universe cafe // exo

- 6 -

Soojin sat up from the couch and stretched that next morning. She looked over at Jun-Oh on the other side of the couch, who was just barely waking up because of the bright sun.

"Junnie." Soojin shook her friend, but only received a small hmph. "Maybe some coffee will wake us up."

Jun-Oh covered her face with the blanket. "What if I just stay here?"

"No." Soojin stood up. "You promised that you would go."

The two got ready to head out, Soojin a bit more quickly whereas Jun-Oh procrastinated.

"Are you ready?" Soojin asked, a smile appearing on her face.

Jun-Oh slowly and cautiously started to step out of her apartment. "Um... no."

"That's the spirit!" Soojin pat Jun-Oh's back to push her out even more. "Now lets go get your boy at Universe Cafe."

"Can you be quiet?!"

Across the street, Soojin and Jun-Oh reached the cafe. Jun-Oh stopped herself at the door and wouldn't move.

"You have to..." Soojin started, poking Jun-Oh's shoulder, "you have to open the door."

Jun-Oh shook her head. "I don't want to."

"Junnie, if you just stand there, people are going to see you because the door is made out of glass."

Jun-Oh sighed and hesitantly put her hand on the door handle. She pushed it as slow as she could.

"There you go, sister Jun-Oh," Soojin chuckled.

"Yo, you watch James Charles too?!" a stranger exclaimed as they entered.

Soojin and Jun-Oh looked to their right to see a guy with his mouth open in a happy surprise.

"Uh, yeah," Soojin laughed with a shrug.

A girl sitting across from the guy sighed as her head collapsed into her crossed arms on the table. Her long ombré hair fell off the side. "Oh my god, Lay. You're so gay."

   "You can say that again," an employee mopping the floor muttered, shaking his head.

The one referred to as Lay turned to the girl and employee. "Sister Zhilan and sister Sehun, you can't bash a queen."

The girl, Zhilan, brought her head back up to glare at Lay. "Okay, Sehun is obviously a guy."

   "Brother," Sehun corrected.

"Honey, we're all sisters on the inside." Lay pretended to flip his nonexistent long hair.

Soojin and Jun-Oh gave a small laugh at the three bickering.

Chanyeol's attention turned to the conversation as he stood at the counter next to Chen. "Lay, don't scare them away." He shook his head. "I swear, he's always in here. Once, he hid in the bathroom after closing so he could spend the night."

Lay slammed his hands on the table. "It was so worth it. Do you know how much whipped cream I ate?"

"Yeah, because you threw up from all the sugar the next day," Chanyeol added.

"This is my first time," Zhilan put in.

"Which I don't understand how this happened because you're my sister." Lay took a long sip of his drink. "I feel like I would've disowned you by now."

"I..." Zhilan shook her head. "Never mind."

Soojin elbowed Jun-Oh and leaned over to whisper. "I don't see Kyungsoo around."

"Good," Jun-Oh kept her voice low, "let's order our drinks and get out of here before he randomly— oh shit."

The back door opened as another guy walked up to the counter: Kyungsoo. He just finished putting on his apron when he looked up to see Jun-Oh. They both froze, staring at each other.

Soojin nudged her friend forward, prompting her closer to the counter.

Kyungsoo shook out of his trance and directed his eyes at the register. "Hi, welcome to Universe Cafe. What would you like?"

Soojin tried to start a conversation to clear the tension. "I'm thinking about tea this morning. Not sure what kind yet. How about you, Jun-Oh?"

   "Peach tea!" Lay suggested from his seat, holding up his cup.

   "Uh," Jun-Oh cleared her throat. "Kids temperature hot chocolate." Jun-Oh cringed at herself, wishing she could hit a 'back' button.

   "Seven dollars, fifty cents," Kyungsoo told them, his eyes still on the register.

   Jun-Oh pulled out her money and set it on the counter. Soojin glanced at Chanyeol who was also giving a worried stare in her direction. He awkwardly started making their drinks.

   "So..." Soojin started to try and make conversation. Jun-Oh and Kyungsoo both peeked up at the same time. "Uh... never mind."

   "Damn the atmosphere just got really thick," Lay commented, sipping his tea quite noisily.

    Chanyeol sighed and closed his eyes. "Lay, please finish your drink in silence."

   The employee mopping the floor—Sehun—leaned over to Zhilan. "I'm sorry he's your brother."

   Zhilan scoffed. "Yeah, I am too."

   Soojin looked between Kyungsoo and Jun-Oh as the air kept filling up with more awkward tension. She pulled her friend to the side to wait for the drinks to be made. "Why didn't you tell him what happened?" Soojin whispered to her friend.

   Also in a low voice, Jun-Oh replied, "I got nervous."

   "Why is everyone whispering?" Chen asked while keeping the same volume.

   Kyungsoo sat the two drinks on the counter. "Here are your—" he stopped himself to go back to a normal speaking voice and break the quiet whispers. "Here are your drinks."

   "Thank you." Jun-Oh quickly grabbed her drink and rushed out of the building.

   Soojin sighed, staring at the closing door.

   Chanyeol walked over to stand next to her. "This is going to be harder than we thought."