so after i got home, we went out to lunch and stayed there for quite awhile, afterwards we walked around aimlessly and had a simple afternoon.

once it got dark we went to the bowling alley, and considering the guys had much busier schedules than gyeom we hung around the arcade until they arrived.

gyeom had just won me a large stuffed bunny when he got a call.

he handed me the bunny and answered the phone, "yeah?"

"oh wow, really?"

"i dunno, it's up to you guys."

"well i guess, why don't we invite some more girls so that kanpo can mingle."

"oh whatever, just..."

"yeah yeah, let me know how many people so i can reserve the tables."

"mhm,"

"bye bammie."

he hung up the phone and turned to me.

i gave him a look.

"so, the guys invited jae and brian from day6 and they're trying to convince jeongyeon and nayeon to come so you can have lady friends to hang with." he explained.

"oh wow, day6? i watch jae on youtube." i said shaking my head in disbelief.

"you know him from youtube but not the band." he said smiling, shaking his head in disbelief.

"well, i knew he was in the band but i didn't take much interest in it. i just thought he was funny." i shrugged and held up the bunny to observe it.

"what should we name him?" he said looking at the giant stuffed animal.

"mm, how about sunhee?" i suggested.

"sunhee?" he took the bunny and held it up.

"yeah."

"okay." he handed sunhee back to me as he got another phone call.

he looked at the caller id and sighed, "yeah?"

"they can't come?"

"ugh what a bummer,"

"okay, i'll tell her."

"how much longer?"

"alright, see ya."

"what was it?" i asked clutching the bunny to my chest.

"bam, he called to say jeongyeon and nayeon couldn't make it, something about a shoot tomorrow. sorry kanpo, guess it's just you and the guys tonight." he kissed the top of my head and we went over to the counter to reserve the bowling tables.

after a long while, the boys all arrived. the first one to greet me was jackson with a big bear hug.

"gyeom sent me the text," jackson said as he squeezed me before letting go.

"oh god, i'm sorry, you probably think i'm a total nerd." i covered my face, very embarrassed.

"awh, no i don't, you're fun to be around, i hope us being here helps lift your mood." he smiled and gave me a playful nudge.

jinyoung and bam greeted me together with some playful teasing, "how's gyeom? has he annoyed you enough for you to abandon him?" i of course laughed at this but gyeom wasn't as amused.

jaebeom and mark gave me a swift hello and made small talk before making their way over to the rest of the group.

youngjae teased me about gyeom as well and we laughed until we couldn't breathe.

i felt like i was really hitting it off with most of them, my only question was, wheres jae and brian?

as we were all entering our names into the bowling system, jae and brian came and started greeting the boys.

and then they got to me.

"oh... hi, i'm jae, i don't know if you know me." jae smiled politely and greeted me in korean.

"i know you from youtube." i replied back in english.

he was taken aback but he was enjoying the moment, "wow, i thought i was gonna be left out this whole night but seeing you're an english speaker yourself i can already tell we're gonna be great friends."

i laughed, "i sure hope so,"

brian greeted me politely just as jae had, and after punching in their names for bowling we started with youngjae.

"so how do you know english?" jae asked me as we watched the boys play.

"well, i lived in america for high school with a host family, and from there i learned," i shrugged, "how about you?"

"well i lived in america my whole life until i became an idol, i'm not that good at korean." jae explained.

i nodded in understanding, "it's okay, not everyone is good at everything the first time."

"well yeah, i mean, i wasn't always that good at guitar when i first tried it." jae started talking about his rise to learning guitar and how he became skilled over the years.

his backstory was interrupted by gyeom, "hey kanpo, it's your turn." he gave me a look from across the table we were at.

"oh right." i got up and took my ball from the rack. i pulled the ball to about my chin and walked forward and shot the ball. i surprisingly made a strike.

the boys all cheered for me as i turned triumphantly and waved and blew playful kisses to them.

jae made a show of catching one pretending to faint from it.

i became stiff as i walked back to my seat next to him.

oh my god yugyeoms gonna have the wrong idea.

next it was suho's turn who only managed to knock down two pins.

after lots of rounds and lots of jae trying to flirt with me and me not flirting back, it was the final round.

at this point, two hours had passed and jae was non stopping calling me pretty and asking me about my relationships and if i had a boyfriend, and if i had met someone, and things of the sort.

i dodged the questions as much as i could, not once did he ask me if i was with someone here.

i could see gyeom burning holes into jae's skull with the death look that came every time jae said something rather flirty to me.

on my last turn, all i needed was a strike and i'd win the whole game, as everyone was aware that i was ahead, and the only person capable of beating me was mark.

"kanpo, go, i'll be your hype man." gyeom said as we both got up.

"yes kanpo pick up that ball love, get a good grip, yes you swing that ball, you show those pins whose boss." he gave me small dumb comments like this the whole time. i laughed at all of them because of how ridiculous they were.

and then when the moment came to actually shoot the ball, i made it. the strike to end the game.

our crowd of friends erupted into cheers as gyeom and i looked at each other in disbelief.

and then suddenly, it all happened at once.

gyeom got closer, and picked me up and looked directly at jae, turned back to me, and kissed me.

the cheers went from "WOOOOOOO" to "OUUUUUU"

which made me laugh and smile into the kiss.

when gyeom put me down i looked at the boys and saw jae, who was looking shocked, panicked, and embarrassed all at once.

we went back to the table and continued the rest of the round, gyeom made sure i sat next to him and he made sure that jae noticed his hand on my thigh.

i gave jae an apologetic look.

he shrugged in a sort of, "what can you do?" kinda way.

the rest of the night was filled with laughter and constant teasing. for a moment, i let myself be happy