fourth wheel | changlix

10

With a weird mixture of shyness and excitement, I walk down the hallway in search of Changbin. Several other students are here, leaning against the wall casually or seated on the beige linoleum flooring. They all chat quietly, as if it's forbidden to spend your lunch break here. Maybe it is, I honestly have no idea. It's not like I ever had a reason to be here before.

I keep walking as I take out my phone, quickly dropping a message in the groupchat that I probably won't be there and that Hyunjin and Chaelin don't have to wait for me. I immediately get a reply back but the notification tells me that it's just the creepy eye emoji so I stuff the device back in my pocket and keep walking.

I don't even notice the skip in my step, until I realize that people are smiling at me, probably a pavlovian reaction that comes upon seeing someone walking by cheerfully with a content smile on their face. The orange hair probably plays its part too, good thing I freshly dyed it again last week. At least I don't look like a sad pumpkin that hasn't seen enough sunlight anymore.

Chaelin's words, not mine.

I say that a lot, don't I?

She's good at coming up with funny metaphors that are fun to quote every now and then. She sometimes calls me carrot cake now, with my hair being a radiant orange again, but that's still somewhat better than sad pumpkin.

My train of thoughts abruptly comes to a halt when I see Changbin, seated on the floor with his back leaning against his backpack, which he placed against the wall for extra comfort. With his soft brown hair, yellow sweater, and face contorted in concentration as he stares at his phone screen, he looks really cute.

I keep walking until I reach the boy, coming to a halt with my heart beating rapidly.

Okay, act cool, Felix.

If I mess this up, I'll allow Chaelin to call me Yongbok for an entire week without complaining.

"Hey."

"Ji– Lix?" Changbin looks up, and I swear I see his face lighting up when his eyes meet mine, causing my heart to skip a beat.

"Hey," he grins, watching how I take a seat in front of him, sitting down on the floor cross-legged. "Didn't expect you here but what a pleasant surprise."

"Me neither, but I basically got abducted by Jisung and now I'm here," I explain, finishing my sentence with the jazz hands gesture, as if to say, tah-dah.

"So Sung finally got to you, huh?" the older chuckles, before casting a quick glance around the hallway. "Where is he now?"

"I have no idea," I reply, lightly shrugging my shoulders. "He brought me here, said something about some Innie guy and apple juice debts and poof, he yeeted."

My eyes widen, and I quickly correct myself. "I mean, he ran off. Not yeeted."

A pause.

"Anyways, it's just you and me."

In a rush of panic to fix my mistake, I blurt out the last part and magically manage to make it sound somewhat confident, completely different from how I am freaking out on the inside now.

Why did I say that?!

"Oh, he means Jeongin, Yang Jeongin," Changbin explains, a fond smile on his face. "Kid claims to be tough but he has a weak spot for a lot of things, I'm assuming Sung bribed him into something."

Yes, he is going to bribe the guy into meeting up with Chan so the oldest isn't coming here for lunch, but I'm not going to tell him that.

"And yes, much better than in the library," the brown-haired boy adds, glancing at two girls that are seated further down the corridor, who happen to be the only students in sight.

Wait, I am basically alone with Seo Changbin? We only had one date and this already happens? Hello? I wasn't prepared? Did anyone take that into consideration?

"Felix? Are you okay?"

I can't help the sharp breath I take in, and I look up to see Changbin looking at me worriedly. I flash him a hopefully-convincing smile, nodding vigorously. Fortunately, he looks convinced, which means I succesfully masked my moment of panic.

But now a new problem arises; what do you talk about with your crush? A few months ago, I never expected to get this far, and now I'm at a loss of what to say.

"Aren't you gonna eat?" the older questions, ready to take a bite of his sandwich.

"Oh yes, food," I blurt out, mentally slapping myself immediately after.

Forgetting how to function properly like a normal human being definitely wasn't part of the plan. Then again, when does anything ever go according to plan?

Like a wise person once said; in this world, it's either yeet or be yeeted. This is the moment to yeet before I end up getting yeeted.

Changbin silently watches how I take out my lunch box, which holds a combination of sandwiches and cold fries that are a remnant of my McDonald's visit this morning before school.

Cold McDonald's fries kind of have the texture of what I would expect from cardboard, but the taste is still fine so hey, why not?

Right, maybe I should stop thinking about food and talk to Changbin.

"What time do your classes end?" I ask, eyeing the boy against the wall, who quirks a brow in amusement.

"Are you that eager to meet me after school again?" he questions, lips curling up in a smile.

"N-No! I mean–" I mumble, thinking rapidly. "I wouldn't mind meeting you after school again but–"

"There is a new movie that came out last weekend," Changbin interrupts me, still smiling. "I was going to take Jisung and Chan hyung but they can go together. Do you want to go with me?"

He tilts his head so cutely, looking at me with something that looks like hope in his eyes. Is it okay for me to assume that he wants to hang out with me as much as I want to hang out with him, or is that just my positivity going wild?

"Sure," I reply, not even bothering to ask which movie we're going to see. Any movie is a fun movie when you are watching with Seo Changbin.

"Great, I'm off at four," the boy informs me.

Well, that works out perfectly.

"Me too, meet you at the gates then?"

Now it's Changbin's turn to nod, and I proceed to push myself off the floor, barely finishing my fries first.

"Cool," I smile, slinging my backpack over my shoulder. "I have to get some stuff from my locker, but I'll see you then."

"See you then," the other smiles. "Bye, Lix."

"Bye, hyung."

With a small wave, I walk off, trying my hardest to control the excited bounce in my step. I may have partly lied; yes, I need to get my books for the next period from my locker, but I also really need to speak with my best friends right now.

People smile at me again as I make my way to the busier parts of the main building, the gentle gesture once again all pavlovian, probably.

This is the second day since the project officially started rolling, and I already have a second date. I'm beyond happy, obviously, and even the slight awkwardness of this lunch break doesn't bother me anymore.

This is going great.