ˏˋ°•*⁀ ➷ 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗪𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗬-𝗢𝗡𝗘
─◌✰್ 𝗌𝗎𝗇𝖿𝗅𝗈𝗐𝖾𝗋
𝘀𝘂𝗻𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿（𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻）/ˈ𝘀ə𝗻ˌ𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘂ə𝗿/
❝𝖺 𝗍𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝗇𝗈𝗋𝗍𝗁 𝖺𝗆𝖾𝗋𝗂𝖼𝖺𝗇 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗇𝗍 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖽𝖺𝗂𝗌𝗒 𝖿𝖺𝗆𝗂𝗅𝗒， 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗒 𝗅𝖺𝗋𝗀𝖾 𝗀𝗈𝗅𝖽𝖾𝗇－𝗋𝖺𝗒𝖾𝖽 𝖿𝗅𝗈𝗐𝖾𝗋𝗌．❞

"Can one of you losers please help me?"

Seungmin still dangled about six feet off the ground as he gripped the arms of the lifeguards chair. He wasn't very tall to begin with, and since the chair was higher up in the air, he definitely couldn't reach. Of course, he could just jump down himself and he would be fine. But, in typical Seungmin fashion, he was bound to be dramatic.

"Jump!"

The lifeguard, who had just appeared practically out of nowhere, said in a voice so casual she could have been asking Seungmin his favorite color. She held out her arms.

Before you could open your mouth to warn the girl that Seungmin was quite heavy - you would know, seeing as he'd tried to sit on you on more than one occasion - Seungmin let himself fall.

And the girl caught him.

Not only that, but she didn't even stumble, trip, or fall. How the hell?? Was she a witch??

"Holy shit, you caught me!" Seungmin exclaimed, immediately jumping out of the girl's arms and coming to stand next to her, his face a flushed mess. You had a sneaking suspicion it wasn't just because of the warm weather.

You weren't entirely sure what had made Seungmin jump in the first place. Maybe he had heat stroke and thought the girl was actually Changbin. That would have been the only way you would have jumped, if you were in the same position.

"Hi, I'm Hong Renee."

The beautiful lifeguard smiled kindly at Seungmin, who now had his hands in his swim trunks pockets.

"I'm Kim Seungmin, it's nice to meet you," Seungmin still couldn't look the girl in the eye as he introduced himself, awkwardly shaking her hand.

"Nice to meet you too," Renee replied, seemingly unperturbed by Seungmin's awkwardness. She studied his face carefully. "So... I assume you're not actually a lifeguard?"

Seungmin grinned sheepishly. "No, sorry. My friends dared me to sit in the chair, and then I almost fell, and that's when you showed up," he chuckled. "I'm not usually this weird."

"Yeah he is!" Changbin called from his spot beneath the ladder, grinning like a fiend.

Seungmin's face instantly turned bright red, his head ducking even lower as if he was trying to disappear into the sand.

But Renee didn't take her eyes off of Seungmin, her entire face full of good nature. "I don't mind," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

"We should probably go," Lanhua said, looking at Seungmin expectantly. "She's probably busy."

Renee shook her head. "Oh no, I'm actually just off of my shift. Someone is supposed to come and take my spot in a few minutes, I was just walking down the beach to yell at some people who were littering."

While you had a feeling Renee couldn't yell at anyone if she tried, you knew she must be a responsible lifeguard.

Seungmin finally met Renee's curious gaze and beamed. "So you'd be free to maybe hang out with us?"

Renee smiled and nodded. "I-I mean sure, would you want me to?"

Seungmin nodded furiously. "Yeah, of course! I mean, after you saved my life and everything," he let out a laugh, trying to gain back some of his usual smoothness.

At that moment, a guy wearing red swim trunks and a whistle around his neck approached them.

"Sorry, if you'll excuse me for a second," Renee smiled at Seungmin briefly before walking over to the guy and speaking with him. You couldn't hear much of what they were saying, but it was clear the new guy was her replacement for the next shift.

As the new lifeguard climbed up to take his position in the chair, Seungmin wandered back over to Renee like a lost puppy, as if he couldn't stay away from her. You weren't sure if falling off that stupid lifeguards chair altered his brain chemistry, but he hadn't said anything even remotely mean or salty to Renee. Who was he, and what did he do to your sarcastic, salty Seungmin??

The two stood next to each other and struck up a conversation. Thankfully, it seemed like Seungmin had stayed true to his usual friendly nature, and had no problem talking to her. Renee's laugh echoed across the beach, and you hoped that Seungmin had finally found someone to spend time with this summer.

Seungmin ran over to the rest of you with a huge grin on his face. "Renee said that she would like to come back with us and play some volleyball! Can we? Please?"

He looked at everyone imploringly.

"We could never say no to you, Minnie," you replied, rolling your eyes. "You've finally found a girl!"

Seungmin put a finger to his lips to quiet you. "Hey, don't jinx it!" He hissed, his cheeks turning pink once more. "She might just run away if she realizes what a loser I am!"

"She doesn't look like the kind of girl who would run away," JJ observed.

"Besides, I'd she tried, you'd just chase after her," Riley laughed.

"C'mon, let's head back to the net! Hopefully no one stole it while we were gone," Chan said, leading the way back down the beach.

Everyone split up into teams to start playing. Chan and Minho were the captains, with Chan picking Felix, Tessa, JJ, Changbin, you, Mya, and Riley, and Minho choosing Hyunjin, Han, Seungmin, Lanhua, Renee, Robin, and Jeongin.

While you were all taking the game semi-seriously, you were mostly just having a good time hitting the ball over the net at each other while you, Riley and Mya cheered on JJ and Lanhua, who were purposely hitting the ball in inconvenient places and making the guys dive face-first into the sand.

"Who knew sand was so crunchy?" Han said, his entire body covered in the gravelly substance, as he sprawled out on the ground.

Robin ran over and offered a hand to him, accompanied by a smile. "It's pretty gross, isn't it?" She said as he accepted her proffered hand and stood up.

Shaking his head to rid his hair of sand, Han asked, "How would you know what sand tastes like?"

Robin shrugged. "My loves the beach. I've eaten my fair share of it."

"On purpose?" Han wrinkled his nose.

"I can't share all my secrets now, can I?" Robin winked before going to stand in her position on the left side of the net. "We're ready, go ahead Lanhua!" She called to her teammate.

Lanhua nodded and served the ball right at Changbin, a wicked grin plastered on her face.

"Ah shit!" Changbin exclaimed before diving as hard as he could at the ball and sending it sailing right back over the net.

"I got it!" Minho called before passing the ball to Seungmin, who was playing setter.

Seungmin set the ball as best he could over to Robin, who hit the ball over the net.

"That was amazing!" Han cheered, grinning like an idiot at Robin, who pumped her fist at him in response.

"Was that the first successful set we've done??" Jeongin gasped. "We're legends!"

The ball was hit right at Chan, who was somehow able to get it up in the air. However, it didn't go towards Felix, who was their setter.

"I'll get it!" You called, hoping to save the ball and send it over to Riley, who was at the front right position, ready to try her hand at spiking the ball over the net.

You ran at the ball as hard as you could, but your feet kept sinking in the sand. Seeing as you'd never played beach volleyball before, you hadn't timed your run-up properly, and knew you wouldn't get there in time.

"Someone help!" You yelled, as the ball continued to fall.

But as you dove onto the ground, trying your very best to get as close as you could, holding onto the small hope you might make it, you saw someone running towards you out of the corner of your eye.

Before you could get out of the way, the figure ran head-first into you, before landing with a thud, knocking all the air out of your lungs.

"Uff," you grunted as you felt all of the air whooshing from your body so quickly you didn't have the time to feel embarrassed by the noise you just made. Nor did you have the time to process the fact that someone had just landed on your back.

"I'm sorry," a deep voice from above you spoke, and you knew that it could only be one person.

Felix tried to scoot away as your skin burned in humiliation. You definitely couldn't be looking very attractive right now, and that huff sound wasn't far off from a troll's grunt.

Of course it had to be him. You thought bitterly. Of course he had to land on top of you, and sound so sexy when he apologized. Honestly, this was all his fault, wasn't it?

"Please get off me," you managed to say, shoving at Felix's chest with both of your hands. On contact, you felt sparks zing between the two of you that were so hot, you had to yank your hands away. The tension whipping back and forth was so hot and tangible, you could feel yourself sweating.

"Oh, sorry Laska," Felix's voice rumbled against you as he finally managed to roll away. He shot you an apologetic grin. Still, you noticed he couldn't meet your eye.

You nodded at him before attempting to dusting yourself off, trying to play it off like nothing happened. But your heart was thudding so hard it made your throat hurt.

"Oh my gosh, you guys are so cute!" Tessa blurted as she studied the two of you, an almost jealous glint in her eyes. "How long have you been together?"

You and Felix opened your mouths to reply, not wanting to make Tessa feel awkward. Being so new to the group, of course she didn't know your and Felix's history. And she hadn't been at the club the night before, so she hadn't heard you ranting about him.

Thankfully, Lanhua hurried over to her and began whispering frantically in her ear, saving you from a painfully uncomfortable conversation.

Lanhua continued explaining, and Tessa's face turned redder and redder. You almost had to turn away from the discomfort. You didn't want to see anyone feel so embarrassed, let alone someone as nice as Tessa.

"Why don't we head back to the house?" Riley broke in, trying to distract everyone from the situation.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," JJ agreed a little too quickly, before smiling at everyone in her signature casual way. "I want to change out of this swimsuit, there's sand in places you don't even want to imagine."

She offered her hands to Mya and Riley, before heading up to the house. Riley and Mya smiled at you, trying to make sure you were okay.

Everyone followed suit, with a few of the guys shooting Felix sympathetic looks. Hyunjin followed them with nothing but a confused expression on his face. It might have been a blessing that he had left the bar so early the night before, because now he didn't understand what was going on. At least he wasn't mad.

Lanhua and Tessa walked past you, Tessa stumbling over her words trying to apologize. Lanhua waved at you apologetically while holding onto Tessa's wrist.

Robin and Renee walked past you separately, both looking nervous and a little stressed. You felt bad that they were somehow involved in this awkward situation, even though they probably didn't care.

With just you and Felix left and still sitting in the sand, you just stared at him, unsure of what to say.

Felix, abruptly stood up and turned to the side so you could only see his profile. With the late afternoon sun shining directly on him, he looked like some kind of god.

"I guess we should head back too, huh?" You said quietly, desperately trying to make some kind of conversation with him, anything to distract yourself from the fact that he'd just made your skin burn with pent-up chemistry.

Felix stayed where he was, and you could see him open his mouth, as if he was about to say something. But he closed it again before simply replying, "Yeah, let's go."

You got up, and the you both started trudging back to the beach house in silence. He walked in time with you, even though he was almost half a foot taller.

Do the two of you really look like a couple? Your mind wandered. Even though it had only been two days since you'd reunited with him, you felt like you'd always known him, always been around him. But with all the drama of yesterday still left unsolved, you knew you needed to talk to Felix, whether he liked it or not. The weirdness, everything from a complete lack of eye contact to your friends hinting that something went down that you couldn't remember, had been going on for way too long. You hated seeing Felix avert his eyes whenever he looked at you, or excusing himself whenever you entered the room. He used to hide a smile whenever you'd walk by, before going back to talking with Hyunjin. And now? You didn't even know what he was feeling.

But you knew one thing: you needed to find out.

Before you could question yourself, you lurched to a stop.

Felix noticed immediately, and came to stand a mere foot ahead of you, his inquiring eyes searching your face for answers.

Without saying anything, you grabbed Felix's wrist.

"Laska, what's-" he began.

"We need to talk, right now."

laska's note —
this chapter was cute hehe i know i am kinda drawing out the whole bar drama dw i swear it will be over soon! ;) what did you think? will alaska and felix talk? do you like our girls? what do you think of renee? give me all of your thoughts! i already have the next chapter almost done and it's more time with our girls, so i hope you love them as much as i do!

question of the day —
what is your harry potter house?

my answer —
gryffindor pride forever 🤪🦁

𝖭𝖤𝖷𝖳 𝖴𝖯：
𝟮𝟮 - 𝗽𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻
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