A Holiday Snowdown

Part 5

"It's too early for this," you groan, clutching your coffee cup like a lifeline.

Taking a large sip from his hot pink thermos, Seokjin nods. "I agree, but I've unfortunately dedicated my life to teaching children how to snowboard, and they always wake up at the ass-crack of dawn."

"Is that the official time? Ass-crack?"

"Yeah. And your official name is smartass."

You laugh, nearly choking on coffee. "Touché. Cut me some slack. It's hard not to be sarcastic before 8:00 AM."

"Yeah, well." Seokjin takes another sip. "It's good for beginners to have the soft snow. Ice makes it harder when they go downhill."

You nod in agreement, willing caffeine to permeate your body faster. A few feet away stands Jimin, enthusiastically gesticulating to a small group of children. They giggle at his instructions, as the two in the back begin a snowball fight.

Watching them, you continue drinking your coffee. After a moment, you lean over to Seokjin.

"Should we stop them?" you ask, gesturing to the demons.

"No." Seokjin takes another sip. "They'll sort it out eventually."

You nod and face forward. This class happens every morning, but today there'll be a special guest: Jungkook. Jimin is gearing up to make the introduction as he asks the names of each child present. There will be ten in total, one of whom wears an Olympic snowboarding sweatshirt. Curly, black hair pokes out from beneath his bright blue ski cap.

Last year's winter Olympics had record views, in no small part due to the Fantastic Four: the not-so-creative name for Jeon Jungkook and three of the more attractive snowboarders. Their images were plastered across the nation for months. You couldn't enter a coffee shop without being accosted by Jungkook's smiling face – minus the cheek scar, of course. They kept editing it out.

For an unknown reason, this annoyed you.

It made you recall a college night you'd rather forget. The night Leslie dragged you, Taehyung and Jungkook to some raucous frat party. Per usual, she left you after an hour, making friends with new people and taking shots with the soccer team in the kitchen.

You wound up on the basement couch and sometime around midnight, Jungkook collapsed beside you. Mussing his hair, he released a sigh.

Lips twitching, you looked sideways. "Not a fan of these parties?"

Jungkook shook his head. Glancing sideways, you started and realized how close you were. The tops of your thighs nearly touched.

"I'll need the whole week to recuperate," he groaned. "We introverts aren't meant for this much social interaction."

You lifted a brow. "What makes you think I'm an introvert?"

You thought Jungkook would be stumped or embarrassed at being called out, but an answer was ready on the tip of his tongue.

"You don't ever start the conversation," he explained, quiet. "You tend to keep to yourself. And you look kind of tired."

Unthinking, you laughed. "I look tired?"

"Well, I feel tired," he said, collapsing back on the sofa and closing his eyes. "And you look how I feel."

Staring at Jungkook, you wondered how drunk he was. A red solo cup of something lingered by his thigh – swallowing hard, you forced your gaze to move upward. This became a mistake since Jungkook was looking at you and the force of his gaze was magnetic.

"What's that?" you said, focusing on his cheek.

His brow scrunched. "What's what?"

"That."