RENDEZVOUS

15 | ice cream parlour

"okay, class dismissed," said mr oh once the bell rang at the end of biology. he turned the electric fan up a notch, rustling the papers on his desk.

donghyuck leapt to his feet and shoved everything inside his backpack, taking off the moment he was allowed. "uhh, going home to study," he blurted, and sprinted out of the classroom without further explanation.

jeno glanced at renjun, who shrugged, and started packing away his things anyway. it was the end of the school day and the sun was high in the sky, burning down on sweaty high school students. that week, they had been struck with an unexpected heatwave - and it made studying for the upcoming exams extremely frustrating.

"let's go then," renjun said, instinctively reaching for jeno's hand. but he stopped himself, fingers outstretched, itching to feel jeno's touch. 

they couldn't hold hands. not if people could see.

jeno slung an arm around renjun's shoulders instead, feeling the shorter tense up as he led the way out of the room. "you coming, jae?" he asked, turning back.

jaemin looked up from where he was still scribbling down words, and shook his head. "i've gotta finish this," he said, "see you guys tomorrow."

"okay," jeno shrugged, "see you."

"jaemin!" nancy skipped over to jaemin's desk, giggly as usual. "you're still working? aw, you work too hard... can we do math after school?"

jaemin paused, halfway through writing a word. "i thought we were doing chemistry today," he objected.

"but i'm really stuck on this topic in math," nancy pouted at him. "you don't want me to fail, right? please help me, jaeminnie..."

jeno couldn't listen to any more of her whiny tone, so quickly guided renjun out of the classroom and into the corridor. they walked towards the front gate in silence, renjun being quite fast in his ankle brace now. 

"we should probably study too," renjun sighed, breaking the silence.

jeno groaned at the thought of actually studying, wishing he didn't have to sit any of those stupid exams. "it's too hot to study," he complained.

renjun looked up at him with a pair of wide eyes. "i need to study, jen," he mumbled, "or i'm seriously gonna fail."

jeno couldn't say no to that puppy dog expression. renjun made his heart melt. "okay, fine, i'll study with you," he conceeded, "but can we go to that new ice cream place? i need to eat something cold or i'm gonna actually die."

"of course!" renjun grinned, giving jeno the speediest hug he could manage, "it's not far, right?"

jeno laughed and stooped over to pick him up. "jump," he instructed, "and don't even think about saying no."

renjun glanced around them nervously, but no one seemed to be looking their way. besides, friends could give each other piggybacks, right? after reasoning with himself, renjun hopped onto jeno's back and clung on for the ride.

"what flavour do you want, renny?" jeno questioned, marching along towards the ice cream parlour, "i'll buy."

"oh, you don't-"

"you can buy next time," jeno interrupted, smiling to himself, "if it matters that much to you."

renjun paused. "okay," he agreed, "well, i think i'll have strawberry. a strawberry sundae."

"mm, tasty," jeno remarked, sweating a little under the heat of the sun and the exertion of carrying renjun, "i'll go for chocolate." he blew at the hair on his forehead, which was starting to stick.