day 6 "that was impressive"
Thump.
Bora hisses, trying desperately to contain the scream that almost tears through her throat. Luckily it works, but wow, that hurts. She leans the rest of the way back, now laying down on the ground where she’d fallen flat on her ass, her hands gripping her throbbing ankle.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
She just had to try another one of her dumb gimmicks, didn’t she? Bora should’ve known better, that eventually one of these would end poorly. But in her defense, she’d had that flip down yesterday. She landed like four in a row! She thought she was ready!
Her breathing increases, coming in sharp gasps as she holds back all the cuss words she actually wants to be saying right now. Sitting back up, she examines the ankle that all of the shooting pains are coming from. It’s already starting to swell up.
She allows herself one cuss word. Bora thinks she deserves that much.
“Okay, now that…"
Bora’s heart sinks even further at the sound of that voice. As if this could get any worse.
“...-that was impressive.”
Bora looks up, knowing where this is going but (perhaps dumbly) still holding onto hope it won’t go that way, and will instead be positive.
She hesitantly makes eye contact with her long-time crush, and when Handong continues it only confirms exactly what Bora had thought would happen.
“I mean, I didn’t think it would end well, but that landing? That really didn’t go your way this time.” Handong laughs good-naturedly, as if it’s all just gentle ribbing between friends.
And maybe it is, or, it would be. But it’s the final straw on the back of Bora’s many failed attempts to get the kind of attention she craves from the younger woman, today’s extra spectacular failure only the most recent one (and the first to end in legitimate injury).
Bora sinks in on herself. The tears that had started forming from the pain finally spill over at the extra push from the humiliation. She brings her knees up to try to hide her face in them, but it’s too late to keep Handong from noticing.
The younger woman’s entire demeanor shifts as she realizes the severity of today’s stunt. “Oh my god, did you really hurt yourself this time?” She drops to her knees next to Bora. “I’m sorry. Here, let me see.”
“I’m fine.” Bora says, the sound muffled behind her legs and entirely unconvincing. She tries to push Handong away. It hurts, and she could use some help, but at this point she’d rather sulk in peace.
“No, you’re not,” Handong says softly. She shifts closer, gently pulling Bora’s hands off her injured ankle to take a look. “I knew one of these times, your little acts would go badly. The things you do to make your friends laugh amaze me, honestly.”
Bora can hear the little smile in Handong’s voice. Admittedly, even that is enough to stir up the butterflies in her stomach. But it’s what she said that really caught her attention. What does she mean by that?
At Bora’s look of confusion, Handong has another sudden realization and looks around. “Actually, where are your friends?”
Bora shrugs, shoulders slumping again just a little. She looks to the side. “I don’t know. I figure they finally got sick of watching me make a fool of myself with no results.”
This time it’s Handong’s turn for a confused look. “What do you mean? Then why do…” she gestures vaguely at Bora, at a loss for what to call her antics. “...this? I always thought it was just messing around to make them laugh?”
“What?” Bora can’t believe it. All this time and her target audience just thought it was for Siyeon and Yoohyeon? “No! That was-... I-... I was trying to impress you!”
Bora’s eyes widen as she realizes what she’s just admitted to. Handong’s jaw drops open a little, clearly caught off guard, and suddenly Bora wants to sink into a hole and disappear even more than she did a few minutes ago. Which, if you’d have asked her then, she wouldn’t have even thought possible.
“You wanted to impress me?”
Bora sputters as she tries to backtrack. “No. I mean, no I was just, just…” she trails off helplessly, looking anywhere but at the younger woman.
Handong’s grin only grows and grows the longer the shorter woman struggles for words. “You know, you didn’t need all that.”
Turning back to her, Bora’s sure the question is clear on her face.
Handong smiles warmly. “You already impress me.”
“I-... do?”
“Of course. I’ve always admired your energy, how free you seem no matter where you go. Whenever I see you out with your friends on campus, you’re impossible to miss.”
Letting out a soft “oh,” Bora blushes, speechless. Again. This doesn’t happen often to her. Damn Handong and Bora’s unbelievably large soft spot for her.
Another grin forms on Handong’s face, clearly enjoying the effect she’s so suddenly discovered she has on the confident older woman. “Well, if you’ve been trying so hard to impress me for so long, there must be a reason for it?” She raises her eyebrows expectantly.
Bora blanches at the whole turn of events of today. This is not at all how she imagined her approach would be all the times she’s attempted this.
“Oh!, Uh, yes. Definitely. Um…” She looks away again, needing a moment to breathe away from Handong’s eager and teasing expression.
Inhaling deeply, Bora fills her lungs with the last shreds of confidence still left in her. It’s not much, but it’s better, and she faces Handong again with a bit more certainty. “There’s a musical in town, next weekend. A traveling troupe coming through. I was hoping I could… take you to see it?”
Handong giggles a bit, some of her shyness finally coming back. It offers Bora at least some reassurance - at least she was able to get back on her game a little bit. At this point she’ll take any win she can get so that she’s not the only one flustered.
“I love musicals!”
Not thinking before she speaks, Bora says, “I know.”
At Handong’s look, suddenly Bora’s sputtering again. “I mean, I just-... you mentioned it during that project we did together for our music theory class, so I thought-...” she trails off, again, at the soft look on Handong’s face.
“Wow, that was…” Handong pauses, thinking. “That was months ago now, wasn’t it?”
Bora feels embarrassed again, but takes comfort in the face that the warm smile has yet to leave Handong’s lips.
“Yeah it… stuck with me, I guess.”
“You’re adorable.”
“I- what?” Bora’s brain stutters to a stop and Handong laughs at the way she just completely stops functioning. “Uh, thank you? But you just- you didn’t-”
Handong giggles again, mercifully ending Bora’s poor attempts at full sentences. She shakes her head fondly. “Absolutely adorable.”
The younger woman stands up, brushing off her pants. “Relax. I’d love to go to the musical with you.”
Bora feels the grin spread endlessly across her face and only hopes she doesn’t look like Pennywise or something with the way it seems to threaten to burst right through her cheeks.
“Really?”
The cute little smile Bora’s caught herself daydreaming about before rests easily on Handong’s lips “Really. But not on that foot.” She offers the shorter woman a hand, helping Bora up and letting her lean on her to walk. “First let’s get you to the student health center. We can work out the details once that ankle’s taken care of.”
Bora can’t wait to tell her friends that her genius plan finally worked.
(Just... nobody tell them that it wasn't really her plan at all).