Bring It On! - Chapter 31

Chapter 31.

We carried a load of laundry up to the creek. Even in the early morning, the sun was so strong here that heat shimmered up from the ground. You could crack an egg on a bare rock and it would fry golden in no time. 

Just standing still made it hard to breathe and sweat pour down, so carrying heavy laundry up a slope was basically self-inflicted torture.

How this could be considered rest, I had no idea. As someone with sense and reason, I couldn’t understand it at all. But the one who suggested it looked like he was having the time of his life. 

Was it because he was young? Or because he was carrying so little? Suho’s loud singing echoed nonstop.

I turned my head and saw the face of someone whose furrowed brows made him look like he was constantly pissed off. Unlike Suho, who only had a long branch and two rolled-up T-shirts, Jay was carrying a heavy blanket slung over his shoulder.

“What.”

He must’ve felt my gaze trailing downward, because he looked down at me. Beads of sweat ran down his sharply cut jaw.

“Is it heavy?”

“Give it. I’ll carry it.”

Without even understanding why I was asking, Jay stretched out a hand, offering to take my load, too. 

This guy… Did he think I was testing whether he could carry it? As if I were some jerk trying to dump more work on him?

Had I treated him too roughly all this time? His reaction made me reflect on myself in a weird way. When I didn’t respond, Jay reached for my laundry. I turned my body slightly to decline.

“What.”

“You looked like you were in pain, so I wondered if it was too much.”

“It is a pain. Tell that kid to stop singing.”

So that was why his face had been all twisted up like he was chewing on something sour. Because of Suho’s singing. Well. Even to me, it was auditory pollution. 

His vocal range was straight out of another dimension with zero potential for improvement. If Suho’s dream happened to be becoming an idol, a musical actor, or an opera singer, I’d need to start thinking about how to let him down gently without crushing him.

I stared at the back of Suho’s glossy black head and let out a resigned sigh. Well, at least here the only audience was Jay and me, so he could shout his songs all he wanted without anyone filing a noise complaint.

“Hey, hold on.”

Just then, Jay reached from behind and pulled me by the shoulder.

“Huh?”

The moment I turned, something soft pressed against my lips and then quickly pulled away.

“What…”

Before I could even process what had just happened, I heard a stifled chuckle above my head. I blinked in a daze and looked up. Jay, who moments ago had looked irritated, now walked past me with a completely relaxed expression.

It was a surprise kiss. He really had no sense of timing, always trying to rub lips at the most random moments. Jay walked ahead with long strides, then turned around and jerked his chin, gesturing for me to hurry. 

But, impatient as ever, he retraced his steps and came back to my side before I could even take one step.

“Why are you so shocked?”

“Are you crazy? What if Suho sees?”

“He absolutely won’t. Can’t you tell he’s completely lost in his own world? He’s more out of it than a drunk. We could make out or perform circus tricks behind him and he’d never notice.”

“Still, be careful.”

“Not saying I shouldn’t do it, huh.”

“That’s not what I….”

Kiss. My vision was suddenly swallowed by shadow as Jay stole another kiss. This guy…. How was he so fast? 

Before I could react, his lips were on mine, then gone again. This time, the sound was embarrassingly loud, like he did it on purpose.

As I flinched, the brute beside me let out a gleeful snicker. My eyes were still fixed on Suho’s back. Hopefully he hadn’t heard anything. 

But just as Jay said, Suho was too caught up in his self-composed singing to care what was happening behind him.

Still, I shouldn’t let this kind of reckless skinship slide. From what I’d observed, Jay was the type who dove headfirst into anything once it piqued his interest. It was obvious from the way he handled axe-swinging or climbing trees. 

He had started out clumsy as hell, and now he looked like he’d been living off-grid for 48 years.

I jabbed my elbow into Jay’s side.

“Anyway, I said don’t do it.”

But Jay just half-listened, and ended up grabbing the laundry from my hands and walking off with it anyway.

***

Once we got deeper into the forest, a breeze laced with a bitter green scent began to blow. It was definitely cooler and more pleasant here than by the beach. I took a moment under the thick shade of the trees to cool off. 

Meanwhile, those two lunatics were sprinting at full speed like predators chasing prey. And for what? Just to claim the best laundry spot.

Suho had started running without warning, and Jay followed just seconds later. I’d stayed behind and wandered into the tree shade on my own.

I tied the rope I’d brought tightly around a sturdy tree branch. There weren’t many leaves to block the sun, so it was a good spot. I tied the other end to a branch across the way. After repeating the motion a few more times, soft curved lines of rope appeared here and there between the trees.

“Hey hey! Minors like you just sit back and watch. Hyung’s got this.”

“What are you even saying.”

Jay slammed the fabric down onto the rock with loud, wet thuds. He was so intensely focused on the laundry that the muscles on his forearms, exposed thanks to his sleeves being rolled up past his shoulders, looked like they might burst. Tiny droplets of water sprayed everywhere around him.

Suho, scowling with irritation, glared at Jay before rubbing the clothes between his hands with a huff. But no matter how hard he scrubbed, the old grime and salt stains didn’t come out as well as Jay’s. In the end, he snuck glances at Jay and began mimicking him exactly.

I rolled up the hems of my pants and stepped into the stream. A piercing chill spread through my legs, enough to make my head ring. It felt like the heat had been washed away in an instant. 

I had an overwhelming urge to just dive in head-first and submerge my whole body. But with those two going all out beating laundry beside me, I couldn’t be the only one relaxing.

I picked up a pair of pants from the top of the laundry pile nearby.

“Put that down. That’s mine.”

Jay, who had been furiously whipping a T-shirt through the air, immediately tried to stop me. I didn’t pay him much mind and dunked the pants straight into the water.

“There’s no such thing as yours or mine when we’re doing laundry. Let’s just get it over with.”

“Do you not see the insane pace I’m going at? While Suho’s done three pieces, I’ve already finished ten.”

“Slow down, will you? If you tear the clothes, I swear I’ll tear you too.”

“…You wanna just do it? I’ll go wash the blankets.”

Just seconds ago, Jay had been fired up with fierce determination, but now he backed off with his tail between his legs. With splashing steps, he made his way upstream to fetch the blankets. 

Suho, who had been secretly keeping an eye on his formidable rival, darted after him like lightning and stuck by his side. The two of them launched into another bloody laundry war, wrestling over a blanket like it was a prize trophy.

***

“Hahhk, huff, hoo…”

Freshly hand-washed laundry was spread out neatly over the rocks. And next to it, Jay and Suho were sprawled out flat, completely exhausted.

At that moment, I started to understand, just a little, why Suho had chosen to spend his precious day off doing laundry instead of playing hide-and-seek or tag.