Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind #6
- thank you for all the support on this series, it really means a lot <3 I hope everyone enjoys this extra-long chapter
- contains swearing, smoking, alcohol consumption, and the mention of drugs.
- chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
I Know That She Was Made For Me
Saturday came around quickly and after eating, doing some uni work, and going to the gym it was already time to get ready for the party Jungkook had invited you to.
You were currently sitting at your kitchen table, your makeup collection laid out in front of you, a small mirror before you on the table when Taehyung walked into the room.
Stopping in his tracks, he observed you for a second before walking around the table and sitting down in front of you.
“May I ask what’s wrong with the table in your room? We eat on this table, you know that?”
You threw him an annoyed look, not paying him much mind.
“The lightning is better here.”, you mumbled, concentrating on filling in your eyebrows perfectly.
He scoffed, leaning over the table and taking a closer look at your face.
Irritated by him, you pulled back a bit, frowning.
“What are you doing?”
“Just checking if you’re doing a good job.”, he commented, his eyes inspecting your face thoroughly.
“Fuck off.”, you chuckled, putting your index finger to his forehead and pushing him back onto his chair. He gave you a wide grin, holding his thumb up.
You smiled at him, before focusing on your mascara, making sure to coat every lash multiple times.
You sat in silence for a bit, as he started to scroll through his phone and you finished off your look, but it wasn’t awkward.
Actually, since you opened up to him a bit and finally shared something personal, you felt more connected to him. As if there had been a wall between the two of you, which was now slowly beginning to crumble. He felt more trustworthy to you and you respected that. Maybe one day you could be more than just roommates and start becoming actual friends.
“Hey, can I ask you something?”, you finally said, starting to pack up your stuff back into your makeup bag.
He looked up from his phone, humming in approval.
You hesitated for a second, biting your bottom lip.
Crossing your arms before you on the table, you leaned closer to him, focusing your gaze on him.
“What do you think of Jungkook?”
He eyed you for a second.
“You mean in general, or in the context of what he is doing right now to you?”
He sucked some air in through his teeth, leaning back in his chair, folding his hands before him on the table.
You had wanted to ask about his opinion since Thursday evening but hadn’t really found the right time for it. Now it was around 7 PM, enough time to chat before you had to leave to pick up Sori.
“I don’t know, to be honest, I never really spent much time with him but I heard some stories.”
One of his hands came up to his mouth, his index finger starting to tap against his lip rhythmically.
“I don’t know if you really want to hear them.”, he said, his eyes gliding back onto you.
Sighing, he shifted in his seat, looking somewhat uncomfortable.
“Fine. There are multiple rumors. For one, I heard that ever since his high school years he fucked around a lot. Like a lot, a lot. New girl every weekend, collecting them like prizes and bragging about them to his friends.”
You gulped quietly. Sounded somewhat familiar.
“Then he apparently had a phase where he tried to settle down, having a few relationships here and there, but none of them ever seemed to work. Except for Lou. I think they have been together for around one and a half years. Something like that.”
Lou. Your former best friend, the girl that had sat with you in your car, listened to you cry about him, telling you how bad of a man he is, only to meet with him the next day and chill at his house because “they were such good friends” and she “couldn’t choose between the two of you”. Although she had known him for what, like six months at that time, while you and she had been best friends since early middle school.
“And then after Lou, the stories kind of don’t make sense. Some are saying he’s back to fucking random girls to fix his broken heart, others are saying he is staying away from girls completely because he is not over Lou yet. She broke up with him after all and he apparently didn’t take it very well.”
Something about knowing that he had been hurting over Lou, made your chest sting.
You remembered the self-doubt after hearing the news about him and Lou being together. What did she have that you didn’t? What had made him choose her over you? Had you not been good enough? Even though you had given him your all?
You had quickly learned that asking those questions was useless, only further deepening your insecurities and it wasn’t like you would ever get an answer to them, so why bother?
But hearing that he had cared about Lou so much, the way that you had cared for him and that you had wished he would have cared about you, was still hurting you. Even now.
“But I don’t know. It all doesn’t make a lot of sense. If you ask me, I would stay far away from him. He’s trouble.”, Taehyung concluded, shifting his focus back on you.
You must’ve looked a bit bleak because as he looked at you, a sympathetic smile crossed his features.
“But that’s what we’re doing tonight, right? Making sure that he understands that you have no interest in him anymore.”
You shrugged your shoulders.
“I still don’t know if this is really going to work. He is very persistent.”
“Anybody would get tired after basically talking to a wall every time. You just have to make sure that you are giving him absolutely no signs of being interested. Otherwise, he will feed on that. Like a little rat.”
He grinned at his joke, his face distorting in a grimace.
You chuckled, getting up from your seat to bring your stuff back into your room and getting dressed.
“Oh, and Tahyung?”, you said, turning around in your doorframe to look back at him. “Next time you will tell me about your heartbreak story.”
About an hour later you were sitting in Taehyung’s Mercedes, wearing your tight, little black dress, your hair straightened, and your makeup accentuating your features perfectly. You felt confident in your skin. Hopefully, it would stay that way.
Tapping away on your phone, you sent Sori a message that the two of you were on your way to pick her up.
Nervousness was making its way down to your stomach, your mind already racing with thoughts about the possibilities of how this night could end.
Taking a deep breath in, you caught Taehyung’s eyes on you, as he smiled reassuringly.
“Chill out. We’re just gonna have some fun tonight.”, he said, steering the car with one hand, while the other rested in his lap.
You bit your lip, running your fingers through your hair to comb it straight.
He chuckled slightly, navigating around the next corner before looking back at you.
“A bit maybe. Nothing a good drink can’t fix tho.”
You sighed, resting your hands on top of your legs to keep them away from nitpicking your face or hair.
You were turning into Sori’s street, your friend already waiting in front of her building to be picked up. She was holding a big plastic bottle, which seemed to be filled with a mixture of vodka and orange juice, your pre-game drink of choice, her face lighting up with a big smile as she recognized Tae’s car.
Stopping right in front of her, she opened the back door of his car, slipping into the backseat, her bright, bubbly mood immediately filling the space.
“Hello guys.”, she shrieked. “Who wants to drink?”
Shaking the bottle in her hand wildly, you laughed, turning around to her in your seat.
“How much did you pre-drink without us, hm?”
The drive to Jin and Hoseok’s house was filled with loud music, your and Sori’s laughter, the back and forth of the vodka-orange, and sometimes Taehyung’s sighing as he realized what he had gotten himself into.
Your nervous mood has disappeared, thoughts drifting away from Jungkook and instead focusing on the familiar, warm feeling of the alcohol running down your throat.
Singing at the top of your lungs to Katy Perry’s “The One That Got Away”, Tae finally maneuvered the car onto a big, public parking space somewhere in the middle of a suburban part of the city you probably had never been to before. Killing the engine, he gave you two a somewhat judging look, earning himself a hit on his forearm from both of you.
“Don’t be such a mood-killer, just ‘cause you can’t drink tonight.”, you whined, unbuckling your seatbelt and opening the car door, enjoying the refreshing air that was hitting your bare legs.
You were already feeling warm and fuzzy from the alcohol.
“I’m not a mood-killer, I just need to adjust to…this.”, he commented, his hand gesturing toward you and Sori.
You rolled your eyes at him, slamming the car door shut a bit harsher than necessary.
Interlocking your arms in Sori’s, you took a look around the parking lot, trying to find some orientation.
“Where do we need to go?”, you asked, your eyes involuntarily wandering over the other cars parked around you.
It didn’t take long to spot his BMW.
Taking a deep breath in, you didn’t allow your anxiety to creep back into your mind, forcing any thought about him to the side.
You wanted to have fun, besides the little plan, the three of you had come up with.
Tae was leading you off the parking lot, and down the street towards a more exclusive-looking housing complex that was a bit more sealed off from the rest of the houses lining the street.
As you approached the expensive-looking building, you could hear the first tunes of some rap music filling the air.
“So, guys. The plan.”, you started, exchanging a look with Sori. “I go with Taehyung. I stay with Taehyung the whole evening. We flirt a little, act a little couple-y, Jungkook sees us and finally leaves me alone, because…bro code? Correct?”
Besides you, Sori started to giggle, giving you a big thumbs up.
“Correct, sir. He’ll get the message, don’t worry.”
“Well, in that case…”, you said, detaching yourself from her and walking over to Taehyung’s side to intertwine yourself with him instead. “You’re not getting rid of me so easily tonight.”
His face twisted in a grimace, but you saw the smile flashing underneath it. He had been the one who had finally convinced you of this plan after all. And after hearing his judgment about Jungkook, it sounded like he wasn’t too opposed to the idea of getting one over on him.
The house of the party was finally coming into your eyesight as you turned around the next corner and were now walking directly towards it.
It was a white, three-story house with a huge garden surrounding it. The garden was full of planted bushes, flowers, and a small fountain, stuff that only rich people were willing to pay enough for to be taken care of. The entrance of the house was built under a big canopy, which was supported by two stone pillars on each side. Golden details were lining the ridiculously massive front door and you have never felt so out of place at a college party before.
“What the fuck? This is some serious kind of money.”, you murmured to Taehyung, who seemed pretty unimpressed by the whole scenery. He must have been here often already.
“Wait until you see the party room in the basement.”, he said amused, his hand squeezing your arm somewhat reassuringly.
Sori on the other hand was fitting into this kind of setting perfectly. There were a few groups of people scattered around the entrance and she immediately spotted someone she knew, leaving you and Tae behind as he ran towards them to greet them. She was such an extrovert, she always knew someone somewhere from some time. You could’ve sworn that you heard her pretty laugh echo through the whole neighborhood.
“Come on, let’s go. Let’s get you something to drink.”
Showing you another grin, Taehyung was leading you into the house, the ground floor already buzzing with people, the loud bass of the music drumming in your stomach. Not letting go of your arm, he guided you through the crowd, leaving the living room behind and walking through the archway that led to the kitchen.
The house was looking even more expensive inside than on the outside, from what you could see. The rooms were huge with gold features hidden everywhere, ridiculously big furniture, chandeliers, and a table that could fit up to sixteen people. Yes, you’ve counted the chairs. They were playing beer pong on it. As impressive as it was, this wasn’t really helping to keep your anxiety at bay, as you felt like the biggest outcast, compared to many other attendees of this party. You saw perfectly waved hair, designer dresses, and glasses full of champagne. The expensive one.
“What kind of students are these, geez.”, you commented, as Tae let go of you to open the steel gray, double-doored fridge.
“Mostly business and economics, I believe.”
Taking out a bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin and some Tonic Water, he turned to look at you, both bottles in his hands.
You eagerly watched him grab a cocktail glass from some of the cabinets, filling it with your drink of choice, unsure what to do with yourself when you weren’t talking to him. God, you felt awkward.
The kitchen was less crowded than the living room with only a couple of people chatting or filling their cups back up with beer or straight vodka as you saw one dude do. They didn’t seem familiar to you, so you made sure to keep your distance.
“There you go.”, Tae finally said, handing you your glass with a proud grin.
“This better be good. I could need it.”, you commented, thanking him with a smile.
“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”
He intertwined his arm back with yours, as you made your way back into the living room. Sipping on your drink, you let your eyes wander across the groups of people, looking for one particular guest, but he didn’t seem to be in the living room.
However, Sori stumbled back to your side, a half-emptied cup in her hand which she had gotten from god knows where, a wide smile plastered on her face.
“Helloo, guys.”, she yelled. “How’s the plan going?”
“I haven’t seen him yet.”, you said, shrugging your shoulders.
“He’s probably outside on the terrace.”, Tae remarked, imitating the movement of smoking a cigarette and nodding towards the glass door that leads outside to the other side of the garden behind the house.
“Then what are you waiting for? Go.”, Sori demanded, her hand laying on your back, pushing you forward.
You stumbled a bit, glaring back at her.
“Can I at least finish my drink first?”
She pushed you through the crowd, not caring about your wild protesting until the three of you reached the already open door that led out into the garden. This side of it was even more impressive, with a giant pool lining the grass, multiple seating options, huge glass tables, and a grilling station even Gordon Ramsey would be jealous of.
And amidst one of the groups that had formed outside on the terrace, he sat at one of the tables, a cigarette in between his fingers, a red cup in his other hand. Scattered in front of him on the table were Uno cards and as your trio stepped out into the cold air, he looked away from the guy next to him he had been talking to, his eyes immediately finding yours.
And that night, his gaze felt like it burned itself into your skin, roaming your body, your hair, your face, an unreadable expression set on his handsome face.
His hair was in curls again, falling over his forehead perfectly, and he was wearing a tight, black long-sleeve, accentuating the muscles in his arms just right.
And as Sori kept on pushing you forwards because your feet suddenly refused to move on their own, Jungkook’s eyes started to wander back and forth between you and Taehyung, who was still on your side, his arm now carefully draped around your shoulders.
Your gut was starting to yell at you to get away from him, something feeling very wrong about the whole situation, but before you could even realize it, Sori had forced you onto one of the empty chairs left at the table and there you were, sitting diagonally across from him, Taehyung’s hand now resting on top of your thigh.
“Tae, dude. I was wondering when you would finally show up.”
One of the other guys sitting at the table leaned over the table toward you, slapping Taehyung’s free hand. A few other guys joined the greeting and you soon learned that they were Jin and Hoseok, the hosts of this crazy party, as well as Jimin, Namjoon, and Yoongi, apparently some other friends of his. Yoongi and Jimin were currently sharing a joint, their eyelids heavily hooded as they introduced themselves to you.
And then there was the only one who hadn’t said a word yet. Jungkook.
His eyes were still lingering on you and Taehyung, his face not giving away any of his thoughts, his expressions stoic.
“JK, what’s with the bad mood?”, Hoseok exclaimed, his hand slapping down on Jungkook’s shoulder, before he grabbed both of them, shaking his friend slightly from side to side.
Finally, Jungkook’s eyes averted from you, giving you the chance to take a deep breath in, Taehyung’s hand in your lap squeezing your leg reassuringly.
Taking a few more sips from your glass, you looked over to Sori, who was sitting beside you, already involved in a conversation with Namjoon and you wished you had her social skills because she fit into the group so easily.
Feeling awkward, you focused on finishing your drink, making sure that your eyes stayed away from Jungkook’s direction and it wasn’t until you finished your second drink and Jin proposed to play Uno that you finally felt your body relax, the alcohol doing its job and you eventually started to enjoy the evening.
“Oh, fuck off.”, you shouted out with a laugh as Taehyung laid down his last card, turning to you with a devilish grin on his face.
“Better luck next time, loser.”, he said, leaning back in his chair, obviously content with his gameplay, despite the fact that he finished in third place after Jin and Hoseok.
Hitting his arm, you glared at him under your lashes, internally cursing at your bad cards because now it was only you and Jungkook left in the game.
He hadn’t said a single word to you yet, obviously aware that you were avoiding him and you weren’t mad about that.
But now your eyes met briefly as you went on into the final round of the game and maybe it was the alcohol, but as he looked at you something deep in your stomach started to flutter.
He laid down a green five, which you countered with a blue five and he had to draw a new card. Playing out a few of your cards, it looked good for you, until he suddenly placed down a draw-four card.
You scoffed, your gaze back on him and finally, there was some emotion on his face. A grin. His usual confident grin, as he tilted his head to the side, his eyes challenging you.
Sighing, you drew four cards, already accepting your defeat, when all of a sudden a loud shriek echoed through the garden.
You, and everyone else, turned around, as a petite, blonde girl was running toward your table, a skin-tight, blue dress hugging her figure in all the right places.
“Hi, Kook!”, she exclaimed happily as she reached your group, walking around the table and throwing her arms around Jungkook’s neck.
An almost awkward silence settled around the table as everyone stared at her, Jungkook’s eyes leaving your face and looking over his shoulder back at the unknown girl.
And that was when the sudden sting pierced through your heart and your body fell back against your chair.
Because it looked so painfully familiar to seeing him like this with Lou and although you knew it wasn’t your place anymore to feel like this, you couldn’t help it. It was like an old wound that had been stitched together years ago was very slowly being ripped open again, making your heart drop into the bottom of your stomach, the alcohol now not feeling warm and pleasant anymore, but rather making you want to throw up.
Carelessly, you threw your cards on the table, giving Tae an apologetic look before you almost jumped up from your seat, fleeing the scene maybe a little too hectic, but you didn’t care.
Pushing yourself through the crowd in the living room, your eyes settled on the stairs that led to the upper floor, and without thinking twice you fled upstairs.
Avoiding the rooms that had obvious making out or moaning sounds emitting from them, you searched for the bathroom, opening several doors but were either met with the darkness of an empty guest room or the shocked faces of people doing drugs or fucking.
Sighing, you closed yet another door, turning around to continue your search, when you suddenly walked into a wall. A human wall.
Stumbling backward, you cursed at whoever was standing in your way, until your eyes settled on his face.
Of course, it had to be him.
The words got stuck in your throat, as you stared at him perplexed, his eyes burning themselves into yours.
Something seemed different about him. You saw the way his jaw clenched, his lips slightly pressed together, the color of his eyes darker than usual.
He didn’t say a word at first, just taking in your appearance, before finally taking a step closer to you and then another, making you step back until your back hit the wall behind you.
His scent filled your nose, mixed with cigarettes and vodka and it made your head spin, as your heart started to beat faster, your mind going absolutely blank at his sudden proximity.
“I was wondering when I could finally meet you alone tonight.”
