Jungkook: The Friendly Ghost

28. Why Bother?

Ice coffee in hand, head down and leg jumping up and down, I sit and wait.

My nervous ticks have kicked in. Now, I only must deal with the leg but there is no doubt in my mind that within minutes, I will be twisting and turning the two rings I always wear on my left hand and possibly even dirtying my hair by running my fingers through it, over and over again, pushing it back because damn it, I will explode if I don't do something with my hands.

The worst thing about it is, I don't even know if I should feel guilty or not. It's not like I am cheating or committing a crime, a fraud. Yes, a little white lie was included but it's just that – a little white lie.

And yet I feel as if I have a noose around my neck, with a leg behind me ready to kick the stool on which I stand.

The annoying ringing melody of my phone startles me and I need to pause for a deep breath and an eye roll before I answer Hobi's call, not wanting to blame him for something he shouldn't be blamed for.

"What's up?" I answer. "Do I need to buy something on my way back?"

"How did you know?" Hobi asks after a long pause.

"Well, I've only be your best friend for about... 16 years, give or take."

"Okay, point taken," he chuckles. "Could you perhaps bring us a pizza? Extra cheese? It'd save us the delivery money," he adds, as if I could ever say no after the word 'pizza'.

"No problem, but I'm not sure when I'm gonna be back."

"You're not at school?"

"Nope, I'm... shopping," I lie, realizing that telling the truth, meeting acquaintances, would probably raise a few questions seeing as Hoseok knows every single person I have ever met, save from the two people I'm meeting up with.

"Can you check out coat hangers?" he randomly suggests.

"Sure," I agree, knowing damn well that I am not going to make a detour to look for coat hangers we absolutely don't need. Having a girlfriend really has changed him, seeing as he obviously knows that coat hangers exist, despite his go-to move being throwing his jacket on the living room sofa. "I don't know what-" I start, only to notice someone waving a few feet away from me. I recognize Taehyung and it takes me a second more to recognize Jin as well.

"Hobi, gotta go, 30% off on ramen cookers. Bye," I end the call as fast as I can, getting up from the bench I warmed up nicely and going into their direction. "Hey guys," I force a smile once I'm close enough for them to hear me. "Thanks for meeting up with me."

"No problem," Jin smiles as he shakes his head. "I was surprised when Tae told me you knew Jungkook. It's such a small world, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah," I force an obviously awkward laugh. "I didn't even know about his... current situation, not until you left and I put two and two together."

"If life wasn't a bitch, maybe the four of us would have been the best of friends," Taehyung comments, strangely... annoyed. I can't even control my reactions and when Jin and I make eye contact, he definitely picks up on it.

"Um, Tae... what's wrong?" he asks him.

"No, it's all good," he shakes his head. "Are we gonna stand here or get coffee or what?"

...

I tend to be okay in awkward situations, okay with strangers. I'm far from comfortable but it's not like I'm going to sit in silence and shuffle around awkwardly, wondering who's going to speak up first because I am dying on the inside.