OFF LIMITS || JK

THE HIKE {10}

Waking up the next morning, I'm greeted with the beautiful smell of pancakes and bacon.

I sit up, glancing over to see that Taehyung is already awake and gone. I make my way out to the kitchen where I assumed he was, and I was right.

There he was, along with everyone else, eating breakfast. When Tae sees me he smiles, waving a piece of bacon in the air.

"Sorry I didn't wake you! I figured you'd want to sleep after staying up so late. I heard you showed Auburn Parasyte. It's all she's been talking about." Tae says and right away, Auburn makes a face.

"Have not!" She shoots back, kicking Tae from underneath the table. She didn't seem upset that he said it, but she also didn't seem like she was joking.

I looked over at Auburn to see her not even giving me so much as a glance.

Taking my seat next to Tae, I make a plate and eat. I don't say much as I cram the pancakes into my mouth, savoring every moment. Tae's mom was an amazing cook and I would never pass up the opportunity for a meal made by her.

After I finished breakfast, I hopped in the shower real quick then made my way back into the room where I found Tae leaning back on his bed. He was on his phone, a huge smile on his face.

"Who's got you smiling like that?" I ask, which causes Tae to set his phone down quickly. "No one."

"Well now I definitely don't believe you. Who is it?" I ask again but Tae shakes his head, stuffing his phone into his pocket.

"You do realize you're just making yourself look even more guilty, right?" I ask as I sit down on my bed, running a brush through my hair so it wasn't so messy.

"Okay fine! I've been texting this girl..." he starts and my brows raise. "Who is she?"

To say I was shocked by what he said next was an understatement.

"Mel."

"Mel?" I repeat, making sure I had heard correctly. "Don't tell Auburn alright? She told me she doesn't want me trying to date any of her friends so she'd kill me if she knew." Tae says and I tilt my head.

"Why would you assume I'd tell her? Auburn and I aren't even like that." I say but Tae shrugs.

"I don't know it just seemed like you two were becoming friends is all."

Friends? Definitely not. Me liking her and Tae having no idea, absolutely.

"When did you two start talking?" I ask, ignoring his previous statement.

"Only a few days ago now so not too long. She just randomly messaged me one day asking about something and next thing I knew we've been talking everyday since." Taehyung says and I can tell by the look on his face that even though it's only been a couple days, he was liking her a little too much.

For as long as I had known Tae, anytime he liked anyone, he liked them hard. I wouldn't say love at first sight or anything but he definitely falls too hard too fast.

He's a good guy though. He deserves someone that'll be good to him so hopefully it works out with Mel. Who knows, maybe it I'll .

"What are you gonna do if Mel tells Auburn. You know how close they are." I say and Tae makes a face.

"I hope she doesn't tell her. So far I don't think she has so I'm hoping it stays that way. I don't want to deal with Auburn bitching about it." He says as he sits up.

"She'll definitely call you a hypocrite if she finds out." I say and Tae furrows his brow. "Why?"

I scoffed. "You've always told us your sister was off limits since we're your friends. It's probably the same way in her mind. Her friends are off limits to you."

Tae's lips parted slightly like he was going to say something but he didn't. He looked stumped by what I had said.

"I guess you'll just have to wait and see." I shrug as I stand up and make my way towards the bedroom door.

"Now, let's go on a hike." I say and Tae busts out laughing. "Yeah fucking right. Good one."

"I wasn't making a joke." I say but Tae shakes his head. "I'm definitely not going on a hike, dude. By all means, you go. I'll be right here when you get back." Tae says as he throws me a thumbs up.

I shake my head as I open the door and walk out, leaving Tae to his secret conversations with Auburn's best friend.

As I'm making my way out the front door, I see Auburn sitting on the porch step with her phone to her ear.

She doesn't even notice me as she's too into her phone call that sounded anything but good, judging by her tone.

"Maybe if you weren't this way all the time you could have came. You're always mad about something and it isn't fair that you take it out on me." Auburn says, her voice angry.

I knew right away she was talking to Mark. Not wanting to disturb her, I tip toed past her, careful not to bump her.

I heard her go silent for a second longer before she spoke again. "I'm hanging up. I need some space so please don't call me the rest of the week."

I continued on ahead, not wanting to be nosy any further. Before I can even make it out of the driveway, I hear a voice from behind me.

"Wait!" I turn to see Auburn jogging towards me. I stop, taken back by her actions. Especially after the way she ended that phone call. I'm not sure why I expected her to be inside upset over the situation but she didn't seem upset at all.

"Yeah?" I ask as Auburn gets to me. "Where are you off to? Mind if I tag along? I could really use a distraction." She says. So I guess she was bothered by the call after all. She's just really good at hiding it.

"I was gonna go for a hike, walk around and explore a bit. If you're up for that then sure." I say and Auburn smiles.

"Cool. I'll just be a second if you don't mind." She says as she motions down at her clothes and shoes. I shook my head and watched and she ran back to the cabin to change.

As messed up as it was, I felt excited after hearing that phone call. Maybe this was the end of Mark and Auburn. Man I hoped so. I had only ever been dreaming of that day for years.

After a few minutes, Auburn came running back towards me, her whole outfit different. She was now wearing a pair of black shorts and a white tank top with a pretty obvious green colored sports bra underneath. Her hair was pulled up into a bun and she was all ready to go.

"Shall we?" She grins, seeming more then excited to go. I nod, just as eager myself.

I was definitely more then glad that Taehyung decided not to tag along after all.

Hell, I was ecstatic!

This was going to be great, and I was looking forward to every minute of it.