Carmela, Am I Your Friend?

Carmela stomped behind Tae and they entered the kitchen, fuming. Aunt Kass smiled and spread her arms, presenting the three plates of delicious fajitas resting on the small dining table.

"¡Es hora de comer! Come, my dears! You must be starving, let's eat!" Aunt Kass said.

"Yes! Finally..." Carmela smiled, her mood lifting.

She smelled the wonderful aroma of fajitas and glided over to the table. Eagerly sitting down, she immediately stuffed the spicy chicken and vegetables into her mouth, closing her eyes at the delicious taste.

"Eeeeeeh, Aunt Kass, it's so good! Thank you!" Carmela squealed.

But her bad mood slightly returned as Tae sat next to her, digging into his own plate.

"Wow! This really is delicious! You're an amazing cook, Ms. Kass!" Tae said with a full mouth. Um, gross.

"Ay, Taehyung, love! Please, call me Isadora! I am Isadora to you, mi querido!" Aunt Kass squealed and Tae grinned at her from across the table. Nope. Not with Aunt Kass you don't.

"Ahem, Aunt Kass. Next time you send someone to my room, could you remind them to knock?" Carmela asked.

"Huh? Oh, sure, sure, Carmela. But your room was locked, no?"

Carmela glanced at Tae's smirking face.

"No it wasn't, sorry. I forgot my dear colleague was here." She ignored Tae's frown.

"It's okay, mija. Next time you should be careful, in case someone walks in on you changing or something! Especially if its a dear colleague..." Aunt Kass giggled and lowered her face, munching on her food.

Carmela felt her face go warm, and she cleared her throat. Are you kidding? Why Aunt Kass, why?

"I should've knocked though." Tae said, and turned to Carmela. "Sorry about that. I'll definitely knock next time I go to your room."

"Dude, keep dreaming. You're not going to my room again. Ever." She said, enjoying the spicy chicken in her mouth.

Suddenly, Aunt Kass let out a mischievous chuckle. She stared down at her food with sly eyes and chewed slowly, nodding to herself. Tae and Carmela gazed at her, confused. Umm... okaaayy... What was up with her?

"Right. Anyways, can I have a bit of your fajitas?" Tae said, turning back to Carmela.

"No you can not have a bit of my fajitas! You finished yours and now you wanna finish mine?"

"I'm hungry and they're so good." He whined, raising the pitch of his deep voice.

"Well, fajitas are MY favourite food, so don't you dare try to take them from me."

"Please?"

"Go away, Taehyung."

"Did you have a lot of friends when you were a kid?"

What? That was random as hell. Carmela didn't know what to say. Her childhood was messed up after her mom died and her dad left for Mexico to live with his girlfriend. The only friend she was ever truly close with was Jules, who had been there with her every step of the way, who knew every secret about her, every insecurity. Well, almost every insecurity.

"Uhm, why are you asking that all of a sudden?" She said.

"Because I don't think you did."

"What? What makes you say that?"

"You don't know how to share." He simply stated.

"Ha! Are you serious? Trust me, I'm the best sharer out there! I just don't wanna share with you!"

"Hm. Okay." He replied, and turned back to his empty plate.

"Huh?" She was confused he gave up so easily.

"What, did you expect me to beg you?"

"No, I just--"

"Eat your damn fajitas, Carmela."

"O-okay." What was wrong with him? Why did he just stop talking. He never did that. He never let her have the last word in an argument.

Suddenly he turned around in his seat and pointed at something.

"Look! It's Jules!" He said.

Jules? Here? Now? What? Did she find out about what happened tonight? Did Aunt Kass tell her? Carmela spun around in her seat, confused as hell. But she saw nothing in the living room, or by the front door. What on earth? She turned back to her plate, frowning.

"Tae, what're you talking abou--" She gasped.

Her plate was literally almost empty. That stinking little... She snapped her head to the side and glared at Tae's blown-up cheeks. He quickly rested his chin in his hand, trying to hide his face.

"HEY! HOW DARE YOU TAKE MY FAJITAS! DO YOU WANNA DIE?!" She yelled, standing up from her chair.

Tae swallowed the food nervously, and looked at Aunt Kass. But she was just eating her food with lowered eyes and a smirk played across her lips. Ha, no help there! Tae gulped and quickly got up from his chair, stumbling back from Carmela.

Was he... was he afraid of her right now? Pfft. What was there to be scared about? I mean he did kinda steal her favourite food but its not like she was actually gonna beat him or something. The sight of the tall boy cowering in front of her, lightened her up. She eased away from her anger and sat down in her chair. Tae was still standing like 5 feet away from the table. Stupid idiot.

"Are you... not gonna do anything?" Tae asked, nervously.

Carmela shook her head and put the last bits of chicken in her mouth.

"Well, okay then." He said and walked back to his chair, sitting down. He glanced at the silent woman in front of them. Aunt Kass was now tapping away at her phone, oblivious to everything.

"Ahem... uhm-- listen, I'm sorry for... for stealing your fajitas."

Carmela felt a weird flutter in her abdomen, at the sound of his soft voice beside her, and stared at the pieces of pepper in her plate.

"It's fine. I don't care." Carmela replied, picking at the pepper with her fork.

"A-are you sure? Why aren't you like... yelling and stuff?"

"Because I don't want to."

"Why?"

Carmela got up from her seat and stacked his plate on top of hers. She walked over to the sink and dropped them in there, putting some soap on the sponge. She ignored the boy back at the table. Somehow... she didn't feel mad anymore, just seeing him scared of her satisfied her enough. Besides, it's not like she enjoys their pointless fighting. She just does it because.... well, because... she sort of liked talking with him.

She was confused. She sometimes hated him. But sometimes... she felt drawn to him, and yearned to know more about him. She wanted to know why he was crying on that bench yesterday, and why he was so... strange. Those little things he did, well she noticed them.

The way he had basically begged her to talk to him on the phone about what was wrong when she was crying, the way he had asked how she was after her dream, the way he had stayed in the hospital with her for hours, the way he was kind of... worried about her, the way his body felt against hers on the broken bench and in her room just now.

Did he feel the same odd way? What was going on through his mind when they were together? Why did he always get on her nerves, when it seemed like he... cared. Just a little. It made her wonder... was she falling for this guy? The guy that made her mad every second she was with him? Was this weird feeling in her heart real? How? How can you begin to... grow feelings for someone, when all you've done is fight and yell at each other?

"Do you need help?"

Carmela jumped at the deep voice in her ear, and the soapy fork slipped from her hands. She snapped her head to the side and felt something crash against her head.

"Ow! My face!" Tae groaned and she turned around. He was clutching his cheek, and stumbled back.

"I-I'm so sorry!" She said, raising her voice over his groans.

"Sorry? Sorry isn't gonna help my pain!"

"Well, how did you get hit so hard? You're like a head taller than me!"

"I was... well... I was just leaning down close to your ear!"

"What? Why?" Carmela asked, ignoring her thudding heart.

"Because you're deaf, remember!" He tripped over his words, with flustered cheeks.

"Ah, Taehyung, AH! I literally said sorry! Even if I try to be nice, you're still an asshole!" Carmela felt frustrated, pouting angrily.

She couldn't understand her own feelings, and he was making it worse by constantly challenging her. She knew he wasn't mean and rude to everyone else, he was so sweet with Aunt Kass and the boys, so why was he like that with her? Who screams at someone, even after they said they're fucking sorry?

Tae lowered his hands from his face and blinked his dark eyes.

"Wait, why are you trying to be nice?"

"Because!" Carmela skimmed over her scrambled mind and found the right words, "We're colleagues. We should try to be... civil with each other."

Tae looked surprised, and he scoffed, putting his hands in the pockets of his grey sweats. Ha. Carmela just realized. They were wearing matching pants.