YOU

2

"JISUNG" I heard Em say as she playfully kicked me in my sleep. I woke up slowly opening one eye to see her sitting on my bed next to me hitting me with her foot.

"wha?" I mumbled still not awake "Why you kick?" I said trying to make sense of what planet I was currently on.

"I can't get all my boxes myself. I need your help remember?" I suddenly remembered that she'd had boxes shipped to the dorm with stuff she couldn't fit in her suitcase.

"box. right" I muttered as I slowly tried to sit up and unglue my eyelids. "Time is it?" I still thought I was making sense, but I also probably wasn't.

"8 o'clock. Get your butt up. I would think you'd be used to early mornings by now." She laughed standing up.

"nope" I said finally standing up. She looked so pretty today. Her hair was pulled up high in a messy ponytail and she had sage green leggins on with a really baggy white shirt. I had to stop myself from imagining that it was my shirt. I tore my eyes away from her quickly and made my way to my bathroom to get splash water on my face to wake up. You'd think I'd be used to early mornings, well, if you consider eight o'clock early. I'm not. I'm usually just floating around looking kind of awake until I'm actually awake.

A couple hours later I sat on the floor of her small loft apartment leaning against one of the boxes we had just lugged down the hall.

"What the hell did you pack? Bricks? Bags of cement? A dead body?"

"Shoes." She replied without looking up from what she was organizing in the kitchen.

"That is an ungodly amount of shoes, Em." I joked as I put my head back against the box and caught my breath.

"A girl has to be prepared for any situation, dear Jisung." She joked as she put down what she was doing and sat down
next to me putting her head on my shoulder. "I'm tired already. I still have three boxes to unpack."

"I was in shock when they showed up at my door. I thought maybe you just shipped yourself in one of them." I laughed.

"I can't believe I'm finally here. In my own place. In Korea." She said lifting her head and looking out the large window.

"I'm happy you're here. I've missed you." I said honestly, "it's been so long since we've been in the same room...the same country even. I guess I took it for granted when I saw you every single day in school."

"I've missed you too. I'm sorry we didn't get to talk much last night. I just passed out once my belly was full." She replied.

"Yeah, that's one thing that hasn't changed." I said poking her in the shoulder. She looked at me pretending to me angry
and swatted my arm.

"Rude." She laughed looking around the room.

"Remember when we first met and I had to help you lug that mini fridge up the stairs to your dorm?"

"That fridge had NO RIGHT to be called mini!!!" She exclaimed.

It had taken us two hours to push it up the four flights of stairs to get to her dorm room. It had to have been the heaviest most annoying mini fridge I'd ever seen. "Didn't you just leave it there when you moved out?"

"I did! There was no way I was lugging it back down. It would have rolled over me and killed me!" She laughed sitting up straight. "So. How's the dating scene in Korea? Just as bad as California I'm assuming?"

"I don't know. I'm not in the dating scene, Em. Not right now anyway. You know that." I said awkwardly. I hated dating. I'd never had a serious relationship. I had dated a few girls for a couple months at a time until I was tired of lying to them and I'd break up with them. I know it sounds mean, but what else was I supposed to do? If it's not going to work, it won't
work.