A Dangerous Friend - Nachaeng

Cracks

Chaeyoung paused and looked at the coffee cup on the counter top. It had a floral pattern, delicate blue flowers traced around the rim. It was in some ways symbolic of their new, and disparate, approaches to shared living. Nayeon had insisted on buying a whole new set of cups because nothing said 'grown up' like matching crockery, and then, having done so, was happy to leave them laying around the apartment, unwashed, half-full, covered in lipstick. Chaeyoung on the other hand couldn't care less about whether the cups matched, but her new drive for tidiness required that they spent their lives lined up against the wall in military formation, handles pointing to the right for maximum efficiency. She sighed, and minutely adjusted it to match the others.

It hadn't been easy. When they'd lived together in L.A. it had been in a flurry of emotion, her discovery of her attraction to Nayeon, the fallout from Nana, the rawness of their new-found relationship. They hadn't cared to think about anything much, because they'd lived in the present, every day a new chapter, a new revelation. The world had welcomed them and indulged them as lovers. But here it was different. When the brunette had said that it was a conservative town, she hadn't fully appreciated what that meant.

.

.

.

She'd been terrified, that first day. Not by the idea of starting a new course, but by the fact she was going to have to meet people, by the prospect that she might find herself in the same position she had at her old school, disliked and shunned, only this time there'd be no escape from it. She couldn't run away to see Nayeon because the said girl was just down the hall, and this place was now her life.

She'd dressed conservatively but professionally, sporting a pair of plain glasses and a ponytail, to try to avoid the aura of confrontation that she's assumed had got her off on the wrong foot once before, but she couldn't entirely escape the nagging suspicion that it wasn't the way she acted or dressed that people took exception to, it was just her, that for whatever reason, people just didn't like her.

She'd reached down to take Nayeon's hand, looking for reassurance, but Nayeon had moved it away, instead opting for a friendly hug, and sent Chaeyoung on her way feeling distinctly uneasy.

In the end her morning hadn't been too bad. She'd done all the right things, shaken hands, flipped her hair flirtatiously, pretended to be interested in other people's opinions, dismissed her own achievements with a demure shrug and a self-deprecating smile. She'd even laughed at their terrible jokes. In short, done her best to be a people person. And it had worked to a degree - she'd been invited to a couple of parties, had an interesting if baffling discussion on the Belgian electro-grunge scene, and narrowly swerved a box social with the young Christian association.

But it was exhausting. She wondered how her lover managed to keep this up the whole time. By the time they'd met for lunch she'd been ready to lose the glasses, rip out the ponytail, and shred a couple of passing freshmen just for old-time's sake.

So..?"

"Awful."

Nayeon looked crestfallen. "You don't like the course?"

"The course is fine. It's the people."

"What's wrong with them?"

"Nothing. They're very nice."

"So what's the problem?"

"The problem, Nayeon, is that I have to be nice back."

"Ah."