#short1

Slightly stumbling, I heard my name. It sounded like Jun-hyung, but I knew it wouldn’t be because he was probably making out with Min-hee or something. I kept walking, but I kept hearing my name. I stopped and shook my head trying to shake the voice out of my head. Being drunk made me feel crazy. At the beginning of the year I had vowed to never get drunk again, but hanging out with them always made me forget I had ever made that New Years’ resolution.

I heard my name one more time, and this time I turned around. It was Jun-hyung stumbling up to me. He was smiling, an empty soju bottle in one hand, a lipstick stain on the rim. 

Jun-hyung looked like a bum as he stumbled towards me, and I couldn’t help but smile, even though I rather felt like crying at the sight of Min-hee’s bright pink lipstick also all over his mouth. He hugged me, nearly knocking my tipsy self over, and laughed in my ear.

“I’m so happy!” he said too enthusiastically.

I faked a laugh and patted his back clumsily. “That’s great Jun-hyung.”

“I didn’t think she’d say yes. She’s kind of out of my league, right? But she said yes! I’m-”

He hiccuped, which usually made me laugh. But this time it made me cry. I felt stupid crying, but I couldn’t help it due to the ridiculousness of it all. Jun-hyung sat on the ground, the soju bottle rolling away from him. He was too drunk. I could tell he wouldn’t make it home tonight.

“You need to get home,” I said.

He shrugged.

“Maybe,” he said.

I wiped my eyes as best I could with numb fingers and pulled him to a standing position.

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s take you home.”

Somehow I knew this wouldn’t be like the other dozens of times I had taken him home after a drunken night out. In fact, I don’t think he even knew how many times I had taken him home, taken care of him, made sure he left the bar or club or friend’s apartment with all his belongings. I didn’t know how his liver could support his lifestyle. All he did was party and drink. It amazed me he didn’t end up passed out in the street every time he went out. I wasn’t sure the phrase ‘responsible drinking’ was part of his vocabulary.

“Are you gonna take me home?” he asked, drunkenly leaning onto my shoulder after I helped him up.

“No, I’m taking you back to the party. You’re already home,” I said, struggling to get him moving.

“Why are you crying? Are you..” He hiccuped again. “..sad about something?”

I shook my head and kept dragging him along, preferring not to answer. Not that he would even remember me crying by the time the sun came up.

I dried my eyes before bringing him back to the party where no one seemed to have noticed I had come back with him. He immediately went back to Min-hee, who smirked in my direction as he practically threw himself on top of her.

I left then. Started the long walk home. The dark greeted me at the doorway of my apartment. I didn’t bother with the lights before curling myself on top of my bed and under my blankets.

*One week earlier* We were supposed to grill on the roof, but it started to rain so we moved the party inside. It was cramped and the room smelled too much like cigarettes and stale beer, but I stayed anyways. Because he was there. Actually, he was sitting right next to me, four of us squeezed onto a sofa meant for two. Min-hee, the girl I knew he liked, was on the other side of him, pressed against him as close as she could without actually sitting on top of him. I wanted to do the same, but I couldn’t think of a way to do it subtly and without crushing him between the two of us girls. Min-cheol’s cigarette smoke kept blowing towards me making my throat dry and my eyes ache-y.

Jun-hyung took another drag of his cigarette, taking more care to blow it away from me. But the smoke in the air still burned my throat. I wasn’t really sure how I ended up being ‘friends’ with these people. I didn’t fit into their crowd. They were all covered in tattoos, piercings, and somehow walked out with bedhead and yesterday’s clothes looking like they were about to have a photoshoot with Vogue or Dazed. They smoked and drank too much, and they were out clubbing or partying more times in one week than I usually went in a year. Compared to them, I was so…normal. I wore less makeup than pretty much 80% of Seoul’s female population, and while I was stylish enough for myself, I was most definitely not on their level. I couldn’t pull off stained shirts and straight-cut jeans like they could.

“-Yeah, they contacted me about doing some modeling for their brand, but I’m not sure. Their clothes aren’t really my style, but it would also be a pretty good gig…”

Min-hee had been talking about her modeling gigs for the last hour, and I was getting rather tired of hearing about it. The meat was still cooking on the tiny grill, and the alcohol was flowing. I had had probably a few too many shots of soju myself, which wasn’t helping me tolerate Min-hee’s stories any more. I gripped the beer can I was currently holding, nearly crunching it in my attempt to keep my composure as Min-hee started trying to slyly move herself even further on top of Jun-hyung, who appeared to be drunkenly oblivious as to what was happening.

Sick of it all, I finally stood up, nearly knocking Min-cheol off the sofa. I said a quick goodbye with the excuse that I was tired and grabbed my bag, nearly stepping out of my shoes in my haste to escape the small apartment. The alcohol was making everything I was feeling about Jun-hyung feel that much worse. The jealousy was raging, and I knew I had absolutely no reason to be jealous. He’d never expressed even an ounce of romantic interest in me, and he had told me himself that he was going to ask Min-hee out on a date at some point this weekend. But it still hurt. When I was drunk it did, anyways. Sober, it was easy for me to hide what I was feeling.

Because I’m just waaaaay to excited... Here is the first post of my surprise to you all for dealing with me the last few days.

She looks fed up but y’know my inner meme lord couldn’t leave it be...