strawberry kisses 🍓 -- ricky

chapter eighteen

beneath the twinkling lights, ricky, gunwook, sunhee, and i danced to our heart's content in the crowd of people. an upbeat song was playing and all of the students were energetically enjoying the moment.

"i can't believe this is our last time going to homecoming together" sunhee said, reminiscing our previous years of high school.

"yeah, i'll definitely miss the little moments like this" i smiled.

"don't worry guys!! of course we'll still be friends even when we go our separate ways" gunwook exclaimed.

"if anybody goes no contact then i'll hate you for the rest of my life" ricky threatened.

"oh no i'm so scared!!" i joked.

he scoffed and he glared at me.

"wait, the line for the photobooth is short now!! gunwook let's go!!" sunhee exclaimed, grabbing his hand and running towards the line.

"see you guys later" gunwook waved.

"oh my god ricky i love this song!! let's dance!!" i shouted in excitement over the music.

ricky smiled and continued dancing. but annoyingly, jiyoung, wearing a long purple halter dress with her hair in a french braid, approached us.

"hey ricky! you look so handsome tonight, just for me right?"

ricky raised an eyebrow, slightly taken aback by jiyoung's sudden appearance.

"delusion at its finest" i whispered into his ear, laughing.

"oh it's you again... thanks i guess?" ricky awkwardly responded to jiyoung.

"she's been obsessing over you ever since she showed up, hasn't she?" i whispered into his ear once again.

ricky nodded, rolling his eyes discreetly.

"so ricky, have you thought about asking someone special to dance tonight?" jiyoung asked.

he glanced at me, who was trying not to burst into laughter.

"well minji is pretty special to me, we're having a great time together"

i slightly blushed as his comment as jiyoung ignored the hint and stepped closer, leaning in.

"but you know ricky, you could have an even better time if you danced with me. what do you think?"

his annoyance was clearly evident and i glared at her.

ricky sighed once again, trying to maintain his composure.

"jiyoung i appreciate the invitation, but i'm good staying with minji right now."

"come on, ricky. just one dance." jiyoung insisted, not giving up.

ricky looked at me for support, but i anxiously shrugged, not knowing what else to do. 

"okay fine, one dance."

jiyoung's face lit up as she grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the dance floor. i rolled my eyes as i watched ricky uncomfortably dance with jiyoung, who wouldn't stop smiling. even though he was clearly not into it, i was still slightly annoyed that he was dancing with her, and not me.

ricky and jiyoung continued to dance, but it was obvious that ricky was trying to get away as soon as possible. he tried to avoid her conversations, but she was becoming increasingly persistent.

"ricky, you're such a great dancer. we should do this more often." jiyoung commented, beginning to get annoyed at his resistance.

"yeah, no. this is a one time thing."