Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Cammie, as my own personal tour guide and new best friend, takes me out to the Polynesian Culture Center that night for dinner and a show.
"Are you sure your boyfriend won't mind?" I joked while we got ready.
"He'll get over it," she rolled her eyes, laughing.
We both dressed in tropical sarongs and tight crop tops, letting our hair down and swooping it back with a single Hawaiian flower. When we entered the venue, we were greeted with leis, and a staff member even joked that we looked like we were part of the Luau show.
"That's exactly what we were going for!" Cammie replied.
And now as we sit and enjoy the show as well as our meal, I see a familiar face.
Namjoon.
He's with a group of guys, clinking glasses with them and laughing. Are those his friends?
"Now we're going to need two people from the crowd for our next act. Any volunteers?"
While distracted by Namjoon, I don't realize that Cammie has taken my hand and stuck it into the air, exclaiming, "She'll volunteer!"
"Cammie!" I hiss, but she just grins as a Hawaiian woman comes over to lead me to the stage, so I have no choice but to follow.
It's not until I'm halfway to the stage that I see the other volunteer.
"Namjoon."
He raises his eyebrows, a dimpled smile slowly spreading across his smooth tanned face. "We meet again."
Before I can say anything, the beautiful women that brought us here give us each a grass skirt to wear, wrapping it around out waists while announcing to everyone that we are going to learn a traditional Hawaiian dance.
"But I can't dance," Namjoon insists, however the Hawaiian ladies just shake him off.
"Nonsense. Everyone can dance," they say, and he sighs, clearly not here on his own accord, much like me. I don't realize I'm openly staring at him until he looks up and meets my stare, eyes flashing. I immediately flick my glance away, feeling more flustered than I already am.
Why did Cammie have to put my hand up?
Oh, right, because I was too busy staring at Namjoon.
The ladies show us some simple moves to follow before the music starts, a heavy drum beat of wooden percussion, and when I glance over at Namjoon, I burst out laughing.
His face is scrunched up with his jaw jutting out as he swishes his hips, bopping his head from side to side to the beat, and as we dance the audience cheers for us, the loudest cheers coming from Namjoon's group of friends with Cammie as a close second.
"Woo! Go Rin!"
When it's finally all over we take off the grass skirts and part our separate ways, however we do share one last lingering glance, and that's when I remember.
