Work Text:
When Eun yoo finally makes it out of the school building, the sun is already setting. Fridays are supposed to be her more relaxed days of the week, however, with the premiere of the annual school play fast approaching, work has been piling up more and more. She is sure it would be taxing, but as soon as she learned that she had landed a minor acting part and would be participating in the play, she took it upon herself to get all of her friends involved as well. Working alongside all of her favorite people makes the free time she is investing in this more than worth it.
Finally outside, she takes a few seconds to squint in the blinding light of the setting sun and to delight in the clouds her breath makes in the cold autumn air. After her eyes have gotten used to the brightness, it only takes her a few seconds of looking around to spot her best friend, Hyun Soo. With a lot of nagging, she had somehow convinced him to help out with the lighting and the more technical parts of the show, after their usual guy had graduated last year. She was glad for it; it was nice to have someone waiting for her after rehearsal so she wouldn’t have to walk home on her own.
After she runs up to him, they fall in step together easily. Eun yoo balances onto the barrier separating the lawn and the sidewalk, while Hyun Soo trudges alongside her. Their conversation ranges from the play they are both working on, to their shared classes, until they finally end up talking about the school’s band. The had recently been forced to replace their bassist, after their previous one had broken their arm during gym. In the beginning this had been annoying to Eun yoo, she was sure the replacement was perfectly adequate, she really was, but with so little time left to practice, it put even more pressure on everyone. However, her opinion changed quite quickly after meeting the replacement.
Ji Soo. Even though they shared some classes, Eun yoo had never really taken notice of her, but when the girl introduced herself to everyone involved in the school play and assured them that she would know her part perfectly in no time with a self-assured grin, she was instantly absolutely smitten. The fact that Ji Soo turned out to be talented and absolutely charming didn’t help Eun Yoos ridiculous crush. The tragedy in that was that she was pretty sure the other girl didn’t even know her name yet, however she was determined to change that.
Hyun Soo and Eun yoo go separate ways at their usual spot and she walks the last ten minutes of the way home quickly, before the sun can set completely. After fumbling with her keys for a few moments, she finally manages to push the front door open with her shoulder, while already starting to pull off her jacket and shoes. She pauses however, when she hears two voices from the living room. She has no trouble identifying her brothers voice, but it takes her a few embarrassingly long moments to recognize the second one.
What the hell is Ji Soo doing in her living room, with her nerdy brother no less? She finishes putting away her shoes and coat in a rush and hurries to the living room, where she ends up awkwardly peeking around the corner.
In the middle of the living room sits Ji Soo besides Eun Yoos big brother. Belatedly she remembers him mentioning something about tutoring some students from her high school and immediately feels like an idiot for brushing him off when the topic first came up. Both seem to have moved away from the table and are now sitting cross legged on the carpet, bent over some spread out textbooks and worksheets, her brother explaining some impossible math problem to her crush.
Ji Soo is wearing comfortable clothes, just jeans and a ratty, oversized sweater and somehow, unfairly still manages to look perfect in them. She’s pouting slightly and her brow is furrowed in concentration. Her hair hangs loosely around her thin face, the last rays of the setting sun shining through the window making it glow like a halo, highlighting her bright red roots.
Eun Yoo only stands there for a few seconds, but her heart is already beating a mile a minute. Why does her stupid brother have to tutor her stupid crush? She is not prepared for this, what should she do now? If she wants to go to her room, she has to walk through the living room, without embarrassing herself somehow, and she’s hungry, goddamn it! After a few minutes of contemplation, she decides to go through the living room to the kitchen in order to get herself some food. She can be cool for a minute, she really can.
After walking back to the front door quietly and then walking towards the voices again, more loudly this time, so she doesn’t look like a crazy stalker, she opens the door all the way and stomps into the living room confidently (she hopes, oh god). Out of instinct she gives her brother a middle finger as a greeting, before remembering their company and changing it at the last minute into an awkward wave. Her brother gives her a strange look.
“Hey, how was school?”
“It was fine.”
She waves at Ji Soo as well, properly this time, who smiles and greets her back, before finally making her way into the kitchen.
She finds some leftovers from yesterday in the fridge and foregoes warming them up completely in favor of wolfing them down as if she is starving. Afterwards she grabs a glass of water and is in the process of steeling herself for another traverse of the living room when Ji Soo walks into the kitchen.
She smiles at Eun Yoo for a second before speaking: “Hey, you’re in the theater group, right? I don’t think we’ve been introduced properly yet?”
Eun Yoos brain short circuits, before she manages an affirmative after an awkward pause and chokes her own name out. Ji Soo grins at her stuttering.
“Well, it’s nice to finally meet you properly, Eun Yoo, I’ve been watching some of your guy’s rehearsals and so far, it looks pre-tty impressive!”
Even though Eun Yoo is freaking out internally (Ji Soo’s been watching her at rehearsal!) she is prepared enough this time to express her gratitude for that compliment properly. After a second, she realizes however, that Ji Soo probably came to the kitchen for a reason, and not just to tell her that she liked her acting.
“Uh, can I get you anything, by the way, some water, or some food? Maybe we also have juice or sodas or something somewhere, let me look!”
“Oh, I was just hoping to get a glass of water, but thanks.”
There’s that damned smile again. Eun Yoo is pretty sure that after today she will have lasting damage to her poor heart, and her knees are so wobbly, they feel like they’ll never be the same again. She stretches up to the cabinets and gets on her tiptoes in order to get a glass for Ji Soo. When she can’t reach it immediately, the other girl bends over her and grabs the glass for her. Eun Yoo barely manages to suppress what she is sure would have come out as an embarrassing squeak and somehow doesn’t fall over in shock. The other girl sets it down on the counter between them. Eun Yoos face is burning hot, but when she looks up to thank Ji Soo, the girl is about as red as she feels. Weird, its not even that warm inside.
She fills the glass with tap water and hands it to Ji Soo, who thanks her. They stare at each other for a few seconds before Eun Yoo clears her throat in order to get rid of the awkward silence. Before she gets the chance to flee to her room, Ji Soon speaks up.
“We could hang out sometime, if you want to?”
It takes Eun Yoo some time to process this.
“What? I mean, yes, absolutely yes! That would be cool, I mean chill. I’m chill, uh down?”
Ji Soo giggles at her stuttering and that’s good right? Eun Yoo leans against the counter, in a way that she hopes doesn’t look disastrous, in order to keep her knees from giving out below her. They feel like gummy. The other girl pulls her slightly shaking hand through her hair, and lets it fall back to her shoulders, better showing off her dyed roots.
“I think this will be a lot less awkward, if we meet while your brother isn’t trying to keep me from failing all of my classes, to be honest.”, she looks over her shoulder back into the living room, “I should really get back to it, though.”
“Uh, yeah, that’s a great idea! Both the meeting and the studying I mean, how do we do this?”
Ji Soo looks deep in thought for a second, before stretching her open hand towards Eun Yoo.
“Give me your phone for a second, so I can put my number in? That would be easiest I think.”
After a few seconds of fumbling, she puts her phone into Ji Soos outstretched palm, who turns to put her number into the contact list. Eun Yoo barely manages a thanks and a promise to text soon, before the other girl, strangely very red again, turns back towards the living room and returns to her studying.
She leaves behind a stunned Eun Yoo and her still full glass of water.