Third Wheeling For Dummies | on hold

eleven

Jungwoo usually likes salami.

It goes with almost anything for him, and sometimes he eats it with popcorn just for kicks. Because dramas are always better with salami sandwiches and buttered popcorn.

But for now, the bread tastes like sand in his mouth. Not that he knows what sand tastes like.

He swallows against the dryness; there's no one in the school ground except him, but then he wouldn't blame them. The sun is hotter than HyunA during Bubble Pop.

Jungwoo sighs and wishes his water bottle was here.

His pocket vibrates.

Flinching for a moment—and only a moment—he remembers the existence of his phone and pulls it out, ringing with the familiar ringtone of an obnoxiously loud, yet endearing laugh.

"Hello?" He asks tiredly, pressing the phone between his shoulder and ear, picking himself up from the swing.

"Jungwoo?" The voice is low but rich, rough around the edges. Jaesun. "I can see you."

He smiles, though she can't see him. "That's not funny. I'm not in class."

"I know." A pause. "Do you usually eat alone?"

He shrugs, and remembers he's on a phone conversation. "Sometimes. When Ten's not there, and I....wait. How'd you know I was eating alone?"

"I told you." Her voice is tinged with humour. "I can see you."

"Right." He mutters, but glances around the place out of instinct. "You probably guessed because I picked up the call so quick."

"No, I can literally see you, you idiot," After three conversations, Jungwoo is used to the fact that Jaesun is a friendly abuser. He was bound to be called an idiot sooner or later. "You're visible from over here."

He frowns. The idea that she could really be there makes his heart beat slightly faster, in the way it does when he gets unexpected potential company. "Where?"

"The tree." She laughs. "You know what I'm talking about."

His heartbeat picks up a faster pace, and he starts walking towards that one section with the lower fence where the cyclists go through sometimes. "You climbed the tree?"

Jungwoo can see it now if he squints against the sun, and she's there all right, nestled in one of the lower branches of the tree.

"Why not?"

"Because no one does that." He removes the device from his ear, because Jae's currently within hearing range, if he shouts loud enough. "Are you crazy?"

"No." She yells back, grinning, almost dropping her phone as she tries to push it inside her pocket without losing her balance. "You wanna skip?"

He stares at her for a whole minute, taking in her presence, absorbing the fact that she's really there and he's not hallucinating. He's experienced when it comes to strange people, but it's still quite fascinating every time it happens.

"You want me to climb that thing?"

"Oh, no, that's fine." She rolls her eyes, and begins to descend. "I'm just here cause this bloody dog chased me up here."

"Oh." He watches her as she jumps off the last step—could he call it a step?—and it's more like a spring, not exactly a jump, but it's very elegant.

Jungwoo takes slow, hesitating steps towards the small, rusted gate that separates the two, and wraps his singers around the rough bars, peering through them at the girl who dusts off her batman pajamas. A lot of kids skip school through these gates, because no one's ever here. The management must know something about them, but they're either on a low budget or don't really care.

Jae grins her wild dog grin at him and imitates his movements from the other side, pressing her face against the gate so she looks like a creepy stalker. "As I said: you wanna skip?"

He blinks at her. The smell of iron and oxide and blood seems to have addled his brain, 'cause he can't seem to think very clearly. "I can't."

"Why not?" She sniffs the air, and frowns. "What's that?"

Jungwoo decides to ignore her question. "I can't because I have classes after this. And my friends would be worried."

She laughs. "I didn't see any friends worried for you while you were in there," She rattles the gate in that specific way that makes it swing open. Student hack. "Come on, it's not like it's worth any of your grade."

He bites his lip, slipping through the gate and watching her shut it after them. She's right, but he doesn't want to say it. Except, he chooses to concentrate on her question again. "What's what?"

"What?" Jae frowns, confused, and then her brow smoothens. "Oh, that. The blood. Why does it smell like dirty blood?"

The description makes him wince, and he touches her wrist slightly, indicating her to move. "That's the Bin Of Shame." He presses his lips flat. "Everyone throws the embarrassing things in there, like mouldy cheese and cringy love letters and, uh, used pads or tampons. No one ever cleans it out, though, or is never seen doing it..." He pauses, but continues to walk. "But it never fills up."

Jaesun listens to him with an expression of interest and slightly disgusted curiosity. "That sounds like some high school legend."

"It is." Jungwoo laughs slightly. "That's all the seniors used to talk about, when we had them."

She kicks a stray can as they walk, and he considers it second-hand revenge for the Supermarket Incident.

"Why were you eating alone, though, anyway?" She breaks the short spell of silence with her question, and the suppressed curiosity of her voice tells him she's been bursting with this question. "You some kind of anti-vampire or did they ditch you for their right hands?"

He laughs, and pulls the front of his shirt as it sticks to his chest with sweat from sitting in the sun for so long. "They have significant others. Ten has a right hand and some desperate extras."

Jae looks at him with an odd smile, and looks away again. "You dodged the question."

He stays silent.

"People actually hate it when honestly and familiarity mix, you know," She says, her tone light and conversational. "You're so used to your friends you don't want them to be completely honest with you.

"Honestly is actually what makes the relationship stronger, but it's so hard to bear that people can't start over with their own friends, because it feels like all the conversations and hidden meanings they've come up with through the years all feel fake. It's hard to start over honest with someone you've known for long." Breathes. "Maybe they'll say something honest that you didn't want them to say."

She pauses, looking unbothered but buzzed. Jungwoo wonders where she's going with this, but doesn't say anything. Lets it flow.

"I've met you only a few days ago, and I understand it's not easy to say everything you've related to everything else. We're not completely familiar with each other, and we're still building an image of each other in our minds. This," She pokes his bicep, "is still fresh. We're still fresh into this acquaintance. There are no bars to honesty for us."

He raises an eyebrow.

She sighs. "Jungwoo, always be honest with me, okay?"

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i might be back only temporarily but TEMPO FCKED ME OVER AND CHANYEOL'S BIASWRECKING ME SO HARD sign is a boppé and that's it for today folks