One that I Want ||m.yg||

Chapter 10: Party Pooper

It'd been about a month since Lottie's first date with Taehyung, and she was absolutely pleased that it wasn't the only date. Taehyung had proven to be an absolute dreamboat!

It took a while, of course, for her to trust him, considering what she had been through with Yoongi, but Taehyung had never made her feel silly for it and had been incredibly understanding and sweet. Nayeon absolutely loved seeing her eyes light up whenever she would talk about her dates with the lovable jock, he would come sti with them during lunch and actually cared enough to talk to all the girls, taking interest in her friends.

"You know the T-Birds have been saying for years that your brain is the size of a pea," Kim stated, after they had all been conversing about what they wanted to do after school was done, and he had gone on to talk about wanting to be musician, and bake biscuits¹ just like Elvis.

"Yoongi hyung and I were close once, my best friend used to be Jimin," Lottie listened closely she'd known who Jimin was, he was one of Yoongi's friends who'd made fun of her that fateful night.

"But when Yoongi created the T-Birds he and I started disagreeing a lot, I still wanted to be a part of clubs, and he didn't so we went our separate ways," he stared at the bleachers, where Lottie saw that same group they were speaking of.

"What about you and Jimin?" Jiyoon asked.

"When it came down to a choice he chose the group," Taehyung shrugged.

(...)

Taehyung remembered when he and Jimin had made it to high school, how excited they had been to make the most of it. They had been inseparable since birth practically, Taehyung wanted so badly for them to become a duo with him, he could be the crooner, and Jimin had always loved cutting the rug. Unfortunately, they met Yoongi. It was so cool at first, he was a few months older than them and had come from a different middle school. He had offered to take them under his wing along with his friends.

But then they started to get in trouble.

Yoongi would take them places and have them watch fights, race, sometimes even engage in some petty theft, they started getting a reputation, and the very girls Lottie had befriended had just made a gang of their own, and the idea putting name to their fun sounded great to Yoongi. Jimin wanted nothing more than to impress Yoongi hyung, even if it cost him his friendship.

"Come on Taehyungie! Don't you wanna be cool?"

"I do, but not like this Jimin," his whispers were stern, he looked at the boy sitting outside of his window holding out a black leather jacket, the logo was brand new, crisp.

Jimin was trying to convince him to sneak out, something about going to some party to establish themselves as a gang, Yoongi plans to rumble with a gang that had been giving them issues, and Taehyung wanted nothing to do with it.

"Come on, is it because you're still holding onto that silly crooner dream? Focus on something more attainable," Jimin rolled his eyes, slowly pulling back the jacket. "I thought you wanted to do that too?" he asked his friend who looked more annoyed by the minute.

"Whatever, you're such a cube, give me a bell when you realize I'm right." Taehyung watched as Jimin walked away, they had disagreed before, but he guessed this is what came with growing up. He was still civil to them, he would wave politely at the group, he was usually met with eyerolls or snide comments, but he didn't care.

(...)

Nayeon was just moving through the motions. This whole beauty school thing wasn't going like she had planned. At first it was going well, she did good in her styling classes and her makeup classes, but then it got the more nitty gritty of it all and her classmates would BEG to do the project alone if other people were already paired together, Nayeon had never felt so alone, and she had started to wish she had stuck it out at her old school.

The one thing she had to look forward to was Jin waiting to walk her home.

To many, her and Jin came out of nowhere, especially once some members of the group found out about Jin's brief infatuation with Lottie. There wasn't a complicated explanation to it other than, it was brief, and seeing how heartbroken Yoongi was after the whole pep rally fiasco, he decided he would befriend one of the Pink Ladies so he could at least make sure Yoongi's worries would be soothed.

One of those "I'll check on the person you like through someone else." What became of it was a slow building of tension and feelings. It started with Jin meeting Nayeon at her locker, before she dropped out, and walking her to class while asking about Lottie. Nayeon thought at first he was trying to get dirt on the situation, maybe even try and get in with the foreigner through her, Nayeon was no stranger to fellas talking to her to get to Miyeon or Kim. It's not like she never had male suitors, she had made out with a few, but still, she needed to protect herself and Lottie.

"I just want to make sure she's okay Nayeonie, it's for Yoongi!" he pleaded as they walked down to her chemistry class.

"Oh, put an egg in your shoe and beat it Seokjin-ssi, the last thing Lottie needs is another germ from your group," she paid him no mind, only staring straight ahead. "I want no part of whatever bogus situation Yoongi and Lottie got going on," he clarified, "I'm going nowhere near that mess."

Nayeon stopped then, turning to Jin who was staring at her intently, "she's fine, Taehyung is taking her on a date and she's happy, now can I go? If I'm late again my folks will flip." He nodded, and so it began. He would walk her to class everyday, eventually his daily Lottie questions became daily Nayeon questions, and she would catch herself laughing with Jin and enjoying his company.

She was all mush when he came up to her the day of Lottie and Taehyung's first date, and when he asked her to dance and started humming in her ear she felt like she could melt. The next week she started beauty school, and he would come and get her after almost everyday, he held her bags and would give her his jacket.

"How was it today?" He asked her after they spent the first half of the walk in silence. Nayeon smiled tightly.

"It was good, just need to practice more with mannequins," Seokjin smiled sweetly, and wrapped his right arm around her shoulders.

"I'm sure all the chicks will want to come to you once you are done!"

Nayeon didn't have the heart to tell him that she was failing her classes, or that she was almost kicked out of school that day, because she had messed up the color on one of the mannequins' hair. The only reason she wasn't was because her teacher had advocated for her, otherwise, she would've been waiting for Jin to pick her up for a while.

"I was thinking we could go to the passion pit later today? They just came out with this new movie that I think you'll love! It's about this group of guys who..." Nayeon started zoning out as they got closer to her house. She felt like an absolute failure, what could she possibly do? If she went back they would think of her as a loser, and if she didn't what would she do? Pretend she was still going to beauty school? She was never a phony person, and she wasn't going to start now. She'd give it another shot!

"Nayeonie?" Jin pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Passion pit sounds great!" Her signature bunny smile made Jin get the zorros each time. "I'll pick you up at 8!" He kissed her cheek and waited for her to get in her house before he left, pumping his fists in the air with excitement.