If This Isn't Love

9: NOVEMBER 2016 - Invitation

"Friendsgiving! You know Friendsgiving. What's not to like?"

Seokjin and Yoongi were having a drink at a bar near Yoongi's apartment. Seokjin had gotten a few days off for Thanksgiving and had decided to visit his oldest friend. He'd hoped for a long weekend full of bar-hopping and laughter. Instead, his friend was proposing a pre-Thanksgiving reunion. A couples' dinner, no less.

He frowned at Yoongi. "Why would I like it? In case you forgot, I'm only in town for three days. Why would I waste my time with some lame, girly get-together?"

"It's a chance for friends to hang out. I told you that Sel wants to get together with the old gang. And I thought...why not?" Yoongi said with a little shrug.

"Why not?" Seokjin parroted. "Is it because you're finally going to admit that you're interested in Selina?" He chuckled. "Come on, bro. You've liked her forever. Don't pretend. We've actually placed some bets on it."

"Stop it."

"You stop it. We've all seen the way you look at her." Seokjin shook his head and drank his beer.

"Oh? Is it the same way you look at Luisa?"

Seokjin almost spit out his drink. "Wh-What?"

Yoongi chuckled. "Don't even deny it, bro. You were drooling all over her during our vacation in Galveston, and then you were trying to kiss her at the fair."

"No." Seokjin looked down at the table. "I wasn't."

"Your little blonde girlfriend certainly noticed how you were acting this summer. Is that why she was angry with you most of the time we were there?"

Seokjin downed his beer before responding. "That's not true. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Emily's my girlfriend, and she's in Houston. I don't have a date for your little friends' Thanksgiving dinner, okay?"

"I'm sure there's plenty of girls you can ask," Yoongi said. "As a friend."

Seokjin sighed. "I'd rather not." He did not relish the thought of going out with some girl he hadn't seen since college or, worse yet, some girl he'd picked up along the way. Besides, he and Emily had been dating for three months. He wouldn't want her to find out that he was still going out with other girls, friend or not. "I have a girlfriend," he repeated.

"Or," his friend lowered his voice, "we can invite Luisa. She'd originally backed out because she doesn't like parties. I don't think she's seeing anyone."

"Shit, Yoongi," the taller man snapped. "I said we're just friends."

"Exactly." Yoongi smiled. "If you and she are just friends, then what's the problem? Hey, are you blushing?"

"Fuck you," Seokjin snapped. "I'm not blushing. Invite her if you like. I really don't care if she has a boyfriend or not. Why should it matter to me? We really are just friends." His heart was suddenly beating faster. He sincerely hoped that they would ask Luisa to join them because there was nothing he'd like more than to see her. He signaled for another beer and noticed that Yoongi was on his phone.

"Important call?" he asked his friend.

Yoongi grinned. "Hey, Sel. Hi. Listen, I'm out having some beers with Jin...yeah, he's in town. No, on his own. I was wondering if...yeah, exactly what I thought."

Seokjin narrowed his eyes, wondering what Yoongi and Selina were babbling about. His friend's chuckles were making him uneasy.

"Okay, then." Yoongi placed his phone on the table. "Selina's calling Luisa—"

"No!"

"---and asking her to join us so you won't be the odd man out."

Seokjin slumped back on his side of the bench. "You little shit. Why'd you do that?"

"Oh. So you don't want to see Luisa?" his friend acted surprised. "I thought you were friends. Just friends. Just like you and me, right?"

"We're friends like...friends," he muttered. "Why do you have to twist things around? Geez."

Yoongi smiled as the waitress set down two more beers in front of them. "Quit acting angry and thank me, okay? This is a lot more than you deserve, you jerk, so just stop your whining."

"I wasn't whining," he explained. "I was just, well, what if she was busy or something?"

They stayed quiet for a while, just staring at each other. 

Yoongi's phone buzzed, and he opened the text he'd just received. "Well, if she was busy, she wouldn't have said yes," Yoongi said, holding up his phone with Selina's text confirming Luisa's answer. "Sel had told me that she wasn't sure if she would join us.. Apparently, today was your lucky day."

"Hm. How so?"

"Well, it seems she didn't have a date either and thought about declining. But now you're here...her good friend Seokjin. I guess she wants to see you, too."

"You ass," Seokjin grumbled as his friend laughed.

Yoongi got quiet. "So, are you two really just friends? You don't think about...you know? You all were making eyes at each other at the fair."

"We were not," Seokjin snapped. "Yes, we really are just friends. Lu's a good person. I value our friendship. And...no, I don't think about anything else."

Seokjin took a huge gulp of his beer so he wouldn't have to say anything else. He was a liar. Of course, he'd thought about something else. He felt more nervous than he let on. The spark that they'd felt last year after graduation had only grown brighter for him last month at the state fair. That crackle of electricity between them was still there. It kept pulling them together. He wondered if she would finally admit that she wanted more than friendship.