summer reminds me

there’s a grin in return. sated and warm. and then a burp. loud and obnoxious. “then i guess you don’t know.” his stomach’s starting to feel funny, but not because he wants to puke. it’s just really kicking in now. again, whatever this is. “ignorance is—” another burp, “—blitz.”

no, i don’t speak german. don’t even know what that is.? como ceviche… ‘your hair is really pretty’ in said language?

maybe not now. but it is plenty of the other time. “do you want me to braid this,” he mumbles through a half-yawn, half-hiccup type of thing. man, it’s about to be beautiful as fuck with the magic he has up his sleeve. a fish ponytail. that’s what it’s called, right? “or is it fine this way?” tangled, kinda knotty. all over the place towards the ends, bound to break if upkeep isn’t goeun’s thing on the daily.

she’s pretty sure it’s bliss. well, not pretty sure since she’s pretty drunk right now and there’s little room for any sort of logical thinking. semantics, or something. gosh, maybe they should get some water — but her dad did say that drinking water past nine won’t help you sleep so you gotta resort to alcohol.

not entirely in the mood for that either.

bc ya girl is gonna take things slower now and therefore cant keep track as easily welp

goeun — owed:  @geumum (t)  waiting: @umyuxue (t) / @umsoyi (t) / @umroo (t)

erina — owed: - waiting: @umhyebin (t) / @umjian (t) / @aikoum (t)

stacey — owed: @umroo (t) / @aikoum (t) waiting:  @umhwan (t) / @umkci (t) / @umryuwon (t) / @umnoeul (s)

“pfft, wouldn’t be too convenient for you if he did.” he can see there’s a tilt progressing to the side, but elijah’s only ready to catch her assuming he’s not hammered enough to act on it. undoubtedly ready otherwise if this just weren’t a thing for them both right now. 

wrow. this side of my brain: unlocked. gettin’ a lil silly here, eh… hehehe. 

cue lopsided grin here. “lil sport’s probably learning german right freaking now.” her hair’s closer to a worse state than it would’ve been seven minutes ago. “toy story style. like. you know how when the toys come to life only when the humans can’t see…” he drifts off into undoing what he thought he’d been undoing this while, pausing to think. however that works! right here, right now. “you ever wanna learn something else too?” a barber-to-customer moment of small talk sans the money, with all the ‘i know you, i’ve known you before this pinnacle of a time’ energy. “‘cuz personally, i’d look into cosmetics or something.”

for the next few minutes roo alternates between robotically spooning rice into her mouth and letting her gaze subtly ping-pong between tall, dark and handsome and a seemingly flustered goeun. he’s doing that thing where he glances down at the album in his hands for five seconds (ooh, schumann- hello, romeo) and then looks over at said target, who is now furiously typing something out on her phone. roo spares the incoming message a quick read. aw, lame. 

( 💬: 문고📚 ) ok he’s not going to propose to u on site calm down ( 💬: 문고📚 ) doesn’t hurt to make a new friend ^______^

this is fun. even better when halmeoni exits the scene with a weird hissing sound, the door slamming shut behind her. no harm there, she’ll be back tomorrow morning anyways. and even even better when she witnesses the brief two seconds of interaction before goeun promptly drops off the face of the earth (to the best of her ability). poor dude’s confused, even more so once he belatedly notices the extra pair of eyes on him, doing a sad-boy-shuffle over to the cash register. roo sets down her spoon and pitches her voice loud enough for miss ghostie over in the back, an exceptionally bright smile on her face.

“sorry about that! my friend’s just shy.” 

she’ll apologize to her later, but for now: “goeun, could you grab me the lang lang cd on the promotional shelf? this lucky guy’s got himself a 2-for-1 deal today.”

turns out there’s a few hidden gems on the lower shelves. she busies herself carding through the new records, looking for anything worth buying. she sets aside a sonic youth album, a tentative purchase for today when she hears haru from across the room, effectively getting a grimace out of her. what does a girl have to do to loiter in a record store in peace?

she stands back up without a word, heading towards the promotional shelf and picking out the cd. all while avoiding looking at haru and the lucky guy, until that becomes inevitable. then a detour, back to the indie rock section to pick up her album so she can leave without embarrassing herself any further. 

hanging out with @umgoeun​

the record store is a legit establishment, which means rules have to be set in place for people to take it seriously. mister han’s a pretty chill boss, so he doesn’t expect much out of her and the other two part-timers. but there are still rules, like not doing your homework during your shift or eating out front, because apparently these things ‘detract from the atmosphere’. (verbatim, courtesy of an eighty-two year old woman who has nothing better to do than frequent the place).

in roo’s humble opinion, these rules are, for a lack of better term, stupid.

that ahjumma’s currently giving her the stink eye while she digs into her fried rice with gusto, one of her many textbooks splayed open on her lap. desperate times call for desperate measures- plus, she’s starving. at least she isn’t alone to suffer from the woman’s silent wrath. goeun’s several aisles down, preoccupied with something or another. briefly distracted from her studies, she lets herself observe the customers before discovering something veeery interesting.

( 💬: 문고📚 ) cutie in classical is eyein u ( 💬: 문고📚 ) HE LOOKS TALL TOO ( 💬: 문고📚 ) 👀👀

it’s not often that goeun actually buys something from the record store. she hasn’t even used her record player ( bought from the same store ) that much since getting it. usually, she’s there to kill a bit of time, hang around haru, and see if anything does catches her eye. she’s idly browsing through the indie rock section, looking for nothing in particular, when her phone buzzes in her pocket.

the text has her sending haru a look from where she’s standing before she sends her reply.

( 💬 » haru ) i told you before i’m not interested

naturally, like any other normal person would, she looks over at the classical section and makes accidental direct eye contact with said cutie in classical. he smiles at her. she blinks twice, her lips in an almost-smile thanks to working in customer service. oh shit, why did you do that, goeun? then she looks back down at the selection of records before her, resisting the urge to slowly crouch down until she thinks that she’s out of sight. instead, she whips out her phone again, not once looking back up.

wild @umgoeun appears!

beer is better cold. but they don’t mind lukewarm two bottles in, taking a few more along with them to elijah’s bedroom in a beeline. excited is one thing, amplified when inebriated. no one is being held accountable for that much so as long as skittering along the wooden floor doesn’t result in any furniture being knocked down on the way to the end of the hall.

within five minutes of settling down, bottles aligned on his nightstand beside the door, he’s undoing the tangles in her hair accumulated throughout the day—per her request. it almost sucks that this is the part where their brains just stop recording for future’s sake. almost. he wouldn’t want to know what sober!goeun would think of this much exactly. but hey, alcohol messes with multiple parts of the mind anyway, right? “man, i hope gusgus is okay back home.” a belch, unexcused. elijah has no brush at hand, using his very fingers to comb through. “d’you tell him you were coming over to say hi?” he snorts, fascinated that goeun’s hair is as soft as it looks. “more like. five thousand hello’s in a row uninterrupted.” he’s not sure that’s enough. another burp interrupts his train of thought, followed by a hiccup. or maybe it was a hiburp—a hiccup and a burp all at once. “ten thousand if you’re not bored by then.”

it’s both a blessing and a curse that goeun often doesn’t remember much once she’s had one too many drinks — her limit being two. it’s tragic. but hey, it saves money. save for her usual afternoon cereal shopping escapades ( which she only really remembers because it’s become a routine ), everything else tends to just disappear into thin air. for better or for worse, she supposes.

man… man!

not goeun being goeun. as for the name and the hamster’s setup, he’d definitely expected no less, his smile growing as he crouches down to join her. placing gusgus in front of the popsicle stick house, elijah assumes a spot next to his friend and lets out a satisfied sigh, clapping his hands to dust off any of the creature’s fur from his palms. his knees are up, forearms resting on each one as he watches gusgus skitter curiously to his new home. “suits him.” spares a glance at his friend next, the glance turning into a quick but lingering last-minute stare. “and you want me to come over just. anytime? to make sure he’s not causing any trouble.” he measures her reaction, mostly just to see the animation of it all. it never gets old. “during the day, of course.”

maybe, just maybe, he shouldn’t have bothered at all. it’s in the telltale way the discomfort begins to pool all around, and how he feels it too, mouth going dry with each second that passes in slow agony. now there’s no choice but to see it to the end while he’s there.

while goeun rummages around for his request, haeil’s mind can’t help but wander despite himself. just what had happened exactly for her to have left without personal notice; there one day, then not. desk-jobs aren’t for everyone, not when there are bigger, brighter spaces to chase after.  it’s just he’s never expected to see her behind a desk like this one to be the next best thing.

apparently trojan ecstasies are the next best thing in stock, too. “oh…” he falters, feet shuffling. “i see.” as clear as day. correction: he definitely shouldn’t have bothered at all. he stands there once more, caught between biting the bullet that’s taking the ill-fitting condoms and zipping out versus the question of what kind of love motel runs out of rubbers? opts to merely try his luck one more time in the end. 

“could you…give us a different room instead?” 

her gaze flits to him for a split second before she looks back at the painting.

why isn’t he leaving?

the condoms are right there, not ideal nor what he asked for — it’s not her fault there was suddenly an influx of customers today. the other part-timer was supposed to restock anyways. however, as much as she wants to, goeun would never bring it up. she can only hope that this will be an isolated incident. it’d be a little concerning if this becomes a repeat occurrence.

she only looks at him when he asks another question. “oh, um...” she glances at her computer, clicking around a bit to see if there’s anything available. it’s been a busy night, for whatever reason. “the only one available right now is room 402.” 

the shin ramyun room.

is she here yet? he looks through the crowd, trying to spot her. all these embarrassing scenarios of him fucking up or a power outage racing through his mind. he wants to impress her so badly. and hopefully by the end of it, she’ll be glad she came. he didn’t tell any of his boys yet, knowing they’d tease him and make him shit himself before his set or worse, go home and not do his set at all. he switches with the other dj, placing his laptop in from of him, connecting it to the mixing board. maybe once he starts playing, the thought of her watching will disappear and the nerves will go away with it.

but – they don’t go away, it intensifies. he’s happy he didn’t bring her up to side stage, he would have most likely cried. he intentionally plays a few of her current favourite songs. it blends in perfectly with the rest of his set.

as the last song plays, the next dj appears. they shake hands before doing a smooth transition to the next song. he packs his laptop, leaving it backstage. he takes a deep breath before attempting to find goeun. “guys–i–” before he could get another word in, his boys crowd around him, dragging him to their booth. “guys, please–” they make him take a shot and he winces. he feels a poke and turns around. his mouth gapes open a little, not expecting to see her. “y-you’re here, wow.” he stands there, staring. “thanks – uh, do you want a drink or something?”

now that she’s here and can feel the stares from his friends on her, she’s beginning to regret coming. just a little. but it’s still there. oh, the plight of existing. keeping her gaze on yuxue, her lips curl up into a small smile as her arms fall back to her sides. “i did say i’d come so...” she shakes her head. “i already had something earlier while watching.” a small white lie. she was a little wary of the free drinks that kept getting sent her way. besides, she’s not in much of a mood to drink, even if that does mean it’ll make everything slightly more tolerable.

the “sike” never came. quite frankly, he’s still anticipating it even when the critter’s on goeun’s hand for elijah to take into his own. there isn’t too much to mind when she mentions the wreck before them, a smile creeping up on his face immediately at the sight of the hamster being for real. “oh, heck.”

man, what the heck? good afternoon indeed. she hadn’t exactly greeted him with that much but he figures it’s still never really been her style. also figures there’s no need to change now, newness of a friendship once known aside. “hey, little dude,” elijah coos, allowing goeun to transfer him onto his palm. he runs his thumb gently on the pet’s forehead, teeth digging into his bottom lip in some strange anticipation of like… hearing him squeak back or whatever. “what’s his name again?” he asks, looking up and being met with the back of her head once more.