hold me ♡ minsung

20. goin' home, minho is still yelling

♡

DECEMBER 8

   Eight boys piled into Seungmin's car for a cramped four hour drive back home (with the exception of Jeongin. He was just along for the ride).

   Minho specifically chose a seat far from Jisung. While the others bickered over who would get to sit in the front, obliging Jeongin went first and took a seat in the back, and Seungmin quickly stole the seat next to him. Minho surprised all of them as he boldly pushed through the bickering group to sit next to Seungmin.

   It was uncomfortable from the start; it was nearly impossible to keep from touching Seungmin, whether it was their arms pressing, their knees brushing, or an accidental bumping of their hands while they buckled in(which he ended up being extra sensitive to, as it reminded him of last night— when it happened he instinctively pulled his curling hand away in a hurry, like a startled bug, and then turned his head away from Seungmin to conceal his red cheeks), but it was better than being next to Jisung, as he would've been had he let someone else take the last back row seat.

   The rest of them were still arguing when the back row was filled, which was about the same time Chan returned with Felix's suitcase. Changbin finally looked over and noticed that there was no back seat to fight over anymore, probably because his arms were going numb. He just set Felix in a middle row seat and sat next to him. Hyunjin took the passenger seat since he had the legs of a daddy long legs compared to the rest of them, and Chan naturally assumed the responsibility of driving first, so Jisung ended up right in front of Minho, thus Minho would look up and see the back of his head constantly.

   Moments after the car started and left the parking lot, Hyunjin took the aux cord conveniently left dangling over the console, and as he hooked it up to his phone he twisted in his seat to face the back of the car, and began speaking as if he were one of those tour guides who stands by the door of the bus and tells you what's happening. 

    Half of the car cheered when they parking lot behind. A few of them laughed through a couple lines of "Take me Home, Country Roads", until Hyunjin's music filled the car.

   As Minho sat quietly, leaning into the window, watching school buildings pass by and blur into trees as the car sped up, listening to whatever base-boosted music Hyunjin had turned on, he wondered how much he actually wanted to go home. Of course, he wanted to see his cats, and he would love to spend a few weeks sleeping in, in a bed that didn't make him feel eighty years old every morning. It was just that he didn't know what he'd do with himself over break. Maybe he'd pick up a couple shifts at the diner here and there.

  An hour could be a really long time, especially when you were cramped into a small row with two other people and couldn't really avoid awkwardly brushing against them no matter how much you tried to compact yourself (even to the point that your muscles ached and started to fall asleep), and had nothing to do but watch either the speeding cars on the highway or the boys enthusiastically performing a seated rendition of Feel Special a row up. Minho's legs were starting to go numb by the time that first hour had actually passed.

    It went pretty quiet after that, since Changbin told them to shut up so he could go to sleep. Still, Felix and Jisung played road trip games, whispering loudly while Changbin dozed in between them. Hyunjin and Chan were having an actual conversation up front, but Minho could hardly make out their words, and he was once again stuck the odd one out, with Seungmin snuggling up to Jeongin, and surprisingly, getting an arm wrapped around him.

   It only took another half hour to nearly empty Seungmin's tank, and by that time a couple of them were starting to complain about being thirsty or needing to go to the bathroom, so Chan pulled into some gas station, and parked after filling the tank.