Guitarist Next Door (Jae Day6)

Chapter 7

"Ugh! Why did I say that?" Jae groaned, flopping down on the couch. He stared up at the ceiling, regretting how the conversation ended with Y/N.

"Say what?" Dowoon asked, looking up from his laptop where he was playing League of Legends.

"'Don't flatter yourself?' Like really Jae, that was the best you could come up with? I'm so stupid." Jae pulled at the ends of his hair.

"I thought you didn't care whether or not she liked you. You just like getting a reaction out of her."

"Well that's how it started... But she's actually kinda... cute." Jae buried his face in a pillow.

"Ooh so you do have a crush on her."

"I swear if you tell YoungK about this you will never hear the end of it," Jae threatened.

Dowoon made a my-lips-are-sealed gesture. "Why didn't you just tell her you like her?"

"I chickened out! She's hated me for so long."

"So how are you going to win her over? You could try apologizing."

"Would that even change her mind? It's too late. She hates me again! I've never been good at doing anything other than annoy her anyways."

Dowoon thought for a minute. "Then keep annoying her."

"What?"

"Teasing her always got you a reaction, right? So what if you keep doing that, except now the goal is to show her how much you like her instead of making her mad."

"Dowoon, you are a crazy genius!" Jae stood up to put his shoes on, grabbing his keys and wallet.

"Where are you going?"

"To get some hair dye!"

- - -

When Saturday rolled around, you thought about not going to see Jae's band play. You didn't really want to see him after the Friday morning disaster. But Sammy wouldn't accept your lame excuses.

A small part of you wanted to see Jae again, even if he didn't like you.

Sammy and you were waiting inside the restaurant/bar for Jae's band to start playing. It was a pretty nice restaurant with a very chill atmosphere. You were surprised you had never been here before, especially with how close it was to your apartment.

You couldn't stop tapping your foot. You kept glancing at the stage.

Sammy gave you a confused look. "You okay? You look nervous."

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Your hands are shaking though."

You looked down at your hands on the table, and sure enough, they were. You placed them on your lap. "Okay fine. I'm nervous."

"Why? I thought you hated Jae."

"I do! He's an arrogant prick, but for some reason I don't want his band to suck."

"Just focus on this salsa and chips. I'm gonna eat the whole thing by myself if you don't stop me." Sammy pulled the chips and salsa closer to himself.

"Hey! I want some too!" You grabbed a couple chips and fought him for the salsa.

As everyone started clapping, you looked up from your food. Jae and his band took the stage and began setting up their instruments. His eyes roamed the crowd before landing on you. He winked.

You scoffed, rolling your eyes.

"Ooh he keeps looking over here," Sammy noted.

"He does not. Stop making things up." You scooped some more salsa onto your chip.

"I'm not. Look."

You looked up. Jae's head snapped down quickly as he tuned his guitar. "See? He's tuning his guitar. He's not looking at us."

"Well technically he was looking at you, but I swear he was looking just now." Sammy took a sip of his drink. "He dyed his hair. It looks good, don't you think?"

"It looks okay."

"Just okay? It's blue now!"

You bit the inside of your cheek, not wanting to give Sammy the satisfaction of knowing he was right.

He actually did it. He dyed it blue like I said he should, you thought. I knew he'd look good.

"You seriously don't find him attractive? Not even a tiny bit?"

You were silent, just munching on your chips. Your mind kept wandering back to that wink, to that smirk that never seemed to leave his face. Without realizing it, your face started turning red.

"Ha! You're blushing. I knew it."

"I know what you're doing. And I'm not going to fall for it because you're wrong."

Sammy played innocent. "What am I doing Y/N?"

"You are trying to set me up with Jae or get me to admit that I like him. But I don't like him."

"Oh come on. You don't think you two would be a cute couple? It'd be the classic enemies to lovers. The strongest bond of all!"

"You've been watching too many k-dramas."

He shrugged. "Maybe. We'll see who's right in the end."

Before you could retort, Sungjin tapped the mic, testing the volume.

Sungjin smiled, waving to the crowd. "Hello! We are Day6. We just want to say thank you to everyone who came out to see us. Our first song is called 'Tick Tock.'"

They started playing their first song. It was a blend of pop and alt-rock. Everyone started bobbing their heads along to the beat.

They're... actually... good, you thought. Like really good.

After the first song ended you turned to Sammy, eyes wide. He laughed at your reaction. "They're good, aren't they?"

You nodded. "Yeah. It always sounded like noise coming from next door, not like actual music."

They played a few more songs. You got lost in the music. You were actually enjoying yourself. Earlier when you were getting ready, you prepared for the worst, planning exit strategies and backup places to go hang out. Now you couldn't imagine going anywhere else.