After failing to jumpstart her acting career, Karina returns defeated to her hometown to figure out her next move. Things get complicated when she finds out that Y/N, her best friend from high school with whom she parted on awkward terms, is also ba...
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"So," Karina said, fidgeting with her hands behind her back. "You're moving to New York?"
Y/N was running the flashlight on his phone along the wall of the dim hallway. All the doors of the classrooms had been unlocked, meaning that Minjeong must have hidden some QR codes in them. The desks had been switched out for newer ones, though, so it was an odd mix of familiar and unfamiliar.
"What?" Y/N said, turning to her. "Oh, yeah. At the end of the summer. Shortly after the wedding, I guess."
Karina walked alongside him. She looked at the new art club's artwork on the walls of the school. Flyers announced club sign-up days and baseball games. Photos of unfamiliar teenagers lined the walls. It was such a strange feeling, like coming home and finding out that a stranger had been living in it all this time.
"You must be really excited," Karina said. Y/N chuckled lightly.
"Something like that," he said, switching the flashlight to his other hand. "Minju called it a promotion, but it really feels more like a lateral move to me. My new position has basically the same pay and the same responsibilities. Only thing different is the location and title."
He wasn't looking for a promotion in the first place. Minju had thrown his name in for consideration without his prior consultation. The offer came to him so quickly, and he couldn't find the courage to say no to his boss, his girlfriend's father.
"I'm jealous," Karina said, picturing Times Square and Central Park. Y/N scoffed.
"What do you mean?" he said, elbowing her. "You got to live in Hollywood for five years."
"You mean I got to barely get by in Hollywood for five years," she said. She shone her own flashlight on the ceiling.
"Most of the time, I was out of a job," she said, recalling those dark days. "Scraping around for pennies so I could eat and begging for work. You've already got a job in New York, so you're all set. And you have a girlfriend. So of course, I'm jealous."
Y/N pressed his lips into a line.
"To be honest, I'm not exactly sure about New York," he said.
New York was really all Minju's idea. She had her heart set on it, and as her boyfriend, he felt obligated to be excited, too. But the awful truth was that he wasn't. Not really. He couldn't voice this aloud to Minju for fear that he would dampen her spirits. But he felt freer to think and feel as he pleased with Karina.
"But then again," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's normal to feel uncertain right before you make a big move, right?"
His words made Karina remember the way she felt right before skipping town. Of course, she had been nervous. Nervous the night before, nervous on the plane, and nervous when she stepped off at LAX. But that wasn't because she was going somewhere far away. That had been because she was scared that she'd ruined their friendship.
