And she was gone by morning || J. Heejin

[18: Old Habits Die Hard]

When you first heard your friends were coming home for the weekend to pay a visit to their high school buddies in the railroad, you were ecstatic. You couldn't hide your excitement in school and even told your friends about it. You rambled on and on about past memories and how much you missed them, and everyone, minus Hyeju, was happy for you.

"Which ones will be coming?" Felix asked, passing the soccer ball to you while the group played behind the school.

"Yoongi, Ten, Minji, Seulgi, Wendy..." You numbered them on your fingers. "I think Siyeon will come too, and she's bringing her convertible so we can take it for a drive."

You had a little jump in your step after you spoke, and when you ran to kick the ball to Bangchan's turf, you kicked it with enough strength to make the ball fly into the bushes and then roll onto the road. What you had in power, you lacked in precision.

"You're taking that," Jongho said, pointing to the bushes.

After glaring at him, you jogged to the road. Wooyoung and Felix trailed behind you to ask for more stories about the railroad.

"What do you do there?" Wooyoung asked, sitting by the sidewalk. "Do you guys just skate and light stuff on fire?"

"More or less. They're gonna bring some drinks, so I might be there for a while."

"Drinks? Like, alcohol?"

"Yep. They're cheap and it's all on them."

Wooyoung and Felix looked at each other with amazement. Almost everyone in the group turned eighteen recently, and they weren't strangers to alcohol, like when they dare each other to buy some in the convenience store, but it was still a shock to see you casually drinking with college students.

Since you were on the younger side of the group, it was strange seeing you grow up so fast. But there was a difference between growing up and maturity. What you had was lost innocence, not a mature, adult-like mindset.

"You won't be driving drunk, right?" Felix asked you.

"Of course I won't."

"They won't be driving drunk, too, right?"

You looked at him before crossing the street. The ball was across it.

"I'll make sure they won't, but they're all responsible. They can hold their own in these kinds of things," she told him. "You guys don't need to worry."

"It's kinda hard. You're reckless, you know," Wooyoung said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I noticed."

And just like his words, you crossed the street without looking both ways. The two boys hurried to grab you when a speeding SUV evaded you by a hair, and you were pulled back to the sidewalk.

During that split second, all you heard were the angry screams from the driver and Wooyoung grunting when he leapt to grab you. Felix pulled Wooyoung back when he gripped your jacket, and when you fell back, he was the first to help you up.

He helped you first, then Wooyoung second. Wooyoung was the first to scold you for being so reckless.

"Now do you see my point?"

"Your point?"

"You actively ignore basic common sense that most people pick up from children's cartoons and now look at you."

You rolled your eyes.

"Fine, you have a point, but I'll be fine," you assured them. "I've got a brain. I can use it, you know."

"We can still worry for you, though," Felix said.

"Yeah, and you're gonna see a lot of it these days," Wooyoung added.