Slow Down - Jaywon

8: 'You waited'

"So he invited me."

Jay looked at Jake and frowned his eyebrows. "He must like you."

Jake perked up as if Jay's statement were music to his ears, but shook his head just after. Instead of it being a visceral reaction, Jay could tell that Jake was thinking of something. "Nah. I think you're thinking too much into it."

Jay hummed, yeah, there was a possibility. "Well, congrats though. You get to hang out with your crush."

Jake groaned and put his hands in front of his face. "He's not my crush."

"Sounds like it," Sunghoon interjected with a smug smile on his lips, watching as Jake continued to lament at the assumption.

Jay chuckled softly and raised a cup to his lips. "Then why else are you telling us this?" He asked before taking a sip.

"You don't get it?" The younger boy grumbled. The two shook their heads and Jake groaned again. "I can't go to a place where Heeseung and his friends are without knowing them. It'll be too awkward for me. So I need you two to come with me."

Jay's eyebrows furrowed curiously. "Are you even allowed to?"

Sunghoon cocked his head in Jay's direction. "What he said."

"I mean it would be better for them? And us maybe. They get to know you and you get to know them," Jake cautiously suggested though his way of saying it was rigid and tense as if he was unsure.

A part of Jay was telling him not to agree, probably the part of him that had been convinced after his first meet with Jungwon that everyone else he'd meet on the road would be just as bad. He set his cup on the table idly and glanced over at Sunghoon.

Right. Jake was suggesting this towards the most introverted person Jay had come to know.

"I'll come with," Sunghoon said softly.

"Really?" Jay asked him.

He faintly squeezed his cup and peered down at his hands before meeting Jay's eyes. "I will be with you guys, or at least Jake. So I'll be fine."

Jay sighed. If Sunghoon was decided to go, he might as well go too. He couldn't be the only one not going. So he shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'll come along too."

Jake beamed like a kid, triumphant with his success. As a result of his newfound joy, he insisted to pay for their drinks as a thanks and who were Sunghoon and Jay to disagree?

After the small trip to the boba shop—and after Sunghoon complained about the god awful taste of tapioca pearls for the first five minutes—they dropped by their perspective dorms to relax a bit before getting ready.

It was only around fifteen minutes after Jay had gotten home when Sunghoon had started a group call, and the speed in which Jake and Jay answered was instant. (It wasn't like they had anything better to do.)

"Jake," he started, moving his bangs around to find the style that they would look perfect in. "Where are we even supposed to go?"

Jake responded, "just dress casual."

"But where are we going?" Jay asked, repeating the question.

"But I said just to dress casual," Jake answered.

Sunghoon neared the phone camera to his face as he peered at Jake through the screen. As introverted as he was, this childish and sporadic side clung to him when he was comfortable. He turned to the other side, his left eye kept in the camera. "Why are you avoiding the question?"