Chapter Text
You were walking to class on the most hectic of Mondays - backpack overflowing, water bottle lid not on right, homework probably forgotten at your house - when you ran full-body into someone.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” you yelped, trying to pick up your items and theirs at the same time. “It’s just been so hectic today and I - and I…”
Except it wasn’t a… stranger? Somehow, you were looking at a real-life Barbie. From the platinum blonde hair to the cute pink accessories to her incredibly shiny pink lipgloss, you had to be hallucinating an actual Barbie in front of you.
“And you…?” Barbie replied.
“I… you… I’m sorry. I just - you look like a real-life Barbie,” you explained poorly. “Oh my god, I shouldn’t have said that, you probably think I’m insane!”
She giggled and it sounded like glitter and sunshine somehow. Maybe you hit your head when you knocked into her. But if it got you this view, it was definitely worth it.
“That’s okay, you’d be surprised how many things people say to me like that. Here,” she said extending her hand. You both had gathered up everything off the ground as she helped you up. Her hand was so soft and she smelled a bit like peaches. Maybe she tasted like them too -
You shook your head of the thought. You were not going to think about kissing some stranger who you basically assaulted. But she was just so nice. And she was just so pretty…
You definitely hit your head, there was no way you didn’t.
“I’m Jinnie, by the way. Hyunjin, but most people call me Jinnie or Jin or Hyunnie. Whatever is good for you!”
You nodded and replied with your name to which she squeaked and remarked how cute it was - “A cute name for a cute girl.”
You were sure if it could, your skin would be the color of her hot pink nials. You nodded and thanked her instead of saying that out loud. “I’m so sorry for running into you like that, really. I hope I’m not making you late for anything.”
“No worries! I was just having lunch with my girlfriends and then I was off to study in the library. Would you like to join me?”
“I’m actually headed to the library too! I’d love to join,” you said, relieved that you hadn’t messed up her schedule. She looked like the type of person to have a color-coded agenda with cute stickers all over it.
“Great! Come with me.” She held out her arm for you to take, and who were you to refuse being escorted to the library by Barbie?
You took in her appearance as you both walked. She had a cute pink top with a white tennis skirt on, and pink and gold tennis shoes to match. Her purse combined all three colors as well, and she had a variety of gold jewelry that clinked when she walked.
“We’ll get some coffee from the shop there. I’m always a little sleepy after lunch. How about you?”
“I - I like hot chocolate. Coffee gets me jittery,” you explained, and she returned it with a warm smile.
“That’s okay! One of my girlfriends, Jeongin, we don’t allow her to have caffeinated drinks anymore. We all left one weekend for different school events and she stayed behind. She immediately drank, like, six energy drinks and sent a video of us to prove it!”
You both laughed at the story as you walked into the library and up to the coffee counter. She untangled your arms as she walked up to the counter first. Before you could order, she ordered for you and added whipped cream on top of your hot chocolate before ordering her own mocha latte. She took your arm again to lead you to wait for your orders, waving off your thanks.
“It’s no problem! I made a new friend by you bumping into me. Now tell me about your classes!”
You both went over your class schedules, what you were studying, your hobbies and favorite snacks and weekend plans. Before you knew it, it had been almost an hour and you two were still talking, drinks long finished. You had to head to class in the next little bit, but wanted to talk with her more as she was the first real friend you’d made since moving here for school a few weeks ago. Your classmates were nice, but sometimes it was good to have someone as confident and sanguine as Hyunjin
Hyunjin’s phone buzzed as she said, “Oh! Is it okay if some of my girlfriends join us for a bit? I’ll tell them to not embarrass us - unless you wanted to watch us makeout behind some of the old chemistry books,” she said with a wink.
“Of course! They sound so nice.”
You’d since learned that she meant she had seven other actual girlfriends, not just girl friends. You were honestly excited because of the few stories she had shared over coffee about some of them, and if they were anything like her, they’d be great friends and study partners. Bump into one nice Barbie, get eight other Barbie friends out of it.
A few minutes later, girls who were apparently Felix and Minho popped up next to your study table. You introduced yourself as Felix sighed and said you were ‘as cute as Jinnie said, maybe even cuter!’ They sat down with their own drinks and chatted with you, explaining that they were dropping by to return some borrowed library books and heard Hyunjin had made a friend on her own traipse to the library.
“Any friend of Hyunnie’s is a friend of ours,” Minho said sweetly.
“Hey! I have a great idea!” Felix chimed in. “Jinnie said that you said she looked like Barbie when you bumped into her, right? That’s so funny, ‘cause we were going to have a Barbie movie marathon this weekend! Would you like to join?” she asked, her chin in hand as she batted her eyelashes. Ironically, Felix and Minho were also dressed in various shades of pink. They all looked like various versions of Barbies from different eras. Felix was like a Barbie that would work in a coffee shop or library with all of the cute pins on her backpack and her pastel pink knee-high socks, which matched the setting perfectly. Minho looked like a cool nightclub Barbie with plenty of silver jewelry and sharp makeup, but she had a softness around her too
“I don’t want to impose…” you started, much to the protests of each of the girls.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be so fun!”
“Please please come, I’ll make sooooo many brownies.”
“You have to come or else we’ll all be sad!”
“Okay! I’ll join your movie night. It sounds very nice,” you conceded. It did sound like fun… you just didn’t want to make a bad impression. They all seemed so nice.
“Great!” Jinnie exclaimed, radiating joy. “It’s this Friday night, and you can stay over too. We’re starting with ‘Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses’, obviously a classic.”
“Awesome! I love that movie too,” you said as your watch beeped. “Shoot, I need to go to class.”
“Us too! We’ll all head out together, c’mon,” Felix said before throwing away the empty drink containers with Minho.
You all made your way out of the library before Jinnie pulled you into a hug, thanking you for joining her for coffee and meeting her girlfriends. You thanked her as well as you both started to walk opposite ways, her catching up with Felix and Minho before you saw something shiny on the ground.
“Jinnie, wait! You dropped your charm bracelet!” you called out.
Hyunjin gasped when she saw it, “Thank you! I’d be lost if I didn’t know where it was. Tell you what,” she continued, taking your wrist gently, “why don’t you hang onto it for a bit? You’re like my little good luck charm, after all.”
“But…” You didn’t want to take her bracelet, especially if it was so important to her. “But I thought you said it was your favorite?”
“Oh it is. But how about this. Why don’t you give it back to me at your first slumber party, hmm? I won’t miss it much for a few days, and it’ll make me feel better knowing you’ll come,” she said, fastening the little clasp securely around your wrist.
“Okay… If you’re sure you won’t miss it too much!” you said firmly.
“Of course not, honey. I’ll miss you even more.” She moved to kiss your cheek softly before you could say anything else, leaving a peach lipgloss imprint on your cheek.
You saw the other girls walk away with Hyunjin and wave as you waved back, dazed. Your phone buzzed a second later, with a text from her:
Jinnie 💞
Can’t wait to see you at the slumber party! We’ve got a pink pair of pajamas with your name on it ;)