double take | renmin

14

  I felt tense around Renjun for the first time since our friendship started. All because of my crush on the older, I felt that our friendship was getting weaker or at least having more weak points that would eventually break, leaving small cracks everywhere in our relationship. 

I sighed, rolling over after a long night with very rough sleep, thinking back on how last night had ended.  

"Oh shit."  Renjun had a panicked expression on his face, eyes staring directly into mine. I got up off the bed, Renjun sliding off my lap easily. "I'm so sorry." I apologized, throwing my hands through my hair repeatedly. "Jaemin it's okay, I asked for it." Renjun said, trying to get a hold of my wrists to keep them still."No, it's not okay! You're my best friend Renjun!" I lashed out on him though it wasn't his fault. 

I remembered walking out of the room after that and staying on the balcony for a while. "You idiot." I groaned, pulling the covers over my chest. How was I going to face Renjun now? "Oh my god, Jaemin you're an idiot." 

I rolled out of the bed, falling onto the floor beside the bed out of self pity. "What are you doing on the floor?" Renjun asked me, coming in to collect some of his clothes he left the other day. "Renjun!" I jumped up, fixing the bed sheets in a hurried way. "What? I literally saw you yesterday." I stood there in shock when I was about to get on my knees and beg for his forgiveness. Did he not care about anything that happened last night?

"What?" He asked again, this time getting a new towel from the closet. "Oh..nothing." I said, scratching my head. Renjun looked at me skeptically and took some clothes and towel with him to the bathroom. Wait! Renjun!" He turned around, facing me with a tired look on his face. "What is it?" I looked down, shamefully. 

"About last night.." his eyes softened and he smiled gently. "It's fine. It was my idea anyway." Oh, knowing Renjun, he probably thought it was his fault. "I'm sorry for yelling at you." I said, sheepishly. "It's fine, really. Anyways, I'm going to shower." He gave me a slight wave, before disappearing off into the bathroom.

I breathed out in relief. I was really lucky to have such an understanding friend. I heard the shower water start and sat on the bed I had been previously sleeping on. I retraced my memories of last night back to the kiss. I touched my lips, missing the feeling of Renjun's lips on mine. His lips were so plump and soft, so sweet. The moment I always fantasized about happened just last night. 

I decided to get up and get ready, cleaning up our hotel room a bit which had gotten slightly messy during our stay at the hotel. I took a shower in the other bathroom and combed my hair. I heard a knock on the bathroom door and opened it, revealing Renjun who was wearing swimming trunks and a blue t-shirt. 

"Uhm, yes?" I asked, still in the middle of combing my hair. "Let's go to the pool. We haven't been yet and it looks really nice." He said, walking in and sitting on the counter top. "Okay, I'll just finish doing my hair and change then." I said, continuing to comb through my black locks. Renjun stayed there, sitting on the counter with his legs crossed, staring at me.

Feeling his eyes on me, I hurried up to finish and got changed before we left. We took the elevator down to the first floor where we greeted a few staff members and guided ourselves to the indoor pool. We stepped inside and I immediately regretted it. 

There were shirtless guys everywhere and I could already feel myself losing my grip on Renjun. "Oh my god" he breathed out, covering his mouth with his hand. His eyes scanned the room filled with skinny girls in bikinis and buff, shirtless guys. I wasn't really the type to go about shirtless even at pools, but seeing Renjun eye all the guys was encouraging me to remove my own shirt. 

"Let's go over there." I pointed towards the more deep part of the pool with less people around. "Sure." Renjun said, holding onto my wrist to drag me along behind him in the direction I pointed. The entire way to the other side of the pool Renjun was glancing at other guys which honestly made me feel a little jealous. We reached two beach chairs and laid our towels on them. While Renjun was getting in the pool, I decided to take my shirt off and set it on the chair next to my towel. I quietly got in the pool behind Renjun after that.

I'm not super buff or anything, but I'm not super skinny either. Plus, I've kind of been into working out recently. "You scared me!" Renjun exclaimed, turning around, running into my chest. "Oh!" He let out with wide eyes, his cheeks tint getting pinker and pinker by the second. I smirked inwardly, watching Renjun do a double take. "You've been working out." He said quietly, turning away again, possibly to hide his blush.He started going off somewhere else, so I followed him.

I chuckled at his attempt to swim using the crawl technique. "Can you even swim?" Renjun pouted, shaking his head. It wasn't an angry or sad pout, but more of a defeated pout which was cute either way. "Here, I'll help you." I easily swam over to the shorter, showing off my swimming skills. "You remember that I took swimming lessons right?" I asked upon reaching the Chinese boy.

"I forgot." He answered. I proceeded to teach him how to do the crawl which didn't take much time since Renjun's a quick learner. Next, Renjun wanted to learn how to do the back stroke, but it took a while for Renjun to adjust to floating on his back, so I had to help him.

"If you just close your eyes and relax, you'll float easily." I told him, but he was still struggling. He leaned back again, just barely missing the opportunity to float. "I can't do it." I he while laughing at himself. "Renjun, I'll hold you, so just close your eyes and relax." He nodded and followed my guide. I set one arm on his waist from the back and the other behind his neck, helping him get on his back. 

He closed his eyes, slightly leaning into my touch and breathing out slowly. I watched his expression soften, calm and gentle breaths escaped his pink lips. I thought he was ready enough, so I slowly stepped away from him, seeing him afloat on the peaceful water. "You're doing it." I said in a quiet voice, so I wouldn't disturb Renjun.

Unfortunately, he got excited and lost peace of mind anyways, his head disappearing under the water for a few seconds before resurfacing. I laughed, watching Renjun struggle to do it again by himself. "Ugh, I'm tired." He sighed, heading to the side of the pool. Most likely, to get out. "Getting out already?" I teased, helping him up. "Thanks." He didn't answer my question and instead layed down on the beach chair next to mine. "Let's just head back whenever you're tired." I suggested, drying my hair a bit with my towel. "Mhm" Renjun hummed in reply, not bothering to answer verbally. 

He closed his eyes and propped his head up with his arms resting behind his head. Just like that, Renjun drifted off to sleep. I sat there next to him, watching him sleep for a while before realizing that that was kind of creepy and a stalker type thing to do. I lied down too, mirroring Renjun's comfortable position.

Out of all the years we had been friends, did Renjun not once see me as anything more than a friend? After all this time and me continuously showering him with love, did he feel nothing at all?

"Boy, you got me hooked onto something who could say that they saw us coming? Tell me do you feel the love?"

Word count: 1370 words