Guitar Strings

5

"Oh my god, I could sleep on a table right now I'm so tired" Hyunjin complained as we finally made it to the elevator up to our rooms. The second show in Newark was a success, but we were exhausted. I walked into my room waving goodbye to everyone else. I was excited, the day being over meant I got to call Lina. Seeing her face always put me in a good mood, no matter how tired I was. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and video called her.

"Lix!" She said smiling at me. "I was hoping you'd call soon."

"Hey, what'cha doing?" I smiled laying back on the bed and kicking my shoes off.

"Not much, just got home from work. I was gonna make some ramyeon. Is the show over?" She sat down on her couch and sighed loudly.

"Yeah, we're done. Chicago in a few days. At least I have a day off tomorrow." I paused for a moment. "I miss you so much" I said softly.

"I miss you too. You'll be back before you know it, Lix." She said smiling. I knew this was hard for both of us, but I just wanted to hug her and kiss her and tell her how much I loved her.

We talked for another hour before I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and told her good night.

***

"NO! I'm sitting next to Binnie!" Jeongin yelled in the airplane setting off pure chaos as everyone found their seats.

"NOOO! I am!" Jisung yelled as he stole the seat from Jeongin.

"Heeeyyyy, everyone gets a piece of me. It's fiiiinnneee" Changbin said as he sat back in his seat.

"Guys, they're assigned seats." Chan said tiredly from the back of the group, he sounded like a dad that was just done with the whole family vacation. "Sit in the seat that's on your ticket. You should know this" He sighed loudly as he threw himself into the seat next to me.

"You didn't sleep last night did you?" I said smiling over at him as he pulled his hat down over his eyes.

"Nope" he said closing his eyes, I could tell he was trying to pretend that the chaos behind us wasn't happening. Just as it was calming down Jeongin let out a dolphin squeal that bounced off all the walls in the plane and probably gave us all permanent hearing loss. Chan sighed loudly and stood up.

"Jisung!! Go sit where you're supposed to!" He yelled annoyed. He loved all of us, but sometimes being best leader meant treating us like misbehaving children. I tried incredibly hard not to laugh as I watched Jisung get up with a pout on his face and move next to Seungmin. Chan threw himself back down in his seat and took a deep breath. I couldn't help but laugh at him.

"Why are you laughing?" He asked looking at me and cracking a smile.

"Sorry! I just...that was just really funny." I said trying hard to stop. I tried to hold it in while he glared at me. It didn't take long before he was laughing too.

"You all are going to be the death of me." He laughed as he glanced back at the other members. "How's Lina? You guys still good?"

"We're good. I just miss her." I said looking out the window next to me. "Talking on the phone just isn't enough."

"Try dating someone long distance for 3 years and then finding out they've been cheating on you." He said looking down at his phone. Chan didn't have much luck with relationships. "First loves, man, they suck."

"Why's that?" I asked looking over at him confused.

"They never last. They teach you a lot, but they never last." He said as he reclined his seat back and pulled his hat back down over his eyes and went to sleep. I looked back out the window next to me as my stomach dropped into my feet. Chan didn't mean it that way, he's just tired...right? Sure, things with Lina and I were still new.

Don't overthink things like you always do, Felix. He didn't mean it like that. Lina and I are good, we're solid....aren't we? She'd been in love before. That technically means we have a chance...Right?

I swallowed hard trying not let my brain make a problem out of things that weren't there. We're happy. That's all that mattered.