Cruel Summer || Haely

10

Lily greeted her friend with a hug as she walked into their house. "Thanks for inviting me."

"No problem. You need to loosen up and have some fun tonight. You work too much."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Yeah, maybe."

"Find a hot girl and make out with her. It's simple."

"Can you not?"

"Nope. You need to let off steam."

"And I'll ignore that advice, thanks." Lily pushed past him to head toward the kitchen to get a drink. She leaned against the counter, two fingers curled around the neck of the beer bottle as she sipped it. Looking around the room adjacent, she spotted a girl she'd never seen before. Her head tilted as she thought.

"Hey," Lily called out to her friend, motioning him closer with her hand. "Who's that?" She pointed to the slightly shorter black haired girl.

"Oh, that's Haewon. She's from the college. Super nice."

"That's why I haven't seen her then."

"Go talk to her."

Lily shook her head. "Nah."

"Why not? She's hot. You're hot. Be hot together."

Lily shoved his arm. "As if she'd be into me. She's so gorgeous."

"Lily, I'm doing this because I love you." He pushed her towards Haewon. "Haewon! I want you to meet my friend, Lily."

Lily tried her best to dig her heels into the carpet, but he kept pushing. "Stop, stop, stop, stop," she muttered under her breath until she was face to face with Haewon. "Hi!" She smiled brightly.

Haewon returned her bright smile. "Hi. I'm Haewon. Nice to meet you."

Lily heart raced, already in love with the sound of her voice. "Nice to meet you, too." She watched her friend walk away, giving him the finger behind her back. "Like he said, I'm Lily."

"I haven't seen you around." Haewon motioned for them to go outside so they had a little privacy away from the blasting music.

"Yeah, I go the culinary school with him. He told me you go to the college up the road from us."

"I do. So that's why I haven't seen you. I would have talked to you much sooner." Haewon flirted, catching Lily off guard.

She blushed up to her ears. "Well, I, uhm," she cleared her throat. "Mmhmm."

Haewon's smile got wider. "You're shy, huh?"

Lily nodded. "A little." She said quietly.
"It's not every day a gorgeous girl talks to me."

"And it's not every day a beautiful girl calls me gorgeous." Haewon retorted.

Lily met Haewon's eyes after the compliment. She got lost in them for a few seconds before smiling crookedly. "I guess tonight is a night of firsts, huh?"

"Seems that way." Haewon scooted closer, letting their legs touch. "Culinary school?"

Lily latched onto the change of subject. "Mmhmm. It's a goal of mine to open a shop. I don't know what kind yet, but it's a goal."

"You sound determined. I like that."

"What about you? What do you study?"

"Computer Science." Haewon muttered softly. "But can I be honest?"

"Of course."

"I don't want to be there." There was a solemn tone in her voice. "I'm doing it for my parents. They wanted me to take it. Want me to make the family proud."