Boys Being Boys

Carmela licked the mango ice cream off the plastic spoon and looked up at the yellow umbrella over their round table. It was a hot and sunny September day, and the customers at their cheap but favorite ice cream place were numerous today. Carmela and Jules sat at a table that was near the sidewalk, and they chatted as people rode bikes and cars happily along the road.

"How's your job going?" Jules asked, sitting cross-legged in her chair across from her, spooning her raspberry sundae.

"It's great so far. It's not exactly how I imagined it though, but oh well."

"Hm? Why, what's up? Is that guy still messing with you?"

"Taehyung? Nah, he's not as bad as he used to be." Carmela replied. He didn't really talk much at all during practices. He didn't seem like the quiet type at all, but maybe he was just super focused on the dance practicing. The boys and her did laugh around once in a while, but Roxana would usually bring them back to business.

"That's good then. I woulda given him a pile of shit if he was still yelling at you for no reason." Thank God for that.

"Haha, I know. How's the fam? I haven't seen your step-dad in a long time. Where the hell has he disappeared to?"

"He's um... I guess away on a business trip somewhere. He'll be back in a couple of days though."

"Right, doesn't he own like a huge ass company or something?"

"Yeah, something like that. I ain't too sure though. But I don't really give a shit where he's at."

"Hm."

"He literally just dropped his son off with us like we were some kind of fucking daycare. He barely visits. He barely even talks to mom."

"I've only seen him like once. Koman's his name right?"

"Yep. Hosi and him moved from Korea like ten years ago, I think. Around the same time dad died from cancer."

Carmela put the bowl of ice cream down on the table, and set her elbows on the table, fiddling with her silver chain bracelet.

"Jules, do you... do you dream about your dad?"

"Dream about him? Nah, I don't think so. I mean, maybe I do, can't remember though. Why?"

"I don't know, I'm jus-"

Suddenly, loud whooping voices and blaring car honking, were coming from the road, and everyone sitting outside at the café turned in their seats to see what was going on. Carmela and Jules exchanged a confused look and peered at the road too.

"What the fuck?" Carmela said as she looked. Her heart thudded with surprise.

The boys, all seven of them, were riding their bikes down the road, whooping and laughing around a black car. It honked and drove slowly, trying not to crash into any of the crazy sneering boys. What the hell were they doing? Carmela stood from her seat and walked from the table to the sidewalk, waiting as they neared. Hm. Wait... six of them were laughing but... was that Jin? He was in the back, trying to catch up to the others, with a panicked face. She narrowed her eyes and looked closer at the driver of the black car and saw that it was a young woman.

Hosi laughed out loud and turned closer to the car window.

"Hey Maddy! Why don't you come out? We just wanna talk! More importantly, Jin here wants to talk to you!" The guys laughed around Hosi and Jin slowed his bike even further.

Carmela clenched her teeth into a scowl. What the- were they fucking serious? HA! How- HOW DARE THEY!

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU GUYS ARE DOING? LEAVE HER ALONE YOU CRAZY CREEPS!" She screamed from the sidewalk.

The boys spun their shocked heads towards Carmela standing by curb, and their bikes swerved as they tried to regain their balance.

Are you fucking- what was wrong with these guys? Poor girl and poor fucking Jin. He probably likes her. Is that why he was in the back, looking so nervous? Why isn't he stopping them?

"HOSI! SHUT UP AND GET AWAY FROM THAT... uh, car."

Carmela lost track of her sentence as Tae suddenly sped up front and waved his hand over to the guys, gesturing for them to stop. He rode his little bike right up along the curb and jumped up onto the sidewalk, parking in front of her. His messy hair was under a white cap and he wore a black t-shirt and black baggy shorts. He wore a sliver chain around his neck and Carmela clutched her braceleted wrist.

"What're you doing? Why are you standing out here, huh?" He said with an annoyed voice.

"Well, I was peacefully eating ice cream when along came you guys screaming your asses off until I had to get up and stop you from embarrassing yourselves and hurting that girl!"

"YOU didn't have to do anything! We weren't even doing anything wrong! And what the hell made you think we'd listen to you?"

"Well, I mean you kinda fucking did..."

"No we didn't! I stopped because you were turning us into perverts in front of everyone! What the fuck Carmela?"

Carmela scoffed and crossed her arms. Oh, damn you Taehyung. She turned to the other boys who were sitting on their bikes, parked on the edge of the vacant street road.

"What were you guys doing out there? Why were you messing with that girl? Following her fucking car around? Screaming after her like assholes? I really didn't expect this from you guys. I really didn't. What the hell is wrong with you?" She scolded them. Hosi quietly scoffed but he lowered his eyes to the floor like the other boys.

"You do realize that you're gonna be debuting in a few weeks right? What if someone got you guys on video? What would you do then, huh?"

"That's what I told them but they didn't listen..." Jin muttered, his eyes still on the ground.

Carmela dragged a hand through her long blonde hair that tangled in the breeze and sighed.

"Can someone please tell me what the fuck you guys were doing though? Who the hell was that?" She looked around at the boys and then turned to Tae in front of her. His dark eyes shaded under his dark hair were narrowed over at the café who had turned back to eating and chatting. Was he looking at Jules? Who was he looking at?

"Look at me." She snapped, and Tae's head turned back to hers.

"All of you." The boys looked up at Carmela and JK spoke up.

"Sorry Carmela. It's just that... I mean, Madison... Well, she cheated on Jin. So we had to do what we had to do!" He blurt out.

What? That girl? She cheated on- Oh.

"But still, that's not the way you deal with these things. You don't need revenge or anything like that. It's stupid. You shoulda just left her. Not made yourself look like assholes."

Jin nodded and the rest of them muttered apologetically but Tae just scoffed.

"Why wouldn't we get her back for what she did? She hurt our bro." Tae said, glancing at Jin.

"I think she needs to be told she shouldn't have messed with us." Namjoon grunted. Hm, guess he wasn't too smart after all.

"Yeah, but you guys aren't in high school anymore." She glanced at JK. "Well, most of you. You can't do shit like this. Besides, people like her are selfish. She obviously didn't care about Jin or you guys when she cheated, so why would she care now?" Carmela said.

"And, she doesn't even... she doesn't deserve you guys." She added, scratching her arm.

Twinkling smiles stretched onto their faces one by one and Jimin jumped off his bike, letting it crash to the pavement. The others followed him, their bikes a tangled heap against the sidewalk. They stumbled over the curb and Carmela darted forward for a second as Yoon almost tripped. They all stood in front of her, between Tae on his bike and her.

"Sorry, Carmela. You know me. I'm a little... enthusiastic." Hosi admitted, scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah, we're sorry if we pissed you off Carmela. We weren't thinking." Namjoon said and gave her an apologetic smile. She put her hands on her hips and finally smiled widely at the six boys towering in front of her.

"Alright, enough with the lame ass apologies. I get it. I uh... forgive you guys." She finished awkwardly, unsure of how to word the sentence.

The boys grinned and stretched their arms wide, shuffling closer, and hugged Carmela in their arms. She laughed as they folded around her, their bulky arms weighing gently on her thin body as they laughed and hugged.

"What'd we do without you Carmela!" JK squealed as he piled on top of the boys. Carmela giggled and she tried wiggling out of pile of boys basically on top of her. But she stopped and her smile faltered for a second, as she saw Tae still sitting on his bike, in front of their dog pile. His head was turned towards the café again, and he looked deep in though. What the fuck? Whatever. She didn't want his gross ass near her anyway.

But she was getting super hot and pushed off the others around her, and they broke apart, smiling at her.

"Imma head back now. See you guys at practice!" She waved and the boys said bye and jumped on their bikes. They whooped and sped away, as Carmela sighed at their childish behavior. They were kinda... cute though. They were like little kids. She was glad she met them. They were stupid but they made her smile. Well, most of them. She turned to Tae, who was parked on the street and cleared her throat at him, crossing her arms. He snapped his head towards her and looked around him, confused.

"Where did they-"

"They left.'

"Oh."

"Yep." Carmela glanced at his long lashed eyes once more and turned around, towards her table at the café. Jules was typing away at her phone, with her shining chocolate legs crossed up on the table.

"Hey. Wait." She heard Tae's deep voice behind her and groaned as she turned back around to face him.

"What do you want?"

He took of his hat, and dragged a hand through his hair, his dark waves spiking up from his forehead. Carmela tore her eyes away from him and focused on the fire hydrant on the sidewalk instead. Tae rubbed his hands around the handles of his bike he was sitting on up on the sidewalk in front of her. Was he fucking nervous? Pff.

"Dude, I'm just gonna leav-"

"Are you okay? I mean, after your dream about your mom and stuff I thought..."

Huh? Why did he care about that? He was literally just yelling at her a second ago.

"Fuck off, I'm feeling just fine."