Best Friends, Maybe? (A Song Joong-ki Fanfic)

Chapter 14

It's Sunday and we're hanging out together at the park! I suddenly remembered my first date here with Chung-ho. You know how you thought something would be forever but only then you realise that nothing lasts forever. Especially something that you have with a jerk like that. It won't last forever. Anyway, he's been skipping school with his friends lately. Eun-mi and her girls have been doing the same thing too. Exam is just around the corner and they're skipping school. I just...ugh whatever. Why would I care?

I come here to have a good time with my best friend and I'm not going to let one thought about my ex to ruin everything. I sit on the bench watching a group of boys rollerblading on the pavement. All of a sudden something really cold touches my cheek and I jump.

I hear a familiar laugh. "Don't," I say and punch his arm.

Joong-ki sits next to me and opens a can of cold drink for me. I'm too thirsty that I simply gulp down the drink. One swallow and that is it, I stop. It's soda. I turn to the garbage next to me and spit it out.

"What's wrong? Is it bad?" Joong-ki asks, panicking.

"Um... I don't drink soda. It's just doesn't taste so good," I reply and put it aside. I smile so that he doesn't feel too bad.

"Here, take mine. It's just juice and I haven't drank it." He hands his drink to me and takes mine. He drinks my soda.

"Oh, oh wait. Are you okay drinking that?"

"It's okay. It's not like you're sick." He smiles and takes another gulp. I watch him. Then, I drink the juice. "You move around a lot, right?" he asks. His eyes fixed on the view in front of us.

"Yup. Tiresome."

"You're British. How come you don't have the accent?"

"We lived in the States for quite a while when I was in elementary so the accent kind of got held back and I developed an American accent." I remember my Mom being disappointed over the fact that I no longer have a British accent.

"Oh. Anyway, you basically travelled the whole world, didn't you?"

"No, not really. I've been to a lot of places but not the whole world. So far the best place I've been to is Paris because I got to see the Eiffel Tower right in front of my eyes. It was just a vacation, though. But it was—"

"What about here? This isn't the best place, is it?" he says as he looks at me.

"Well, this is so far the most momentous place I've ever been." So many memories, I think. I smile at him. He smiles back.

"Come. Let's go!" He grab my by my wrist and drags me towards the rollerblading kids. He addresses the boys in Korean.

"You know them?" I ask curiously.

"I know them from school." I look at the boys, they look slightly younger. One of them approaches us with smile.

One of the boys replies. He looks at me and nods in acknowledgement. I shift my glance to Joong-ki.

Joong-ki turns to me and asks, "Do you want to go rollerblading?"

***

"Aaa!!! Oh my God, you idiot! Don't push me, I know how to rollerblade!" I scream. He pushes me absurdly and I jerk in surprise so instinctively turn around and grab him by his collar and we fall onto the ground. Thank God, I choose to wear jeans today instead of a dress.

I get up almost immediately. I glance at him and slap his arm hard. He covers his face with his hands and then cracks up. I grit my teeth.

Then, I laugh as hard. He runs his fingers through his hair and rubs his back. We keep on laughing that the boys come over to us. "You two alright?" one of them asks. I put a thumb up and say okay.

Joong-ki gets up on his feet and helps me up. "Thanks a lot," I say with a smirk.

"You're most welcome." Still laughing he continues, "You okay? No injuries?"

"I'm okay. Would you please stop laughing?" I pretend to choke him.

"Okay, okay... Let's take off these rollerblades. We should get going. I'm late," he says. He takes me to the nearest bench and I sit down. I sit comfortably taking a deep breath with my eyes closed, trying to control myself from laughing. I feel my foot being tugged on gently that it makes me jump a little. I look at my feet and Joong-ki is taking off my rollerblading shoe. Then, he takes off the other one. "I got your shoes here." Flats, I thought. But, who cares? He hands me my black flats.

Boldly, I say, "For a moment I thought I'm going to be Cinderella." I just did it. It just came out of my mouth.

He looks at me and smiles that I can see his eyes crinkle up at the sides. He gets up and takes my flats from me. He put them on for me. I am taken aback, to be honest. That statement was a joke. Turns out, he really did it. He smiles the whole time, not the menacing player grin boys like him always have but the decent, genuinely happy smile that pleases you.

He gets up and gives me his hand. I turn blank. "Please, don't leave me hanging. Gaja," he says.

What? I tilt my head and raise my eyebrow. He half-smiles and continues, "Let's go."

***

"Acting class? Seriously?" I ask. My eyes are fixed on the door.

"My parents. They said I'm lacking of social skills. Obviously I'm not. I mean, I have you. But I decided to just go with it since they've paid the fees," he replies. "Gaja!" he says as he opens the door.

***

I've been joining him in the acting class for few days and he apparently loves this class. He was stiff at first but then he grasps the whole thing in an instance. Lots of feelings going on, he says. I don't participate, though. I mainly come as a friend to accompany him. There aren't many students so it makes him feel less embarrassed and he's free to learn.

"It's fun watching you learn," I tell him. I take a sip of my iced latte.

"Maybe this class was worth the try, you know?"

"It really was. You laugh a lot in front of people for the first time."

"What? That's ridiculous. I laugh when I'm with you." He glances at me.

"I mean, you've always been a serious person. You're not that friendly. It took me a while to befriend you, you know," I say.

"Was I? Well, I guess you're right, Cass." He sighs.

"No offense, okay? It may be true but trust me, you're one of the nicest guys I've ever gotten along with," I say as I look up at him. He smiles at me. And, it's that decent, genuinely happy smile and I love seeing.