West Coast

The idea was simple. It was a simple concept. She just wanted to have some people over to christen her new apartment. Just a few people, she told him. Just a couple of their friends. She wasn't trying to throw a huge loud bash - just a house warming party. And he said he'd take care of it, and since Linda, in all her naive, infatuated glory, believed that he would honestly really stick to her request of a few people.

He told her to go out and get some drinks and food, and that he'd tidied up her apartment if she left him the key under the potted plant. Clearly, that meant hiding her journals and changing the password on her laptop. Not that she didn't trust Dongwoo - of course not. She did trust him, implicitly... to be too nosy sometimes.

(And they were friends. He'd made that clear, very clear - just friends, called her dongsaeng because she was 'tiny' and 'cute' and he loved her like a sister. And that was okay too, she guessed, except that she really wanted him to see her like he saw those girls he took home, pretty and ethereal and something worth his attention for more than two seconds.)

Linda had gone to get some party favors, games, bought some alcohol from a none too reputable place, but she was only going to be underage for a few more months anyway, so all it took was a smile and cheeky giggle to get the clerk to not ask for her ID. And she'd gone and bought groceries too, so she could make everyone something fresh and nice to eat.

She scowled a little, confused as she drove down her street. There were a lot of unfamiliar cars everywhere, and it didn't make much sense. Her frown only deepened as she walked into her apartment building, struggling with the two cases of beer and another two bottles of vodka and paper bag full of foods that she was almost positive would make Dongwoo's heart skip maybe two or three beats.

There were people all over the stairwell, strewn about, and the music was so loud, too loud, took her aback as she walked into her once neat, orderly apartment. There were pretty girls everywhere, some guys that she recognized very vaguely, and, of course - alcohol everywhere. She had to fight her way into her kitchen, wriggling through the sea of people. She sets her bags down on the counter, only to see Dongwoo talking to one of his friends near the fridge.

"Linda!"

His eyes crinked and he gave her one of his big, happy smiles, pouty lips spread wide as pearly white teeth shine in the fluorescent light above. Her heart felt like it stopped for a second, and she wanted to be mad, was going to yell at him and tell him to get all these people out of her apartment, but he smiled and crumbled her resolve just like that.

He folded her into his chest, squeezing her tight. She couldn't be mad, not when he held her like this and kissed her forehead, laughing that deep rumbly laugh that filled her with something warm and unknown. He was talking a mile a minute, excited about the party going so well, and his eyes really lit up when he saw that she'd bought liqour.

"We can play quarters," he said into her ear, swaying with her to the song blasting through her apartment. She could barely hear anything, and would have said no if he wasn't holding her like this, but alas, he was, so she couldn't refuse.

(The problem with him was that he wasn't aware at all of how he made her feel, and so he constantly put her in awkward predicaments because she couldn't bring herself to say no to anything he asked because of those feelings. Which were stupid, decidedly so, because he wasn't interested - but it wasn't like she hadn't tried, anyway.)

"But first you need a drink, yeah? You seem tense." She managed a cheap laugh, watching him pull away to mix her a drink at the counter full of both empty and full bottles and beer cans. She leaned against the wall, trying not to make it too obvious as she fixed herself in her compact. She pulls up her shorts a little, and fixes her shirt and hair, all before he turns back with two red plastic cups.

"Cheers!"

It's all a little blurry after that. She'd had two of those, then some vodka, and felt decidedly looser and a little freer as she moved through her flat. Most of the people didn't know her, and she didn't know them - but they all knew Dongwoo, so. She danced with him for most of the evening, which was nice because he didn't dance with her very often, or at all - but he was too talented, she would insist, to which he would grumble and tell her to study or do something other than nag at him.

He was fluid, and firm, strong and soft and just everything she'd ever hoped for and wanted, but she was drunk, and being sentimental. She wasn't thinking properly, letting herself feel these things about the boy who'd always been such a good friend to her. But she had been drinking, after all. Once she was sober, she probably wouldn't even remember any of this, and she doubted he would remember too, so what exactly did she have to lose?

That's how she found herself sitting at her little folding table, where she normally studied while Dongwoo made dinner every other night. (Just because she was in college wasn't any reason to not take care of herself, he would insist, and she was looking a little bony anyway.) The scene wasn't nearly as innocent as she plopped down next to him, rubbing her hand against her nose as he explained the game. It was spin the bottle with shots, basically, which would have made her cheeks flush if she was sober, but since she wasn't, it only made her laugh.

The bottle spun, and spun, and spun. Some girl kissed Dongwoo, which wasn't so horrible, except it still stabbed at her anyway, and made her want to sink down further into her seat. And it was her turn a few spins later, and her bottle lands, on of all people herself. She had to pick either person to her right or left. The person to her left was sloppily drunk, since the bottle had landed on them three times already and they'd already had a lot to drink before. Which, of course, left Dongwoo, to her right.

She managed a small, nervous smile, looking at him shyly. She didn't want her first kiss to be like this with him, drunk, at a party she didn't even want to have (not such a big party, anyway) with all these people leering and dancing around them. But there it was, and she wasn't about to turn away kissing him despite the circumstances. She took a deep breath, watching as he looked at her with those big eyes.

She leaned in to kiss him, and she told herself it would be a brief, chaste kiss. It would be simple, then it would be over, and they'd never talk about it again. Except, well - it was anything but simple and chaste. It was fire, it was an exploding stare, bright and cosmic and cataclysmic and made her breath catch in her throat, his hand cupping her cheek after he pulled away. Her lips tingled, and her face, pretty sepia cheeks burning as she blinked slowly, looking at him with an expression she was sure betrayed her true feelings.

He, on the other hand, turned with a laugh back to the game, downing his shot and spinning the bottle. Like it didn't matter. And to him of course, it wouldn't have - he kissed girls all the time, a playboy at it's finest, and that to him was probably nothing more than part of the game. Linda fiddled with the hem of her shorts, looking down at her legs as she crossed them underneath her and shrunk away from Dongwoo.

Someone's spin landed on her, and so she found herself leaning over the table to kiss the boy, who wasn't really that bad looking, but he wasn't Dongwoo and he wasn't what she wanted. She could see the underlying irritation on Dongwoo's face, but why? This kiss is slow and languid, leaves her cheeks burnt and has her heart jumping into her throat as the boy works his tongue into her mouth gently.

People were cheering and hollering, and while she still wasn't happy, she did smile a little, leaning into the kiss. And it's nice, or it was, until Dongwoo tugs on her her thigh until she's sitting back down, cool soft hand grasping her warm hand firmly. Not firm enough to hurt, but enough so that she knew he'd had about enough of it.

She leaned back down into her seat, shot abandoned as she gave her turn to someone else. She eyed Dongwoo, watching him glare at the oblivious boy across the way who was talking to the girl next to him. Why was he so mad? His eyes were glossy and irritated as he got up from the table, mumbling something about getting some air. And Linda, maybe because she was curious and unsure of what that was all about, follows him outside to the balcony, which is oddly enough, abandoned.

He was leaning against the railing, bent at the waist slightly as he propped his head up on a fist. Linda sucked on her bottom lip, and blushed again at how she could still taste him from before. She cleared her throat a little, but he didn't move. She leaned next to him, glancing over at him.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine," he murmured quietly, tone clipped and anxious. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

He looked at her, eyes unreadable. He looked almost... sad. Like he was upset. But why would he be upset? Linda sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, rubbing her arm awkwardly as she watched him. What had she done? Dongwoo turned to face her after a beat, hands holding onto the railing weakly.

"I just - I didn't like how he touched you," he confessed, drawing closer to her a little bit. "I feel - I mean - it's not a big deal, because you can kiss whoever you'd like, and he's been looking at you all night anyway and - "

Linda scoffed, despite herself. Dongwoo sounded really upset, and it was odd to see him expressing himself so freely - seriously, really. He was the least serious person that Linda had ever met, always so happy and carefree and tried to see the bright side in everything. So to see him so affected by a silly kiss with someone whose name she didn't even know really threw her for a loop.

"What? You kiss people all the time and it's not like you ever ask me how I feel about it. Don't you like a taste of - "

She was going to tell him. Tell him how she felt, tell him about how angry seeing him with all these stupid girls who would never love him or care for him or want him the way she would. She stopped short when he gave her that look, a look she had only seen once or twice.

"Taste of what?" His tone was uncomfortable, like she was approaching territory that he wasn't comfortable with.

"It was just a game," she protested quietly, shoulders falling. "I don't actually - like - I don't like him." He cracked a small smile, grasping her hand with his larger one as he looked out at the city. "He was a bad kisser, anyway."

"You think so?"

"I know someone who's not so bad," she teased, squeezing his hand.

Now, Dongwoo had given her lots of looks before. There was his indulgent look, when he came over and found her slumped over her school books and boxes of takeaway, or his goofy one, when they were having fun. There was the look he'd given her earlier today, big smile and soft eyes that would make her melt and eventually give way to what he wanted when he wanted it.

This look, however - this look was gentle and mild and still full of something warm and passionate, made her heart flutter and feel vulnerable and protected all at once. Putting it simply, it threw her for a loop, again - which, she was learning that night, was all Dongwoo seemed to be interested in doing anymore.

The kiss itself still took her by surprise, even though she should have seen it coming.

It was one of those searing hot kisses, leaning against the balcony railing together. He was firm and warm, made her chest grow tight as he gripped her cheek and hip with his soft hands. She was unsure of herself at first, but gained confidence after a time, giggling when he rubbed his nose against hers with a small smile, big brown eyes ambivalent and clear and funny, almost.

"What are you laughing at?" he teased, kissing her again.

"You, silly boy," Linda replies, laughing again. "You're the only one I want, anyway."