'll take the left side?" lara asked, tossing her duffel near the nightstand.
the two of you unpacked in comfortable silence, plugging in phone chargers and lining up your toiletries in the bathroom, and doing night routines. when you finally finished, you let yourself fall backward onto the mattress with a long, dramatic sigh.
"i don't think i've ever been happier to see a bed in my life."
"you literally could’ve just let me drive,” lara leaned against the bedpost.
"can’t hear you, too tired."
"oh, so now you're deaf," lara laughed softly, shaking her head.
you closed your eyes, only cracking them open again when you felt the mattress dip beside you.
"hey," lara said, her voice dropping a bit.
"good job tonight, honestly."
"for what?" you turned your head on the pillow to look at her.
"you were running on zero sleep, dealt with everyone, finished homework in a drive-thru..." she offered a small smile. "...and still got us here in one piece."
"i mean, i had help,” you said.
"still, i couldn’t imagine,” lara said.
"you actually gonna sleep in those clothes?" lara asked, breaking the silence.
"you wore sweatpants on a four-hour drive, and you're just going straight to bed in them?"
"i planned ahead," you said, pulling the comforter up.
"disgusting," lara said, though she was smiling as she reached over to switch off the lamp on her nightstand.
"goodnight, princess," you muttered into your pillow.
lara paused mid-motion, her hand still on the edge of the covers. "...you're lucky i'm way too tired to deal with you right now."
“just accept it,” you said, causing lara to laugh.
TAGLIST 🎧 @meiyokstarr @kianthegirlkisser @katsattorney @wwwlpgs @wtfisthisnoclueman @nisykeh @kathleenmikaelson @iamconfusedrightnow @urwavvy @urmom2314 @fruityg0rl @nokpopnolifee @arihiu @donthave2guess @kwallyty @khoongh1 @vivinquisha @seobluuu @skz-xii @dahyunsrealgf @jhgifdbki @marvelwomen-simp @part0ftheunkown @vanillakirstein @spiderx18 @bootsnic @blackrose-heartz @makelame @cazeeee @gabsrevival @itossoona @yournextdooralien @aoeiurgnmddk @lararajjs @ssirenluvvr @mochi-nugs @meganlvr @danielasleftpinkytoe0471 @kissedghoul
izzy806
theartofmadeline
pixelskylines
gummygunk
turnnoffyourmind
gracieabrams
