JAYLEN PARK TASTED like tequila and Red Bull.

Even days after the party ended and countless mouthwash and toothpaste I can still taste the boy on my lips and it's driving me insane. I can still feel him pushed against me, our bodies rubbing up against one another in the storage closet like wild animals. I'm afraid to think what would've happened between us if someone didn't come to the door and let us out.

I've never been attracted to a guy before. I've only dated girls, only ever kissed girls, slept with girls —well, there was that one time during a game of truth or dare in middle school during spin the bottle and I had to kiss Asher Montgomery for like a second and we both nearly vomited, but that doesn't count because it was in the name of a game but what happened with Jaylen was no game.

How do you even look at another man after sucking his face off in a closet during a party? What am I supposed to say to him? Act around him? Seeing him in the hallway the other day after the incident was embarrassing enough. We both just stared at each other like a deer in headlights. This is going to be a very long semester if I have to keep seeing his face everywhere I go.

Thankfully, the dark-haired boy wasn't in class this morning. His usual seat beside me is empty and I don't think I've ever been so happy to see an empty desk seat in my life. I don't know why he isn't here and I don't care to find out either. Hopefully, he drops out of the class, hopefully, he stops showing up to practice, hopefully, he leaves this damn school so I never have to see his face again.

Good-fucking-riddance.

"Remember class, for your next assignment I'll be assigning partners so just be prepared for that when we discuss later on this week."  The professor rambles on as everyone in the class gathers their belongings. I couldn't care less about what she was saying as I stuffed my laptop and notebook in my bag. I had a whole other class to get to in an hour on the other side of campus.

I tossed my backpack on my shoulder and made my way out of the classroom. I walked through the Art and Media building and headed through the quad where countless students sat in the grass, talking amongst their friends in the autumn morning sun. Oddly enough, a few students send me waves and smiles and I return out of being respectful. Lourdes did tell me my name has been getting around at CU, for good things I hope, or do they know what Jaylen and I did at the party? They can't know — why am I even thinking about that?

I wipe my mind of the ridiculous thought, and I erase any memory of Jaylen in my head but it doesn't last for long because I'm quickly reminded of him when I spot him in the middle of the quad. I freeze in my steps at the sight of the dark-haired boy throwing a football with some of the frat boys I saw at the party the other day. So this is why he missed class? To toss around a football? Why am I not surprised?

His tattooed arm flexes up as he prepares to catch the spinning ball that's hurtling toward him in a spiral, but then he turns and notices me noticing him and freezes in his steps. He blinks at me and I blink back at him because what else are you supposed to do when you see a guy you kissed in a storage closet at a party? Jaylen's too focused on me across the quad he doesn't see the football coming towards him from the sky and it smacks him right upside the head sending him falling onto his back.

"Oooohhhh" could be heard coming from a few of the frat boys and a few students that watched the incident happen and I rolled my eyes at the scene.

Idiot.

I continue to make my way through the quad ignoring the boy in the grass rubbing his sore head. However, someone else manages to catch my eye. A girl is sitting underneath the large oak tree in the middle of the quad by herself, but there's something about her that rings a familiarity in me. It's not until she looks up from the book she's reading to adjust the specs on her face that I realize the girl is Mina. The girl at the party who's responsible for standing me up and inevitably the catalyst being me getting stuck in the closet with Jaylen.

"Mina . . ." I call out to her.

Her head whips up and her ash-brown hair gets in her face a bit but she fixes it and sees me heading her way. She notices me and her sharp eyes grow big. "Shit," she mumbles under her breath before closing her book and gathering her things, and running in the opposite directions.

"Mina!" I call out again and run behind her.

I don't know why I started running behind the girl but I did, and to my surprise, she's hella fast and darts through students like she's on a track field. I can easily keep up with her but the speed definitely catches me off guard for someone like her. She turns back to see if I'm still behind her and I am, closing in on her slightly but when she turns around she comes in contact with someone else, the impact sending both of them to the floor with a thud, her books and notebooks falling onto the grass of the quad.

"Can I please catch a break? Can I please catch a fucking break—" Jaylen's loud voice makes me stop running as he rubs his already sore head that he doesn't notice the girl in front of him, but when he does his complaining finally comes to a halt.

"Mina Choi . . ." he says her full name.

He jumps to his feet when he realizes who she is, and makes a face, eyes wide and brows furrowed together as he stared down at the girl still down on the ground around her cluttered things. My eyes look around a few stares at that lingered on us as some students of the quad start to notice the altercation. I thought about the optics of how this must look to everyone else — two large soccer players hovering over some random 5'6 girl. I bent down to help pick up her things.

"Why are you following me?" Mina finally asks, eyes darting from me to Jaylen who stood behind me with his arms folded across his chest.

"I just want to know why you stood me up at the party?" I tell her truthfully. It wasn't like I can't deal with rejection or anything but I'd be lying if I said it's something I'm used to, and because of Mina's rejection I ended up with Jaylen so there's that.

"And why'd you reject me too? I mean I can see why you would with Cassian but me? C'mon Choi." Jaylen's subtle jabs and I refrain from using Mina's notebook to smack him upside the head for the third time today.

Collecting her things I see a flyer tucked in between a few papers, the rainbow colors of a pride flag catching my eye immediately, and when she notices that I notice she snatched the papers away from me and stood to her feet. She stuffed them in her over-the-shoulder bag and fixed the specs on her face. I took in how different she looked from the party. Her black fitted dress was replaced with a baggy crew neck and cargo pants. She looked like an entirely different person from that night and that's when it dawned on me.

"You're not interested in boys are you?" I asked her, praying to God that it didn't come off as rude or offensive, an apology already on the tip of my tongue but then Mina answered. "No, I am not," she says matter-of-factly.

"Why didn't you just say that at the party?" I asked her.

She sends me a look, adjusting the bag on her shoulders. "I don't know, the last time I rejected two guys they ended up cornering me in the middle of the fucking quad."

I made a face . . . oh yeah, this doesn't look too good on my part.

Jaylen also makes a face, head tilting to the side a bit. "Wait, if you're not interested in boys then that makes you . . ."

"Lesbian," Mina finishes for him. "I know that may be a big word for you Jaylen but gay people exist and they go to this school right along with you."

"N-no that's not what I meant!" he tries to explain himself but Mina cuts him off again sending us both a death stare behind those wide specs on the bridge of her nose.

"And has it ever occurred to the both of you that the reason I "lead you on" was because I don't know you – you're both men and men don't know how to handle rejection from a woman without harassing her a second after she says no. Example . . ." she nods towards us and my eyes fall to the ground feeling a little embarrassed.

"I can handle rejection, I promise." I tried my defend myself not wanting to be classified in the same category as Jaylen Park.

Mina rolls her eyes. "Clearly,"

"No, it's just after you stood me up I ended up getting locked in a storage closet with this guy and-" I tried to explain but Jaylen makes a loud noise that cancels out my voice in the process.

"You what?" Mina raised a brow at us.

"We got locked in a storage room together waiting for you upstairs at the party," Jaylen explained, his eyes darting to me a quick moment before he returns them to the girl. Mina's arms cross over her chest before she lets out a cackle fit of laughter, a hand reaching up to cover her mouth as she laughs.

"Aight, it ain't that funny." Jaylen mumbles.

Mina wipes a tear from her eyes, her laughter finally dying a bit. "I think it's hilarious," she says before pointing a finger at us. "and it serves you two right for thinking every girl wants to sleep with you because of how popular you are or how famous your dad is," Mina mumbles something in Korean underneath her breath before turning on her dirty sneakers and walked away from us in the quad leaving Jaylen and I standing there dumbfounded.

"W-what did she say?" I turned to Jaylen and asked.

He keeps his eyes ahead as he watches the girl walk into a nearby building. "I don't know. My Korean isn't that great but I'm pretty sure she either said have a good day or eat shit and die." Jaylen turned to me then, brows knitted together. "This is all your fault!"

"How is this my fault?"

"Because everything is your fault, Bergman. Ever since you came to school my life has been nothing but chaos and it's only the second week!"

"News flash bitch," I return his furrowed brow look. "the world doesn't revolve around you Jaylen, now get the hell out of my way before you get another football thrown at your head." I brush past him bumping his shoulder purposefully.

••••
EXCUSE ANY MISTAKES OR ERRORS

Also just a little PSA Cassian and Jaylen are supposed to act a little "ignorant" it's all apart of their character development so please don't take anything they say too serious because they really are just a pair of "straight" guys at the end of the day