turn around || jjk

-1-

"Turn around," I say smiling. "I've got something for you."

The spring air squeezing through the oak planks, and the bright green maple tree swaying around us. We're up in the tree house my dad built back when I was 6, 12 years ago.

"I don't want to. I'm scared." He chuckles. "You aren't the easiest person to trust." I feel him blushing as he pushes his bangs away from his eyes.

"Please?" I look up at the back of his head. He's tall, taller than me. He's 5'10", while I'm 5'4". His straight, chocolate hair cut to the perfect length, stopping right above his neck. He sighs, looking at the ground.

"Fine." he says as he slowly turns his body to face me. His head slowly raises and our eyes meet, his dark brown eyes piercing my soul, his lips smirking, and his jawline slicing the air. I see his biceps stretching the sleeves of his light grey t-shirt, and his skin barely holding his veins. I start to sweat. I push my ginger hair off my shoulder and reach into my jean pocket. I pull out a small box, the size of a playing card.

"Happy birthday Kookie!" I place the box in his huge hand, and he blushes. He makes everyone call him JK, but I still call him the same thing I always have. He lifts the red lid off the box and reveals a car key, the key to the car we've been saving for for three years.

"Em, you didn't." He smiles in awe.

"I did. I gathered all the money last week." I smile as he stares into my eyes. "It's ours." He sets the box down on a small table, lifts me up and spins me around. As my feet meet the ground again I look up at him. He stared at me with his cute bunny smile and kissed my head.

I've known JK forever, our moms have been best friends since high school. I'm an only child, while he has a 19 year old brother named Tae. JK and I have always been neighbours and best friends, but he doesn't know my true feelings for him. After graduating 8th grade, he went to soccer camp for the summer. It was the longest time we'd been apart, and he came back completely different. He was taller, buffer, and had a six pack. I fell, along with almost every other girl in my school. I'd always tried to deny my feelings until last year, when we got even closer. I really want to get it off my chest but I don't know if he feels the same way.

"Em, JK! Dinner!" my mom yells from the back door. Every Friday our families have dinner together, and today was our day.

"Coming!" I replied from the tree house. I turn back to face him. "So you like it?"

"Are you kidding? We can finally go on our road trip!" He was jumping up and down inside. There is one place we've always wanted to go, Los Angeles, California, but living in Vancouver, Canada without a car complicates that. Now that we do, this summer will be amazing.

I open the back door and kick my black vans off on the rug. JK follows behind me and does the same with his FILAs. We walk through the living room off to the dining room, which is filled with balloons, streamers, and garlands.

"What's all this?" JK says amazed at the decorations. Our circular table fits five: us, our moms, and Tae, who we don't see a lot these days. Both me and Kookie's dads aren't in the picture anymore. JK's mom walks over holding a bunch of cutlery.

"You don't turn 18 everyday!" She sets everything down and goes back to the kitchen to help my mom. My birthday is May 18th, and today is June 18th. Our moms planned on having kids at the same time so that they could be best friends, and it worked. Mrs. Jeon comes back and set plates down. JK is Korean, but he can't speak the language. His real name is actually Jungkook, but again, he prefers JK. His mom wasn't big on forcing him into anything he didn't want to do. We both sit down in our usual spots, beside each other. We're having sliders for dinner, JK's favourite.

The front door opens and Tae comes in. JK smiles, he's surprised his brother came. I see Tae tuck his juul into his jean pocket quickly. I didn't know he vaped. I look up at his face, then his pocket, then back to his face. He glances at me, puts a finger to his lips and mouths "shhh", then winks. He really thinks he's cool. He used to be innocent. He slides his shoes off and sets them onto the mat and sits beside JK.

"Okay!" Mom smiles as she sets the big tray on the table. "Bon appétit." She walks over to the chair beside me and sits down. Mrs. Jeon follows her and sits in between mom and Tae.

All of the sliders were gone in a matter of minutes, and after the cake was served. Tae left right after dinner and didn't stay for the cake because he had to go somewhere. Later, JK and I went up to my room. He walked in and sat on the edge of my bed as I closed my door and leaned on my desk. I looked to my feet, butterflies jumping in my stomach. He quickly notices my discomfort.

"Hey," he breaks the silence. "Come here." He gestures to his lap. I walk to meet him and sit on his (amazing) thighs. He wraps his arms around me and looks down on my face. I lean my head against his chest. "You okay?" He asks as he plays with my hair. He looked serious, he knows me too well. He can tell something was off. I fidget with my rings and curl my legs up close to my chest. "Don't pull shit with me, I know you're not." I look up from my hands into his eyes. He's filled with worry. A million things are running through my head. I take a deep breath.

"Yeah," I lie. "Just swamped with school work." Nice save. He looks at me closer, almost searching for the truth.

"You sure?" He pulls my hand off of my ring and holds it. "Em, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I know." I lie again.

We crawled up my bed and turned my TV on and spent the rest of the night cuddling, watching movies.