Untitled, 2018

Chapter 46: Part of the Crew

Riti

Yeesh, what a guy, that Gunho. I couldn't tell if he was intimidating and six-foot-something or just an immature little teenager. Wait, he's older than me, right? I checked on my phone quickly. By a good two years, yes. I turned around and bumped right into Jimin, who was looking at me suspiciously.
"Do you like him?"
If I had a drink in my mouth, that's when I would have spit it out. "What?! No. Way."
He relaxed a little and walked into the dressing room. I followed him but he gasped and pushed me out. "Hullo. We're changing."
"Yeah but you won't be completely naked. Plus the stylists in there—"
"Um, underwear counts as pretty naked. And those ladies are our stylists. And they don't look. You are a girl."
I stepped out of the room and closed the door in front of me. "Brillant observation."
But the door opened a peep back up instantly, and this time a different head poked through.

"Tomorrow. Dinner and drinks to celebrate. Be there," Yoongi said, before shutting the door again. I smiled and yelled "Alright!" to the closed door, and walked to the other room. Kang, Mateo, Hanna and I watched the performance on the TV in there, and I inched closer and closer, mesmerized. Mateo mentioned how impressive it was and I smugly grinned at him. Duh.

But our work was done, and we had to leave after. During my ride back, I eyed Hanna's phone every now and then, but realized how suspicious it would be to do anything. In the meantime I tried figuring out if there was a backup to the last three months' work online. No such luck. Oh well. It was either lost forever or with Hanna somewhere, and I'd love for me to find the latter without having to rat her out at the risk of seeming like the culprit myself. Over the research period, I had spent more time with Mateo, especially the last month, but even then, I wasn't too close to him. I would sometimes confide in Kang, but he was more of a mentor than a friend. I realized with a smile that Bangtan had become my friends, apart from the two kids at school I talked to regularly. BTS— well, Jimin was the one who knew most about me in this entire half of the world. Now isn't that funny.

When the next day came around, I went to a morning class, worked on my research stuff as fast as I could, and went shopping for Jin. I didn't know how exciting of a dinner party it would be but I was heckin excited. With everything going on, I just wanted a break away from the people causing the problems. Just Jimin and me. I shook my head with a laugh. Stupid girl.

_________________________
Taehyung

The dinner "party" was at a high-end restaurant I had rented out for the evening, and was just us, and the staff closest to us. Usually that's about twelve of us, but this time we added Riti in. Yoongi offered for his manager to pick her up, which had irked Jimin, but he didn't show it. This sorry-ass kid couldn't even admit he was interested in her. Yeah, yeah, relationships spell trouble, but she was great. And love is love. Besides, YOLO.

The members were the first to arrive at the restaurant, and Jimin looked at his phone every few minutes in anticipation of a text.
I smirked and turned to Jungkook, who was standing next to me by the bar. "Don't you think he likes her?"
Jungkook froze for a quick second. "What? Who?"
I nudged my head in Jimin's direction. "Riti."
He thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Nah. I don't think so."
"Why not?"
"What do you mean why not? Why would you think so?"
I opened my mouth to retort but Yoongi walked in with Riti by his side. She was dressed up and looked great, and I glanced at Jimin to see eyes widen as he grinned excitedly. "That's why, you blunt egg." I muttered to Kook before going to greet them myself.

She looked a little shy as she hugged us all, but we were excited to have her here. Jimin tried to get her to sit by him, but in the whole flurry of activity she ended up sitting between me and Namjoon, right across from him.

"Well?" I asked the table once we'd settled down. "Let's get the drinks started!"

_______________________
Riti

I looked over at Jimin as a waiter passed drink menus around, and he caught my eye and winked, making me break out into a smile.
When my turn came to order, I simply asked for a mango flavored mocktail. The others, especially Jimin, protested my choice to not get alcohol.

"We're here for a good time, c'mon!"
"First, it's illegal. Besides, even if it wasn't, I don't drink." I smiled.
Jin interjected, "No, no, it's not illegal here. You just have to be 20, in Korean years."
A chorus of yea's came up around the room. I raised an eyebrow at Jin. "I know, Jin. It's illegal."
Namjoon scrunched his brows and looked at me. "That's 19 in international age, Riti."
I laughed at their sincerity. "Guys, I'm 18." The whole room paused for a second.
Jimin's eyes almost popped out of his noggin. "No way..."

Jin burst into laughter. "Ma'am? Miss Advice Giver and Presentation Master? You're how old?"
Jungkook pointed at me. "You owe me some more respect, child."
I pretended to throw my fork at him. "I'm literally living in a different country all by myself. I'm not a child, child."
Taehyung put his arm around me. "Welcome, our newest adult here. How are you liking New adulthood?"
I pushed his arm aside. "My birthday's coming up soon next year, I'm not a new adult."
Yoongi and Joon laughed sarcastically at that.

I said indignantly, "What? Because I'm 18 we can't be friends?"
Hoseok shook his head, "No, we're already friends, silly. You just got five times more adorable and protectable though." He laughed, making the whole table burst into laughter.
Taehyung poked Hoseok jokingly. "Hey careful with calling her cute, she's already taken by me"
I felt a sharp kick to my left leg and yelped, drawing attention to myself.

I quickly shut up and dismissed it as a bump against the table, but glared at a very flustered Jimin in front of me, who kept looking between me and Taehyung, embarrassed. Taehyung noticed Jimin had kicked me instead of him, and tried his best to hold back a laugh. He teased Jimin with his expressions, further embarrassing the man, and not to mention, me. When his drink arrived, Jimin downed it in a gulp, making his flush permanent.

I watched as he downed one glass, then another, then another. I put my face close to Namjoon's glass, which was the same stuff, and smelled the strength of the liquor. I looked at Jimin drinking and almost gagged. This time I kicked his foot (but a lot more lightly) to get his attention.
"How and why are you drinking that fast?!"
He shrugged with a laugh. "I'm pretty heavyweight. I'm pretty pretty too, don't you think?" He said with a wink.
I rolled my eyes. The alcohol was getting to him already. So I just smiled back at him sarcastically and nodded.