Chapter Text
“Come on already, it’ll be fun, I promise,” Sana whines for the millionth time that night from where she was waiting for Mina at the enterance to the stupid sorority house that was hosting the stupider party.
“And I still don’t believe you,” Mina replies, also for the millionth time that night as she trudges up the long driveway, pulling her jacket tighter around her to protect herself from the winter air. It was warmer today than it had been the past couple of weeks, but still jacket weather at the very least.
“Maybe you’ll meet someone,” Sana says, as she holds the door open for her, grinning that irritatingly triumphant grin she wears whenever she convinces Mina to do something against her will. “You never know.”
“I don’t want to meet anyone,” Mina grumbles, wincing at the loud and awful music playing inside, which gets louder and more awful as she enters the house. “I just want to submit my essay and study for finals.”
“See, this lie would work on someone who didn’t know your entire life,” Sana counters, holding Mina’s hand as they move further into the house together and Mina intertwines their fingers. Sana greets literally every single person they pass, the exhausting extrovert that she is. “But I’m going to call bullshit because I know that you were going to spend tonight playing video games before submitting that essay a minute before the deadline at midnight tomorrow.”
Sana is spot on about Mina’s plans which is why Mina ignores her as they get to the kitchen, groaning unhappily under her breath.
“Fine, whatever. Can you at least get me a drink?”
“Oh absolutely.” Sana smiles sweetly, waving an embarrassingly cheap bottle of wine she pulled out of thin air. “I’m capping you at two drinks tonight because I can’t have you dying on me,” she teases, referring to Mina’s abysmal alcohol tolerance.
Stupid Sana and her stupid knowledge of everything Mina.
Mina grabs the bottle out of her hand and turns around to search for a cup.
“Sana!” The all too familiar voice of Mina’s roommate rings out. “What is this about you bringing Jeongyeon’s new girlfriend to the party? Where is she? I want to meet her.”
“Wait, what? I haven’t met her yet!”
“What?”
“Why would you ask me when you’d be the first to know! I don’t even know who she is.”
“Sana, you know everyone.”
“That’s… fair. But I really have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Weird. Then why is everyone saying that she was with you?”
“Couldn’t tell you. I was too busy trying to wrangle Mina into this party.”
At the sound of her name, Mina looks up, grimacing at the taste of the sip of wine she had just taken.
“Mina? What do you mean Mina?” Jihyo sounds baffled. When she catches sight of Mina doing her best angsty-tween-who-was-forced-to-socialize impression over Sana’s shoulder, her eyes actually visibly widen. “Sana, Mina actually left our dorm,” she says dumbly. “I thought that was physically impossible.”
“Okay, okay, can we just let it go?” Mina interjects before Sana can join in on the ribbing. “I’m here, isn’t that punishment enough, do I have to hear you tease me too?”
Sana scrunches her face fondly in Mina’s direction, taking pity on her and addressing Jihyo again as she pours herself a drink. “So what was that whole thing about Jeongyeon’s new girlfriend?”
“Oh. Right.” Jihyo thinks about it for a second, eyeing Mina speculatively, before looking around and grabbing a drunk passerby that Mina didn’t recognize by the arm. “Hey, so you guys said you saw Jeongyeon’s new girlfriend, right? Where is she again?”
This random person frowns at Jihyo like she was the one drunk out of her mind. “I think you had too much to drink, Jihyo. Why are you asking me this question when she’s standing right next to you?” They wave their hands in Mina’s direction in a ‘duh’ gesture before leaving.
Sana laughs loudly like it was the funniest thing she had ever heard. “Mina? My baby Mina, dating?” She tweaks her cheek much to Mina’s displeasure. “Oh aw, everyone’s already real wasted, huh?”
“What in the world was that person talking about?” Mina blinks, steadfastly ignoring Sana.
“Obviously you’re not dating anyone, we all know that you’re very single,” Jihyo says, maybe in some attempt to be reassuring? Mina can’t tell but if that was the case, she’s failing horribly. “Everyone thinks you’re Jeongyeon’s new girlfriend for some reason. It’s just a misunderstanding.”
“Who?”
“Jeongyeon,” Jihyo prompts, like Mina was supposed to know who that was. “My best friend?”
“I would love this for you, Mina, because Jeongyeon is the sexy one,” Sana offers unhelpfully.
“Sana, please, don’t,” Jihyo begs before talking to Mina again. “Remember I told you she complimented your gaming setup?” Jihyo says and Sana promptly drains her glass, shaking her head at the words ‘gaming setup.’
Mina thinks about it and vaguely recalls Jihyo talking shit about a best friend she obviously adored more than anything but pretended not to. “Oh. Yeah. You mentioned her a few times.”
Jihyo furrows her eyebrows. “She visited our dorm so many times, I can’t believe you guys haven’t met yet, that’s ridiculous,” she says more to herself than to Mina.
“It is,” Mina agrees quickly and gets back to the matter at hand. “Is there a reason why people think I’m dating her though?”
Jihyo shrugs. “None of us have met Jeongyeon’s new girlfriend yet and nobody’s ever seen you at a party before so I guess people are drunk enough to draw that conclusion,” she says trying to be nonchalant but Mina can tell there’s more to it.
Sana wraps her arms around Mina, drink refilled and still lightly chuckling under her breath at the idea of Mina dating someone. Mina snuggles deeper into her side despite that.
Sana leads their little trio into the more crowded parts of the party and the longer Mina spends sandwiched between Sana and Jihyo, the happier she gets. Contrary to her own expectations, Mina’s doing great, even for someone who didn’t want to be here and doesn’t have the sexy girlfriend everyone said she was supposed to have.
Although they did know each other because Jihyo was Mina’s roommate and Sana was wherever Mina was, this is the longest they’ve hung out, just the three of them and something about the three of them together seems to work. The idea of her oldest friend and the only friend she had made in college getting along like a house on fire warms her insides up - although that could just be the alcohol doing its job.
Still. Laughing along with Sana and Jihyo puts her in such a good mood that she doesn’t even question why the both of them were currently furtively whispering to each other. Not even when she overhears the words “possibly an amazing idea” and “give it a year or two.”
When it comes to her friends, ignorance was always bliss.
Mina didn’t expect to have so much fun watching Sana and Jihyo take part in a beer pong tournament - Jihyo has excellent hand-eye coordination but Sana was Sana so together they’re a mediocre team. Something about the deep, calming breaths Jihyo was taking every time it was Sana’s turn paired with Mina’s second glass of wine - yeah, she needed this, but she was never going to admit that to Sana.
(She also thinks it’s very interesting how Sana is getting away with all those missed shots with nothing but a wry, almost fond smile from Jihyo, because Mina is dead certain that if it was anyone else, they’d be getting slapped upside the head repeatedly.
But she keeps her observation to herself.)
They lose - the ‘obviously’ goes without saying.
Once Sana gets swept away by a large mob of people dying for her attention, Jihyo convinces Mina to be her partner for the next round. While they wait for their turn, a brunette around Mina’s height throws her arms around Jihyo, swaying slightly.
“Why are you hogging Yoo Jeongyeon’s girlfriend all to yourself?” She says to Jihyo in what was intended to be a whine but it comes out half slurred. “Introduce me so I can do my duty as best friend and interrogate her.”
“Ah unnie, not you too,” Jihyo groans and Mina feels that groan deep in her soul, before resting her head on the girl’s shoulder. “This isn’t the mystery girlfriend, this is Mina. Mina, this is Nayeon.”
“Mina, like- like your roommate Mina?”
Mina waves half heartedly. “Hello.”
This Nayeon girl narrows her eyes at Mina, clearly appraising her. “So she can actually leave your dorm?”
“Jihyo, what are you telling people about me?” Mina asks, sounding more petulant than she would’ve liked.
“The truth.” Jihyo laughs but it turns into a yelp when Mina slaps her arm. “What, if people actually saw you around more, they wouldn’t be making the assumption that you were the girl Jeongyeon was dating,” she reasons even as Nayeon shakes her head vigorously the way only a drunk person could.
“That’s not true,” Nayeon interjects loudly. “Look at her,” she says unnecessarily as if Jihyo and Nayeon weren’t already looking at Mina. “I can tell that she’s so obviously Jeongyeon’s type, Jihyo. Even without considering the obvious!”
“How about we don’t do this now?” Jihyo asks nervously but Mina and Nayeon both ignore her.
“The obvious?” Mina questions, intrigued against her will.
“Your face,” Nayeon says simply, refusing to explain further, whatever that means. “Tell me something, you really didn’t want to be here tonight, did you?”
“God, no,” Mina admits easily. “I hate parties so much.”
Nayeon nods gleefully. “I understand but thank you for being here tonight, Mina. Tell me, do you happen to have a dog?”
“Yes, I do!” She pulls her phone out instinctively like she always did whenever someone asks about Ray. “His name is Ray, he’s the cutest little fellow. Do you want to see pictures of him?”
Nayeon nods just as enthusiastically and they spend some time cooing over pictures of her dog.
It’s only when Mina shows her a picture of the oversized hotdog bed (Jihyo’s words exact words were ‘ridiculously extra’ but Mina thought it was the right size for her handsome boy) she bought for Ray does Nayeon snap out of her cute dog induced haze, transferring back into her previous alcohol addled, nonsense speaking self.
“Of course you too would buy your pets something this unnecessary.”
“He needs it!” Mina insists, even if it's a lie and she knows it.
As Nayeon laughs in her face, Mina idly wonders if this Yoo Jeongyeon was cute. She finds herself longing to see her just to understand what all the fuss was about, if she was worth putting up with Nayeon’s harassment.
“And let me guess.” Nayeon pulls Mina out of her thoughts. “That's your favorite jacket that you own, right?”
Mina glances at the dark blue denim jacket currently draped around her arm. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, it is, how do you even know that?”
Nayeon doesn’t say anything, and Mina watches, utterly befuddled, as she turns to Jihyo with a look that translates to case closed and waves her arms in Mina’s direction triumphantly, teetering dangerously on her feet.
Jihyo sighs and wraps her arms tighter around her to keep Nayeon upright before shushing her. “Okay, sure, uh huh, whatever you say, why don't we talk about this another time.” She looks around helplessly, ignoring Nayeon’s protests. “Where the hell is your chaperone?”
As if aware that she was being summoned, Momo appears at Jihyo’s elbow and helps her support Nayeon. She gasps excitedly when she spots Mina.
“Mina, you’re here?” She extends the arm not around Nayeon to make grabby hands at Mina, before her face falls. Mina sighs, resigning herself to what was coming. “Why didn’t you tell me you were dating Jeongyeon, I thought we told each other everything?”
“She’s not,” Nayeon offers in a stage whisper. “But she should be!”
Jihyo groans loudly and Nayeon redirects her attention to Jihyo, as if seeing her for the first time tonight. She grabs her by the face. “You’re so pretty, Jihyo, have I told you that? Especially tonight.”
“It’s true, you’re not as hideous as usual,” Momo adds, sounding just as stupid as Nayeon.
Nayeon pulls Jihyo closer and starts kissing every inch of her face she could reach. “You’re the cutest, I love you, my best friend,” she says in between kisses and Mina downs her third drink (nobody tell Sana!) as she decides to ignore anything that ever came out of Nayeon’s mouth tonight because she was clearly out of it.
Jihyo pulls a disgusted face before glaring at Momo. “Can you get her off me? This is all your fault!”
Momo scoffs as she finds a place to sit Nayeon down.
“How is it my fault?” She asks, stepping back from the couch to see if Nayeon was okay.
Momo seems to think better of it when Nayeon tilts to one side and sits down on top of Nayeon to keep her from tipping over, acting like a human paperweight. Nayeon happily snuggles into Momo’s back, giggling to herself for reasons unknown to anyone but her.
“Why did you let her get so drunk?” Jihyo asks, pinching the bridge of her nose, appearing more like a stressed out mom of three than the college freshman she was.
“You try convincing her to not get into a drinking contest with some lame frat boys,” Momo whines and Jihyo’s ire is replaced by understanding almost instantly.
She leans in and pokes Nayeon tentatively. “Unnie, did you win?”
It takes Nayeon a minute but she nods, smiling widely. “Of course I did! I haven’t been drinking with you since I was sixteen just to lose to men. Park Jihyo, I will never let you and your legendary alcohol tolerance down,” she declares with a salute before breaking into peals of laughter and Mina joins in.
Jihyo’s friends were hilarious. It was either that or Mina’s BAC levels were finally out of control.
Jihyo shakes her head, watching the both of them with an exasperated smile tinged with affection. “Neither of you are going to remember a thing tomorrow morning.”
“No, no, I will remember! I will remember you, pretty Mina,” Nayeon insists and Mina nods.
“I will remember you too, prettier Nayeon,” Mina vows seriously and Nayeon claps her hands, absolutely delighted and looking adorable.
“You’re so great! Momo, isn’t Mina just great? You should be my friend for a very long time, Mina!” Nayeon gasps as if she just got the best idea ever. “So you know Jeongyeon, have you met her, do you know her? I think she’s the best and the prettiest, you’re gonna love her. She’s just the best. You should marry her so you can stay in my life forever. Because Jeongyeon, Jihyo and I are going to be best friends forever. And now you can be there too.”
“Hey, what about me?” Momo questions sadly, pouting.
“Momo will be there too. Forever,” Nayeon promises, hugging Momo tighter and Momo cheers.
“You and I could just be friends and stay in each other’s lives forever too, that seems easier, unnie,” Mina offers and Jihyo snorts, but Nayeon’s face falls so she rushes to reassure her. “Or I could marry this Jeongyeon, if that’s what you want. I’ll see what I can do. I can make it happen.”
This time both Momo and Nayeon cheer loudly and Mina feels good about her drunken promise.
Even if hearing about this Yoo Jeongyeon all evening was getting on her nerves the slightest bit.
Oh, forget about ‘the slightest bit,’ when Mina met that Jeongyeon person - she definitely had some not so nice words for her!
See, there Mina was having a blast and playing games with Nayeon and Momo - who was lovely enough to sneak Mina a couple of more drinks because Sana wasn't around - while Jihyo laughed at them, until one of Nayeon’s friends joined them. The girl had smiled at Mina and questioned - in a slightly envious tone, Mina would like to add - if she was Jeongyeon’s new girlfriend that everyone was talking about.
Mina shook her head tiredly and excused herself to use the bathroom, the whole thing starting to lose its charm. She was drunker than she ever was and was beginning to experience separation anxiety from her bed.
While she waited in line for the bathroom, someone else told her she was lucky for bagging Yoo Jeongyeon and Mina almost scoffed in their face, her mood taking an unexpected downturn.
Mina, the lucky one?
Had these people even looked at her? Surely anyone dating Mina would be the winner of the proverbial jackpot instead of the other way around.
The party becomes much less fun after that and Mina decides to sneak away from it before any of her friends could stop her. She orders a ride home by the front door and stumbles down the long driveway to wait for her driver before anyone could spot her, making a note to text Jihyo and Sana once she gets to her dorm.
In her haste to get out, she doesn’t check her wait time and when she gets to the end of the driveway, she curses herself for stepping out into the cold seventeen minutes before her car would get here. Mina wraps her arms around her body in a futile attempt to protect herself from the cold since the thin material of her T-shirt was absolutely no help and shakily paces along the curb to warm up.
She gains a few strange looks from the occasional and errant partygoer but ignores them. The street remains quiet until a dark car pulls up to the house, bass of the stereo thumping loudly and disturbing the peace of the moment. Mina rolls her eyes at the noise until a girl jumps out and lands unsteadily on her feet, yelling a garbled goodbye to the residents of the vehicle which was now speeding away carelessly.
Mina shakes her head silently, judging these youths until she makes eye contact with the other girl and-
Holy moly mother of God.
Standing before her with her long brown hair blowing slightly in the wind and looking like she had stepped out of a street fashion magazine shoot is easily the most beautiful girl Mina had ever seen. That was not a title she gave out to other people lightly considering Mina gets to see her own face in the mirror every day.
The girl’s eyes widen when their gazes meet and Mina assumes it must be because of how odd she must look at the moment. She lowers her eyes instantly, flicking her hair to shield her face and resumes her pacing, not wanting to embarrass herself.
Unfortunately for her, the girl is still hovering when Mina allows herself a peek at her, eyes flickering between Mina and the party. She opens her mouth and closes them a few times before shaking her head. She looks like maybe she was about to head inside when there’s a gust of wind, causing Mina to shiver noticeably.
The girl exhales like she’s made up her mind and steps closer to her and Mina tries to not hold her breath.
“Are you cold?” She asks gently and Mina looks up to concerned brown eyes. “Can I help? Do you want, want my-” She pauses, grabbing the lapels of her blue denim jacket in a move to offer her jacket.
“No because then you’ll be cold,” Mina replies with a confidence she certainly didn’t feel right now, but chalks up to liquid courage. “Don’t worry, you can go inside, my ride will be here in like 10 minutes.”
“I would never make a girl wait alone,” comes the protest before the other woman hums thoughtfully and tugs Mina by the wrist - this time she definitely holds her breath - to the curb. They both collapse on the sidewalk, sitting shoulder to shoulder and the girl yanks off her jacket and holds it above their heads like she was protecting them from the rain instead of the cold.
Mina sniggers, surprisingly charmed by the stupidity and reaches up to pull her long arms lower. The girl smiles goofily at that, eyes scrunching and scooting closer as Mina arranges the jacket around both of their bodies.
“Oh my God, this is warmer for sure,” she notes happily. “You’re a genius.”
Mina laughs again, louder this time, leaning against the girl even though the jacket covers both of them comfortably. “I don’t think that’s it, I think that you’re just drunk,” she replies when she recognizes the smell of alcohol wafting off her. “What is that, whiskey?”
The girl narrows her eyes pointedly at the way Mina sways lightly even sitting down. “I don’t think you’re any less drunk than I am. But you still figured it out. That’s how I know you’re a genius.” She grins when Mina shakes her head dismissively. “And yes, whiskey. Fireball. A whole bottle. Won a bet.”
Mina tilts her head. “What did you get out of it?”
“B- bragging rights?” She hiccups.
“Well. That was a very stupid bet, wasn’t it?” Mina sniffs but is unable to help her smile when the brunette guffaws.
“Well.” The girl mimics her intonation and Mina feels warm at the playfulness. “Maybe you need to tell me which bets to take next time.” She taps her forehead theatrically. “Could use some of your smarts. I’d say I’ll look for you but I’ve never seen you around.” She leans in a little. “A real shame, if you ask me.”
Mina's face must be strawberry pink at the very least, if not firetruck red. “I’m not- You won’t see me at a party.” A confused face forces her to elaborate further. “I hate parties. The only reason I’m here is because my best friend forced me. Said something about how I had to have at least one college party experience in our first semester here?”
The stranger gasps excitedly. “A girl after my own heart! I hate them too, I’d rather be at home by myself-
It’s Mina who gasps excitedly this time. “Me too!” She offers and gets a happy shoulder nudge in return.
“-but I can’t avoid it, my friends drag me out way too often. How was your first college party experience then?”
Mina sighs heavily.
“That bad?”
“It wasn’t bad,” Mina says carefully, because it really wasn’t. “I had a lot of fun but there was a case of mistaken identity.”
“Ooh, very spy thriller.”
“Shut up.” Mina shoves her lightly, laughing despite herself. She’s never met a person she’s felt more comfortable with right from the very beginning. “It wasn’t quite that exciting. Everyone assumed I was someone’s girlfriend.”
“Wow. Um. Are you?”
“Are you asking if I’m single?”
“Yes.”
“Why do you want to know?”
“I think it’s highly important information pertinent to me.”
“If you’re that heavily invested-”
“I am.”
“-then I should confess that I am single.”
As soon as Mina says those words, she’s rewarded with a smile so blinding that for a second all the lame ‘ha ha Mina’s perpetually single’ jokes she’s endured her entire teenage years seem worth it.
“Good,” the beautiful girl breathes, nodding her head dumbly. “Good, good, good.”
“Are you going to say anything else?”
“Not right now.” Her companion shakes her head, still grinning just as brightly. “Go on with your story.”
“Hm? Oh yeah! So everyone thought that I was dating this random person for some reason? And they kept telling me how lucky I was to be dating her - which is absolutely ridiculous!”
The girl nods seriously - Mina really needs to find out her name. “Obviously. You’re the catch here, not whoever that other person is.” Mina feels extremely validated right now but the girl doesn’t stop. “Look at you, you’re like, crazy beautiful. Even your hair, it’s, like, woah. So pretty and long and brown.”
“Thanks, I- I dye it,” Mina confesses stupidly, her last brain cell eviscerated in the face of this gorgeous woman and her barrage of compliments.
She barks out a laugh, clearly not expecting that. “Dye it? You dye your hair? Should I dye my hair?”
“Why would you do that, your hair is gorgeous right now.”
“So is yours!”
Mina considers it. “I think.. you could if you wanted to. You could pull off any hair color. Or hair style.”
“I’ll think about it.” Before Mina can tell her to not touch her hair because it is perfect the way it is right now, she says, “You also could pull off any hair color or style, you know? I’m sure even freaking bangs would look great on you.”
Bangs?
“You really think so?”
“I know so! Those people have no idea what they’re talking about, whoever’s dating you is going to be the lucky one.”
“Thank you, that’s what I’ve been saying.” Mina ignores the racing of her heart. “That girl may be who everyone wants to date but I’m Myoi Mina! I’m fabulous.”
The pretty girl’s smile turns dopey and she bends down to rest her face against her knees. “Even your name is pretty. Mina,” she says her name shyly like she’s testing it out. “Myoi Mina. I like your name, Mina.”
Mina likes the way she says her name unreasonably more than she should. She takes a calming breath to level set and continues. “Oh when I finally run into this Yoo Jeongyeon person, I swear- ugh.”
The girl sits up so abruptly she upends the jacket around their shoulders. “Wait, what?”
“That’s her name,” Mina tells her, shaking her head. “A Yoo Jeongyeon who is out to ruin my social life apparently but thankfully I’ve opted out of having a social life in the first place..”
“I’m a Yoo Jeongyeon,” the girl- no wait, Jeongyeon whispers, pointing to herself unnecessarily.
Mina stays quiet for what she thinks is a full minute.
“Jihyo- Jihyo’s Yoo Jeongyeon?” Mina asks even though she knows without a doubt that she is.
(No wonder Sana had called her the sexy one.)
Jeongyeon’s lips curl up in a sort of wicked amusement and she replies, “And yours too apparently. That is what I’m hearing?”
Mina doesn’t allow her brain to short circuit like it wants to. “That’s not- ha, okay, no. Wait-” Something occurs to her belated and she jumps up like she’s been burned, dropping the jacket on Jeongyeon’s lap. “You have a girlfriend. That’s what everyone’s been calling me for the past three hours. Your girlfriend. Because you have one. You’ve been flirting with me for the past five minutes even though you have a girlfriend?”
Jeongyeon’s body deflates like a balloon. “Oh, yeah. That.” She buries her face in her hands.
Mina looks around, desperate to leave, but her stupid ride sharing app tells her she still has to wait for four more minutes. “I cannot believe the nerve of you. Unbelievable. The first time I finally-”
“I made her up!”
“What?”
Jeongyeon looks anguished, maybe the alcohol was making them all way more dramatic than they naturally were. It was possible.
“I made her up, I lied. I am someone who lies about their relationship status! But only because everyone wants me to hang out and party and I don’t want to! I want to be alone. They leave me alone if I tell them I’m going to hang out with my girlfriend and then I hide in the library or in my dorm by myself because I like it that way! It was very convenient to have a fake girlfriend nobody’s ever met, Mina, you should get yourself one the next time you don’t want to leave your room.”
There’s a beat of silence once Jeongyeon finishes confessing to her sin until Mina can wrap her head around the bizarre situation she’s found herself in.
“You’re telling me,” Mina begins slowly, shaking her head at the insane words she’s about to speak. “That you made up a girlfriend so that you don’t have to leave your room and in the first time that I’ve left my room, everyone thinks I’m her?”
“We should stop leaving our rooms,” Jeongyeon says, with a ‘problem solved’ shrug and Mina can’t help the giggle that leaves her mouth. Jeongyeon joins in and they laugh and laugh and laugh at the sheer absurdity of the entire thing until Mina feels like she’s going to be sick.
Mina needs to sit down again and so, panting heavily, she plops down next to Jeongyeon, who was still chuckling under her breath. “This is the weirdest conversation of my entire life.”
Jeongyeon thinks about it. “Momo once asked me if insects could dream so this is probably second.”
“It’s a shame I might not remember all of it,” Mina mumbles, a sudden sadness filling her.
“What do you mean?”
Mina doesn’t get a chance to elaborate. Her ride pulls up to the curb and she gets to her feet shakily.
Jeongyeon jumps up beside her and grabs her by the shoulder before she could get in. “Here.” She gently wraps her jacket around Mina’s shoulders and smiles softly at her, eyes shining. “This way I’ll know to look for the girl who’s wearing my favorite jacket in case either of us forgets.”
Before Mina can talk herself out of it, she reaches up to kiss Jeongyeon’s cheek and grins when it turns bright red as she pulls away. With one last wave, she gets into the car, thinking about how weirdly enough those people at the party were right. Mina would definitely be the lucky one if she bagged (gross) Yoo Jeongyeon.
“That looked adorable. I hope you got her number, kid,” the tired cab driver tells her as they speed away.
Oh, no.
Mina was so, so stupid.
Mina’s convinced she’s dying.
That must be the only explanation for whatever is happening inside her head right now.
But Jihyo’s laughing loudly at her misery, surely that wouldn’t be happening if she was dying, right?
“How are you feeling this beautiful morning, sunshine?”
Mina tries to reply but whatever leaves her mouth - which was drier than a desert and hotter than hell, by the way - couldn’t be translated to any language known to man.
Jihyo laughs louder, even as she shoves a glass of water in her hand. She’d even thought to include a straw, bless her soul. “That’s what you get for ditching me last night. You didn’t even text me!”
“What- what last night?” Mina asks finally when she can speak.
Jihyo gapes at her. “Oh my God, Sana is right, we can’t give you more than two drinks.”
“Sure, whatever,” Mina mumbles, pulling the covers deeper over her head, fully intent on going back to sleep. A button presses up uncomfortably against her stomach and she sits up, yanking her denim jacket off her body. But before she can drop it to the ground, she’s met with the familiar smell of whiskey - Fireball, some part of her brain supplies helpfully - and she gets the feeling that she’s missing something.
“Hey, what did you want to ask me?” Jihyo asks, seeing Mina sit up in her bed. “I’m assuming that you’re talking about me. Is that a stick figure… and hearts?”
“What?”
Jihyo points to a sticky note on her bedside table with the words “ask Jyo” scratched out in a horribly messy version of her own handwriting along with some incomprehensible doodles.
“No idea,” she replies, not having the brain capacity to think about any puzzles drunk Mina could have left for sober Mina. She flops back on her bed, snuggling with her jacket for some reason instead of throwing it off the bed like she originally planned, it brings her an unexpected sense of comfort and she goes back to sleep almost instantly but the thought still nags at her.
What could she have possibly wanted to ask Jihyo?
It comes to her later that evening, once she had hydrated, rested, written out most of her essay and listened to Jihyo talk about their beer pong victories and Nayeon and Momo - things she could recall very, very vaguely.
“Jihyo,” she calls out abruptly to the other side of the room. “Do you think I would look good with bangs? For some reason, I feel like I should get them.”