TEEN BEACH | b.c + y.ji

TWENTY-ONE: YANG JEONGIN, LEE FELIX, AND AN INVITE

THE FEELING of chan's arms around his waist didn't leave jeongin's mind— not after he dropped chan off; not when he drove back home with his friends; and not even when he woke up the next morning. it was nothing short of a blessing and jeongin longed to feel it again.

the redhead was crammed onto a couch watching television with his biker brothers when his phone buzzed. digging it out of the pocket of his sweatpants, jeongin saw that it was from felix.

freckles:
ayo mate you up?

me:
yea! gmorning felix :))

freckles:
morning jeongin!

freckles:
are you busy today?

me:
nope. what's up?

freckles:
well idk if you knew but
today is chan's birthday!!

freckles:
me jisung and seungmin
are throwing a small
birthday party for him at
club levanter tonight and
we wanted to invite you to
come along!

freckles:
wait you're 18 right

before jeongin could register the fact that today was chan's birthday and he didn't even know, someone plucked the phone out of his hands. "what the—"

"ooh, a party? tell them we'll go!" hyunjin squealed from behind him. jeongin smacked his friend on the shoulder before snatching his phone back.

"dummy! i was invited, not you! besides, i don't even know if i'll go yet."

hyunjin clicked his tongue. "oh, please. why would you pass up a free chance to party hard all night long?"

easy for you to say, jeongin thought. you go clubbing all the time! "i'm just kind of nervous. i've never gone to levanter before, so i don't know what to expect." even though he had been eighteen for a while, jeongin had never even stepped foot into a club of any sort before. it's not like he even wanted to— he didn't think that there was anything appealing about being in a place filled with alcohol, sweaty bodies, and music with sexual lyrics. sometimes things are like that at home, though.

"and that's why you should take me! i'm club levanter's most frequent guest." hyunjin peered over jeongin's shoulder. "who's throwing the party, anyway?"

"felix, jisung, and seungmin."

hyunjin froze. "get minho and changbin," he whispered. "we have to go to that party."

as it turned out, convincing changbin to tag along was easier than expected. "after everything that's happened these past two weeks, i've just been looking for an excuse to get wasted," he muttered, causing jeongin to grin sheepishly.

minho, however, was the exact opposite.

"no," he said when jeongin asked him, slamming his bedroom door in the younger's face. it was appalling, to say the least; however, minho had been acting a bit strange ever since he came home the previous day. although he was known to be quiet most of the time, he had completely brushed off any attempt that his friends made to speak with him and didn't acknowledge them at all. this was the first thing jeongin had heard him say since he left them at the supermarket and he had no idea what was wrong.

"please, minho?" he begged through the door. "it won't be the same without you." he got nothing but silence in return. sighing in resignation, jeongin turned to face hyunjin and changbin. "looks like it's just the three of us. you guys will stay with me, though, right?"