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Okay, Momo thinks, how do I get out of here?
Hands around the neck of a beer that was pushed into her hands, Momo glances to her left then right, where her two friends are standing and laughing at her obvious discomfort.
Sana raises a brow, her own drink–something with guava and vodka and who knows what else–is halfway to her lips before she rolls her eyes and lets out an exasperated sigh.
“You believe this is the same woman who made me dance in the middle of the street last week?” She shakes her head, her brown hair moving around her shoulders and brushing the thin straps of her dress. “She can dish it, but she really can’t take it. What should we do with her, Jeong?”
Jeongyeon is Momo’s last hope. The one friend who always takes it easy on her, despite how easy she is to tease. Momo widens her eyes as they look at each other, silently begging for mercy, but the older girl just laughs at her, and just like that, Momo loses another lifeline.
“She doesn’t have a choice. Either she does the dare, or she pays up.”
Momo looks toward the exit of the bar again, knowing she could outrun unathletic Sana, but not sure what moves she’d have to use in order to fight Jeongyeon off of her.
“Don’t even think about it,” Jeongyeon huffs a laugh out and slings her arm over Momo’s shoulders, not so subtly keeping her in place. “You’re not escaping. So, what will it be, Momo? Are you going to do the dare?” Dark brown eyes stare at her.
Momo looks at Sana, who dissolves into a fit of giggles right away. “Rent is coming up and the salon’s been slow. If you want to hand over money instead, I’m definitely not objecting.” Then she takes a sip from her glass, wiggling her brows.
“Why can’t we just pick another dare?” Momo grumbles, in a last ditch attempt at lessening the possibility of her dying from embarrassment within the next hour. “Guys, come on...what if the person, I don’t know, punches the shit out of me?”
Jeongyeon and Sana seem to find that outcome hilarious, because they’re both hanging their heads and laughing, slapping the table as if they can’t control themselves. No more drinks for them.
“I hate you. You’re both horrible people.”
“You can hate us all you want, but you’re not getting out of this.” Jeongyeon squeezes her arm, then lets her go. “Now, let’s make sure you look okay before we feed you to the wolves.”
“Ah, that’s right. Momo, pucker your lips, let me put some lipgloss on you.” Sana’s not joking, her hands are already in her purse, digging around in the bottomless pit for the lipgloss she wants. Momo watches with dread as the brunette takes a while, no doubt having to sift through and pick one of the ten she usually carries around.
“Please, I’ll do anything else.” Is she begging? Almost. She’s not above sinking to her knees and dirtying her jeans on the floor of this bar, but maybe it won’t be necessary.
Or maybe it will definitely be necessary.
“Fluff your hair a bit, like this,” Jeongyeon moves Momo’s dark hair from behind her ears and shakes it out slightly. Her eyes are focused as she examines her work, even leaning back a bit for a better perspective. Momo rolls her eyes. Jeongyeon hums and then puts her hands back in Momo’s hair, combing the shoulder-length strands down, then pushing one side behind her ear. She smiles. “Okay, that’s good.”
“Pucker up,” Momo doesn’t even get a break from the impromptu makeover before Sana’s taking Jeongyeon’s place. She pumps the applicator into the tube a few times, then brings it to Momo’s mouth with a determined look. Momo grunts as its spread over her lips evenly. “Perfect!” Sana pulls back. “Rub your lips together now.”
Momo moves out of reach before Jeongyeon can start fiddling with her top.
“Guys! I’m not doing this!”
“I think she’s ready.” Jeongyeon turns her by placing a hand on the small of her back. “We won’t even tell you who you have to kiss, that part’s all up to you! Make us proud!”
“Really? You’ll let me choose? I was wrong, you two are the best friends ever.”
They ignore her dry tone expertly. Sana gives her a pat on her ass. “You can do this!”
Originally, Momo had no plans of even showing her face tonight, just because she knew it would be her turn for a ‘Deadly Dare’. Name coined by Jeongyeon, of course. She admits she might’ve upped the ante by making Sana dance in front of a bunch of strangers in public, but how was she supposed to know Sana would follow through instead of just paying the fee of refusal?
Momo moves through a crowd of people, eyeing the door again, but feeling the heavy weight of her friends’ glares on her back. Even if she runs now, she’ll have to pay, and she isn’t forking up the money. They made the refusal fee high just so no one would chicken out and choose to pay instead – and it's working.
It feels like everyone she locks eyes with knows exactly what her (unwanted) mission is and it makes Momo feel so prematurely embarrassed that she looks away and ducks her head. The music blaring through the speakers isn’t helping either. She can barely hear herself think. Which is bad, because she needs to come up with a damn plan.
Who even thought of Deadly Dares? Was it Jeongyeon? Or Sana? She knows it definitely wasn’t herself. One of those brutes had proposed the idea as a way to break the ice between them on nights out. When the drinks were flowing, but the atmosphere was way too familiar to be fun or interesting, they’d pull out a dare.
Momo now thinks that they should’ve just sat in silence until it was time to part ways.
She feels like a real creep, darting her eyes around and looking for someone she can talk into kissing her. God, it sounds depressing if she thinks of it that way – having to convince someone to kiss her. More embarrassment washes over her and she feels moisture gathering on her palms. Great. She makes eye contact with a guy, sitting alone at the bar with no one around him. He looks nice enough in the dim lighting, so there’s no chance of Momo wanting to run to the bathroom to scrub her lips immediately after. Yay. He also looks like he has no friends with him, which means there’ll be no one to witness how awkward this is about to be.
Momo will ask if it’s okay first, of course, then she’ll do it. (This is part of the plan she’s trying to think up while also trying not to get sidetracked by the lyrics of whatever song is playing.) What should she say? Maybe she’ll point to Sana and Jeongyeon’s over eager faces and explain that her friends hate her enough to make her do this.
Maybe she can count on sympathy.
By the time she reaches the counter of the bar, she’s not any more sure than when she was walking up to it. She wants to turn around already, admit defeat and cluck her way back to her friends. Suddenly, his eyes shift to something behind her and his face lights up into a smile. Momo watches as a woman glides past her and slips into the seat beside him, kissing his cheek. There’s an overwhelming feeling of relief that slams into her.
She looks back to where Sana and Jeongyeon are and shrugs her shoulders. Jeongyeon crosses her arms. Well, not off the hook.
Her eyes scan the room again. Everyone is having a good time with friends or their partners, and the last thing Momo wants to do is ruin someone’s night by asking for a damn kiss. She sees a group of women, all laughing with drinks in their hands. A woman in a black dress stands a little to the side of them, clearly not as interested in the conversation as everyone else around her is. Momo stares longer than she intends to; she’s been there before – surrounded by everything and nothing all at once.
Momo only snaps out of it when someone bumps into her on their way to the bar, looking back to throw an apology over their shoulder but not stopping otherwise. Right. She needs to get this over with so she can do the walk of shame back to her friends.
She walks through the sea of people, her heels stopping nearer to the woman in the black dress than she wanted to. Now that she’s closer, Momo’s staring problem intensifies radically. Black Dress has one arm folded around her stomach while the other holds a glass; her hair is dark and pulled back, with a few pieces swept across her forehead; Momo can’t see her eyes, just the smoky eyeshadow on her lids while her gaze is aimed at the drink in her hand, and her mouth is pursed.
A woman. Why didn’t Momo consider this before? It’s the easier, friendlier option. (Possibly less risky, as well...) A no-brainer. Besides, if she has to kiss a stranger, she rather it be a stranger who looks...well, who looks as put together as the woman she’s shamelessly staring at.
The other women don’t turn to look as she infiltrates the group tentatively, but Black Dress had raised her head and watched her approach when Momo was five steps away. There was the hint of an arch in her brows, but Momo can’t read her beyond that. It’s maybe not as friendly of a look as she anticipated.
Black Dress looks at her closely. She’s staring at Momo just as blankly as she was looking into her glass, then she’s taking her eyes from Momo’s and letting them go over her body, slowly. It’s unnerving. A little annoying, too. Her eyes seem critical. Maybe Momo read her wrong a few moments ago when she was looking like the runt of the pack.
“Hi,” is the best opener she can think of.
Black Dress just stares at her. She almost looks bored by the attempt at conversation already. Momo pokes her tongue into her cheek and breathes out sharply through her nose, trying to remember that it’s either this or opening her wallet to her friends. With that in mind, she tries again. “I’m here with my friends,” part A of the rushed plan... “And they gave me a dare to do.”
She looks back as she gestures to the pair, sees them with their jaws almost reaching the floor for some reason (maybe they didn’t expect her to walk up to a woman? Ha, who’s a chicken now?), then turns back to Black Dress, who’s still not saying a word. She doesn’t even look in the direction that Momo’s pointing at. Okay, so this is as awkward as she thought it would be. Possibly worse.
“I was wondering if you’d...” fucking help me. Or, you know, talk! She wants to say both those things, but neither come out. Black Dress is pretty. Pretty enough to be aware of it and ignore one of the many people that come up to her in a bar. With a face like that, Momo has no doubts about how many strangers probably hit on her with the exact same words she’s using. That little dose of reality is enough to make Momo step back. “Sorry. Never mind.” (She’s a chicken.)
She feels her face burn with embarrassment and apologises three more times before she turns back around, ready to fast-walk back to the safety of Jeongyeon and Sana. Well, safe might not be the right word. Her eyes drift to her friends and she finds them shaking their heads quickly, making X’s with their arms. Sana’s practically jumping up and down. Momo frowns – they can’t be serious. They still want her to complete this stupid dare after two failures?
Momo looks around. Why is this so hard? It’s a bar – she should have no problems finding someone in the mood to lock lips with a stranger. (The truth is that there are plenty people making very inviting eye contact with her, but it’s almost too inviting...)
“What kind of dare?” She hears from behind her.
Momo freezes, disbelieving. When she turns back around, Black Dress is still staring at her impassively. She takes a step closer to Momo; a step away from her circle of friends.
Momo blinks at her. “The dare? You want to know?”
Brown eyes roll at her. Now Momo can see them a little better, too; they’re darker around the edges, lighter in the centre. “I asked, right?” She swirls the liquid in her glass around, looking down at it. “People usually don’t run off before they can get it out, so now I’m curious about what your dare might be.” So, Momo was right and this poor woman pays the price of beauty by having random people come up to her all night. Momo included. She wants to slap herself. “Are you going to tell me, or should I go over to your friends and ask them myself?”
Momo’s caught between being very intimidated by this woman and feeling a little sympathy for her. Feeling bad for someone because they’re too beautiful is probably the epitome of pretty privilege, though, isn’t it?
“A kiss,” Momo mumbles, neck feeling too hot. “I have to kiss someone here.”
Black Dress looks up from her drink. Momo has a hard time mentally, going back and forth between wanting to nickname this stranger Black Dress or Brown Eyes. Black Dress only wins because it doesn’t make her cringe at herself. “Anyone?” She asks, brows raising again. There’s a subtle drop of some of the tension in her shoulders. “Not me specifically?”
Momo tries to smile. “No, they were nice enough to let me choose who I get to kiss.”
“And you chose me?” Waves of skepticism, but Momo can’t blame her. If someone came up to her and asked to kiss her for a dare, she’d probably make Sana pepper spray them. Whether Sana’s able to pull the pepper spray out on the first try instead of one of her lipglosses isn’t something she needs to actually think about. So, when Black Dress asks, “Why?” Momo isn’t sure how to answer with anything but honesty.
“You looked lonely.”
The words obviously surprise the woman in front of her. Momo watches as her brows furrow and her eyes narrow further. Before she can apologise to this stranger for psychoanalysing her from a distance, unwarranted, a big man steps forward, dressed in all black and glowering.
“You okay, Nayeon?” He directs the question to Black Dress.
Black Dress holds a hand up, stopping the man’s advance toward Momo.
“It’s okay, we’re just talking.”
“Okay.” Then he steps back after giving Momo a long, scrutinising stare.
Momo steps back, hands up in surrender. “Sorry! Didn’t know you had a fucking huge boyfriend.”
Black Dress–well, Nayeon–tilts her head to the side in confusion, then smiles slightly.
“If he wasn’t ‘fucking huge’, would it be okay, then? You’d still ask me to kiss you for your little dare?”
“I wouldn’t win in a fight against that guy. And there’s nothing “little” about the pressure I’m under right now. For your information.” She’s joking. Hopes this woman, who she’s never crossed paths with before, understands that and doesn’t change her mind to actually letting the Hulk deal with her.
“If you could win, though, you’d still try?” Nayeon gives her a full smile this time. “I like that confidence. But Juno wouldn’t fight you.”
“Very nice of him.” Momo assumes Juno is her boyfriend’s name. She gives Nayeon an apologetic smile. Of course this beautiful woman has a boyfriend. Granted, they aren’t the most visually appealing couple, but every love story is different. “Sorry, again. Enjoy your night.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.” Nayeon says before she can move away, her lips slipping over the black straw poking out of her glass. Momo feels dizzy from the ups and downs of their short conversation – a part of her was relieved that there was yet another obstacle stopping her from this dare; a part of her felt a coil in her stomach spring to life when Nayeon smiled at her that first time. And second time. (She’s counting, apparently.)
“Oh,” is all Momo can think of as they stare at each other. Nayeon arches her brows and continues to sip at her drink. “I’m in the clear, then.”
Nayeon’s eyes shine. “A little less pressure now, I hope.”
Momo’s so far past nervous that it’s ridiculous.
She can’t say she isn’t usually a nervous person – because she is if left to think about something long enough. Otherwise, Momo’s too spaced out to get nervous in the first place. Jeongyeon hates it. Sana tolerates it.
Nayeon thinks it’s funny.
“Are you okay?” She’s asking with a straight face, but Momo can see that sliver of mischief in her eyes. “Should I tell Juno to take a few steps back?”
Momo laughs, rubbing her neck. Juno isn’t the problem anymore, even if his presence is stifling, Momo has already decided to be on her best behaviour. It’s Nayeon’s friends that have finally noticed her presence and won’t stop staring at her that make her uncomfortable.
“Why are your friends glaring at me?” She leans closer to Nayeon to say the words by her ear then pulls back.
Nayeon glances back at them, her expression flattening again. “Ignore them. It’s been a while since they met a real person.”
Momo is confused by the statement, but she doesn’t press further. She isn’t really here for that. Although, there’s a lingering curiosity that she can’t help as she stares between them and Nayeon.
Finishing her drink in one go, Nayeon passes it off to Juno.
“How long does it have to last?”
“Pardon?”
“The kiss,” Nayeon smiles. “Are there any rules to it in order for your dare to be successful, or will anything do?”
“Oh.” Momo feels her throat go dry. “No. There aren’t any rules. It can be a peck.”
“But it has to be on the mouth, right?”
“You must’ve met my friends before.” Another lame joke brought on by how intensely this woman is looking at her.
Nayeon laughs softly anyway, as if Momo’s actually funny, the sound trickling into Momo’s ears and worming its way through her body. She feels warmer, suddenly, and becomes hyperaware of all the people around. What’s she doing? Standing here, making a stranger kiss her? A stranger who obviously has enough to deal with tonight, no less. She starts to feel a little guilty for imposing on this woman’s night.
“You don’t really have to do this, you know. My friends are borderline bullies sometimes, but they aren’t anything I can’t handle. If I go back over there without kissing someone, I’ll be teased, but I’ll survive.”
“Wow,” Nayeon nods her head. “I’ve never heard anyone talk themself out of kissing me before.”
Momo blushes. “That’s not what I’m doing!” She waves her hands out in front of her.
Nayeon just laughs. She stares at Momo for a few moments, then takes another step forward so that they’re barely an inch apart. They’re roughly the same height; Nayeon’s only slightly taller because of the heels she’s wearing, but it’s not drastic enough to notice. Momo’s eyes fall from Nayeon’s eyes accidentally, curiously, slipping down the straight slope of her nose and then landing on her glossy, peach-coloured lips. They’re full, definitely inviting. No chances of her wanting to scrub this kiss from her mouth or memory. If it happens, that is.
When did she even start looking forward to this dare? She’s not sure, but it was probably somewhere between when Nayeon first looked up at her and when she leaned forward to talk by her ear and smelt the perfume on the side of her neck.
“I’ll help you, then.” Nayeon says, forcing Momo to tug her eyes back up. “But there’s a catch.”
Momo deflates. Well, almost deflates. It’s embarrassing, but there aren’t many things this stranger could say to deter her now.
“Of course there is. Life’s never easy,” she says, dry and only half-serious. Nayeon’s lips twitch at the corners. “What is it?”
“I’ll tell you after.”
”Wouldn’t it be a little crazy to agree to that?” She tilts her head, smiling.
“Crazier than walking up to a stranger and asking for a kiss?”
Momo bites her lip. “Touché. I guess this is the part where I agree without skimming the terms and conditions.”
”I guess it is.” Nayeon pushes a stray lock of hair back behind her ear. “Don’t worry, the catch only applies if the kiss is good.”
“Suddenly the pressure is back tenfold?” Momo feels a blush travelling down her neck. “Just know that if you’re planning to extort me in any way, I have no money.”
Nayeon laughs out, placing her hands around Momo’s shoulders, tentatively ant first, hovering for a moment before she lets it happen. Momo swallows around the lump forming in her throat.
“You’re easy to persuade.” She glances down at Momo’s lips. “I think I understand how easy it must be for your friends now.”
“Yeah, you’d get along.” Momo mumbles, staring at Nayeon’s mouth in turn.
“I’m going to kiss you now. Unless the imaginary rules insist that you have to initiate it.”
“I don’t think so.” Her ears go red and she isn’t even sure she spoke loud enough to be heard.
Nayeon looks at her closely, waiting for any reluctance, then she leans in and connects their lips gently.
Within the first millisecond of the kiss, Momo decides to take out a few loans just in case extortion is on the table. Nayeon can have her money, even if it means she’ll be in debt for a couple hundred years.
Jeongyeon and Sana gawk at their friend, watching as she full on makes out with Im Nayeon in the middle of the bar.
“Do you think she knows who the fuck she’s kissing right now?” Jeongyeon asks.
“It’s Momo. She doesn’t know anything about anything. She doesn’t notice anything.” Sana’s jaw is going to get stuck in place if she doesn’t keep it closed for more than five seconds at a time, but she can’t help it. “Oh my god.”
“There aren’t any phones out, right? This could be all over the news by the time we leave this bar. Momo can hardly handle an Instagram tag from us, she won’t be able to handle fame.” Jeongyeon’s hand is in her hair, gripping it tightly. “Can they stop kissing? What the hell? We said kiss, not shove your tongue down someone’s throat for five minutes!”
“Good to know you aren’t panicking. Should we go over there and stop it?”
“Are you kidding me? And let Johnny Bravo behind them pummel us?”
Sana eyes the large man behind Nayeon who’s standing with his feet slightly apart, hands crossed in front of him. He’s glaring at anyone who steps near Nayeon, and by extension, Momo since they’re currently connected by their tongues and hands. It’s almost indecent. “Fair point.”
The pair watch silently, forgetting to finish their drinks in the process. Sana’s ice melts in hers.
“Im Nayeon. With our best friend.”
“Im fucking Nayeon.” Jeongyeon turns her beer so the label points at her, seeing Nayeon’s face on it. The woman that’s being advertised on the beer, put together and smiling brightly, is definitely very different to the one who seems to have lost control with a stranger a few feet away. Jeongyeon shakes her head as she stares at the bottle that was originally Momo’s.“Momo really doesn’t notice anything.”
Nayeon’s pulling back eventually, way too soon for Momo’s liking. She can’t stop watching Nayeon’s lips, her own mouth parted and pulsing from the kiss.
Nayeon slowly drops her hands from around Momo.
“How was that? Do you think it met your friends’ expectations?” She swipes a finger at the corner of her lip, looking down at the lipgloss that’s now on her fingertip with a slanted smile.
Momo had forgotten about Jeongyeon and Sana until then. “Exceeded, most likely. I don’t think they expected me to kiss a hot girl.”
Nayeon melts into laughter at that.
“I like the way you talk.” Nayeon tilts her head. “You don’t think, you just say whatever comes to mind.”
“I don’t think anyone has ever called me an idiot so sweetly before.” But Momo can’t help but smile and Nayeon smiles back at her, eyes squinting.
“Funny, too.”
“Sometimes.” She drops her eyes to Nayeon’s lips for a moment. Can she get away with claiming they need a redo? Just in case Sana and Jeongyeon missed it, of course. Maybe she shouldn’t get ahead of herself just yet. “You mentioned a catch?”
Nayeon grins, eyes flashing. “Let me buy you a drink and tell you about it.” She’s already walking to the bar. She stops halfway there and holds her hand out behind her for Momo to take. “Do you have a name?”
Momo laughs, following her. The crowd seems to part for them, but Momo hardly notices. She chalks it up to Nayeon’s pretty privilege. “Yeah, I happen to have a name. It’s Momo.”
“Momo.” Nayeon repeats, nodding. “What will you have to drink, Momo?”
Momo watches curiously as Nayeon eyes a deserted beer on the counter, then turns it away from them.
“Don’t like beer?” She asks.
Nayeon just smiles. “Not tonight.”