Chapter Text
Somewhere in my brain, probably the reasonable part that seemed to have disappeared at this point, I knew I should let go and walk away, maintain some of my dignity. Instead, I gripped his waist more securely by wrapping my arms around him and pressed my face against his chest. Logic was definitely not ruling my brain right now. Desperation was. And even though I knew it wasn't attractive, I couldn't help myself.
"Hyunjin, I'm so sorry."
"Then, don't do this. Can't you just wait? I told my friends you were coming."
"You just want them to see me, don't you?"
"That's not true." Okay, kind of true. "It's just that we've been dating for 3 months and you've never met them. They think I'm a liar." Only because of Doyun. He'd infiltrated our group a year ago and ever since, slowly tried to turn my best friends against me. His latest claim was that I'd been lying about having a boyfriend for the last months. So yes, I wanted my friends to see that I haven't been lying. That it was him who was trying to divide our group in half. He who was at least one quarter evil. Not me.
That wasn't the only reason I'd wanted Jihoon to come tonight. I had really liked him before he decided to break up with me in the parking lot at my party. But now that he'd pulled out the jerk card, I just needed him to walk inside, prove that he existed, maybe punch Doyun in the gut for me, and then walk out. Was that too much to ask?
"I already said I'm sorry, ok?" The boy said and looked back distractedly at a car that had just arrived, parking near a empty place across from where we were, a couple climbed out of the backseat. I didn't recognize them. "I have to go. It's a long drive home." Jihoon pried my hands apart and stepped back.
He did at least look sincerely sorry.
I crossed my arms, finally finding a little dignity, far too late. "Fine. Go."
"You should go inside anyway. You look amazing."
"Dude, it's my friends' party and I don't have the date that i've been telling them for months because the said date just broke up with me. I don't think I want to go in there and celebrate." I laughed humorlessly. "But seriously, can't you just cuss me out or something? I can't think you're nice after this." I pushed it back. I did not want him to know he'd really hurt me.
He smiled playfully and raised his voice, almost shouting: "I never want to talk to you again. It's over. You deserve to walk in there alone."
"I hate you, asshole!" I played along and he laughed and blew me a kiss. I watched him until he got in the car and left. My smile slipped off my face as my stomach tightened, i couldn't go in there and let Doyun think he was right the whole time, in fact, i didn't even want to go anymore, didn't have any energy. I growled, trying to turn my hurt into anger, not hard considering i was sitting on some random step in a parking lot after being rejected, dressed as a Jedi Knight (great moment to be in a costume party), it was a really pathetic situation, one i never imagened to be in.
"Are you okay?"
I heard a voice I didn't recognize, and as soon as I looked up I saw a guy getting out of the car that had arrived a little earlier.
What was he doing in there? Had he heard the conversation? Why would he stay in the car all the time while there was a party going on? Then it hit me: the couple that had climbed out of the backseat. He was dropping someone off. A cousin, brother, maybe. I assessed him while he walked. I couldn't see much but he wasn't bad to look at. Black hair, pale skin, glasses, he was pretty.
"Yeah... did you hear?" I asked.
"A little. Is there anything I can help you with, like a ride home or?"
"No, unless you want to pretend to be my boyfriend and come to this party with me." I said ironically, but I smiled right away, it could work, right? "Do you go here?" If so, I've never seen him.
"What?"
"Do you go to school here?"
"No, my family moved here recently, but I'm finishing the year at my old school.
Even better. They were new to the area. "You're here dropping off your... ?" I didn't finished, waiting for him to complete my sentence.
"Brother."
Hm. Interesting.
"Perfect." He raised his eyebrows. "You get to be my date.
"Uh..." He tried to say something, but that was all that came out of his mouth.
"You're not straight, are you?"
"Um..."
"Seriously. Do you live nearby? You can go put on a costume." I explained excitedly, trying to convince him that my idea wasn't completely absurd, even though I knew it was. "We can match our costumes!!"
"Hm, I'm leaving. Thanks." He shook his head and there was still a confused expression on his face, I was sure he thought I was crazy.
"Look, please." I grabbed his arm before he got back to his car, had I ever had a night where I felt so desperate? "It's my friends' party and I just got dumped. Besides, there's one of them who thinks I made up this whole boyfriend thing. I'll explain to you later, if you accept it. And also, are you going to stay in this car for two hours waiting for your brother?" I said as he continued to look at me like I was mad, even though I really felt like it. "Two hours. That's all I'm asking for."
He let out an ironic laugh. "You want me to pretend to be Captain America?" He pointed toward the street.
"My friends have never met him, so they have no idea of what he looks like. You could pass yourself off as him, I swear." The boy stared at me, so I added. "I'll pay."
Seriously???? Was I that desperate????
He raised his eyebrows. "I'm sure there are services for that. Maybe you can try calling 1-800-HOOKERS or something."
I rolled my eyes but couldn't help the smile that came with it. "You know that number well?" He let out a laugh. "Okay, I won't pay you. I'll just owe you."
"Owe me what?"
"I don't know, if you ever need a fake boyfriend. I'll be there for you."
"I'm not exactly in the habit of requiring fake dates."
"I'm glad you can get a real date whenever you want, but I can't. Well, I mean, I usually can, but obviously not right now in the middle of an empty parking lot." What did he want me to do? The only thing left was for me to cry and beg on my knees.
"Fine."
"Really?" I was surprised even though I'd really hoped he'd say yes.
"Yes. I live six blocks from here. I'll go change into something more costume-party-worthy." He got into the car, muttering something about how he didn't believe he was going along with this. Then he drove away.
I stood there for five minutes wondering if that was just his way of getting out of this whole thing. He probably texted his brother, told him there was some crazy guy in the parking lot and that he would pick him up later. Besides, he gave a rather weird explanation about possibly being able to come dressed as Padmé so that we could match, "my mom is kind of a hippie." In my moment of desperation, it seemed convincing ok? Also, if he only lived six blocks away, why was he waiting in the parking lot anyway? Shouldn't he have driven home and waited there?
I pulled out my phone and checked Instagram and Twitter, hoping to distract myself until he came back. I looked at the clock —15 minutes had passed.
Okay, he wasn't coming back.
I put my phone in my bag and sighed deeply, preparing to leave, while thinking about what I would tell my friends tomorrow. Doyun would definitely kick me out of the group.
That was pathetic.
I would simply tell the truth, that my boyfriend broke up with me in the parking lot of our big party. They would probably think I was being childish for caring too much about what Doyun thinks and that they didn't want to get involved in high school drama. Doyun would say Jihoon never existed, as he did every time I mentioned him. And honestly, I could not blame him for that.
Jihoon and I met when I went to visit my brother at college during a festival. He was at the café and approached me thinking I was studying there. We exchanged phone numbers and texted for a while. He was interesting, he told me jokes and lots of things about his travels. It didn't take long for our friendship to turn into something more. The problem was, I lived three hours away from his college, so we rarely saw each other, and when we did, we wouldn't think about taking photos, he didn't like them much, so I never forced him. Since our time together was short, he wanted to enjoy every moment alone with me, consequently he hadn't met my friends. And now he definitely wouldn't.
I straightened my shoulders and faced the door. I decided to go in alone and tell the truth tonight. I wasn't going to wait for Doyun to put things in Seungmin's and Jisung's heads.
I sighed deeply and tried to think positively. Doyun would freak out and Seung and Han would stay by my side. After all, we had been friends for a long time and they liked me, whether I had a boyfriend or not. Even as I thought it, I wished for it to be true. I didn't want to lose my boyfriend and my two friends on the same night. I needed them.
As I started to walk, headlights cast my shadow on the asphalt in front of me. I turned as the car and lights went off.
The guy stepped out. "Were you going to go in there without me after all that begging?"