BLURRED

Chapter 6

At 16 yo

All of them, unable to say no to Mira, accepted the friend/girlfriend's suggestion that they should have a group date at the movies early Saturday night. Kavin and Meen, MJ and Janhae, Thyme and Lita, and Ren and Mira are scheduled to meet in front of the cinema.

– We don't need to kiss, do we?

Janhae asks as MJ drives to the meeting place.

– No, just the same as usual, showing a little physical contact and at most some kind of PDA, maybe?

MJ and Janhae have known each other since they were appointed as captains of the men's and women's basketball teams at school, what neither of them counted on was that after a meeting between the clubs, MJ would go back to the meeting room to get his coat that he forgot by a chair, and catch Janhae making out with Cizzy, the school's cheerleader. After some crying, pleading for secrecy and two cups of milk shakes later, Janhae and MJ find themselves friends united by the same problem about facing their parents and society with their sexual orientations. MJ, now at peace with his problems and his years-long crush on Kavin, confides in Janhae about it and hears about his two-week relationship with Cizzy. After a few weeks Janhae comes to MJ, crying, saying that Cizzy had broken up with her when she realized she couldn't handle the pressure of hiding their relationship. Janhae only had MJ to vent. The two find themselves in a situation where sooner or later their parents would ask if they're dating and start to suggest people, so they decide to pretend they are dating. Of course with some rules. Not kiss if absolutely necessary. Not have physical contact unnecessarily. Not date anyone else during this. This fake relationship should end when they graduate from high school.

After almost a year of 'fake' dating, the two find themselves very close and friends, MJ managed to distance himself a little more from Kavin for his own good and apparently this made Kavin hate Janhae, to the point that a few months later he cornered the girl and ordered her to stop controlling MJ's life, MJ, upon discovering this, had a nasty fight with Kavin, not talking to him for more than a week, after which Kavin promised not to do anything against Janhae again.

Kavin has since switched girlfriends twice and is now dating Meen, a senior who so far has been the best person Kavin would have found to be his girlfriend. In these months Thyme and Lita decided to give a chance to each other so they could get to know them better after years of fighting like kids. Ren and Mira seemed more in love over the years.

– I was surprised that your friends, especially Kavin, agreed to take the girlfriends together. You like to do things just between yourselves.

– Mira's idea isn't a bad one. We wouldn't be single forever, so it's normal for a date like that to happen at some point.

– Do you still think they would cut ties with you if they found out you were gay?

– Maybe not, but surely everything would change.

– I still think Kavin has feelings for you.

And once again MJ hears Janhae repeat about it. During all this time of 'fake' dating, she has been pointing out how Kavin always behaves strangely when Janhae is present, or how Kavin always seems to want to steal his friend's attention, something that Ren and Thyme don't do.