crush- tahiti 80

YOUR POV

"No, Paige, I'm telling you! I did not take your stupid cashmere sweater! I don't even like cashmere!" You were barely in the entrance of the house as the sounds angry girls yelling at each other filled your ears, your mind still swirling with thoughts that surrounded Hoseok, who had only just now left the end of your drive.

"Then why was it in your suitcase?!" Another voice demanded, high-pitched and screeching just as loudly as the first. You cringed and then realized that you were still clutching Hoseok's bloody rash-guard. You side-stepped into the tiny cupboard where the washing machine resided, throwing it in and making a mental note that you would try to rescue the expensive piece of clothing that he had sacrificed for your head.

"You probably threw it into mine instead of yours by accident, you idiot! We were packing our bags right next to each other! And why would I want to steal and pack one of your hideous sweaters, anyway?! Newsflash; we're in Hawaii! It's like eighty-two degrees here every single day!" The other girl shot back as you emerged. You could now see that the two yelling girls were standing in the far part of the living room that was close to the hallway full of bedrooms.

"Whatever," one of the angry girls huffed, turning, and rushing back down the hallway and into her room. The other girl was left standing there, and she noticed you then as you offered a very awkward smile, unsure of what to do.

"Oh, hi. I'm Y/N, um, one of your other housemates," you offered nervously.

"Hi," the girl said flatly, "I'm Emma." The two of you had an uncomfortable moment of just staring at each other. ---physical desc.

"Nice to meet you," you tried to smile again, but Emma's face remained flat and bored-looking. "W-What's the other girl's name? Is she your friend?"

"That's Paige, and unfortunately, she's my sister," Emma rolled her eyes, "I have a lot of stuff to so," she pointed in the direction of the bedrooms. You nodded as Emma stalked off down the hallway, the sound of a door being slammed shut following close behind.

You stood in your spot for a moment, sighing. It was going to be a long three months if the two of them were screaming at each other like that the whole time. You chalked their bad behavior up to exhaustion and jet-lag, hoping that was the case as you crossed your fingers while making your way to your room to grab some different clothes.

The afternoon was progressively growing into the evening now, and all you wanted was something good to eat. It had been several hours since you last ate, and you hadn't realized how hungry you had truly become. Nobody in the house had been grocery shopping, so the fridge was still completely empty. This left you with no choice but to go out to eat. However, you looked like an absolute mess; half-covered in sand, a slight sunburn, and dried blood in your hair. You figured it would be best to take a shower before you left, wanting to save the general public from having to see you looking that bad.

Once in the shower, you ran your hands through your sand and blood dirtied hair, relishing in the feeling of the hot water slightly burning your skin. While you were massaging the shampoo into your hair, you were careful around the spot that had been hurt, leading your thoughts back to the boy, back to Hoseok.

The whole afternoon definitely hadn't gone the way you were planning nor expecting it to go. The gash in the back of your head was surely going to be a nuisance, but you couldn't find it in yourself to be truly angry at the boy or even irritated with him. His words and actions following the incident were kind and thoughtful, so at heart, he seemed like a genuine person. You hoped that the would be able to meet more people like him during your time in Hawaii. Those were the kind of people that you longed to be around.

You turned off the water a few minutes later, your stream of consciousness ending as you toweled off and got dressed, hunger gnawing at your stomach. Even after you were out of the shower, the bedroom doors of Emma and Paige were still closed. You rolled your eyes and decided to not bother to inform them of your whereabouts this time around. From what you had just witnessed, it was probably best to just leave them alone. You could only hope that your fourth and final housemate had a better attitude than they did.

You grabbed your wallet, and phone, and opening google maps, before stepping outside into the evening island air.

☼☼☼

Hoseok's POV

Hoseok's flip-flops smacked against the clean sidewalks of Poipu Shopping Village as he whistled and walked, hands in his pockets. He was now in a black V-Neck that had been washed and worn the perfect amount of times, rendering the material soft, and comforting to wear. He had a black snapback covering his half-wet, half-dry, mostly unruly hair that had been a result of the quick shower he took at home. The hat was necessary as he didn't want his hair to be sticking out in various different directions as he walked around in public.

After dropping you off at your house, Hoseok had returned to the beach where Kai and Kaylen had already returned from the surf. Kaylen was sitting on the edge of the beach, his knees drawn up to his chest as Kai was annoyed, sitting beside him. The younger boy had been severely disappointed by Hoseok's absence. So much so that he had had a bad attitude with his brother while in the water, making Kai ultimately decide to just give up on surfing for the day. Kai was clearly irritable as Hoseok approached, but he said he was still down to later meet up at Puka for dinner.

The decision to quit surfing for the day was fine with Hoseok, however, because after the incident with you, and after getting scolded by his surrogate sister, his mind was distracted with other things. Even if he had gone out in the water, he figured his thoughts would be too caught up elsewhere to catch any good waves, much less to pay fair attention to Kaylen.

So, he returned home for a while. He cleaned the surfboard, suppressing a smile as he put it up in his garage alongside his many other boards. That surfboard would always have a significant memory for him now. Because even if he never saw you again, he would always remember what had happened on the beach that day. Truth was, he felt really terrible about the accident. But, you had been so easily forgiving about it that he didn't feel the need to carry the burden of guilt. The only real loss that occurred at the beach that day for Hoseok was his previous Volcom rash-guard.

"Hobi! You made it!" Kaylen exclaimed, leaving his spot on the bench in which he had been waiting.

"I promised I would come, didn't I?" Hoseok grinned, ruffling the younger boy's hair.

"Yeah, but you also promised that you would come surfing with me today," Kaylen pouted, and Hoseok frowned.

"I said I was sorry, I had to help the girl I accidentally hit," Hoseok reminded him before allowing his face to break out into another smile, "How about we go to the north shore on Saturday? Huh? Me, you, Kai, and Leah. What do you say?"

Kaylen's eyes lit up at the offer, "Just the four of us?"

"Just the four of us," Hoseok confirmed, ruffling the boy's hair once more, "Now run over to your brother and order us some dinner," he said, pointing over to the outdoor restaurant Puka-Dog, where Kai was unhappily serving customers.

"Okay!" Kaylen agreed as he grinned, running off toward the stand.

Hoseok smiled as he watched the boy looking happy again, taking off his snapback momentarily to run his hand through his hair and sighed. He'd been in Hawaii for three years, and yet he was still in awe at how pleasant the evening island breeze was. He had yet to begin to take his surroundings for granted; he wasn't sure that he ever would. They were too vibrant, too intense to ever consider ignoring.

He ate dinner alongside Kaylen, joking around and making fun of Kai who was busy pressing lemons for their world-famous lemonade.

"This is hard work, okay! You try coming over here and squeezing the juice out of a hundred lemons every day!" Kai complained when there weren't any other customers around, eliciting laughter from both Hoseok and Kaylen.

"Bro, you act like you're the only one around here that has a job," Hoseok pointed out, taking a sip of the large lemonade he'd ordered for the sole purpose of spiting Kai.

"You work at a Ukelele shop in Koloa. That isn't exactly hard work," Kai rolled his eyes, before replacing his scowl with a fake smile as a new person approached.

"Throw your trash away and I'll treat you to ice cream, alright?" Hoseok told Kaylen as he stood, pushing his chair in. Kaylen quickly obeyed, throwing the trash away.

"You don't have to pay for dessert," Kai insisted, "I'll give you some cash for him."

"No, that's okay. I feel bad that I made him miss out today," Hoseok said as Kaylen reapproached. "We'll be right back."

Papalani Gelato was right across from Puka. It was a super small store, but it was some of the best ice cream that Hoseok had ever had. It was expensive, so it was a special treat that he only got with friends once in a while.

The bell at the top of the door rang as Hoseok entered with Kaylen, and he was pleased to find that there was only one other customer in the store. Usually, there was a pretty long line.

"Do you know which flavor you want?" Hoseok asked, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket.

"Hmm...I'll have to look in the display case," Kaylen shrugged.

"What do you recommend?" the girl in front of him asked the lady working, and Hoseok smiled. Newcomers.

"The Kona Coffee is our featured flavor of the month," the worker offered as she smiled weakly from behind the counter. The recommendation didn't sound genuine; more like something that corporate forced the employees to say to customers who asked.

"No, no you don't want that," Hoseok intervened to save the poor girl who was about to order the worst flavor in the entire case. He moved forward, "Tiger Butter is the way to go because-" He looked up from the display, meeting the girl's eyes then, only to realize she looked incredibly familiar.

Because she was you.

"Oh! You're the girl from earlier!" He exclaimed, his eyes wide from surprise.

"Hobi, do you know her?" Kaylen asked, pushing his way forward so that he could begin looking in the display case.

"This is the girl from the beach earlier, the one I hit with my surfboard."

"You hit someone with a surfboard?" the employee asked in a rather judgemental tone.

"Hey, it was an accident-"

"It was an accident-" both Hoseok and you said at the same time. He turned back to face you, grinning sheepishly.

"Um, how is your head, by the way?"

You shrugged, "Once I got all of the dried blood out of my hair I was good to go."

He chuckled, "Well, I'm glad. How did it go with-"

"Are you guys going to order ice cream or what? Because you realize there are four other people waiting behind you now," the employee was now clearly irritated by the three of you, and Hoseok forced another smile because it wasn't in his nature to be rude.

"Right," he said, still looking at you, "What do you want? I'll pay."

"You don't need to-"

"I still feel bad about earlier, and my pride is hurt. Let me buy you an ice cream cone," he said simply.

You nodded a bit awkwardly, "I guess I'll try uh, tiger, uh, what was it?"

"Tiger Butter," Hoseok ordered for you, "Two Scoops. And a," Hoseok looked down at Kaylen, "What do you want?"

"Chocolate."

"Two scoops of Tiger Butter, and one of chocolate," Hoseok clarified, begin to pull and count money from his wallet as he moved toward the cash register.

"You're not getting anything?" Kaylen seemed confused but then distracted and happy again as the counter girl passed him his ice cream.

"I don't really feel like eating ice cream today," Hoseok lied, smiling again as you got your ice cream. He passed the bills over to the worker, and she flatly said "Have a nice day" as the three of you made your way out of the store.

"Can we go sit in the grass? All of the chickens walk around over there," Kaylen said in between bites of ice cream, chocolate running all over his chin.

"Is that okay with you?" Hoseok asked you.

"Sure. Thanks again for the ice cream, you really didn't have to pay for it."

"No worries! It was the least I could do."

"I still feel bad, though. It wasn't cheap..." You took a bite then, "Okay, wow. That's the best ice cream I've ever had. The price is justified."

Hoseok laughed, nodding in agreement as the three of you walked toward the grass where Kaylen wanted to sit.

Truthfully, that ice cream was expensive. And he had used the last of the money in his wallet to buy it for you.