"the party has arrived," hendery shouted through out lucas's apartment, with xiaojun trailing behind.

"thank god. isla and i were third wheeling." iseul huffed, standing up and making her way into the kitchen, zara chuckling at her.

spotting the other girl on the couch, hendery plopped down next to isla and slung his arm over her comfortably, squeezing her tightly.

"ow. ow. can't. breathe." she dramatically muttered as she was stuck in his arm, but didn't attempt to remove herself.

he eventually did anyways, "aw. i missed my little punching bag."

"punching bag?!" zara questioned from next to them as she looked in their direction, wide-eyed.

"he beats me up," isla pouted, fake sniffling.

hendery gasped, lightly hitting her upside the head, earning another gasp from isla. "see! abuse!"

seconds later, sicheng came strutting through his friends door with. "eww, a happy couple." was the first the he said the second he noticed the four of them on the couch.

iseul came back with a glass of soda, taking the other side of the couch with xiaojun seeing as there was now no more room on the side she was initially on.

"did we all seriously come here to watch tv and third wheel?" sicheng asked, sitting down next to iseul.

"no literally, like why are you here," lucas chimed in with a tone of annoyance.

"oh shit, he wants to get it on with zara." hendery pointed, isla bursting out laughing next to him, along with the other three while zara sat there with her mouth gaped open in surprise.

lucas brought his middle finger up to hendery, his cheeks flushed with a shade of pink. "oh fuck you. just watch the movie."

for a while, hendery subconsciously kept his arm over islas shoulder as they all watched the tv screen together.

"whats for dinner?" iseul called out suddenly.

"do i look like your mom?" lucas argued.

"we should cook something," xiaojun suggested, "instead of ordering in."

"be my guest, just don't catch anything on fire."

"okay, who wants to go to the store with me?"

"me!" isla replied excitedly, slipping out from henderys gasp and getting up.

"keys," xiaojun gestured to hendery, to which he pulled put his car keys from his pocket and tossed them to the shorter boy.

not seeing anyone else offering to go to the store with them, xiaojun and isla headed out together.

despite previously having a crush on the boy, the ride wasn't awkward, thankfully. even though she was crushing on someone new, she feared him finding out she did have a crush on him would make their friendship awkward.

almost as if he was reading her thoughts, he spoke up, "so, i hear you're dating now?"

"mhmm."

"i can't believe little isla is dating now," he sniffled, faking wiping a tear away.

isla laughed at the nickname the group brought upon her, "little isla," for years now. "well believe it, because it's true."

"is he good to you?"

"yeah of course, i wouldn't give him the time of day if he wasn't."

"good. i also can't believe you never told me you used to have a crush on me." he laughed.

isla immediately facepalmed after hearing that come out of his mouth. "it's bad enough that you know now, oh my god, i can't even fathom the fact that you know. middle school me is shaking and crying right now."

"nah, its cute, don't worry. little isla crushing on me. so cute." xiaojun grinned, eyeing the girl.

"...watch the road weirdo."

not too long after, the two pulled up to a grocery store and went in together.

"okay, you get veggies and i'll get everything else. sound good?" he asked her.

"yep." she replied, popping the 'p.' isla made her way to the vegetable isle, the smell of green hugging her nose. she examined the cucumbers, peppers, carrots, etc, looking for the ones that looked good enough to eat.

when she was satisfied she turned around to grab a bag, seeing there was only one left and someone had placed their hand on it the same second she did.

"oh, sorry, go ahead," she said, immediately moving her hand away.

"no, no, thats all you."

the voice sounded all too familiar to isla, so she picked her head up from the single bag.

"isla! i didn't even recognize you," the person said.

isla couldn't say anything. suddenly her words were stuck in her throat.

"are you okay..?"

"y-yeah... i have to go." she said. the person picked up his hand from his side to say something else, but isla hurried away as fast as possible to go find xiaojun.

isla
hesw wrie

isla
hees duckinf here

iseul
what

isla
he

isla
is here

isla
at the store

isla
😀

iseul
WHO????

isla
JOHNNY

iseul
oh. shit. oh
shit. oh

zara
whos johnny

iseul
THE EX

zara
OH

zara
OKAY

isla
HELP ME

isla
WHERE THE FUCK
IS XIAOJUN

isla
THIS BITCH NOSE
DEEP IN THE COOKIES
OMFG

iseul
WHAT HAPPENED

iseul
DID YOU TALK
TO HIM!!?!???

isla
ILL EXPLAIN WHEN
WE GET BACK

isla
omfg i feel sick to
my stomach lowkey

isla
i hate his face

isla
i'm so mad

zara
how dare he be in
the same place as you
at the exact same time

iseul
literally

isla
okay he's done deep
throating the cookies brb

"xiaojun—"

"these cookies look so good."

"...mhm, um, can we go?"

noticing how uneasy she suddenly looked, xiaojuns expression turned softer. "yeah, whats wrong? you okay?"

"he's here. you know who," she replied.

"oh, shit," he cursed. "yeah we can go, i'll pay for these super quick. come on."

the pair quickly sped walked to the cashier, checking out and leaving immediately.

"sorry i didn't get the veggies..." isla
apologized.

xiaojun laughed, "don't worry about it."

↢ ❦ ↣

double update bc why not also don't hate me for making johnny the ex </3 hear me out </3333