"holy shit," isla cursed at the long line of people waiting to get into the restaurant she worked at. she hugged her sweater closer to her as a man came over to the huge group of friends.

"shotaro? you and your friends, follow me." he said, gesturing for them to follow him away from the line to the emergency exit at the back.

they headed inside the employee breakroom, which ignite had turned into their backstage room for the night. all of their belongings were there, except for their instruments which had already been set up out in the main part of the restaurant.

"hey guys!" yuta beamed, flashing his perfect set of teeth that made practically all of them swoon. "i'm glad you could make it, it's been way too long since you last seen us play."

"i could honestly see you play a thousand times if i could," renjun gushed, earning a nudge in the arm by his boyfriend who stood next to him.

the bright smile didn't leave yutas face. "i could get all of you free tickets to any show, seriously, no excuses. but i have to go, so i'll see you out there."

the man fixed his ear piece before going out to the small stage to finish setting up.

"jungwoo in the house," the tall blonde boy came strutting in with his usual upbeat attitude, eyeing everyone in the room until he spotted isla. he wasted no time running to her and wrapping his arms around her before turning to jeno.

"hi, i'm jungwoo. i will have my eye on you all night. no funny business." he playfully warned, isla laughing but jeno not being able to tell if he was joking or not. jungwoo let out a cute laugh and didn't say anything else before he walked away.

"well, he seems fun," jeno grinned politely.

isla smiled and slipped her hand into his, intertwining them perfectly together. "your hand his freezing." jeno said, putting both of their hands in his jacket pocket to keep them warm.

just moments after jungwoo left, vei came out with doyoung, jaehyun, taeyong, johnny, and ten all trailing behind her like lost puppies. isla withheld laughter as it looked like a mother with her five sons. she didn't let go of jenos hand as she walked over to her friend to greet her.

"hi!" vei greeted excitedly, "you're jeno, right?"

"yes!"

"awesome! i'm vei, nice to meet you. i'd give you the 'i'm warning you' talk but i fear jungwoo has beat me to it?"

jeno nodded with a slight smile, "yep, he did. but i've also heard it from literally all of our other friends."

the three of them laughed as doyoung stood behind vei, his hands in his pockets, intently watching the smaller girl in front of him as she mindlessly leaned herself into jeno. she was completely clueless at the way she was being looked at.

"oh! this is doyoung, jaehyun, taeyong, johnny, and ten."

"we've already met," taeyong nodded, chuckling lightly when he remembered their first interaction.

"jeno," doyoung called, "walk with me."

without saying anything else, doyoung lead jeno away from the group to take a short walk around the restaurant. isla felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest at the sight of the two guys she liked interacting with one another.

"scared for jenos life right now." jaehyun said, a smirk plastered across his face.

"oh my god, it's like i'm watching a romantic drama." ten gasped sarcastically.

isla laughed, turning to ten and remembering this was her first time meeting him. "ten! we finally meet."

"yeah, we do."

"guys, this is weird. i'm watching my ex's two boyfriends chat it up." johnny jumped in, earning a glare from the girl.

the group decided to grab their seats before they began to let everyone else in. they've never been so grateful to be friends with a celebrity as they had no trouble finding somewhere to sit in a place that was about to be jampacked. isla sat down next to jisung as jeno finally came back from his little trip.

"what did he say to you?" isla curiously asked as he sat himself next to her.

"some story about you and snot. it was pretty funny."

isla huffed loudly as her cheeks grew a shade of red, leaning her head onto the table in front of her. turns out he will truly never let this story go.

"he also said you two are bffs? but he seems to like me, he said he wishes i was his little brother because i'm so well-mannered." jeno grinned, leaning into his seat and crossing his arms proudly at the compliment.

"he strives to embarrass me. please never speak to him again."

jeno laughed and cooed at the redness on her cheeks, kissing them while isla fanned her face aggressively to get her normal color back. her fellow coworkers finally opened the door to the restaurant and people began to pile in, as expected.

once everyone in the restaurant settled in completely, ignite finally made their appearance on the stage. the group cheered for them loudly, clapping, yelling, and whistling. yuta, who was at the front, set his eyes straight at them and smiled widely with his signature wink which made the yuta simps of the group go ballistic.

everyone had ordered food and drinks, specifically alcoholic drinks. of course there were still the people in the friendgroup that weren't of drinking age, but that didn't stop them from sharing. after eating most of their food, they found themselves in front of the stage, dancing.

"isla, i love you, but you have no rhythm." jeno laughed as isla attempted to copy his dance moves, but failed miserably.

"that's not fair, you're a dancer, i'm not." she pointed.

he nodded, "yes... clearly."

islas mouth dropped open as she playfully began hitting him.

"come here," the taller boy said, his voice deep. he stopped the hits she was giving him and wrapped his arms around her, his hands comfortably resting on her waist, something that gave isla butterflies.

they swayed back and forth and just stared at each other. jeno examined every single little detail of her face. the way she had just a single freckle at the side of her nose, the way only one side of her mouth had smile lines when she smiled, the way her long eyelashes curled up perfectly above her deep brown eyes. and especially, how kissable she looked in that moment.

it wasn't even a slow song playing, it was quite the opposite, but he was so amazed by her in that moment he couldn't think of anything else. unbothered by whatever was going on around him, he leaned straight in and kissed her. their lips molded together as islas hands moved to his torso and jenos hands moved to cup her cheeks.

once they pulled away, the gushy feeling isla got turned to sadness when she remembered he'd be leaving her in just a week.

"you okay?" jeno asked, noticing the look on her face.

isla quickly smiled and nodded her head, not wanting to ruin the moment. "more than okay."

the boy smiled back and kissed her forehead quickly before he went back to showing off his dance moves. isla didn't bother trying to attempt what he was doing this time, not wanting to embarrass herself a second time. she turned her head to see yangyang forcibly pulling ash to dance with him, and somehow lex and jungwoo managed to end up dancing together while sungchan was completely in his own world as he danced on his own.

isla smiled at the sight of her friends and looked around some more, spotting someone familiar. taeil had been leaned against a wall, a beer in his hand with some friends around him.

"i'll be right back," isla told jeno, earning a nod from him.

she made his way over to the older boy, "hi taeil!" she greeted.

his eyes landed on her with a friendly smile, "isla! good to see you!"

"um, just curious, is your sister here...?" she girl timidly asked.

taeil laughed, seeing the fear in her eyes and understanding her worry. "she's not here. don't worry. go enjoy yourself."

"god, thank you so much. do you want to meet my friends?"

"sure, why not. just give me a quick sec."

isla nodded with another smile before walking off. she went to head back to jeno, but noticed xiaojun sitting by himself at their table and she couldn't help but see what was up with him.

"why you not dancing, dj?" she asked, standing at the edge of the table in front of him.

it looked as if isla had knocked him out of a daydream. "hm? oh, i don't dance, isla, you know this."

isla gave him a look that said 'you cannot be serious' as she crossed her arms. "really? grade 6 talent show tells me otherwise."

xiaojun shook his head with a laugh at the memory, amazed at how the girl even remembered that.

"i mean, i guess you don't have to dance—"

"isla! let's—oh."

lex had stumbled over to isla, visibly drunk, wanting her to join in with her and jungwoo at the dance floor.

"whats up?" isla asked, wrapping an arm around her.

"i was gonna ask you to dance with me, but you seem busy with this guy. which—by the way," her words had been just the slightest bit slurred, "you need to learn how to shoot your shot when you want something, mister."

"that whole, 'oh my gosh, i like you, but you like someone else. i can't do that to you' nuh uh. not falling for it. no ma'am. i mean sir. no sir." she continued. islas eyes went wide as she quickly lead lex away from the boy, leaving him sitting there in utter confusion.

"why you do that?" she asked, a slight pout forming at her bottom lip.

"i love you, and i know you wanna help, but lets take it down a notch or two, alright babe?" isla asked.

"eh. whatever."

↢ ❦ ↣

DONT YELL AT ME IT WAS STRICTLY LEX'S IDEA TO HAVE HER SAY SUM TO XIAOJUN 🙏🙏