N I N E I N T H E C A R

Smoothies and Dimples

*Sunday evening- Your POV*

You grabbed your bag and stepped hurriedly off the bus, pulling your skirt down a bit as you went.
As you walked down the road the sun seemed to shine down only on you and you panted slightly, wishing more than ever that you didn't have to wear a uniform today.
You worked at a small cafe on the other side of town, not because you liked it, just because you wanted to earn some money. Being 18, (nearly 19) you wanted to have money to do what you pleased without having to rely on your parents so much.
You passed a smoothie parlour, pulling slightly at the stupidly tight shirt you wore and mentally calculating the cost of the refreshing drink.
After a moment you entered, deciding your saving wouldn't suffer to much from losing £4.75. You didn't know exactly what you were saving for, you just were.
Once you had ordered, you sat at a table and let your mind wander.
What did you want to be? What did you want to do? Those questions always worked their way to the front of your mind but you didn't have the answer, you don't know what you liked. Well, you did... kind of.
You loved to sing, loved music and dance more than anything and had always dreamed of performing on a stage, the roar of the crowd drowning out your fears but your parents didn't agree. They wanted you to be a lawyer or a doctor, something more predictable than taking a chance in the music industry and you didn't want to disappoint them. Even though you knew they wouldn't force you into anything you wanted to make the two people who had always been so caring and loving proud. They had only ever been good to you, making sure they were parents you could be proud of and you wanted to do the same so you stopped thinking about being a singer as much as you could.
There was a cough and you looked up to see dimples and round glasses smiling down at you, holding a smoothie cup.
"Namjoon? What are you doing here?" You asked, taking the cup and giving him a quick hug.
"I thought I should finally get a job, needed some extra cash for... well just for this and that you know? But anyway! My shift is over now, want to walk home together?"
As you neared your home, the man beside you grabbed your arm and pulled you to a stop.
"Close your eyes, we have a surprise for you!"
"Wh-what? "
You said as he dragged you forward, guiding up the steps and to your front door.
"Well you know how it's your birthday tomorrow.... and you know how you've always wanted to go on a road trip?"
With that, he opened the door and pushed you inside.
"Surprise!!" The yell seemed to come from thin air until six figures leapt out into the hallway with balloons and a birthday cake.
You paused, confused. "Ugh... thanks guys but it's my birthday tomorrow."
Bree rolled her eyes, the long plait of red hair swaying on her back as she rushed over.
"We know that babe but we have something planned and your gonna love it."
"Tell me then!" You laughed, placing your bag and smoothie on the floor.
Jin led you out of the back door towards the garage proudly, opening the door and announcing "I just got a car! And guess what I'm going to do with it first? Take us all on a road trip!"
You gasped and everyone else yelled happily.
"really? I've always wanted to! Where are we going.... everywhere?"
Jin nodded happily.
"All around the world. It sounds crazy but we've never been out of Seoul have we, we can go to the other end of the world. See knew things, knew people, knew cultures. Knew worlds!"
"That's why we have to have a party now, we can't exactly do it on the road."
Jungkook continued, holding the giant cake above his head.
"Wow." You smiled, "thanks so much guys, are we leaving tomorrow?"
"Yep, at 6 in the morning so we should party now and get a good night sleep."
Jin said and everyone headed for the living room where a pile of presents covered the floor.
"You really didn't have to!" You blushed, joining them on the floor.
"But we wanted to." Tae cut in.
"Open them now or on the road tomorrow?"
"I should probably wait... but I can't! I'm to excited."
"Good, I want to see what you got." Jimin beamed. "We shopped separately so it's a surprise."
"Open mine!" You caught the gift Bree chucked at you and unwrapped it carefully. Your jaw dropped and you lifted the soft material up carefully.
"Bree you really shouldn't have! Don't spend so much money on me, I'm not worth it."
"Don't talk nonsense, of course you are!"
The dress in your hands was one you'd always wanted. It was deep red with long sleeves and tiny patterns on the arms.
The next was a series of books written by your favourite author from Namjoon, then a necklace with your zodiac sign on it from Jin.
Jungkook handed you a huge box filled with all your favourite snacks, smiling sheepishly and saying,
"I know you don't really like that top packet of crisps but I really like them so..."
"Here take them!" You giggled, throwing the bag in his direction.
Surrounded by all these snacks, you were tempted to dig in but there were still presents to open.
Jimin pushed Jungkook out the way playfully, handing you a gift bag.
Inside was an assortment of small things, wrapped in pretty paper. He smiled widely, eyes turning to crescent moons as you unwrapped various things. Mini Hot Chocolate packets, little perfumes and a pack of fluffy socks.
"I thought cause we're going on a road trip it would be good to have small things!"
You nodded gratefully and carefully placed the things back in the bag.
Hoseok gave you a huge fluffy blanket and multiple packs of scrunchies and Yoongi gave you an album from one of your favourite groups, Ateez.
As you opened multiple gifts from your parents, it dawned on you that they still weren't home and you felt slightly guilty, turning to Bree.
"Do you know where my parents are?"
She smiled and wiggled her eyebrows replying "yep, we told them of our plans and they decided to go on holiday together! Spain apparently."
"Ah ok, I'll ring them later." You decided, pleased they would get to relax.
You glanced around for your boyfriend as the others chatted about the trip, wondering why he wasn't next to you.
"Tae, what's wrong?" You asked, spotting him on the sofa in a corner and sitting next to him.
He looked at you sulkily and pulled you down so that your head was on his lap.
"I can't give you your present." He muttered, looking down at you. You looked back up and frowned. "Why's that. Scared it's not as good as the others?" You teased but he nodded slightly and your face softened.
"Because everyone else bought you something and I only made you something and I feel stupid now."
You laughed at his pout and reached for the present he held.
"I'm even more excited now! Come on, pleaseee?"
He sighed and handed it to you, cracking a smile when you happily tore the paper off.
Inside was a scrap book, filled with pictures of all the things you two had done and little comments here and there, memorable things one of you had said at some point.
Your jaw literally dropped and you sat up slightly to wrap your arms around him.
"I love it the most, don't worry."
Instantly, the boxy smile appeared on his face and he squeaked happily.

The nine of you partied together until it got dark outside, finally turning the music down when Yoongi reminded everyone they had an early start tomorrow.
You lay on the sofa, full of party food and totally content. Tae appeared next to you, letting you rest your head in his lap again and you flipped slowly through the scrap book as the others settled slowly around you.
In that moment, everything was perfect. Head on your boyfriends lap, surrounded by presents and your favourite people on the planet with the knowledge that tomorrow was the start of the best thing you'd ever done.
You didn't want to sleep. The excitement pushed tiredness to the side but you forced your eyes to close as the chatter around you calmed to.

*Early the next morning- Your POV*

"SMACK"
You groaned, forcing your eyes open and reaching instinctively for your phone that was always on your bedroom stand. Except your bedroom stand wasn't there and your bed was rock hard and cold. As your eyes focused, the wooden floor came into view and you frowned, rolling into a sitting position. Laying on the sofa above you was Tae, legs and arms spread out in a star position.
"Really?" You moaned to yourself swaying towards the light switch and surveying the mess of pizza boxes and coke cans that came into view.
"Morning, happy birthday treasure."
You felt strong arms wrap around you and leaned back against Tae's chest, eventually turning to bury your face in his neck. You swayed silently across the room together and sank back onto the sofa. You snuggled into him, eyes beginning to close again.
"Uh uh, we need to get up and ready." His voice cut through the silence and you shook your head.
"It's to early, lets do it later."
"We have an hour honey, I thought you'd need plenty of time?"
You leapt up, wide awake.
"An hour? That's not plenty of time! I need to pack, shower and tidy up this huge mess and ring my parents to let them know I'm ok!"
Tae simply laughed and stood, leading you to the shower and closing the door, leaving you inside.
"Stop stressing, you shower and I'll tidy up downstairs." He said from the other side and you heard him run down the stairs, chatting to himself.
"Weirdo"
You muttered but you didn't mean it. One of your favourite things was his kind of crazy and definitely 4D personality. Your baby was ethereal.

You stepped out, wrapping a towel around you and your hair before heading for your room.
Your room was at the end of the hall, first was your parents and then the spare room. The walls were plastered in Kpop posters, your light sticks sat on shelf and a pin board in the wall held tickets. You liked to keep any tickets you got from bus tickets to plane tickets to concert tickets.
Then was a shelf of books and albums. You had to many books to count and three albums from various groups.
You sat at your desk, wrapped a dressing gown around yourself and stared into the mirror, wondering what to do with your hair. In the end you decided to straighten it and leave it down.
Half way through, you heard feet on the floor and Tae was suddenly sprawled on your bed, a pizza slice hanging from his mouth.
"Watcha doing?"
"Straightening my hair"
He stood up on the bed and bounced around, still with the pizza in hand.
"Can I try?"
You eyed his bouncing form apprehensively, watching him eat.
"Don't choke, I'd rather have an alive boyfriend if I'm honest." You muttered, hoping to direct his attention from the dangerous matter of heat, excitable bouncy boyfriend and your own hair. He normally had a very short attention span but this time he simply leapt off the bed with a thud and bent down to wrap his arms around your neck, forcing you to lower the straighteners.
"Please?" He pouted, giving you puppy eyes and nuzzling your cheek with his nose.
"Kim Taeyhung if you burn me, set my hair on fire or even worse, make us late so I'm not ready when the others come, you better sleep with one eye open from then on!"
He just chuckled and you had no chose but to hand him the weapon and pray.
You relaxed instantly when you saw him fully concentrating and watched his eyebrows furrow and lips form a pout as he carefully sectioned your hair and ran the straightener along the strands.
It was funny suddenly seeing him take so much interest in it but you couldn't deny it was adorable.
Soon enough you had perfectly straight hair and no burns at all.
"Did I do good?" He asked, face lighting up at how pleased you seemed.
"You did great, thank you."
His smile widened and he left you for the bed while you grabbed some travel clothes: black leggings, an oversized hoodie that may have been Tae's at some point and some converse. You shrugged your dressing gown off and tugged your clothes on, thoughts instantly turning to packing.
Tae watched from the bed as you grabbed as many clothes that would fit in your suitcase. There was plenty of room in the car as it had an open back to put luggage. Then you filled your rucksack with books, a torch, toiletries, earphones and charger and all the snacks you had downstairs. Tae carried your luggage to the car then his own which he had bought the night before. Lastly you placed the dress from Bree in its own bag. "Just in case." You thought. Then the things from Jimin and the fluffy blanket from Hoseok. There seemed easily enough room for everyone else's luggage and at the last minute you slipped Tae's present, the scrapbook, into your rucksack.