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It all starts because of Jiyeon because of course it does. Dabin is very far from surprised.
“Did you know Nancy kissed Subin?”
Dabin narrows her eyes. Why would she care who did Nancy kiss? "Why would I care who did Nancy kiss?"
Jiyeon raises an eyebrow. "Didn't you and Nancy have a thing?"
"No." Dabin states flatly. Maybe
she
had once but then Nancy had to go and brag about how she saw Dabin doodling her name in her maths notebook.
Everyone cooed. Dabin wanted the ground to swallow her whole.
Jiyeon narrows her eyes at her. Dabin can very much hold her ground in a staring contest, though. Eventually Jiyeon gives up and Dabin has to resist the urge to high five herself.
"Anyway," Jiyeon continues, like nothing happened at all, "Ahin says they'd make a cute couple. Joowon thinks he's ugly."
"Joowon thinks all boys are ugly," Dabin snorts. Joowon thinks the whole world is ugly, honestly. You'd never guess the amount of flat cynicism packed behind that cute face. This is part of why Dabin values her as a friend so much. Joowon is
badass.
Jiyeon gives her a mildly exasperated once-over. "Do you have a thing for Joowon now?"
"I don't have a thing for anyone." Dabin mumbles, rolling her eyes. Why does she always have to be in the center of all relationship drama in their friend group? All she did was say Nancy is pretty once. Okay, maybe a little more than once but Jiyeon goes around kissing people all the time! Life is so unfair.
"Whatever you say," Jiyeon agrees after a while. Her eyes are screaming
I don't believe you one iota
louder than her words ever could.
Dabin pretends not to notice.
*
She tells herself it's not important because
it's not.
Still, the next time she sees Nancy strutting out of theater rehearsals with Subin in tow, Dabin wonders if they made out in some dark corner of the stage again. Are they a thing?
Dabin allows herself to admit she's a little distressed by the possibility. Mainly because them being a thing would mean Subin will become part of their group now and Dabin is not entirely up for it.
Right in the middle of her very convincing mental argument, however, the image of Nancy being pressed against a dusty stage wall flashes through her mind. Dabin stops in her tracks. The image slowly switches to Subin being the one pressed against the wall because, honestly, if anyone was going to press people into dusty old theater walls, that would most definitely be Nancy.
Dabin wants to gag. (Because it's gross, that's why. No other reason.
Really.)
"Hey," someone says behind her and Dabin almost jumps. Almost.
When she turns around, Nancy is grinning at her and Subin is nowhere in sight. Dabin's lips have almost formed the start of a
Where is your boyfriend?
before she remembers she doesn't care. She gives Nancy her best blank expression. "Hi."
Nancy is undeterred, however. "I heard that cute café a few blocks down the road has added new stuff to their menu, wanna check it out?"
Dabin is about to say agree because really, she's heard great things about their new smoothies too but -
She can see Subin approaching them. Nancy has her back to him, so she hasn't noticed yet. Dabin frowns. If they were actually together, she really doesn't want to third-wheel.
"Sorry," she says, trying to muster at least a hint of an actual apology in her voice, "I promised mom I'll help her with a thing and... Yeah."
Smooth, Lee Dabin. So smooth.
Nancy looks confused (and a little hurt - Dabin convinces herself she imagined that) but before she can say anything, Subin has already caught up to them and is impatiently tugging on Nancy's sleeve.
He's sort of cute, Dabin has to admit. If you're into that sort of thing.
What
is that sort of thing, she's not entirely sure.
What she is sure about, however, is that once Nancy is appropriately distracted, Dabin employs her best spy abilities to disappear without a sound.
(Read: power-walks away from them to both Subin and Nancy's startled expressions.)
*
"This is what you get for crushing on children, Lee Dabin," she mumbles to herself once in the safety of her room at home. Here, in the confines of her own space, it’s a little easier to admit it. In her defence, Nancy had blended seamlessly into their friend group, right from the get-go. And she
is
pretty.
And, okay, maybe Dabin does like to draw her sometimes.
"I did the right thing," she tells the stuffed puppy on her bed. (Nancy won it for her on a claw machine. She said it looked liked Dabin. Right now, it seems like it's judging her and Dabin doesn't find it hard at all to see the similarities.)
Her phone pings with a new message.
Of course, because Dabin's life is a shitty romcom, it's Nancy.
did i do something wrong? :(
no,
Dabin hurries to type. Then deletes it. She stares at cursor the blinking back at her. She types
Are you dating Subin?
three times before she finally deletes it, once and for all. She decides she doesn't really want to know.
Still, what she sends is
Did you really kiss Subin?
Nancy's reply is almost instantaneous.
omg is this what it's all about
yes i did kiss him. he was cute
pretty sure i served as some sort of a gay awakening though, idk how i feel about that yet
Dabin has a sudden, overwhelming urge to do something really mean to Subin. Like slap him, maybe? He had the honor to kiss Nancy and he just-
Wait.
Dabin reluctantly lets that train of thought trickle off into oblivion.
So you're not dating?
omg no,
Nancy replies, just as quick.
now that we established that will you come with me to the café?
Dabin blinks down at her phone.
But I'm already home?
She's barely sent the text when her phone pings again.
so what, come back!
you don't live that far and i'm still at school
subin wanted to run some things about the play with me
Oh. So this is what it was. Dabin suddenly feels very, very silly.
Facing Nancy right now sounds like a recipe for disaster. (And oh god, Subin - Dabin isn't entirely sure if she's given up the desire to slap him yet.)
I do have things to do,
she types and sends a quick apology to... well. Whoever's listening to her inner monologue, probably. And her lies.
But tomorrow?
This time Nancy's reply takes a few minutes.
promise?
Dabin catches herself smiling at her phone.
I promise.
*
By the time school is out the next day, Dabin has almost convinced herself running away like a coward wouldn’t be that bad of an idea.
Nancy, of course, is waiting for her at the entrance, effectively blocking her only way out. There goes the escape plan.
“I finished a little early, thought I’d wait for you,” she says offhandedly. Dabin would probably believe her, if she didn’t sound so breathless.
Dabin decides not to mention that, though. “How was your day?”
Nancy shrugs. “Someone
accidentally
spilled a can of soda on my shirt.”
It’s then that Dabin realizes that. Well. Nancy is in gym clothes. (It’s really unfair to look this good in clothes this ugly. Seriously, what the hell.)
“Do you wanna...” Dabin trails off. “I mean,” she tries again. “I live close, I can lend you some clothes?”
A grave mistake. Now Dabin’s brain is bombarding her with images of Nancy in her clothes and she hates her life a little.
“Please,” Nancy grins, flipping her hair back. “I look great in everything.”
This finally breaks Dabin’s train of thought and she snorts. Then the odd tone of Nancy’s words earlier finally catches up with her. “What do you mean “accidentally”? Did someone do it on purpose?”
Nancy sighs longsufferingly. “It’s Subin. The rumor that I kissed him is going around and now his little fanclub hates me.”
“Those little- uh.” At Nancy’s raised eyebrow, Dabin quickly gives up on whatever she was saying. She makes a mental note to look up some names, though.
By the time they’ve reached the café Nancy has told her all about the play she’ll be in and how she and Subin were supposed to kiss there, sort of, and then it just… happened. Off stage.
And then he had his gay awakening. Nancy’s words.
Nancy orders for them, a smoothie for herself and something
a little more caffeinated for Dabin. When she sips from her new, fancy drink Dabin decides that it’s a lot more sugary than she’d normally go for but she loves it anyway. (Possibly due to the fact that she’s still dying a little at how Nancy’s fingers brushed hers when she handed Dabin the drink. But no one has to know that.)
“So...” she starts, unsure. She’s been trying to make herself ask the question for two days now. “Why did you kiss Subin after all?”
Nancy shrugs. “The person I really wanna kiss doesn’t seem to want to kiss me. And Subin is cute.”
“The-” Dabin stops herself before she can ask something stupid, like
Who is he?
maybe.
“Yeah,” Nancy agrees, like she heard the question anyway. She stares Dabin dead in the eyes when she says, “She’s really stubborn.”
Dabin has to try really hard to stop the urge to pinch herself. Thank god she didn’t have coffee to spit out in shock.
Nancy is merciless, however. “In case you’re still wondering, that person is you.”
Now
the coffee is done for. “I,” Dabin starts, hastily dabbing at the table with a napkin. “What?”
Nancy shrugs once again. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you ever since I first saw you. And then you had to go and act all offended about the doodles. I was living my teen crush
dream,
my dear Dabin.”
“Then why don’t you?” Dabin mumbles into her straw. Nancy narrows her eyes at her.
A second later the glass is pushed aside and instead of the plasticky taste of the straw, there is another pair of lips on Dabin’s. A second - and then they’re gone.
Nancy looks incredibly smug.
Dabin buries her face in her hands.
*
The next day, Dabin is ruthlessly dragged over to the freshmen’s hallway, half asleep. She barely registers she’s being kissed and - okay, they’ve had a whole afternoon to practice that. Nancy is a surprisingly good kisser.
It’s later, when Nancy pulls away and Dabin finally opens her eyes, still a little dazed - when she notices the two girls doing an awfully shit job at hiding. They’ve very obviously seen them, if their open mouths are any indicator. What’s more important, though, is that Dabin is almost a hundred percent sure she’s seen them trailing behind Subin and his friends, doing just as a shit job at hiding as now.
Oh well.
It’s for the greater good, after all. (And Nancy’s lips are really, really soft.)