Title: Lonely Ch 8
Author: limnological
Rating: PG
Pairing: YoonYul ft. JeTi
Description: AU, Slice of life
Chapter 8
As the last bell of the day rung, the cast members stretched and yawned.
Tiffany rolled up her script, shouting over the noise. “Don’t forget to practice over the weekend!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“She’s a slave driver, I tell ya, a slave driver.”
Tiffany’s rolled up script went flying across the desks, effectively hitting Taeyeon in the head. “I heard that.”
When Tiffany had her back turned, Taeyeon stuck her tongue at her.
Everyone got up from their seats, exhausted and yet excited to start the weekend. Yoona was the only one still stuck in her chair, re-reading her lines.
Such a hard worker.
Yuri smiled to herself as she made her way to her, tapping her on the shoulder.
“It’s time to go home.”
Yoona didn’t react to the bell, but she reacted to Yuri’s voice. “Oh, right.”
They gathered their things and made their way out of the classroom.
Yoona kept her script out, walking and reading at the same time.
“Yoona.”
“Huh?” She kept her gaze on the papers.
“It’ll do us no good if we’re both blind.”
Yoona looked up, glad that she did in the nick of time, for she was about to run into a wall.
Sheepishly, she put the papers away in her backpack.
“Right. Sorry.”
They were outside now, between the school and front gate.
“How is practice going?”
“Hrm. I’m not getting where I want to be.”
Be more courageous.
“If you want, I could help you practice this weekend?”
She was proud of herself, able to extend an invitation to Yoona.
“Oh… thank you for the offer but I’m going to meet with Sooyoung for practice on Sunday.”
“Ah.”
Regardless of the small disappointment from the response, Yuri was still proud of herself.
That makes sense. Sooyoung is the Prince after all. I probably won’t see Yoona over the weekend then.
“But Sooyoung lives near your house so maybe when I’m finished I could drop by for a hello. Oh, but if you need anything, please don’t hesitate to call.”
“Okay.”
Her spirits lifted up at the simple idea of a short visit over the weekend.
--
Day 19
It was still strange for Yuri to not see Yoona standing in front of her door on weekend mornings. But in all honesty, it was a good thing that she didn’t have Yoona over for company. She had many chores to do around the house that weekend that was neglected during the last. Her study habits could also use some extra effort from her. There was a test coming up next week.
It was also a good time to sketch more ideas for the play and her personal collection.
Before she knew it, the day had passed and Sunday was already here.
--
Day 20
True to her word, Yoona did stop by late in the evening. Yuri answered the door, spoon in hand with a bucket of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream.
“Sorry if it’s too late for you. Sooyoung and I got caught up with practice.”
“That’s okay. Do you want some ice cream?”
“I would love some ice cream.”
Hastily, Yuri went back inside to grab a spoon for Yoona and returned. They sat side by side in front of Yuri’s doorstep backs to the door, the sun setting and a cool breeze wafting around them.
Ice cream devoured and an empty carton with spoons set on the cement, Yoona began to doze off.
Yuri couldn’t help but chuckle as she noticed the younger girl dozing off. “You look very tired, Yoona.”
“You can tell?” She mumbled softly.
“I may not see very well, but I can tell you’re out of energy.”
“Ah, that obvious?”
As much as she enjoyed Yoona’s company, she did want Yoona to be healthy.
Yuri nodded. “You should go home and get some rest.”
Yoona’s head leaned back, making contact with the cold wooden frame. She was only able to murmur. “I will in a few minutes.”
“Okay.”
Suddenly, Yuri felt Yoona’s head rest upon her shoulder.
This is the least I could do.
She stilled her body, careful to not awaken Yoona with her movements.
I think I could stay like this for a while.
It was a fleeting thought that gave Yuri some slight embarrassment.
When Yoona awoke a few minutes later, she embarrassedly thanked Yuri for the makeshift headrest. After they parted ways, Yuri found herself unconsciously smiling with her hand resting upon the shoulder where Yoona’s head had been moments before.
--
Day 21
“Have you ever been in love?”
It came out of the blue off of Tiffany’s lips in the quiet courtyard. She seemed to be directing the question to both Yuri and Yoona. Jessica stilled her writing on the clipboard, ears perking up at the topic.
Yoona shook her head without hesitation, juice box in hand.
“Never?” Tiffany was in disbelief. “You must’ve.”
“No.” Yoona reassured her. “I’ve never been attracted to anyone enough to call it love.”
Tiffany’s eyes locked onto Yuri. “What about you Yuri?”
“Well…”
Three pairs of eyes were suddenly on her while a certain brunette named Tiffany grinned.
“Spill it.”
I shouldn’t have said anything.
Yuri gulped. “…I had a crush once.”
Yoona stopped sipping her juice box and Tiffany caught it out of the corner of her eye. She refocused her attention onto Yuri, asking slyly. “Really. How did that go?”
With some hesitation, Yuri managed to confess. “I never told him, but he found out. He laughed in my face and told me ‘in my dreams.’ It was… quite the experience.”
The juice box in Yoona’s hand suddenly had a few dents in it from her grip. Tiffany’s mischievous eyes lit up even brighter.
“Sounds like it.” Tiffany responded.
“Yul.” Yoona cut through the seemingly two-way conversation, voice firm yet bashful. “I’m sure he’d regret it now if he took the time to get to know you.”
Yuri’s cheeks turned red and Yoona’s eyes decided to look at one of the courtyard’s trees in the distance.
A smile crept onto Tiffany’s lips while Jessica resumed her writing.
“Tiffany, why do you ask anyway?” Yoona set her juice box down.
“Just wondering.” Tiffany glanced down at her wrist. “Well, look at the time. Off we go, Jung. Meetings, meetings.”
She ushered the blonde and herself out of the courtyard before the other two could ask further questions.
“Yul.”
“Yes?”
“Tiffany doesn’t have a watch on her wrist. I wasn’t imagining things, right?”
They both looked at each other, confused over what had just happened.
“No, she doesn’t.”
--
From the second story window in the hallway, Tiffany’s eyes watched the two girls they had just left before interact with one another.
“How long do you think it takes for a person to fall for someone?”
Jessica was not writing this time. She stood a few feet away from Tiffany, also watching the younger girls interact.
“Depends.”
“Yeah?”
“It could be a second, a day, a year, an eternity.”
Without looking at the blonde, Tiffany asked. “How long do you think it took us?”
“For you, forty-five seconds after you were born.” There was no hesitation in Jessica’s voice as she answered. “For me, three hundred sixty five days after I met you.”
“You were always a late bloomer.” Tiffany smiled, her gaze still fixated on Yoona and Yuri. “How long do you think it took them?”
“How do you know they like each other?”
“I can sense these things.” Tiffany tapped her head twice. “Woman’s intuition.”
“I’m a woman, too.”
“Not yet, you are.”
“Touché, Hwang, touché.” The blonde smirked. “But if you knew that, why ask them such a cruel question?”
“Because I’m mean and a tease.”
Jessica sighed. “I swear you and your roundabout ways of doing favors for people… It’ll get us in trouble one day.”
“It can’t be helped. Trouble’s in my nature.”
“You’re so damn troublesome.” Jessica leaned off the window and walked towards Tiffany. She whispered the next sentence into her ear as she passed her. “Good thing I seem to attract trouble.”
It sent shivers down her spine.
Tiffany chuckled, arms crossed as she peeled herself off the window as well. “That you do, Jung… that you do.”
--
Day 22
“You look tired.”
Yuri looked up from the sketchbook and smiled tiredly at Hara. It was preparation period and school was almost out, but Yuri couldn’t fight the exhaustion.
“Was studying for the test last night. And I kept thinking about those designs.”
“I feel you.” Hara yawned. “I get tired on rainy days too.”
The both of them glanced over at the windows, the sky an ominous dark grey. It had yet to pour all day, but the continuing grey threatened to spill soon.
Hara closed the sketchbook in front of her. “Get some rest even if it’s only for a few minutes. We’re done for the day anyway.”
Yuri glanced over at the cast section, the actresses doing much better now than the first script practice. Her blurry eyes too tired to squint for Yoona, she fell prey to exhaustion and rested her head on the desk.
--
The bell rung loudly and students were out of class quicker than normal, probably due to the oncoming rain.
Yoona gathered her things.
“Yul?” She called out her name as she stretched.
She, too, was tired from late night cramming.
Turning around she spotted her friend snoozing away at the front of the room.
As she sat down next to Yuri she laughed lightly at what she saw.
Yuri’s tongue was sticking out as she slept on.
“Cute.”
A yawn escaped from her and she stretched her limbs out, slinking into her seat.
Maybe I’ll take a quick nap, too.
Head resting on the desk, she faced Yuri. She smiled softly as the other girl continued to doze off, her breathing calm. The image of Yuri’s tongue sticking out was the last thing she saw before she succumbed to sleep.
----------
TBC