70's rock music blasts from the giant jukebox at the corner of arena club, yet it's not enough to drown out the loud chatter of the people inside. the crowded place reeks of alcohol and weed, courtesy of the freshly-rolled joints and the lit cigarettes balanced on calloused fingers of drunken men and women. the atmosphere is foggy and borderline suffocating even with the windows wide open, but it doesn't seem to bother the young pair sitting by the games corner, enjoying a round of pinball and a glass of vodka each.

"see, ella." heeseung chirps & presses on the buttons with fervor, shooting the little metallic ball up high in the board. "that's why you don't ask your roommate to study with you. he'll go around saying that you used him to pocket that good grade, even though you've been a straight a student right from the start."

ella takes a sip from her drink with a hum. "i'm convinced you're a magnet to problematic people." she dips her head to the left & offers him a small smirk. "here's one more thing we've in common aside from shitty exes."

heeseung lets out a half-hearted laugh at that. "tell me about it."

the ball slides past the flipper bats & heeseung's every attempt to save the game goes in vain when it disappears in the hole. with a grunt, he gives his spot to ella and grabs his drink from atop the board, crossing his arms and leaning against it.

ella presses the plunger and the ball shoots up again, entering the field & rolling down the board to land on a slingshot. "i've been thinking about it lately."

"about what?" he asks & takes a sip.

"how i always gave my hundred and one percent in my relationships, yet i was the one who got hurt at the end." her eyes follow the rapid movements of the tiny ball like a hawk stalking its prey, hands smashing on the buttons with the passion of a gambler who's bet half of his fortune on the game, yet her full attention is on the one next to her. "it's disheartening. you want to try again, but you can't find the emotional strength to do so cause there's this subliminal fear that you'll end up in shambles again."

heeseung nods in agreement. "totally, though i wouldn't know how it feels ─ i can imagine it though. it's like trying hard to score high on a test over and over, only to be met with that cursed "96/100" written in your homeroom teacher's chicken scratch handwriting at the top of the page. you've given it your all, but it's not enough to satisfy the teacher ─ or, maybe, they've made it their goal to make you as miserable as it takes & drive you to your limits ─ so they check your paper over & over to spot the tiniest mistake and step on that to lower your score." one corner of his mouth curls in a bitter smile. "fucking sucks."

she mirrors his expression with her eyes still glaring at the moving ball. "i couldn't have worded that any better." the ball misses the flipper & falls into the hole, making the woman groan & smack the side of the machine.

"my turn." heeseung rubs his hands together and takes her spot, waiting for the ball to roll on its spot.

"say heeseung, did you date anyone after that bitchy seventh grader?" she asks and downs the remainder of her drink, nose scrunching as it burns her nostrils and throat.

"nope." he presses the plunger. "and i'm not planning on doing so any time soon." the ball immediately falls into darkness without him having to try, which pulls a laugh out of the pair. he situates himself on the machine's side and watches her get in position. "just to clarify, i'm not aromantic."

"i feel like i should work on myself first, though. find myself and what i truly want to do with my life. i don't want to give my partner a hard time while i'm trying to figure out how to be a good boyfriend and find myself at the same time." he rolls his wrist, watching the ice cubes float around in the golden brown colored liquor. "i want to give them the best while also being the best version of myself."

"and what if they ruin it?"

"what?" his brows raise at her words, eyes growing wide as he watches her concentrated self jolt in mild anger at the ball's disappearance in the hole.

"what if they end up ruining the best version of you?" she asks him ─ in a surprisingly calm tone ─ and pushes herself away from the machine, eyes flickering between the object before her and her empty glass as she thinks whether she should order a third one or refrain from getting drunk. "what if they break it with no return?" she chooses the latter.

heeseung positions himself before the machine, brows stitched together in a frown. "i never really thought of that."

she shrugs. "it's okay. we can't have everything figured out." she pats the top of his head, his soft hair bouncing at the repetitive contact ─ heeseung can basically feel his insides melt into a warm puddle and pool around his cold feet.

he presses the plunger, yet the ball is never spat out of its spot. "oh! we ran out of shots." he chuckles, taking their empty glasses in his hands and jutting his chin towards the counter. "shall we get outta here?"

she quirks a brow at him. "did you just indirectly call our date boring?"

"absolutely not!" heeseung exclaims, placing the glasses on the counter. "if anything, it's the best date i have ever been to!"

"sure thing. besides, you've been to a handful of them."

he spins around and leans on the counter, hands in the pockets of his jeans. his eyes are set on the floor, a certain something swimming in them that ella can't quite put her finger on. his teeth start chewing on the inside of his cheeks as the intro of "i melt with you" by modern english faintly plays in the background.

"let's spice things up."

"oh?" ella raises an inquisitive brow, catching wind of the mischief behind his smirk. "how so?"

he spreads an arm out, showing her his palm. "come with me."

ella wastes no second. she takes his hand and allows him to guide her to wherever he's set his mind to. the guy maneuvers through the tables and the standing people, his gaze combing through the place to spot something he'd noticed moments prior that has now been clouded by the smoke fog.

he finally finds it, picking up his pace as ella tries to catch up with him, her hand almost slipping away from his grasp. when he realizes it, he tightens his grip and pulls her closer to him.

he stops before a door and pushes it open with his elbow, his hand never once letting go of hers ─ before they step inside, she catches the letter "w" written in a bold white font on the reddish wooden surface.

they enter a dimly lit corridor, the strong scent of chlorine filling their noses. the fluorescent lights above their head flicker, causing chills to run down ella's spine as she blindly follows heeseung. the music and the talking of the people turns into a low mumble as the door closes by itself.

there's a beaten up door on their right that heeseung opens, pressing a hand on its surface and peeking through his shoulder to look at ella. he swiftly tilts his head to the left, beckoning her to enter the room.

"should i be scared?" she muses in a joking manner ─ though she can feel her heartbeat picking up & the back of her throat burning with growing uncertainty, wild thoughts intruding her once peaceful mind.

has she lost all sense of peril?

what happened to "stranger-danger"?

he just shakes his head, flicking the light switch upon entering the room himself while still holding the door open. ella starts growing hesitant as the hundreds of murder cases she's read about flash before her very eyes as a reminder ─ or a warning.

eventually, she sucks in a deep breath and shuts off the intrusive thoughts, letting her body do the rest. heeseung hasn't given any signs that he is up to no good, nor done anything remotely suspicious that could lead her to such assumptions. besides, her gut's telling her that he's one to be trusted ─ and her gut feeling has never been wrong in the past.

her feet bring her inside and she's met with a bunch of other, smaller doors across from her, painted in a deep shade of blue that's starting to fade away. her brows meet in a frown and she turns around, finding her bewildered reflection staring back at her through the square mirror in the wall.

oh, they're in the bathroom.

"don't worry, i'm not going to murder you." heeseung adds to her previous remark with a laugh, closing the door ─ he, however, doesn't twist it close, even though the key's right there. "or do anything without your consent." he continues, shoving his hands in his hip pockets and leaning against the wooden surface.

her furrowed brows loosen and rise, realization kicking in. "are we... you want us to do it? in the bathroom?"

now it's heeseung's turn to frown. "i was thinking of making out." he says, words slurring together due to him mumbling. he ducks his head down and kicks the ground, coughing to get rid of the lump forming in his throat.

ella's lips part in a breathy laugh, her hand landing a smack on her burning forehead. "god, heeseung! you should have shared what you've got in mind instead of making me delirious!"

his chin basically disappears as he looks down, feeling blood rush to his cheeks from the embarrassment and the humiliation. "i─i thought it might kill the mood." he kicks the ground again, shaking his head. "now that i think about it, it was creepy."

"god, this is embarrassing!" he whines & hides his face in his hands, pulling a laugh out of ella.

she slowly makes her way to him, halting a few inches away from his trembling body. she brings her hands up and slides them underneath his to cup his cheeks. they burn against her cold skin and she hums a chuckle at his flustered state, finding everything about him right now to be endearing and innocent.

"a tip for your next date." she coos in a hushed tone, her face inching closer to his. he ever so slowly lifts his gaze, meeting her hooded eyes.

her lips graze against his, his breath hitching at the contact. she rubs her thumbs up and down his tinted red cheekbones, lips breaking in a smile. "don't drag them in the dark wc of a club that doesn't know what basic hygiene is. they'll sprint away from you in no time."

she finally presses her lips against his, one hand dropping down to his waist to pull him closer to her. it takes him a good three seconds to process what is happening, a squeaky noise that he has no control of escaping him. he whines ─ as if he hasn't embarrassed himself enough to the woman, he is now openly advertising the fact that his lips are not only chapped & drier than sahara, but also virgin!

her own lips feel soft like pillows, moving against his own in a sinful dance that he tries hard to mimic, which doesn't go unnoticed by ella. with a chuckle, she pulls away and looks up at him, the hand that's still on his cheek squeezing lightly on his warm flesh.

"is that okay?" she whispers, and he swears he's never felt his entire body ring with such strong waves of need ─ or it's just his virgin self getting a bit too excited over a woman's touch. he never comes in terms with what it is; he is too drunk in her taste to care for anything else right now.

he shakes his head in a subtle nod & finally brings his sweaty hands ─ that were up until now awkwardly stuffed in his pockets ─ up to wrap around her body & pull her flash against him.

she smirks and connects their lips again, this time putting more passion & fervor in the kiss. heeseung's mouth parts in a soft moan, enjoying the way she asserts dominance over him with an action as simple as that. his hands, shaky yet eager, slide down and still themselves on her sides. he squeezes her waist in his big palms, feeling the blood pump faster in his veins and send shots of adrenaline all over his body.

he tries his best to kiss her back with the same amount of passion, pushing away any thought or insecurity. if he was told, the moment he boarded the train on his last morning in europe, that he'd end up kissing the gorgeous woman sitting across from him in the confined space of a rock club's dirty bathroom, he wouldn't have believed any of that bullshit. no help-me-sleep scenario or movie plot could've ever prepared him for this experience and convince him that yes, such things do happen ─ even to the unluckiest people like him.

the clock strikes midnight, yet the two youngsters don't pull away from each other. in nine hours, heeseung has to catch a flight that'll take him far away from ella. he'll become a memory that will pull painfully on her heartstrings every time she visits it and, vice versa, she'll be nothing but this bittersweet lingering feeling nostalgia comes with whenever it'll knock on his door.

but for now, they are in each other's arms ─ two strangers with completely different backgrounds and interests, yet somehow clicked right away. they dive head-first into the cold stream of youthful recklessness and let it take them with it, guiding them through a night that'll remain imprinted in their minds for the rest of their lives. what they have now won't be what they'll have tomorrow and the day after it, but they'll savor it like the last rays of sun before rain comes, the last drop of cold lemonade on a hot summer day in lefkas, the last page of a really good book, the last beach day in the lukewarm waters of the ionion sea.

for now, they have each other.