Chapter 12: Pass The Blunt Already

Thursday | October 19th, 2023 | 3:03 PM

The events from this morning had finally caught up to me, my entire body felt sluggish and sore. I was tired and drowsy, and all I wanted was to curl up and go to sleep but there was no chance of me sleeping on the job with Karina and Chungha eyeing me like hawks as the three of us stood in the kitchen. They could smell my fatigue from a mile away.

"Wow, you look awful," Chungha teased, a smirk on her face. "Rough night?"

"Yeah, you could say that." I said, letting out a long yawn. Chungha laughed, and Karina smiled at me.

"Maybe you should have gone to bed earlier," Karina suggested, her voice gentle and soft.

"Yeah, I should have." I casually slipped off my tongue. Karina pulled over a milk crate with her foot and sat down, leaning her head back onto the table behind her. I stood against the wall, lazily staring out the service window at the empty storefront.

"What made you stay up so late?" Chungha asked. "Were you studying?"

"Studying? Yeah, pretty much." I lied. Chungha smirked at me, her eyebrows raised.

"Really?" Chungha scoffed. "I thought you were some genius, Mr. 'I get straight As'." She rolled her eyes, her voice mocking me.

"Yeah, yeah, it's hard to stay perfect forever," I waved my hand dismissively. Karina chuckled at our conversation, and I saw a smile tug at the corner of Chungha's lips. She turned her attention to Karina, the two beginning a conversation of their own.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I was so fucking tired. After walking Nakyung back up to her dorm when we got back, I had to immediately get ready for work. Waking up early and not having time to recover from this morning's adventure, I felt like shit.

My brain felt like mush and the only thing that was keeping me going was the two cans of energy drinks I chugged as I got to work. I'm not sure how long I had zoned out but my train of thought was broken by a tap on my shoulder.

"Hey, do you want to sit for a bit?" Karina asked, her face painted with a worried expression.

"I'm fine, just tired." I shrugged, "I think the lack of customers is putting me to sleep."

"I don't blame you." Chungha piped up. "The only time we're actually busy is during rush hours. There's nothing exciting about being stuck behind the counter in an empty store."

"Yeah," Karina agreed. "At least we get free boba." 

"Yeah, free food is nice," I sighed, my eyelids heavy. Karina tugged on my arm and pulled me over to her milk crate, pushing me down to sit. Feeling the weight off my legs was a massive relief, and my back slumped against the table.

"Thank you." I mumbled, my eyes half-closed.

"It's no problem," Karina said softly, smiling. "If you're really tired, I don't mind working in the front and making the drinks." She patted my head, running her fingers through my hair. I could hear the bell jingling from out front and the sound of the front door opening, but I ignored it, seeing Karina perk up and leave the kitchen.

Although my eyes were heavy, I just couldn't find myself falling asleep so easily. I was tired, sure, but I could just barely keep myself from slipping off into dreamland. My mind was racing and no matter how much I tried to focus on relaxing, my brain always found a way to stray.

My thoughts went back to last night, the vivid image of the sexy, nude figure of Taeyeon coming back to me. Well, Nakyung, but really I was picturing the body of a sex-starved professor. That entire ordeal was something I'd never forget. Getting away with breaking and entering, burglary, and peeping into Taeyeon's personal life was an insane thrill.

I suddenly felt the sensation of being kicked, and my eyes opened wide. I lifted my head up, the weight off my legs gone, and saw Chungha walking away from me and towards the fridges. She crouched down and opened up the fridge, pulling out a bin of frozen fries.

"You mind sleeping somewhere else, I'm trying to work here," Chungha teased. She opened the bin and tossed a handful of fries into a fryer basket before dropping them into the fryer with a loud sizzle. "I'm kidding, by the way. Just felt like kicking you when I looked at you."

"Yeah, yeah," I murmured. I slid me and my crate across the floor, moving towards a back corner of the kitchen, using the corner walls as my support. Chungha giggled and shook her head, her focus already shifted back onto her frying station. I was still a little groggy and out of it, and I had a feeling this was going to be a long day.

Karina eventually came back into the kitchen, spotting me in my new location. "Can't sleep huh?"

"Nope," I shook my head, leaning back against the wall. Karina giggled, "Want me to grab another energy drink?"

"Nah, I should be fine, just keep me talking," I said, smiling. "So, are you ready for the first intramural game?" My time spent practicing in the rec center with the goobers was finally going to pay off. At the start of the week, teams were finalized and the game days were scheduled. With 10 teams confirmed, we had 5 scheduled days filled with volleyball matches. Starting next Wednesday, and then every other Wednesday after that, the playoffs would run for 5 weeks.

"Yeah, I am." Karina said excitedly. "I'm nervous though, but I think we're ready. You guys have been practicing so hard."

"Hmm, but you have people on your team that's played since high school, including you. We're just a group of newbies," I said. Chungha interjected, "But Karina here got lazy after high school, she hasn't kept up with her volleyball skills unlike you, who practices every week."

"Chungha," Karina whined, throwing a plastic spoon towards her. Chungha effortlessly moved out of the way and threw her a shit-eating grin, laughing at the annoyed look on her face. "Sorry, sorry!"

"You're still good though, last year's performance showed it. I'm sure your team will still be hard to beat." I assured her, and Karina smiled back at me.

"Yeah, but hopefully we make it to the finals this year, we lost out in the semis last year by a slim margin." Karina said, her voice tinged with a bit of frustration.

"Hmm, your hopes are high. I'm here hoping we even make it into the top eight," I chuckled. For a quick refresher, I started playing volleyball last year with the goobers and we were absolute ass, pretty much last place overall. We did play through all of our "placement" games, but because we lost all of them, we didn't get a spot in the official brackets.

Since about 10 teams are registered this year, we just have to be placed 8th or above in order to compete in the official brackets. If we get lower than that, then we're knocked off the roster and known as one of the worst teams in the series.

"Oh, shut up. I know you're going to place high, with the amount of time you and your team practices, I'd be concerned if you didn't place." Karina argued.

"Yeah, but there's always room for error," I said. Karina shook her head and crossed her arms. "No, you'll be fine."

"Jeez, you second guess yourself too much," Chungha commented, "Just be confident, it's not that hard."

"Yeah, confidence." I murmured, "Maybe I should."

"Speaking of second guessing, how's you and that one girl?" Karina inquired, changing the topic.

"Hmm?"

"That one girl you were crushing hard on," Chungha recalled, "The one you met in a cafe or something?" Ahh, Haerin. I found myself smiling when her face entered my head.

"Oh, well, I think we became friends."

"Is that good or bad?" Chungha questioned.

"I think it's good. She's still shy and introverted, but she seems to be warming up to me." I told them. "I used my confidence," using my fingers to emphasize confidence, " to talk to her and help her with studying recently, we even had a casual conversation afterwards."

"Aww, congrats." Karina clapped her hands, cheering for me. "Maybe there's hope for you yet."

"Yeah, alright," I rolled my eyes. "Thanks though."

"What'd you find out about her?" Chungha asked, quickly drizzling sauce atop of a plate of fresh fries before sliding the plate out through the service window. Karina spotted the customer waiting for their order and went over to serve them, while Chungha was now listening to me intently.

"Well, I found out she's a bio pre-med major because she wants to be a pediatrician since it was her dream when she was young, and.." I trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

"Is that it? Geez, must've been a boring ass conversation then," Chungha said, scrunching her face. "Come on, dude. Get to know her, do something."

"Well, I mean, she's always occupied with school. I did try to ask her to dinner one time, but she was already tired from studying." I explained. Chungha gave me a blank stare, her jaw slightly hanging open.