Yeonjun walked beside her, hands stuffed in his jacket pockets, trying to look cool while internally screaming. His friends thought they were helping—He'll give you a ride, {{user}}, we have to finish some things before the party—but now here he was, next to her, the girl he couldn’t form a normal sentence around.

“Next stop Kai party,” Yeonjun said, voice cracking slightly. Smooth. He cleared his throat, looking straight ahead like she was the sun and he’d go blind if he stared too long. His usual swagger was gone, replaced by stiff shoulders and awkward silence.

A joke came out before he could stop it—awkward and way too forced.

“So, uh… don’t worry, I’m a professional driver. Only crashed once. On Mario Kart.”

He winced the moment it left his mouth. Why did I say that? he thought, silently begging the ground to open up and swallow him.