Carmela grabbed Yoon's hand and softly pulled him to his feet. He looked a bit flustered and shuffled behind her as she dragged him to the group of boys that were peaking over each other's heads in surprise.
Once they approached, Carmela dropped off the confused sleepy boy with the others and stepped in front of them, putting her hands on her hips. She glanced at Tae and found a weird scowl on his face. What was up with him?
"Okay. Let's start with something super simple. It's good that I studied some male hip-hop moves, because now I can teach you quickly! But first, who here can dance?"
The boys looked at Hosi, who proudly grinned, but Carmela of course already knew that. Most of her choreographies were tried out by Hosi, and they often worked together and performed at small parties.
"Who else?" She looked around and spotted Jimin's mouth opening but then closing again. Was he shy? He didn't seem like the shy type.
"Jimin can dance!" JK said excitedly, swinging an arm over his shorter but older friend's shoulders.
The blonde haired boy gave a sheepish smile and nodded. "And Tae!" He looked behind him and grinned at Tae who smiled back at him.
Hmm, so he thinks he can dance, eh? We'll see about that.
"Most of us can't dance. Hosi, Jimin and Tae are the only ones that are good and JK is taking classes but... to tell the truth, I'm not really good. At all." Jin said and scratched the back of his neck. Aw baby, don't worry. Imma turn you into a badass pretty soon, Jin. We gotta put those broad shoulders to mighty fine use.
"That's totally fine, Jin! I'm here to teach you the choreography, but since we're planning it together, I'm going to teach you how to dance too so we're on the same page. Its mostly going to be hip-hop and break-dancing from me but you guys can definitely take tips from each other."
Namjoon looked deep in thought and raised his head, but his eyes were still on the floor.
"Yeah, I think that will save us some money too, because we won't need to hire a dance teacher or trainer."
Carmela hadn't thought about that, but they were just a starting band. They hadn't even debuted yet, and they were positioned in another company's building, so they did seem pretty tight on money. Roxana walked over to them and stood next to Namjoon, crossing her arms.
"You know, that's not a bad idea. We can teach you guys some moves and it'll be easier to come up with a choreo together that way." The boys nodded and Roxana turned to Carmela, a small smile playing on her light pink lips.
"Thank you. This will help these guys a lot."
Carmela grinned and fought to contain her excitement. Yes, yes, yes! Finally, the day wasn't going entirely to hell. Roxana jogged over to the tech equipment and turned on a simple, hip-hop beat of just base and light cymbal. Carmela felt her head bob to the beat. It was nice and perfect for a free-style.
"Hey guys, before we start learning, let's do a quick free-style to loosen up your bodies and get comfortable! Let's go, Hosi!"
Hosi jumped ahead and they gathered around him. The boys seemed a little nervous but when they saw Hosi's awesome moves they smiled and started cheering. Even Yoon was fully attentive to the dance.
The boys clapped and yelled and jumped as the excitement in the room grew. Carmela laughed and cheered along with them.
She spied Tae standing across from her with his hands in his pockets, leaning in slightly forwards to the middle. His body bobbed to the beat and he shouted a loud "AY" every time he saw Hosi do a move he liked. So far he liked when Hosi spun around super fast between a dance move. He also liked it when-- wait, what the fuck am I doing.
"Alright, now Jin! Get in here!" Carmela squealed and flapped her hands, urging to get Jin in the middle.
But he looked really nervous and he stopped smiling and moving. Why was he so nervous? Yoon patted him on the back and Jimin reached up and kissed him on the cheek, but the tall, skinny boy wouldn't budge. His eyes pleaded to Carmela that he didn't want to go in but she smiled and stepped closer to him pulling him by the hands.
She started to dance in front of him and the boys around them cheered and shouted loudly, but Jin started at the floor, frozen. Come on Jin! Carmela stepped closer to him and moved her body to the beat but he turned his eyes away from her, gulping. His hands twitched at his sides and he ran a hand through his hair. Carmela laughed loudly, trying to urge him to move his body.
Suddenly he shut his eyes and popped them open again, wide and angry.
"I said NO! I don't want to dance, so I don't have to dance!"
Carmela stopped and the room went silent except for the loud music beat. Jin turned around and began to walk out of the middle but Carmela wouldn't let him go so easily. She grabbed his arm and he froze.
"Jin. Please turn around. I know you're not comfortable, but you've gotta at least try. We're all your friends. I'm your friend, and I'm gonna help you. Let me teach you. Please."
The lean brown haired boy turned back around and faced her, his expression softening. Carmela held his other hand and she stepped sideways, guiding him around in a small circle. She let go of one hand and reached out behind her, gesturing for the boys to join their slow spinning circle.
Carmela felt a large, warm hand slide around hers and she wrapped her fingers around his palm. She pulled the unknown boy beside her but her smile faltered for a second when she saw curly hair tower above her and a smirk pulling at soft lips.
She stared for a moment at Tae, at his sharp jaw above his strong neck and at his high cheekbones under smooth, soft skin, but she quickly looked away before her eyes could trail down to his collarbones.
Carmela didn't understand why or what she was feeling whenever she looked at Tae this way. The asshole annoyed the shit out of the her, but somehow... she found it sort of... funny? And his looks made her... crazy. She'd never met anyone like him, someone who childishly fought with her, blamed her, and challenged her.
It was sort of exciting, and she felt like she wanted... HELL NO, GIRL, YOU HOLD ON RIGHT THERE.
Her mind turned back to the dance, and one by one all the boys held their hands, laughing and whooping, around in a circle. Jin was smiling wide now, and he even laughed out loud as Jimin jumped up and down as they spun in a circle together. Soon they were all jumping but at different times which made their circle a little wonky and Carmela laughed at what they were doing. This was the only way to make them comfortable with moving their bodies. She turned to Jin at her side, and he stopped whooping for a second, giving her a soft smile of thanks. Carmela grinned and winked at him, squeezing his hand. She glanced at Tae and realized he was staring at her, a small smirk on his lips, but it wasn't a rude or mocking smirk. It was... just nice--uh, normal.
Yeah, this was normal. She was normal. She was a real choreographer. She was employed in a job she dreamed of.
This was more than normal. She was more than normal. She was happy.