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It was a cold winter day. Not cold enough for snowfall, but cold enough for Yeri to wonder why she lived in a place that made her feel taking a plunge into the fiery depths of hell for warmth.
Life was difficult enough as it was. Why did it have to be so damn cold?
Yeri questioned why she didn’t live somewhere with a more warmer climate. She heard Hawaii was nice this time of year, but no. Instead of enjoying a nice, cool refreshing drink with a cute little plastic umbrella in the glass, feeling warm sand in between her toes and eyeing the local hotties, she was stuck in the dorm in the middle of freaking winter.The young brunette made a promise to herself that when she retired from the music industry, she would live somewhere where it was warm year round.
Winter could kiss her ass.She absolutely hated it. Did the season come with any benefits other than providing Christmas presents and ammo for snow fights? No. The only other good thing it did was give more reasons to cuddle up with someone special (not that she actually had anyone to do that with BUT STILL!) Other than that, it freaking sucked.The Squirtle went outside the dorm earlier in the day to retrieve a package she was eagerly expecting. It was something that she had been wanting for a long time and spent ages trying to find. It took a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and jumping through multiple hoops to get her hands on it, but it was just one of those things in life that had to be done.There was no way she was going to let it get ruined by the rain. Not after all the hard work she put into finding it.As soon as Yeri took a step outside, she immediately regretted leaving the comfort and safety of her room.The poor girl got slammed by the weather and inhaled about a liter of rain water as soon as she opened the door and made the trek to retrieve her package. But then again, she wasn’t exactly dressed appropriately for the season. Who goes outside wearing a thin t-shirt, shorts, and flip flops when it’s raining cats and dogs? (Not literally. That would have been a fate worse than death!) Somebody that didn’t apparently think the rain was that bad.It wasn’t her fault. The weather app on her phone lied to her. The rain wasn’t supposed to arrive until way later in the day, but it decided to come early for some reason.When Yeri went back inside the dorm, soaking wet from hair to toe, the girl looked like she jumped in a pool with her clothes on. Only crazy people did that.Needless to say she was not in the mood to venture into the outside world after that encounter with mother nature. She was perfectly content staying indoors, playing on her phone and isolating herself from the rest of the world like a lot of people her age did. At least she’d be safe from the perils of nature that way. She was fine looking at the beauty of nature from behind a glass screen.After the impromptu outside shower she took earlier, she changed into more comfortable clothes. The robe she had on was long (it reached her ankles), purple, fluffy, and had actual functional pockets. Was that a phone or machete in her pocket? You’d never know because the pockets were that deep.In a world where women's clothing was full of small, and even fake, pockets, it was amazing.
Irene, being the resident lover of all things purple (except the eggplant emoji), had tried in the past to persuade her into giving up the robe with bribes of money and chocolate, but the younger girl wouldn’t budge. If it was any other item Yeri owned, she would have taken the money and chocolate without hesitation.Actually that was a lie. She would have definitely tried to milk more out of the leader if she was honest. After all, why settle for less when you could get more with the right amount of persuasion?But no. Even though Yeri loved money and chocolate, there was no way she was ever going to part with that robe. It would have to be pried from her cold, dead fingers first.It was her favorite robe in the whole entire world. Why? No it wasn't because it was a family heirloom passed through the generations nor was it a gift from some secret lover (because who had time for that?)The answer was simple really: it was because the robe officially endorsed by her all time favorite artist in the whole wide world, Ariana Grande.If Irene wanted the robe that badly, she could order it herself. Hell Yeri would even provide the link, but there was no way she was going to part with her precious robe. It was so worth the outrageous shipping she had to pay in order to import it from the states and even came with a sample of Ari’s Moonlight perfume.Did she really need it when she already had the biggest bottle of it available? Probably not. But she still wanted it regardless.
The girl was an Arianator through and through.Since Yeri had nothing else to do for the day besides breathe, she figured she’d might as well satisfy her sweet tooth since she was not going back outside. The poor girl had had enough of the so called “great outdoors” for the rest of the season. The personal sized tub of chocolate ice cream with brownie bits she bought from the grocery store the day before came in handy and sent her taste buds to a different existential plane with each spoonful she put in her mouth. It was a very delicious investment.
Good job, me.
Fleeting thoughts of owning an ice cream parlor passed through her mind. She could have all the ice cream she wanted if she owned her own business. Plus being a member of Red Velvet would always guarantee a crowd willing to buy said ice cream.It seemed foolproof.But the more Yeri thought about it, the more she realized that that endeavor would have required a lot of time, effort, and money. And honestly she wasn’t sure if she was ready for that kind of commitment in her life yet. It was easier and cheaper just to buy the ice cream and enjoy it in the dorm.
“One taught me love, one taught me patience,” the girl sung happily as she shoved another spoonful of cold, chocolatey, chewy bits of heaven in her mouth and smiled at the video playing on her phone, previous thoughts of owning her own business melting away with each chew. She was watching Thank You, Next for the millionth time and jamming out on the living room couch. Just because it was the middle of winter didn’t mean she couldn’t help herself to the deliciously cold treat. Some people would think she was crazy for doing that, and maybe she was, but Yeri didn’t care. She does what she wants.Would her manager have approved of it? Probably not. But who cared about what he thought. The man still carried around a fanny pack. Who in their right mind in the twenty-first century still wore those ancient relics from a past full of examples of horrible fashion sense that were better off forgotten? Dinosaurs. That’s who.There was something relaxing about eating food while enjoying a video made by someone you loved.At least it was relaxing until the music suddenly stopped and she felt her earbuds being rudely yanked from her ears by some unknown force.What the hell!Yeri didn’t know who was responsible for the interruption, but she was prepared to give them a piece of her mind. How dare they interrupt her relaxation time. Wasn’t it universally known that when someone had their earbuds in their ears that they didn’t want to interact with anyone at all? It was like those “do not disturb” signs people put outside their rooms in hotels, except the earbuds she had were more expensive than a cheap plastic placard.She put on the meanest mug she could muster in under a second and turned around, prepared to give whoever interrupted her hell, when her eyes met the playful ones of the second youngest in the group. The former maknae seemed unfazed, or rather, amused by Yeri's angry looking face that would make anyone else who saw it quake with fear.“Hey” Joy said with a wink that probably would have made anyone on the receiving end’s heart to skip a beat. But not Yeri.Okay maybe her heart rate sped up slightly when she laid her eyes on the other girl. Maybe. Just a little bit. But could anyone really blame her? Joy was absolutely gorgeous with her long legs, toned body, and her arms....don’t even get Yeri started on those perfectly sculpted works of art that she just wanted to touch and admire all day.There was no way she was going to admit that out loud though.Gayness aside, Yeri couldn’t help but feel confused as to why Joy was wearing such light clothing when it was freezing outside, but Joy was.....well Joy. She figured she didn’t have room to judge considering she walked outside hours ago dressed like she was going to the beach and got soaked to the bone as a result of her poor judgement. If Joy wanted to walk around in nothing more than a tank top and shorts when it was cold as hell, that was her prerogative.But just because the girl in front of Yeri was drop dead gorgeous didn’t automatically excuse her from the grave crime she committed. Why the hell did Joy have to talk to her right when she was the obviously in the middle of doing something important? If the dorm spontaneously caught on fire or the zombie apocalypse suddenly started, then it’d be a different story, but it didn’t seem like neither was happening.“Do you mind? I’m in the middle of doing something here.” Yeri wasn’t shy when it came to voicing her mind. If someone was bothering her, she’d let them know straight off the bat. Was that considered an ideal trait for an idol? Probably not. But she wasn’t on stage or TV so there was no use for her to put on her “nice idol” mask in her home.The devil’s eyes lit up in amusement and her lips curled into a smirk that Yeri felt like smacking off her face. She was going to say something stupid. Call it a sixth sense if you will, but Yeri had spent enough years around the girl to know when she was going to say something gross.“Can I be that ‘something?’” Joy even wiggled her eyebrows suggestively which made it even more gross.Yeri narrowed her eyes and gave Joy the meanest and most judgemental look she could make before roughly grabbing her earbuds back. She should have invested into those stupid AirPods that everyone else and their grandmother had even if they did look tacky. If she had those, it would have been more difficult for Joy to pull off the same stunt. “Can you leave and bother someone else?”“Mmmm,” Joy groaned as she licked her lips unnecessarily. “I love it when you look at me like you’re going to chokeslam me into the ground.”Sometimes Joy said things that made Yeri do a double take and question if her hearing was going out of whack or if the older girl really said what she said.Yeri wondered if she really meant her words or if she was just screwing with her.The girl was a mystery, but if there was one thing Yeri knew for sure, it was that Joy was flirty.It was a blessing and a curse simultaneously.“I’m going to start ignoring you now,” Yeri stated with an annoyed tone as she put one earbud back in an ear and plugged it into the headphone jack of her phone. Just a few more steps and she could drown out the world and all its distractions yet again, including her fellow Satan. “Now if you’ll excuse m—”“How much do you love Ari?” Joy asked suddenly, cutting Yeri off and taking the younger girl by surprise.Now Yeri was used to Joy’s random nature. The girl asked the randomest questions out of the blue at the randomest times. Last week she asked Yeri if she would rather have ears on her elbows or have ears where her eyes were right before bed. A few days after, she asked Yeri what size underwear she wore when they were eating breakfast.
(Wendy spat out the orange juice she was drinking as soon as Joy asked that question. It got all over the table which, although funny, was gross.)The girl was unpredictable.She couldn’t figure out why Joy was like this, but then again, that was like asking why the sky was blue or why grass was green. Joy was just Joy. It was simple as that.But this question in particular was different from the others. It didn't make Yeri shake her head in disappointment, cringe in disgust, or wonder if the older girl finally lost what was left of her sanity. It was a question that was actually relevant to her interests. As soon as Joy said those words, it was like a switch was flipped inside of Yeri. Her usually sleepy self suddenly jolted awake and she felt energized at the mere mention of the pop star's name.The dormant fangirl in her awakened.Everyone knew that once you awoke the fangirl in someone, there was no way of stopping it. Nothing. Except maybe bumping into their idol in real life, but that chances of getting struck by lightning was greater than that.“Only with every fiber of my being!” yelled Yeri excitedly as she jumped off the couch, spilling her tub of ice cream on the floor in the process and not bothering to pick it up. Irene would probably have a cow later and yell about the mess and go on an hour long rant about how she's the only one that does anything around the dorm, but that was not her priority. Yeri felt compelled to show Joy just how much she loved her queen.“Look at my shirt!” She dramatically took off her robe and threw it behind her like how anime characters did, showing off her grey short sleeved t-shirt with an anime version of Ariana standing, hands on her hips, looking fierce while firing missiles from her boobs.
Joy stared blankly at the cartoony image on Yeri’s chest for a moment before looking back up at her, confusion evident in her face. “Why is she shooting missiles from her boobs?”
“I think the real question you should be asking is why aren’t we capable of shooting missiles from our boobs?” Yeri retorted as she made air circles around her chest with her hands. She even added her best impression of an explosion to emphasize her point.It was a valid question.“Just imagine how much would get accomplished if women had their own boob missiles,” Yeri as she continued her speech, thinking of all the potential benefits of possessing weapons of mass destruction within one's chest.
“Someone in the way? Shoot a boob missile. Late for work? Shoot a boob missile. Need to send a message quickly? Shoot a boob missile. Bored? Shoot a boob missile.”The creators of a certain parody series of spy movies were on the right track when they created evil robots that shot bullets from their boobs at the main character. They just needed to take it a step further and add something with more firepower."Hmmmmm," the elder girl hummed in thought, taking a few moments to ponder the question and rub her chin in thought before finally nodding and agreeing. “You know what...you’re right.”Yeri did a hair flip. She loved it whenever someone acknowledged her genius which didn’t happen as often as it should have. “When am I not?”But she didn’t stop there. No. She needed to show more proof.With swift yet precise movements, the Arianator whipped out her phone from the front pocket of her sweatpants and shoved it into a very surprised Joy’s face, showing off her lockscreen
of the pop star. “Look at my phone!” She exclaimed as she unlocked the phone, tapped on the photos icon, and showed Joy her multiple folders which had thousands of pictures of Ariana organized by the different eras from her days as a hit TV show star to the current era.
Unlike in Korean pop fan culture, there were no fan sites in America that traveled the world following Ariana as she did Ariana things, taking pictures while doing so. If someone even attempted that, they’d probably get arrested and have a restraining order placed on them. Due to this, Yeri had to scour the treacherous seas of the internet for all the pictures she could find. Not that she minded. It was like a scavenger hunt.And Yeri always played to win.Before Joy had a chance to react, the maknae put her phone away and ran to her room faster than a speeding bullet and brought out a cardboard box that was larger than herself. The sight was pretty funny; seeing a small girl like Yeri run out with a box bigger than her, awkwardly trying to keep her balance and not trip in the process, but she didn’t care. She ripped the box open like a kid opening up their presents on Christmas morning, throwing the stray pieces of ripped cardboard to the side and pulled out Ariana Grande herself.Well it wasn’t really the singer herself. Ordering people online was illegal, but it was the next best thing."Look at my cardboard cut out!”"Whoa." Joy stood in awe, mouth agape as she stepped forward and reached her hand out to touch the cut out, but was roughly swatted away by Yeri’s hand. “No touchie,” she chastised while wagging a finger disapprovingly to emphasize her point. She paid good money for that cutout. There was no way she was going to let Joy taint it with her grubby little fingers (even if they were pretty.)Yeri couldn’t blame her though. The cardboard cutout was not only beautiful, but also very well made. It wasn’t one of those cheap ones that were thinner than paper that bent and ripped easily. It was actually very sturdy and well made.She still wasn’t sure where she was going to put it in her room since it was already full, but that was a problem for another day. For now, it was going to stand right next to her bed so it could be the first thing she saw every morning and be the last thing she saw before going to bed at night.If only she could meet the real deal....that would make her life complete.Even though the weather outside was less than desirable, she was thankful her package didn’t get destroyed. Cardboard and water didn’t mix well.She picked up the cardboard cutout, ran back to her room again, and returned with an armful of DVDs and laid them all out on the couch. She had every single episode of the show that Ariana Grande starred on in her younger years, Victorious, along with the special crossover episodes it had with its sister show, iCarly. The DVDs were directly imported from the United States.The show itself was cancelled long ago and, as a result, the DVDs were no longer in print. Due to this, Yeri had to cough up some serious money to get her hands on the merchandise, but it was so worth it in her opinion. “Look at my DVDs!”Joy whistled as she walked closer to the couch to look at the numerous DVD cases. “That’s a lot of DVD’s.”"It's only the entire television series that made me fall in love with Ariana Grande in the first place." Yeri couldn’t help but smile as the warm feelings of nostalgia hit her.
She remembered when she first saw her idol. It happened by chance; she was channel surfing and happened to catch a snippet of an episode where Ariana’s character, Cat, was singing with another person on the show.Yeri thought she had the voice of a goddess. She had been a fan ever since then and kept herself up to date on Ariana Grande’s career by following all her social media accounts and the accounts of other Arianators on the internet for the latest news.She shook her head, bringing herself back to the present. Yeri didn't have the luxury of basking in nostalgia. Not when she still had a point to make. "But wait...that's not all!""There's more?!""Of course! I'm a die hard fan!" Yeri boasted as placed her hands behind her back and swiftly pulled out a bra from under her shirt and held it in front of Joy’s face, taking the taller girl by surprise (again.)
“Look at my bra!”“What—“The bra was one that the singer endorsed and helped
design herself. It was pink and had a little design of the singer’s brown puppy on the cups. But not only that, it was limited edition. Only 5,000 existed in the entire world. And Yeri just so happened to be wearing one of the ten that she owned.Yeri may have had to fight someone at the mall for some of them, but she wore the perfect disguise that day so nobody could try to sue her or anything.“Are those little puppy heads on the design? Oh my god!” squealed Joy. “I love it! Can I touch it?!”Yeri once again smacked Joy's hand away for attempting to touch a precious work of art. "No touchie.""Oh come on! It’s just a bra!"“A limited edition bra,” corrected Yeri as she expertly put it back on without any problems.
A knowing grin made its way onto Yeri’s face as she thought about what she was going to show Joy next. It was going to blow her away for sure.All she needed to do was show it off.She suddenly pulled her bottom lip down with both hands, exposing the soft pink flesh underneath where there, written in dark bold letters was the word “Ari” along with a cute little pink heart next to it. “Look at my lip!” she beamed with pride.Joy gasped for the thousandth time that day and didn’t say a word. She didn’t need to. The way her eyes widened to the size of saucers spoke volumes.Yeri couldn’t help but giggle at Joy’s facial expression. How she wished she could take a snapshot of it on her phone and post it on their shared Instagram page.
Joy
had looked surprised earlier when Yeri brought everything else out, but the face she made when she saw the tattoo took the cake. It was a mixture of disbelief, awe, and confusion.“When did you get that tattoo??”Yeri let go of her lip, allowing it to return to its normal position before giving a shrug. “I honestly don’t remember but I have no regrets.”She was telling the truth. The young girl discovered the tattoo one morning after a night out. When she woke up with pain in her mouth, she was very surprised to see a tattoo on her lip. While Yeri didn’t plan on getting anything permanently etched onto her skin so soon (especially there of all places), she had to give props to her drunk self for not getting the tattoo anywhere else like on her forehead or chest. At least the location of that tattoo was more discreet compared to where it could have been placed.
If the internet had taught her anything, it was that it could’ve been much, much worse.“Wow. That’s.....actually pretty badass.”“Yes, yes. I know I’m amazing,” Yeri beamed. She felt proud. Not everyone could say that they had their favorite idol’s name tattooed on themselves. “I hope that answered your question. Ariana Grande is the love of my life and nothing will ever change that.”“Do you have a tattoo that says ‘Japanese BBQ’ too?”
Yeri stood silent. It would be a lie if she said the thought didn’t cross her mind. She even wrote it on her hand a few days before with a black marker for practice.
It looked ugly, but she wasn’t exactly known for her amazing penmanship skills so it was more her fault than anything else.Why did kanji have to be so hard?Getting such a large tattoo like that on her hand wasn’t exactly her style. That and if she did, she’d never hear the end of it from her manager. She didn’t need to listen to an hour long lecture about how to be a “proper” idol. Again.Yeri’s silence must have been taken as confirmation because Joy’s eyes widened and she suddenly gasped dramatically, putting a hand over her mouth while doing so. “Oh my god! You did!”“No!”“Where is it?” Joy questioned as she suddenly grabbed Yeri’s hands and inspected them closely. When she saw that there was nothing there, she looked Yeri up and down which, honestly, made the younger girl feel slightly self conscious.Joy looked Yeri straight in the eye. “Don’t tell me you got it....”The younger devil’s face heated up as she yanked her hands back, all the possibilities of where Joy could been referring to flew through her mind. “No!”“You sure you didn’t get it tattooed on your butt?” she continued to probe. “Don’t lie to me.”“Why would I do that!”“Well you did get a tattoo on your lip....”“That doesn’t mean I’m automatically going to get tattoos everywhere you know!”“If you really don’t have it then....prove it” challenged Joy with a smirk. “It shouldn’t be a big deal if you don’t have anything to hide right?”As much as it hurt Yeri to admit, even if it wasn’t done verbally, Joy was right. But that didn’t mean she had to like it.What Joy was asking her to do was crossing the line.
“I am not showing you my ass, you perv,” Yeri declared as she walked backwards from the devil, keeping an eye on the other girl for any sudden movements while holding onto her pajama bottoms defensively. Knowing Joy she probably would have attempted to pants her just to be a jerk.Joy cackled. “You have an ass?”A fuzzy slipper zoomed past Joy’s face, barely missing its target, before falling unceremoniously onto the floor.Yeri bit the inside of her cheek, annoyed that she missed hitting the cause of most of her headaches in life. There was a reason why she didn’t play sports and just stuck to her current profession.Joy burst into laughter and fell back on the couch, holding her sides. ”God you’re freaking hilarious! You had a perfect shot too!”“Shut up,” grumbled Yeri as she went to retrieve her slipper and put it back on. “Or I’ll shave your eyebrows off while you’re asleep.”
“Go ahead. I can always draw them back on if need be.”“Why do I even put up with you?”
“Because you love me〜!” Joy responded in a sickeningly sweet tone that made Yeri feel things she didn’t want to particularly feel at that moment. ”Not gonna lie though. After all that, I thought you were going to pull out a jar full of her toenail clippings, spit, or something weird like that.”Yeri cringed. And felt like slapping Joy upside the head for even spouting such nonsense. “Why would you even think that?”The taller girl raised her hands up in defense. “I’m just saying.”“Let’s get it straight,” Yeri said as she pointed a accusatory finger in Joy’s face. “The people who buy things like that aren’t fans. They’re stalkers. Plain and simple. The lowest of the low. The scum of the earth.” She paused, trying to think of other insults to hurl in order to get her point across. “They’re trash. And if I ever see one, you bet your sweet ass that I’m going to fight them.”“You only went to that self defense class for a month,” Joy scoffed as she rolled her eyes. Yeri couldn’t help but feel a little offended. Just because she was small didn’t mean that she couldn’t kick ass if she needed to.
Big things came in small packages.Yeri wasn’t expecting Joy to remember something like that since the actress was busy filming her drama at that time, but she was not going to let her insult her training even if it was only for a month.The amateur street fighter gave a few exaggerated punches in the air, sound effects and all, before stopping to pose dramatically. “I learned a lot of life changing techniques in that short amount of time, thank you very much.”Joy was not impressed. “You got kicked out for playing around with the weapons and
gave yourself a black eye.”Joy must have been stalking her or something because there was no way she could have known about that....unless Irene told her. Yeri specifically told the leader not to say anything to Joy and yet somehow, she knew about it.Yeri made a mental note to complain to Irene about it later.“Look the point is those people aren’t fans and don’t deserve to be labeled as such because they’re disgusting and need to be wiped off the face of the earth.”She began to pick up her DVDs, gathering them and putting them in a neat pile to take back to her room. They needed to be put away safely where they belonged. They were collector’s items after all. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to important business.”“Actually there was something I wanted to talk to you about.”Yeri raised her hand, signaling Joy to stop talking. “No.” She already knew where this was going. It was something that happened hundreds of times before.“Meanie,” Joy pouted. “I didn’t even say anything yet.”“I’m stopping you before you have a chance to because I know it’s going to be a waste of time,” Yeri explained as she lowered her hand to count the DVD cases, making sure she collected all the ones she brought out to show. It wouldn’t do to leave them out in the open, especially when there were some members that walked around without paying attention to where they were going.
The last thing Yeri needed in her life was to have someone sit on her DVDs and crack them in half. “If you wanna bother someone that badly, go bother Wendy or Seulgi.”“I think you’ll find what I have to say to be very interesting,” Joy teased, making sure to emphasize a certain word that definitely didn’t go unnoticed by Yeri.Yeri couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the statement. “Define ‘interesting.’”Maybe Joy had dirt on someone and wanted to share the gossip with her. Or maybe she wanted to show her some stupid video she came across on YouTube.
Then there was the very likely possibility that whatever she had to say was nothing but bull.It was up to chance really.
I guess it couldn’t hurt to hear what she has to say, thought Yeri to herself. If it was something stupid or boring, she could just walk out of the room and spend the rest of her time doing something more productive like continue to stream Thank You, Next.“What if I said....I had a way to get you to see her.”Yeri snorted. Did Joy really think she was that gullible? She wasn’t born yesterday. If her own company had yet to get her in contact with the pop star, there was no way Joy was telling the truth.“You’re lying.”“No I’m not.”
Yeri set the DVDs down on a nearby table before looking closely into Joy’s eyes as she got closer to her. “So you’re telling the truth? You can help me see her?”“Yes,” Joy responded cooly. The younger girl studied Joy’s face to see if she was lying. The older girl’s lip would twitch slightly whenever she lied.
What Yeri saw shocked her.
Joy’s lip didn’t move.
She was telling the truth.Wow.That was unexpected.If Joy was really telling the truth then.... maybe Yeri would finally be able to fulfill her lifelong dream of meeting her idol face-to-face! They both were in the music business, but even so, it was still difficult to get in contact with someone of her status. She was one of the most sought out celebrities in the world after all who had broken many records in the music industry.What Yeri would give to meet her. She’d sell her left lung if she had to. Okay maybe not her lung since that would most likely adversely affect her singing abilities which wouldn’t be good since she was a singer. Lungs were pretty crucial to the whole singing thing. Her kidney would be a better candidate. People could live with one kidney.
But nothing in life came free except those free cheap plastic bottles and pens people gave out at events to advertise their business or organization.“What do you want?” There was no reason to beat around the bush. Everything in life came with a price. Joy was no exception.
She was Satan herself after all.
The taller girl gasped dramatically, placing a hand on her chest as if she was offended by Yeri saying such a thing. “What kind of person do you think I am?”Yeri rolled her eyes at Joy’s lame attempt at pretending to be shocked. She knew exactly what Yeri was referring to. “Shut up and just tell me what you want.”“Wellllll,” Joy drawled as she got up from the couch and walked towards Yeri, getting way closer than what was necessary. “Since you’re offering...” she trailed off while lifting up Yeri’s chin with a finger.Yeri huffed as she calmly grabbed Joy’s hand with her own and moved it out of the way. She was starting to get impatient. All she wanted to do was pay whatever price she needed to pay to see her idol and move on with her life, but Joy seemed like she wanted to drag it out. “Look are you going to tell me what you want or what?”Joy clicked her tongue. “So impatient. Jeez. It’s not much.”Yeri found that hard to believe.“What? You want money?” she asked as she pulled out her phone, debating on whether she should throw out an offer or let Joy name her own price. It’d probably be better for her wallet if she did the latter so she settled on doing that. “How much do you want? I can have it transferred to your bank account right now.”The devil laughed as she shook her head, hair swaying majestically like those models do in those shampoo commercials. “I don’t want money.”Was the world ending? Did Joy say she didn’t want money? Was this even her? Maybe the real Joy got kidnapped and was replaced with a really convincing android instead.
If that was the case, whoever programmed it got how annoying Joy could be down to a tee.“Okaaaaay. What do you want then?” Yeri figured she’d might as well just flat out ask. There was no reason to waste any more time. The sooner she got the whole thing over with, the sooner she could leave and scream about finally having a chance to meet her idol on her secret stan account. “You better not say a puppy because that is so not happ—”
“A kiss.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“A kiss.”As soon as Yeri heard those two words, her brain froze.Not literally like when she ate a lot of ice cream too fast (that was a different kind of brain freeze.) This particular type was similar to what happened sometimes when she was on YouTube; she’d be watching a video when suddenly out of nowhere, it would freeze and buffer for bit. But this time instead of a video, it was her brain that was buffering, trying to process all the information and catch up.
Wait....what?!
Joy’s words took Yeri by surprise that her grip on the phone in her hand loosened, causing it to drop and, ultimately, slam directly onto her foot.On a normal day, Yeri would have been able catch it mid-drop.
But this day was far from normal.
Yeri yelped in pain, grumbling some colorful words that would make Irene shake her head in disapproval as she held onto her hurt foot, jumping around on the other and almost slipping like those characters did in those old cartoons she watched as a child.The taller devil couldn’t help but crack up at the sight. If Yeri wasn’t so distracted by what Joy said, she would have felt irritated and yelled something along the lines of “what the hell are you laughing at!” But her poor brain was too busy processing the words that passed through Joy’s lips.Her gorgeously shaped and plump looking lips that looked oh so inviting...Yeri didn’t expect that. At all. Those two simple words seemed like
something out of a dream.She expected to cough up a substantial amount of money to see her idol or buy something ridiculously expensive for Joy, but....apparently all she had to do was kiss her.
Kiss....
Was this real life? Because it sounded like the type of situation that came out of a comic or some fanfiction a fan made and uploaded onto the internet.Not that Yeri had experience reading those or anything. Nope. She totally didn’t
read them and imagined what life would be like if they actually happened. She just happened to....accidentally come across links to them on Twitter. That’s all.It wasn’t like she was disgusted by the price she had to pay. Anyone in the world would be lucky enough to have an opportunity to breathe the same air—much less kiss—someone as beautiful as Joy.Plus the thought about kissing the older girl may have passed through Yeri’s mind once.Or twice.
Okay if she was honest, she had thought about kissing Joy numerous times but that wasn’t something she would openly admit.
Not yet at least.It was a win-win situation for her. She would get her ticket to see Ariana Grande AND get a chance to kiss her really attractive group member.There was no reason to say no. She’d be stupid not to take that offer.Yeri just had to play it cool. There was no reason for her to act overtly thirsty.
She needed to be calm about it.
But she was no fool. Although the offer was attractive, it seemed almost too good to be true.
“If it’s too good to be true, it probably is” as the saying went.
There had to be a catch of some kind. As for what, she didn’t know but she was definitely going to find out one way or another.
There was no reason to waste any more so Yeri figured she might as well ask directly. “What’s the catch?” she asked cautiously.
And for good reason: both girls were one and the same. That was probably why they got along with each other so well (as well as got on each other’s nerves.)
There was a reason why they were known amongst fans as “scammers.”
They knew how to play the game to get what they want.
Joy laughed and shook her head, long hair swaying with each shake. The urge to run her fingers through Joy’s hair presented itself, but Yeri pushed it to the back of her mind. She needed to focus on the task at hand which was figuring out what Joy really wanted. “There’s no catch. Honest.”
Yeri just stared at the taller girl, face clearly showing that she wasn’t buying it. There had to have been some kind of trick. Joy couldn’t have been doing this out of the kindness of her heart.
There was just no way.
“I’m telling the truth,” continued Joy as she put up a hand like she was taking an oath to speak the truth and nothing but the truth in a court of law. “Scout’s honor.”
The maknae rolled her eyes. Leave it to Joy to be the most extra person on the planet. “Please. You were never a scout.”
“Look that’s not important. What’s important is that you have a once in a lifetime opportunity to see THE Ariana Grande.”
The room suddenly became quiet. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of the rain outside, pelting against the building.
Joy sighed when Yeri didn’t say anything but give her a scrutinizing look in return, clearly analyzing her body language and trying to determine if she was speaking the truth yet again. She must have took Yeri’s silence as rejection because she suddenly threw her hands up as if she was going to give up. “But if you don’t want to see her then I won’t force y—”
“I never said that,” Yeri interjected. “I just want to make sure I understand the terms.”
“What’s so complicated about it? It’s not like I’m asking you to gather all seven dragon balls or make a contract with me.”
“So let me get this straight....” Yeri paused, ignoring the random anime references and trying to think of how to phrase the rest of the sentence so she could get her point across. “All I have to do is give you a kiss? Then you’ll help me see her?”Joy was a tricky one. She wanted to make sure that’s all the devil wanted before the other girl tacked on a million other things onto the deal.“Yep,” chirped Joy while giving Yeri a disarming smile that made her scream internally and want to bang her head against the wall from how beautiful she looked.
Why did she have to be so damn gorgeous?
Ugh.
“So are you going to do it or what?”Yeri bit her bottom lip, thinking about what course of action she should take, but the way Joy was smiling at her made her thoughts all cloudy and all she could think about was pushing her against the couch, crashing her lips against hers—Wait what? Was really Yeri fantasizing about making out with Joy right in front of her?
God I really must be desperate.
Curse Joy and her ridiculously attractive self.
Messing with Yeri’s concentration like that.The more Yeri thought about it, the more she realized that there really was no way she would lose in the end. She’d get a ticket to see her idol AND get to kiss the girl she’s been wanting to kiss for a while, but never had a chance to. Everything she ever wanted was pretty much being offered on a silver platter for her.All she had to do was reach out and take it.“Any day now would be nice,” teased Joy as she tapped on her foot impatiently. “Some of us have things to do you know.”Her first instinct was to fire a retort back, but she bit her tongue. The last thing she wanted to do was potentially jeopardize her one chance at meeting Ariana Grande. Chances like this didn’t come often, if at all. They were both artists and still haven’t crossed paths for whatever reason Yeri still couldn’t fathom.She would be a fool if she didn’t take advantage of the opportunity. Was it embarrassing? Of course. Who wouldn’t feel embarrassed kissing their best friend?
But there are some things in life that need to be done. No matter what.For Yeri, this was one of those things.The Squirtle licked her lips. It was just a kiss. No big deal. It wasn’t like she never kissed anyone before. She wasn't that inexperienced. It just....never happened with Joy. Who wouldn’t feel nervous kissing someone as beautiful as her? Hell, Yeri has lived with her for years and still got nervous around her.She couldn’t imagine how anyone else would feel if they received a similar offer.The thought of Joy doing that with someone else left a bad taste in her mouth, but Yeri didn’t want to think about it too deeply. She needed to focus on the present. The now.She psyched herself up for the task, giving herself a mental pep talk, similar to how she did whenever she had to give a presentation in class when she was school.
You got this. All those times practicing should pay off.
With renewed confidence, the maknae walked with purpose, getting closer to the devil herself with each step she took.At least she tried to keep that confidence up until she looked up Joy in the eye and her stomach began to twist in knots. A part of herself told her that this was a bad idea and that she should just give it up, but she threw that feeling to the side.There was no way she was going to let such a rare opportunity pass her by.The maknae
learned from a young age that if she really wanted something, she had to fight for it.She was going to kiss Joy even if she died trying.
It was all or nothing.“Fine. I’ll do it,” she announced with as much conviction as she could. The wry grin on Joy’s face widened at the statement, but stopped when Yeri lifted up a lone finger.Yeri needed to make one thing clear. If she was going to do it, it was going to be on her terms. “I’ll do it on one condition.”Joy eyed her curiously, but remained silent, giving Yeri a chance to state whatever condition she wanted.
Yeri pursed her lips as she lightly punched the other girl in the arm, not too hard but with just enough force to get her attention and signaled Joy to come closer.Joy obliged.She got too close for comfort (again), but in order for this kiss to work, they needed to be as close as possible. It wasn’t like Yeri could magically make her lips reach out from her face and kiss Joy from a million miles away.“Close your eyes and lean down.” A part of Yeri died when those words came out of her mouth. It was embarrassing but with their vast difference in height, she had no choice. She didn't win the genetic lottery in terms of tallness unfortunately.“Why?”Yeri narrowed her eyes. Was Joy really asking that question? The answer should have been glaringly obvious. How else was she going to be able to reach her face to kiss her? There were no ladders in the dorm and there was NO way she was going to jump and attempt to kiss her that way. With her luck, she’d end up kissing the cold, hard floor instead and maybe lose a few teeth in the process. “Because you’re a damn skyscraper.”Joy's lips curled upward to a smirk that reminded her of a certain feline Pokémon
and let out an amused chuckle. “It’s not my fault you’re a hobbit.”“I’m not a hobbit,” Yeri stated matter-of-factly. She knew her fellow member was just teasing, but the playful insult still stung a little. “I’m fun sized.”“I don’t know...” the taller girl trailed off as she rubbed her chin, and gave Yeri a once over, looking her up from head to toe as if she was evaluating her for some sort of test. “Can you even get on amusement park rides the way you are now?”Yeri huffed as she smacked Joy on the arm, earning a fake moan from the older girl.
At least Yeri thought it was fake. She wasn't sure what a real moan from Joy would sound like.
The mere thought of it made her face heat up and suddenly she felt like running outside and getting slammed by the ice cold rain. Again.
Maybe doing that would help keep her imagination under control.
Get a hold of yourself, girl.
“Awwww are you blushing?” Joy cooed as she leaned forward and pinched and pulled Yeri’s cheeks, which became redder in response. “I feel flattered.”
“Shut up,” Yeri spat as she swatted off Joy’s hands and tried to rub the ache away on her cheeks, annoyance clearly showing on her face. Part of it was for Joy while the other was for herself and how her body was betraying her. “Look. Do you want this kiss or what?”“Yes.”“Then behave or the deal’s off,” warned Yeri as she mentally prepared herself to do something she’s only done in her dreams. Instead of kissing her under the stars or in her bed like her dream self did, she was going to do it in the living room of their dorm.
It wasn’t the most ideal place, but beggars can’t be choosers.“Now close your eyes and lean down,” Yeri commanded, hoping the stern tone she used hid her nervousness well. It was better to get everything over with while she still had the nerve to do so without any alcohol in her system.The older girl (surprisingly) did as she was told and leaned down while closing her eyes, giving Yeri a perfect view of her luscious lips.Yeri couldn’t help but take a moment to admire the beauty in front of her.Joy looked breathtaking.
Even though some would have called what she was currently wearing “plain” there was something attractive about seeing a gorgeous girl wear nothing else but a thin tank top and shorts that showed off her ridiculously long legs.
God how she wished she could caress those legs without being asked any annoying questions.
If only it was summer and Yeri had a chance to put sunblock on her....
It was like her eyes had a mind of their own as they traveled upwards and landed on Joy’s chest. Yeri furrowed her eyebrows as she allowed herself to stare for a couple of seconds but shook her head. This was not the time to ogle Joy’s boobs. It was embarrassing enough that she was going to kiss her. The last thing Yeri needed in life was for Joy to catch her staring at her chest and tease her endlessly about it.
Stupid Joy and her stupid hot self.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Taking a deep breath, Yeri counted down from five, gathered up what scraps of courage she could, stood up on the tips of her toes and pressed her lips against Joy’s.They were just as soft as they looked and tasted a little like chocolate much to Yeri’s surprise. Maybe she put on flavored chapstick or ate some chocolate beforehan? She didn’t know but even if Joy ate a whole bucket of garlic fries, she wouldn’t have cared. She was just happy that it was finally happening.Honestly Yeri would’ve kissed Joy without any sort of reward, but that would have lead to another issue and a conversation that she honestly didn’t want to have anytime soon. She didn’t feel like having a headache and long conversations about feelings at the moment.Joy’s eyes snapped open immediately as soon as their lips met, catching Yeri by surprise. She internally panicked as Joy looked back with widened eyes, and pulled back, even though she wouldn’t have minded kissing her a bit longer.The shorter girl couldn’t help but rub the back of her neck in embarrassment, not sure what she should be doing at the moment. She didn’t expect Joy to suddenly open her eyes like that and honestly it was a bit annoying because she specifically told her to keep them closed.“You were supposed keep your eyes closed!” whined Yeri as she grabbed Joy’s shoulder and pushed her back, not too hard but with enough force to cause her body to move. She should have known Joy would do the complete opposite of what she said just to mess with her. “I swear you can’t even follow simple directions.”The taller girl didn’t say anything in response and just stared off into the distance, not looking directly at Yeri herself but it was like she was looking through her.Why was she acting like that when she was the one that asked for a kiss in the first place? If anyone
had a right to be embarrassed, it was Yeri. She was the one that had to initiate the kiss.Insecurity began bubbling within her.
Was the kiss that bad?
It shouldn’t have been. Yeri practiced with her best friend in the past and Saeron praised her. It wasn’t like she was a complete beginner to the whole kissing thing. Granted, the last time she kissed anyone was a while back, but her skill shouldn’t have faded with time....right?
Or maybe Joy thought she wasn’t going to go through with the kiss and was shocked that it actually happened.Yeri wasn't a mind reader so she had no clue, but what she did know for sure was that the atmosphere in the room felt awkward. Like really awkward.She felt compelled to say something to break the deafening
silence.
“Hey.”
Joy’s eyes flicked toward her for a moment before returning to their original
position, avoiding all eye contact.
For someone that had the audacity to ask for a kiss, Joy sure was acting uncharacteristically shy. The confident flirt from earlier was nowhere to be found.It was strange. Very strange.“Look,” Yeri started as she crossed her arms, feeling impatient. “You got your kiss. Now tell me how you can help me see my queen.”The other girl didn’t respond and just stood there, mouth open in shock.Yeri poked the taller girl’s cheeks with a finger. Was Joy still alive? Or did she die? Some people died with their eyes open. She didn’t know that was possible until recently after finishing a documentary on Netflix.
Joy’s cheek felt warm and it looked like she was still breathing so that theory was out of the question.“Why do you look like you’re going to shit yourself?” she asked curiously. Maybe making a stupid joke would bring Joy back from the dead. “Unless...you actually did shit yourself?”
“I-I thought...” Joy managed to stutter after being a statue for a few moments.
Yeri raised an eyebrow. “You thought?” she repeated, trying to help Joy finish the rest of her thought.
“I thought you were going to kiss me on the cheek or something. Not...” Joy stopped as she touched her lips with her fingers. “On the lips...”Yeri’s face immediately turned scarlet as the realization hit her. Never in her life did she feel so incredibly stupid and embarrassed at the same time as she did in that moment.
And she’s done a lot of stupid things in life.She ran over a fire hydrant while practicing driving one time and had to pay for the damage.She also set the microwave on fire after forgetting to take the foil off of some leftover food (and also had to pay for a brand new microwave.)But this took the cake.Joy didn’t specifically state where she wanted the kiss so....why did Yeri automatically assume she meant her lips?She probably expected it to be on the cheek, forehead, or maybe even her nose. Kissing anywhere else was gay territory.Especially on the lips.
Fuck.She screwed up. Big time.There was no heterosexual explanation for her actions. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Not even saying she got possessed by some gay spirit would have saved her.But there was no going back. It already happened.
This wasn’t like one of those dating simulation games people played on their phones where they could reload from an earlier save point and make a different decision to get a different outcome.
This was real life.
Yeri felt like screaming, but she couldn’t. That would only make the situation worse and a hundred times more awkward than it already was.A wise person once said “fake it til’ you make it” and that was what Yeri was going to have to do (or at least attempt to do.) She had to play off the kiss as no big deal.
After all, it was 2019, not 1719. Times have changed. Girls kissed other girls all the time.
It sounded sounded easy enough. Yeri had plenty of practice bluffing and lying her way out of multiple situations in life.
She just needed to use that genius brain of hers to come up with ways to make it seem convincing.“W-well,” Yeri paused, mind scrambling to come up with something to say that wasn’t incoherent screeching, “At least you had someone as beautiful as me grace your lips unlike some gross boy.”Some gross boy.
Yeri felt like punching herself in the face. She made an already gay event one hundred times gayer with those three words.Maybe talking wasn’t such a good idea after all.
She could express herself better with writing. Maybe she should have told Joy to stay put while she ran to her room, got a notepad, and took the time to write her thoughts down.No that wouldn’t work. As soon as she would get a pencil in her hand, she’d start overthinking everything and ultimately not write anything in the end.
Damn it. Damn it. DaMN I—
“It’s not that I mind. I’m just....” Joy uttered as she stopped mid-sentence.
Yeri’s heart hammered in her chest and she hoped that, as stupid as it sounded, Joy couldn’t tell she was freaking out internally.She didn’t know what to expect and honestly that genuinely terrified her.Was Joy disgusted? Disappointed?Wait it couldn’t be. If she really was, she would have slapped Yeri across the face or pushed her away. Probably.While Yeri was busy thinking of all the potential answers Joy was going to say, she almost didn’t hear what the older girl said next.“I’m....just surprised,” she said softly that Yeri would have missed it if she wasn’t so close to her.Yeri honestly didn’t know how to respond to that so she just focused on inspecting her nails, pretending to think about what she should do for them and fighting against the urge to run out of the room and lock herself in the bathroom and question her life decisions. She didn’t even need to use the bathroom but she needed a distraction from Joy and the whole awkward situation between them.There was no way she was going to look at Joy.She had no choice as she felt two hands cup her face and lift it up so she was directly facing Joy who took it upon herself to get closer than what was necessary.There was something in her eyes Yeri couldn’t quite decipher. The wide eye look of surprise along with the gaping mouth was long gone and was replaced with something else that looked like....Determination?
Wait why would she—
“Can I get another?”
Wait. What?!
If Yeri was drinking a glass of water at the exact moment Joy uttered those words, she would have sprayed it all over herself and everyone else within a mile radius.
But she wasn’t (thankfully) and just had another heart
attack instead.
What the hell?
Were her ears tricking her? Because it sounded like Joy said that she wanted Yeri to kiss her again.
She pinched her thigh with her thumb and index finger and winced in pain. It hurt.Yep. Definitely not a dream nor some sort of hallucination. It was the real deal.It just seemed so unreal that Joy wanted another kiss.On. The. Lips.Mouth to mouth contact.With her out of all people.Yeri’s pathetic gay self told her to jump on the golden opportunity and do it without hesitation. To just go for it.
The way Joy was looking at her with pleading eyes wasn’t helping either.“Please.”
The way Joy said “please” was so sweet and tugged at Yeri’s heartstrings. She felt like throwing everything to the side and just giving Joy what she wanted; what they both (apparently) wanted.But the logical part of her brain told her she shouldn’t. She needed to resist. If she gave in, Joy would use that to her advantage from that day onwards.
Even though Yeri’s mind was screaming at her to just give in and kiss Joy again, she knew that nothing but trouble would come as a result of it.
The next thing she knew, Joy would start asking Yeri to do things for her and say she’d give her a kiss as a reward because she knew she’d love it.There was no way Yeri was going to let that happen.
“No,” Yeri stated firmly as she peeled Joy’s hands off her face. “You said one kiss and that’s exactly what you got.”
“Come on,” Joy added an extra layer of sugar to her tone that made Yeri feel things. “Please?” She grabbed Yeri’s hand and held it in between hers, rubbing it with her own. They were soft, warm, smelled like mangoes for some reason, and honestly if Yeri didn’t have a mission she needed to accomplish, she would have let Joy hold her hand for as long as the other girl wanted.But she needed to be firm.
“No. That wasn’t part of the deal,” Yeri said as she removed her hand from Joy’s, who puffed out her cheeks in obvious disapproval in a adorable way.She held her hand out out expectantly, waiting for Joy to give her what she promised. “Now cough up what you owe me.”Joy stared at her for a moment and pouted as she suddenly reached under her tank top and pulled out a folded piece of paper from the inside of her bra, giving Yeri a generous view of her chest in the process.She had to admit.....Joy had nice boobs.She swallowed hard and hoped that Joy didn’t notice her staring a lot longer (and harder) than what was socially acceptable for friends to do. Although at this point, it probably didn’t matter since she straight up kissed her a few moment’s before. Can’t get any gayer than that.She kept on mentally yelling at herself to focus on the task at hand and yanked the piece of paper
from Joy’s hands, willing herself block everything else out, including the art she just witnessed, and focus on what she won.There it was. Her own golden ticket. Instead of gaining her entry to a chocolate factory, this ticket would allow her to finally see her idol in real life and change her life forever.All previous thoughts of what happened a few moments before were pushed to the side as Yeri gazed at her prize. She could feel her eyes watering and, before she knew it, tears of happiness rolled down her face as she
squealed like the fangirl that she was, running around the room like she got a signed album from Ari herself.She couldn’t believe it. It was a dream come true. After being a fan for so long, from her middle school days to the present, she was finally going to meet THE Ariana Grande.Yeri wasn’t even aware that Ariana was holding a concert in Korea and she followed the American pop star on every social media platform available.
Maybe Joy was close to someone who had contacts with the pop star’s agency and managed to score some backstage passes or something. If that was the case, she should have told Yeri earlier instead of keeping it a secret from her the whole time.
Within seconds, the excited fan unfolded the paper carefully, yet quickly, and was greeted with the sight of a slightly pixelated black and white picture of a younger looking Grande from her early days as a television star.
Huh?
Were
her eyes playing tricks on her? That didn’t look professionally made at all. She wiped her eyes with the back of a hand and looked at the paper again.The image was still there.Yeri looked up from the picture with confusion. Was this some type of stupid joke? “What the hell is this?” she asked while holding up the paper in the air.“Ariana Grande,” answered Joy as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Technically she was telling the truth. It was a picture of Ariana Grande that faded in and out of color towards the middle of the image; like the printer it came out of was running out of ink while printing.“No shit, Sherlock. I know that obviously,” Yeri spat. While she appreciated the image of her idol in her days as an actress, even if it wasn’t the best quality as a giant, officially licensed poster of her, she really wanted her ticket to happiness. It’s what she deserved. “Where’s my ticket?”Joy shrugged.Yeri felt like ripping her hair out. Joy was already frustrating on a daily basis just being herself, but for some reason she decided to be extra frustrating this day. Unless Joy somehow managed to sneak the pop star into the dorm and was going to give her the signal to jump out of the kitchen and surprise her, she was one step away from losing it.
“Where’s. My. Ticket?” she asked again through gritted teeth, hands clenching around the paper tighter.“I never said I had a ticket.”Now Yeri was just plain confused. If Joy didn’t have a ticket then what did she have? A backstage pass? An invitation to some super exclusive dinner with the singer? Yeri really hoped it was a dinner. She would have been more than happy to show the pop star around all the best restaurants in Seoul. (Her treat of course.)“What do you mean? You said you could help me see her.”“And I did,” Joy took the paper out of Yeri’s hands and pointed to it with a finger. “Look.”Yeri’s eyes moved back and forth between Joy’s smirking face and the folded up paper with Ariana Grande’s face for a few moments
until realization dawned on her.There was no ticket or special backstage pass.There never was.
She got bamboozled.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“You should see the look on your face!” laughed Joy as held her sides, tears from laughing too hard threatening to fall down her face. “Oh my god I can’t believe you actually fell for it!”
Yeri's right eye twitched. And when her eye twitched, that only meant one thing.
She. Was. Pissed.
It wasn’t the usual level of pissed offed-ness she encountered like when she accidentally stubbed her toe on a chair leg or when she went into the kitchen and discovered that some cold-hearted thief ate the last of the strawberry pepero. This situation was on a whole different scale altogether.
She clenched her fists, nails digging into the palm of her own hand. "Are you fucking serious?"
Yeri couldn't believe it. The whole thing was a joke.
A really, really messed up joke; one that raised her hopes sky high, only to come crashing down, plunging her into the deepest depths of disappointment.
But before Joy had a chance to respond to her rhetorical question, Yeri grabbed that damn piece of paper that crushed her dreams and shoved it into the other devil's mouth who, based on how wide her eyes became and how she gagged, was taken by surprise.
Was it done too harshly? Maybe. But Joy obviously didn’t care about how she felt by playing such a cruel joke on her so why should Yeri care about something like that? It's what she deserved.The younger girl stomped her way to her room and slammed the door shut, twisting the lock, making sure it couldn’t be opened from the outside. She threw herself into her bed and buried her face into her pillow, angry tears rolling down her cheeks, with embarrassment and a million other feelings swirling around her head.
How could I be so stupid to believe her?
She should have known better. It seemed too good to be true. It was too good to be true and yet she still thought that she actually had a chance to see her idol in person after not being able to for so, so long.It was unfair.Burying her face into the pillow even more, she sobbed in it until sleep overcame her.
She didn’t even dream that night.
Days passed ever since that prank and Yeri hasn’t talked to Joy ever since.
It was intentional. She was furious. And who could blame her? Joy got her hopes up and for what? Just to crush it into smithereens and make her look like an absolute idiot.
Just thinking about it made Yeri's blood boil. Made her feel like marching down the hall and confronting her about it. But what would doing that accomplish? Nothing but give her a headache and make her feel even more exhausted than she already was. Giving the cold shoulder was easier.
Now she could see why her mom did it whenever her dad did something stupid.
The taller girl tried to apologize multiple times, but Yeri wasn’t having it. She would just straight up ignore her or leave the room altogether whenever Joy attempted to initiate conversation. She even went as far as blocking her number after getting a million text messages from the older girl. And when that apparently didn’t work since Joy blew up her DMs on Instagram and all her other social media accounts, Yeri blocked her on those too.
Praise whoever determined that a block button was necessary on pretty much every social media platform in existence because it was a lifesaver.
Was blocking Joy childish? One could argue that it was; at least a little bit. The other alternative route of handling things involved going into Joy’s room and having constant shouting matches. That option wasn't any better and would do nothing more but make her lose her voice (which she obviously needed in order to do her job properly.)
Objectively Yeri could see what happened was a good, well thought out prank but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t hurtful. Joy crossed a line that shouldn't have been crossed.
Not only that they kissed. Kissed.
Well that part was Yeri's own fault for assuming that Joy wanted a full on kiss on the lips when she (probably) didn’t, but apparently didn't seem to mind. But that wasn't the main point. Joy took the prank way too far. She knew just how badly Yeri wanted to see Ari and still somehow thought that doing the prank was a good idea.
The last time the queen herself was in Seoul, Yeri was locked into a million schedules that were made weeks in advance and couldn’t get out of. She even contemplated pretending that she came down with a serious case of the sniffles just to get some time off. The time before that, she was in a whole different country on her own world tour; by the time she got back to Korea, Ari was long gone and on the other side of the world, blessing the ears of millions of people with her angelic voice.
It seemed like the universe did everything in its power to keep them apart. As for why, it was anyone’s best guess. Life worked in mysterious ways and seemed to enjoy tormenting Yeri for kicks.
And just when things seemed like they would work in her favor for once, it ended up being a big fat lie. Another disappointment to add to the already long list of disappointments she experienced throughout her young life.
But although the two girls weren’t on speaking terms privately, Yeri was a professional. She kept her private life separate from her public life as an idol as much as she could. It was her responsibility to fulfill her role in maintaining Red Velvet’s squeaky clean reputation after all.When they had schedules together, Yeri played the part well, laughing and teasing Joy, acting like everything was perfectly fine and that there wasn’t a Cold War between them. But as soon as the cameras stopped rolling, she’d go back to ignoring the other girl's existence. Hard. The other members noticed and Irene even asked her about it, but Yeri just kept it to herself. It was bad enough she felt stupid for believing Joy in the first place. She didn’t need to be humiliated twice by giving the other members a play-by-play of what happened.
And if Joy knew better, she would have kept her mouth shut about the incident as well.
Considering how none of the older members asked about it or gave hints that they knew what happened, it was safe to say that they were unaware of the situation.Good.It was less of a headache that way.That didn’t mean that they didn’t try to pry out information from the maknae. They did. Unsuccessfully. Some were more subtle than others, but attempts were made.It wasn't surprising. It was obvious that something was wrong and they just wanted things to be back to normal, but things weren't that simple. Joy needed to see just how badly she screwed up and realize that what she did was messed up.After another day of ignoring Joy’s existence and enjoying a nice, relaxing shower, the girl walked towards her bedroom, feeling clean and refreshed with her prized Ariana Grande bathrobe. There was something satisfying about taking a hot shower after a hard day of work. Plus she smelled like cotton candy. Who didn't like smelling like something so delicious?
She expected to roll into bed and indulge herself to some Netflix binging, a consolation prize for missing out on losing the fierce online ticketing war to see Ari. All of the tickets to the Seoul stop sold out within seconds. Seconds.Is this what her own fans had to deal with? Because if that was the case, the fight to get tickets was absolutely brutal, even with incredibly fast internet.The feelings of anxiousness right before the tickets were released to the general public for purchase, dealing with a website that kept on crashing due to its servers being overloaded....it was a horrible yet, at the same time, thrilling experience.How did Reveluvs deal with this whenever her group had an event? They must have nerves of steel to willingly go through all that repeatedly. Either that or they performed some kind of sacred ritual beforehand that helped them out on the online battlefield. She didn't even want to think about the hoops overseas fans had to jump through in the ticketing war, with the various time zone differences and such.Not to mention that she was trying to get the VIP ticket package which came with not only a signed poster and cute concert exclusive lightstick, but also a meet and greet with Ariana Grande herself! But those were the first to go. Yeri shouldn't have been surprised, but a small part of her hoped that she would be the 0.0001% of fans that managed to acquire a ticket.The poor girl tried to buy regular tickets, even made peace with herself that if she had any realistic choice in seeing Ari she needed to choose the furthest seats from the stage, and was still left with nothing but tears and disappointment.Yeri was heartbroken. She also felt like throwing her laptop into the garbage, pouring gasoline on it, and setting it on fire, but that wouldn't have done anything useful than break her only laptop and cause the dorm to smell nasty so she opted for doing the next best thing: glaring at the screen with tears in her eyes and cursing the stupid ticketing website for crashing numerous times.
They would surely get a strongly worded email from her in the future. She’d make sure of it.
When Yeri opened the door to her room, preparing herself to become one with her bed, she didn’t expect to see the person she was pretending didn’t exist, sitting cross-legged on top of her bed, looking around the room like an anxious puppy who knew they shouldn't be where they were, but still remained regardless.
As soon as their eyes met, Yeri could feel blood begin to boil. Her already foul mood increased ten fold just looking at the ridiculously good-looking intruder with her stupidly cute minty green pajama set with baby chicks printed everywhere from the shirt to the fuzzy bottoms.
Yeri would recognize that pajama set anywhere. After all, it was because of her that Joy had it in her possession; she gave it to her the previous Christmas.
Somehow that pissed Yeri off even more. Was Joy trying to butter her up or something by wearing that? Because it wasn’t working.
“Who gave you permission to enter my room?” Yeri spat, words laced with venom and angry face clearly showing that the other girl’s presence was not welcome at all. Even having that hellcat Chanel running around would have been preferable than having
her
around.
“Can we talk?” Joy asked sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand, clearly nervous about the whole situation.
“We just did,” Yeri replied curtly, tone making it clear that the conversation was over. She was not in the mood to deal with being bothered by anyone, especially Joy out of all people. “Now get out of my room.”
“Please—”
“Go.” The firm tone she used made it clear that there was no room for argument. She wanted Joy out of her room, her space, as soon as possible. Nothing would change her mind.
That single word shut Joy up. Her shoulders visibly slumped in defeat as she sighed heavily.
She got up from the bed, taking care to straighten out the wrinkles she made on the bedsheets while sitting down (which were already wrinkled anyways.) Yeri continued to glare daggers as the taller girl walked towards her, pulling out something from behind her back and put the mysterious object that felt like paper in Yeri’s hands. “At least take this.”Yeri looked down at what was placed in her hands and frowned. They looked like to be print outs of concert tickets. She shook her head and shoved them back into Joy’s hands, bending them in the process. “Do you think I’m that stupid?
I’m not going to fall for the same trick twice.”“No I—these aren’t fake.”
Yeri laughed bitterly. “Yeah. Sure. If you’re going to give me fake tickets, at least get the concert date right.”It was true. The date on the tickets was the wrong one. If she was an even bigger idiot than before, she would’ve fell for the counterfeit tickets instantly. But she wasn’t. Not anymore. She learned from her mistakes.The maknae didn’t know why Joy would try to trick her again, and make things between them even worse, but thinking about that was as fruitless as trying to think about why orange juice was yellow. It was better to just shut down the whole attempt altogether and that was what she planned to do.
Was she being mean about it? Perhaps. But who could blame her after what happened before? Anyone in her shoes would feel upset, and rightfully so.
Joy's eyes fell. “They added another show but....” She turned around and carefully placed them on the bed, as if she was handling something fragile. “I’ll just leave them here then. Do whatever you want with them.”
She walked with a visible slump towards the door. Right before she walked under the door frame, she stopped.“Sorry for bothering you,” she said so quietly that Yeri would have missed it if she wasn’t so hyper aware of everything. She just stood there scowling, arms folded across her chest, waiting for Joy to finally get the hell out so she could have some peace and quiet.As soon as Joy walked out the door, Yeri followed and slammed it shut, making sure the door was locked and secured.How dare Joy show her face like that. What nerve. What did she think would happen? That everything would be magically be fixed as soon as they talked? This wasn't one of those damn dramas she acted in where everything was solved within an episode. This was real life. And in real life when you make mistakes, problems don't get resolved at the snap of a finger.She made a mental note to go shopping for another door knob; one that could only be opened with a key. There was only one problem with that plan: Yeri wasn't Bob the Builder. The only things she built growing up was legos and even then, those multicolored, plastic bricks weren't always stacked in the most structurally sound way and ended up collapsing not too long after she built them. She didn’t know a thing about changing door knobs, or even what tools to use to do that, but that’s what the internet was good for. There was bound to be plenty of tutorials online on how to do that. And if push came to shove, she could just hire someone to do it for her.Her eyes went to the two tickets on her bed and it was like her body had a mind of its own because she stomped over there, anger coursing through in her veins, and slapped them off, watching them slowly fall to the floor. She sat down with a huff and laid backwards, eyes facing the ceiling, fully intending to go back to ignoring Joy’s existence and watching random movies on Netflix to get her mind off of what just happened.At least that was the plan, but her eyes kept on drifting to the two discarded tickets on the ground.She opened up the app on her tablet and browsed through the new selections. She picked something at random because the thumbnail looked interesting, but even with the volume at max, her eyes still kept on going towards those two damn pieces of paper that stuck out like a sore thumb. It was like they were calling out to her, begging her to give them attention, but they weren’t. They were just laying there on the ground, existing silently like so many other inanimate objects in life did.Yeri tore her eyes from the ground to the screen in front of her, trying to focus on magical girl anime that was just added to the streaming service not too long ago. The main character, a pink haired school girl,
was talking to some kind of white fox alien creature who asked her if she wanted to become a magical girl. Her eyes kept on drifting from the subtitles to those two tickets on the ground.“Damn it,” growled Yeri as she paused the show.
It was no use. There was no way she was going to be able to watch anything and comprehend what was happening unless she investigated the authenticity of those "tickets."I’m only doing this so I can watch things in peace, she told herself as she set the tablet down and rolled to the edge of her bed, stretching one arm out in an attempt to grab the tickets without getting off of said bed while using the other to keep balance. It took a bit of effort due to her not having the best of luck in the tallness department, but she was able to grab the tickets successfully without breaking her face in the process.She sat back and took a moment to carefully examine them.They certainly looked like real concert tickets. They even had the seat number, the barcode the ushers scanned when checking in attendees, and everything else a concert ticket usually had. Whoever Joy hired to make them certainly did a professional job. They looked like the real deal.But just because they looked legitimate didn't automatically mean that they were. With enough time, skill, and dedication, anyone could make high quality counterfeit tickets. These just happened to look really, really good. Yeri may not have agreed with the whole counterfeiting scheme since people got scammed for concert tickets all the time and lost a lot of money as a result, but she had to give them props for their work.Thoughts of relieving some stress by tearing the tickets into shreds passed through her mind, but that stupid little voice in her head reappeared and made her think about other possibilities.
What if....they’re real?
If she was honest, the chances of those tickets actually being real was slim to none. Getting hit by lightning would have a higher chance of happening than that.But still...even though the chances of the tickets being real was close to zero, that didn’t mean that it was entirely impossible.Curiosity got the better of her. Yeri pulled out her phone, opened a new tab on her web browser, and did a quick search to see if another date to the tour was added.What she discovered almost made her fall off her bed, and possibly break her neck, in surprise.Joy wasn’t lying. Based on the search results, the demand for another Seoul show was so great that they added an extra day when it was originally just one!That never happened. Ever.”Wow,” Yeri said, absolutely flabbergasted. She was not expecting that. At all. The super expensive tickets that she was one step away from ripping to shreds and throwing away into the garbage were actually real! Authentic! Genuine!How was Joy able to get two tickets when they were sold out so fast? Yeri camped out all day, coffee in one hand and various snacks within reach of the other, and wasn’t even able to get one. She even performed what was supposedly a good luck ticketing ritual she saw on the internet that involved all her CDs and a four leaf clover, but even that didn’t help. (Plus it cost her a good amount of money to get her hands on a real four leaf clover. They weren’t exactly common.)And not only that, they were VIP meet and greet tickets too! Those sold out way before all the other tickets were gone.
The whole thing was shrouded in mystery.Yeri had to know more.She tapped on the messages icon on her phone and went to her thread with Joy. Actually it would be more accurate to say it belonged to Joy since she was the only participant in the conversation for the past few days.But what does one say after not talking to someone for so long? Hi? No that didn’t seem quite right.Maybe send an emoji? No. Which emoji would Yeri even send anyways? Even though there were hundreds of options, none of them seemed right for the situation.
Should Yeri write a paragraph or two? No. She wasn’t Wendy. Plus doing that might have the opposite effect and scare off Joy for good. It'd be a lie if Yeri said she didn't find any sort of enjoyment in scaring the other girl, but this wasn't the time for that.
After debating with herself for a few moments, she typed in the most basic of greetings and pressed send.
[Hey]
It wasn’t the best conversation opener in the world, but it was something at least.Not even a few seconds later, her phone vibrated in her hands, signaling that Joy responded.
[Jerkface: Yeah?]
Wow. That was fast.
Yeri hesitated, debating on what to say next. She didn’t expect Joy to reply so quickly and didn't really plan out how the rest of the conversation was going to go. She just acted on impulse (which didn’t always work out well but it was too late to back out at this point so she might as well charge forward.)She figured it was probably better if she just asked what was on her mind. There was no reason to beat around the bush.With a few taps, she wrote out her message and hit send again.
[How’d you get those tickets?]
The question could have been phrased a little differently she admitted since it sounded like an interrogation, but in a way it was one. The tickets were, contrary to what she initially thought, authentic. There was no way Joy would have been able to get those tickets under normal circumstances. She had to have had some kind of outside help.
[Jerkface: I pulled some strings]
That didn't really answer her question; at least directly. Joy definitely had help that was for sure, but the process of how she was able to obtain them was still shrouded in mystery. Maybe she was able to use their company’s connections? Honestly Yeri had no idea.
The maknae took some time to think about the situation for a few moments. She had two authentic tickets to Ariana Grande’s concert that was going to take place in a few months. Not only that, they were VIP tickets that had a meet and greet opportunity; tickets that she would literally sell her soul for.
And Joy got them for her despite the odds.Yeri’s eyes drifted to the cardboard cutout of the pop star on the side of her bed. There Ari was, in all her five foot glory with her signature high pony tail and famous black latex bunny suit she wore during the Dangerous Woman era. It was beautifully made, and was supposedly life size, definitely well worth the price she paid to get it delivered to Korea. But nothing, not even that amazing cardboard cutout she spent forever searching for and paid a lot of money to have sent to her dorm, could beat seeing the real deal.There was the option of throwing the tickets away in the trash, burning them even, but doing so felt....wrong. Not because those tickets were ridiculously expensive (which they were), but because it seemed like Joy was really trying to make up for her mistake.
Sure, the way she went about it was frustrating and made Yeri want to pull her hair out at times, but she was trying. Yeri had to give her some credit.
Maybe I should give her a chance....
She thought while biting her lower lip, chewing on the soft flesh while weighing her options. Should she accept the tickets or just throw them away? But if she did the latter, there was no telling when another opportunity like this would come again, if at all. Sure, western artists gave fans more advance notice of when they were going to go on tour, but what if Ari decided to take a break after this tour? She had already traveled to multiple cities around the U.S. already and went all over Europe before making her way to Asia. The poor girl had to have been tired of going on plane after plane for weeks straight.Plus they were tickets that had the meet-and-greet package. Those sold out first before everything else got snatched up; from the front of the stage all the way to the nosebleeds.Yeri sighed. She was stuck in the middle and didn't know what she should do.She even considered flipping a coin and see where that'd take her when when an idea struck her: she could ask her Ariana Grande magic eight ball!The Arianator walked towards her bookshelf full of various merchandise and pulled out her stepladder, setting it in front of the tall piece of furniture. She had bought the ladder the year before since the bookshelf itself was
significantly taller than her and, unless she magically grew taller overnight, there was no way she was going to reach the upper shelves without some assistance.The ball was on the highest shelf and thanks to the stepladder, she was able to roll it to the edge of the shelf until it was secure in her hands. It was similar to the original magic eight ball except it was a light shade of purple instead of black and was sparkly. It also had a picture of Ari’s dog, Toulouse, on the other side.Why? Because it was Toulouse. The best pup of the decade. End of story."Oh magical Ari ball, I need your help in my time of need. Should I accept those tickets?" Yeri asked before giving the ball a good shake, momentarily forgetting she was on top of a ladder and almost fell to her doom.She somehow managed to keep her balance and didn’t break herself in half. Unfortunately her magic eight ball fell onto the floor in the process.“Crap!” she hissed as she hurriedly made her way down the stepladder, and kneeled down to closely inspect one of her most precious items.
The magic eight ball looked fine. It didn’t break or look damaged in any way, at least to her eye.Yeri couldn’t help but sigh in relief. One could argue she should have cared more about how she could’ve seriously hurt herself by falling off the stepladder, but this magic eight ball was a limited edition collector’s edition. They were only produced for a limited amount of time.Just thinking about what could have happened if she had wooden floors instead of carpet in her room made her shudder.
“Okay that first shake didn’t count so I’m going to ask you again. Should I accept those tickets?” Yeri asked as she shook the ball again, this time from the safety of being on a flat, stable surface. She looked at the little plastic window on the top of the ball that showed what the answer was and there, written in bright white print was the answer: Yuh."Are you sure?" She asked as she shook the ball again. Just to be safe.
It said the same thing.Well if the magic eight ball said it was okay then who was she to deny its words of wisdom?She thanked the ball and put it away, this time on a lower shelf in case she needed to ask for its opinion again in the near future.Honestly she shouldn't have spent so much time thinking about it. She was going to accept those tickets, see her idol and have the best time of her life.
Not only that, she was going to give Joy a chance to redeem herself. If Joy screwed this chance up then that would be on her and her alone.But just because Yeri was going to accept those tickets, that didn’t mean that she couldn’t get a little revenge of her own on her fellow devil.What she did next was incredibly childish, but after the prank Joy pulled on her, Yeri felt like she earned the right to get back at her.
With a few taps, she wrote out the perfect message and hit send.
[I’m not going]
Yeri made sure she didn’t add any emojis into the message. Just to make it seem like she was serious about not going to the concert even though she was. All she had to do was wait for a response.It didn't take long for it to happen.
[Jerkface: Oh]
The maknae counted to twenty before responding back, just to give it a little bit of suspense. Was it evil? Maybe. Just a little bit.
[I’m not going unless you buy me a shirt]
Did Yeri really need another shirt to add to her already sizeable collection of Ariana Grande merchandise? Probably not. But she lived by the philosophy that no matter what concert she went to, she would leave with at least ONE shirt no matter how overpriced they happened to be. And if she happened to like every shirt available for purchase, well....go big or go home.The three dots on the bottom of the screen kept on moving then stopping then moved again for what seemed like an eternity before Joy sent the next message which was a series of exclamation marks.
[Jerkface: I’ll buy you whatever you want!!!!!]
[Jerkface: Should I just transfer some money into your account?]
[Jerkface: Oh wait]
[Jerkface: It’d probably be better if I gave you cash huh]
[No]
While it would be a lie if Yeri said she didn’t like the feeling of cold, hard cash in between her fingers, that wasn’t the main thing she wanted.What was the point of going to a concert if there was no one there to share the amazing experience with you? Despite what Joy did, she couldn’t think of anyone else she would want by her side, enjoying the performance of a world renowned artist and just having a good time together, taking a break from being Red Velvet and just being their normal everyday selves.Not only that, it really did seem like Joy was remorseful for the prank she did. She was trying. Was it done in a somewhat clumsy way? Yes. But she really was putting in the effort.
Yeri felt a bit guilty for how harshly she treated the other girl earlier. The least she could do was give Joy a chance to make up for her mistakes.
She honestly felt like laughing. What was with this character development? Old Yeri would have kept this grudge for the rest of her life, holding onto it until the bitter end. Was she...growing up?
Or maybe she was making an exception because it involved someone she loved.
Or maybe it was a bit of both.If she was honest, she missed having her best friend by her side. Yeah Joy had her flaws, but so did Yeri and yet even though they've had fights before, this was by far the one that lasted the longest.It was time to extend the olive branch.
[I'll only go if you promise me one thing]
[Jerkface: Anything.]
Joy added a period at the end of the sentence. To the normal eye, that wouldn’t have meant much, but she never used periods at the end of her sentences when it was through text message. Ever.She was serious.Yeri had her little fun. It was time to be honest about what she wanted for once.
[Come with me]
[Jerkface: wait whAt?????!]
Yeri couldn’t help but burst out in laughter when she heard the girl in question literally scream those same exact words from her room next door. “Dork.”She probably wasn’t expecting that response at all. Honestly Yeri wished she could see Joy’s face right at that moment. It was probably meme worthy.Not too long after that outburst, the phone in her hand vibrated, showing that a new message arrived.
[Jerkface: Are you foreal????!]
Yep. Joy was definitely flipping out at this seemingly sudden change of heart. It was amusing, but in a way, Yeri could understand why the other girl was stunned. She had been ignoring her existence for a while now (for a good reason.) If their roles were reversed, she was sure she'd respond in the same way.
[No I'm Yeri]
Normally she refrained from making dad jokes (Wendy usually did those) but she did it to ease the tension between them.Apparently whatever Joy was writing didn’t seem to satisfy her because she kept on typing then stopping and then typing again.
She was probably being extra careful with her words after what happened a few days ago. The other girl ended up halting typing altogether and Yeri figured she should take the initiative and get things moving.In her own way of course.
[But....]
Yeri added the ellipsis for dramatic effect before writing the next part of the message.
[If you don’t want to go then I guess I’ll just take someone else :P]
She wasn't really planning on going to the concert with anyone else (as the playful emoticon she added at the end of the message insinuated.) There was no other person in the world Yeri would have taken with her except for her favorite person.
Right after she pressed “send” her phone was bombarded with multiple messages sent in a row.
[Jerkface: whAT!!!]
[Jerkface: nO NO NO NO NO!!!!]
[Jerkface: I WOULD LIVE]
[Jerkface: TO GO WITH YOU!!!]
[Jerkface: LOVE*** but live applies too honestly]
Yeri couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the text message spam.
If she was honest, she missed the other girl even if she did act like a colossal jerk by playing such a mean spirited prank.
[I’m giving you a chance to make it up to me for being a big jerk the other day]
[That really hurt you know]
[Even though it was a prank]
[Jerkface: I know and I am so sorry for that.]
[Jerkface: Really.]
[Jerkface: I know these tickets don’t automatically mean that everything between us is okay but....]
[Jerkface: I won’t let you down. I promise.]
[Jerkface: I am going to do everything to make up for what I’ve done.]
[Good]
[You can start by going with me somewhere tomorrow]
[Jerkface: Done. Where?]
Yeri didn't even have to think twice about where. This was a very special occasion, one that did not happen often and deserved to be prepared for with the upmost amount of care.
It called for an emergency shopping trip. There was no way she was going to a concert without sporting a whole new outfit from head to toe.
Since she was going to have the time of her life
with her favorite person, they needed coordinating outfits. And in order for that to happen, that meant that they needed to go on a shopping adventure.Together.
[The mall of course. :D ]