Insomniac//KNJ

Chapter Eight//Night Alone

   Park Jimin was a small, bright, and energetic boy a bit younger than Namjoon. They'd met when Taehyung had brought the slightly timid young man home to help him with his biology project. Namjoon had quickly joined them and had been pleased to find that Jimin was a very bright person. His passion for the environment was refreshing, and Namjoon liked to surround himself with passionate people. 

   So he'd become fast friends with the young bottle-blond. 

    Of course, Jimin wasn't just known for his cute personality and studies on the environment. 

    He was quite the party animal. 

    That was why Namjoon had asked Jimin to take him out to Seoul's party scene. Jimin knew all of the good spots, the places with the best dancing crowds, the best drinks, the best music. Of course, Namjoon wasn't too concerned with the quality of his distractions, but at least he wouldn't have to worry about choosing where to go if he let Jimin take the lead. 

    Taehyung wasn't pleased when Jimin showed up at their apartment door in his typical clubbing attire. The tight black jeans and loose, low-cut button-up shirt Jimin wore let the other young man know what Namjoon was planning to do to get his mind off of Lucy. 

    Namjoon came out resolutely, and Taehyung knew that the elder wouldn't listen to reason, so he bit his lip and shook his head. Namjoon looked away and lifted his hand slightly to say goodbye. Jimin tried to greet Taehyung and ask him to join them, but Namjoon ushered him outside the door into the quickly cooling night. 

"Namjoon, is everything alright?" Jimin questioned with an uncertain tone, his eyebrows knit and his full lips pulled down into a frown. He knew Namjoon to be a cool, collected, and smart guy. The man in front of him seemed desperate and reckless. 

"Yeah, I just, I'm stressed out and need a way to relax," Namjoon deflected with a false smile and a nod, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder. "You can help me do that right, Jimin?" For a moment, Jimin stayed quiet. He couldn't read Namjoon like this, and he didn't want to deny his friend time to relax. 

"Yeah, I, let's just go," he led the way to his car and the two young men got in. 

The car ride wasn't tense, but it wasn't quite relaxed either. The young men chatted casually about their work and studies, but Namjoon seemed to be avoiding something. This worried Jimin, and he found Namjoon's sudden averseness to the radio to be even more alarming. His friend always wanted to see what types of music was trending. Tonight though, when Jimin had reached to turn the radio on, Namjoon had asked him not too, with some force. Taken aback, Jimin had just nodded and put his hand back on the steering wheel. 

He felt an odd mixture of relief and anxiety when they reached the first club he'd chosen. It was a familiar one that they'd both been to before, and he'd thought it would be a good way to warm up. 

When the bouncers let them in, the club was in full swing. The club lights were flashing and the music pumped through the room, moving through the groups of dancers and circling around the crowded bar. Jimin glanced at Namjoon, only to see a blank expression plastered across his face. Jimin tried to stop and see what was wrong, but his friend just flashed him a quick smile and gestured to the bar. Jimin knew that he wouldn't be seeing much of Namjoon that night. 

******

Namjoon took shot after shot until the thoughts he'd had that day started to blur and he couldn't quite remember why he had this pain in his chest. 

When he drank, he became lethargic. A few drinks would send him into philosophical contemplation, but once he was drunk, truly, his logic flew out the window. 

The pulsing lights and moving bodies around him only seemed to intensify the haziness of his state of mind. His eyes flicked from person to person, and soon he had joined the groups of dancers. 

It all seemed to go by in a blur, but soon Namjoon was grinding with some strange young woman in black dress and matching heels. Her hair was long and kept falling in her face, making Namjoon unable to focus on her face and what she actually looked like. 

He had to admit that she did feel nice though. 

Almost as nice as Lucy had. 

Namjoon felt a wave of nausea hit him with that thought and he stumbled over the girl's shoe. She gave a small yelp of pain as Namjoon muttered an apology and began to weave his way back to the bar. 

All of a sudden, he remembered why he felt so suffocated. 

He was here to get over a girl. 

His girl. 

His Lucy. 

Feeling suffocated, he ran his fingers through his light brown hair. He reached the wooden counter and quickly ordered a drink. 

It burned his throat going down, but he could feel the alcohol begin to coat his pain almost immediately. 

Curious where Jimin had gone to, he turned his back to the bar and leaned against the counter, scanning the crowd. At first, it was hard to find Jimin in the mass of dancers and flirts, but soon enough his gaze had located the blond man. 

He was leaned up against a booth and he smiled as he casually chatted with a small girl with short, mousy brown hair. Namjoon didn't think that the girl looked very amused by the young man, but he knew that Jimin could charm even the iciest of hearts. 

Satisfied, Namjoon began to look at some of the other girls in the club. The one he had been dancing with had already joined up with a new guy and Namjoon rolled his eyes, it didn't surprise him. 

He looked away and continued to scan the crowd until he found a girl that resembled Lucy.

She had the long hair, the slender figure, the pretty face.

He could tell though that she didn't have the same confidence that Lucy did, even across the club. She didn't hold her shoulders back proudly or stand perfectly straight. She didn't have the same graceful posture and poise that Lucy did. 

Namjoon felt his heart speed up and his mind begin to race as he made his way across the room.  As people shifted here and there, he almost lost the girl, but soon he had made his way to her. He smiled charmingly as he came to a halt, face to face with this stranger who was a shimmer of his Lucy. 

When he greeted her and she smiled shyly before returning the pleasantry, he knew that he wouldn't be spending tonight alone. 

A/N:

Sorry for the late update! I had a really crappy week last week and I didn't have the heart to write. Which is weird because like, I feel like I could've channeled some of my emotions into this story perfectly, but whatever.

I'm back no though! I plan to give you another update this week, a little early, as I'll be going on a short little vacation before I start university. 

The story is beginning to pick up, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on some of the things that are transpiring. 

Also, freaking Jimin. I love him so much in my stories. Don't worry, he's not a player or anything! He'll get his own story to shine in eventually, it's gonna happen! Maybe keep this chapter in mind when you think about what may be coming in his future. 

Please eat well and take care of yourselves!