Tae had Madison's hand and he guided her passed the kitchen to a stairwell going down to the basement. The music was loud, the base was thumping. At the bottom of the stairs was a bar area with an attached living room. The furniture had been pushed to the walls. Right in front of the bar there were a bunch of students dancing on the makeshift dance floor. Down a little hallway behind the bar there was a game room with a pool table and some video games hooked up to a big TV.
Tae dragged Madison into the dance area after she put her empty coke can on the counter at the bar. Jungkook headed for the game room.
What Maddy lacked in dancing ability she made up for with enthusiasm. Tae wasn't sure if she was a good dancer or not, because she danced in such a silly way. It was honestly more like acting than dancing. Her serious facial expressions were cracking Tae up. She usually smiled all day but her sincere dancing face would make you think she was focusing so hard on dancing well. She was doing classic disco dancing, then funny dances like the sprinkler and the shopping cart. At points she danced like the guy in Napoleon Dynamite, at other times it was classic dances like the Tango or old dances like the Twist. Tae and everyone around the two of them were laughing hysterically, enjoying her dancing. And some people even joined in with her silly way of dancing. Tae filmed her on his cell phone for a while, because it was so entertaining.
At one point Jimin danced up to them. He was enjoying Madison's dancing also. Madison noticed Jimin was an exceptional dancer. He was mesmerizing to watch. He had amazing flexibility and his moves went exactly to the song they were listening to. She thought she could watch him dance for the rest of the night.
Both Tae and Jimin included some sexy moves in their dancing. Madison's response was both to laugh and blush as they did their randomly placed hip thrusts and crotch grabs. Tae liked to bite his bottom lip and frown a bit when doing the sexy moves. Maddy and all the girls were effected by Tae and Jimin's good looks and amazing dancing.
When Tae noticed that Maddy was a bit embarrassed by their sexy moves, he pretended that his hips had a life of their own. They were doing hip thrusts without him controlling them. He acted as if he was confused by his hips, then mad at them. He had to reprimand his hips by pointing to them then shaking his finger 'no'. But in the end he had to give up and let them do their thing. Maddy was in hysterics over his little one man skit.
After several upbeat songs, the mood slowed down as Pony by Ginuwine came on. Some people left the dance floor, who had been looking for an excuse to stop dancing or get a drink. Those who stayed mainly started doing sexy dancing. A cute girl came up to Tae and started slowly undulating her butt in front of him. He grabbed her hips and the two of them started dancing in a sensual way. The girl's hands came over her shoulders to pull Tae right up against her by his neck.
Madison put her hand to her mouth in surprise as she laughed. To her, their dancing was shocking and funny all at the same time. It felt awkward watching Tae and the girl grind on each other, so she looked away.
Jimin moved closer and eyed Madison up and down. He started sexy dancing in front of her, but she would have none of it. She kept up her silly dancing, adding in a lot of robot type moves to go with the new song. Jimin grabbed her by her hips and spun her around so she faced away from him. He was doing body roles behind her and running his hands up and down her sides. Madison moved her hips side to side in a silly way and did traffic dancing by making chopping motions down and to the right and left. She also started doing aegyo in front of Jimin's seductive moves. Making hearts with her fingers and little cute faces, poking her cheeks with her fingers, putting her palms on her cheeks to make her face a flower. Her sweet and silly moves against the backdrop of Jimin's sexy dancing made it look a bit like a comedy act. Everyone watching was in stitches watching the two of them dance together.
Maddy didn't notice a set of black doe eyes watching her from just off the dance floor. Jungkook heart swelled with approval at Maddy's reaction to Jimin's sexy dancing. He chuckled as he watched her not be sucked into the seductiveness of the song. He remembered the arousal in her eyes earlier when he had nibbled on her fingers. He tried not to analyze the pride he felt at making her feel that way when Jimin couldn't. He was almost tempted to see if she would sexy dance with him if he tried. But he thought against it and went back to the game room to play another game of pool.
After more songs than she could count, Madison was exhausted from dancing and she left the dance floor to go find a drink. She had so much fun dancing with Tae and Jimin and the others. They had laughed at her dancing silliness and joined in. Maddy wondered if Jungkook could dance as well as his brothers. She smiled thinking about it as she headed upstairs and got a glass of water. The alcohol had made her feel a little light headed earlier. The effects had worn off a while ago, but Maddy wasn't interested in drinking any more alcohol tonight.
Madison glanced into the living room and saw Juwon making out with a girl on the couch. Looks like he isn't missing me, at least, Maddy thought. The lights flickered which made Madison sick to her stomach. She wasn't even going to think about the possibility of the power going out. She pushed that terrifying thought from her mind.
Then Madison noticed someone looking sad in the living room. Someone that she would like to talk with. Madison made her way over to have a conversation.
A bit later, Jungkook left the game room to find Tae and Jimin still dancing but Maddy wasn't around. Jimin decided he was done dancing and he followed Jungkook upstairs. They found Maddy in the living room with her back to them, having a conversation with Left Knee. The boys only heard the conversation for a moment but they got the general idea.
Maddy was holding Left Knee's hand, "You have value as a person, even if you don't have sex with them. You are very special Rina. They will like you for your personality. Maybe you could be their friend first."
Left Knee poked her head up above Maddy's and with a panicked look, caught Jungkook's eye. She mouthed the words 'SAVE ME!' Jungkook just smiled and held up his hands in surrender. If anyone could change Left Knee's lifestyle it was Maddy.
Jimin shook his head at Madison trying to reform this girl. Then he got a devilish twinkle in his eye. "Rina! You want to go upstairs?"
Left Knee jumped up, apologizing to Maddy, and ran over to Jimin. Maddy whipped around and glared at Jimin. He smiled at her and put his arms around Rina and said, "Nice try Princess." They headed upstairs but he turned around to stick his tongue out at Maddy before disappearing into a doorway.
Maddy walked over to Jungkook holding the back of her neck in defeat. "Well, at least she is happy. She was very worried that no one was going to be taking her upstairs tonight." She raised an eyebrow at Jungkook. "She really thought she had given you a strong presentation earlier and had high hopes of you selecting her. But apparently, I dashed all her hopes by pulling you away."
Jungkook got a small amused smile on his face at Maddy's teasing. He nodded ever so slightly and tried to make his face serious as he said, "She did make a really strong case."
Maddy smacked him on the arm several times, "Oh my gosh! At least pretend to deny it!" Jungkook couldn't help but laugh as he ducked away from her slaps.
While Maddy had been talking with Rina, the storm outside had intensified. Clouds had blown in and the trees swayed in the wind. The lights flickered again and Maddy got a panicky look on her face.
Jungkook frowned at her. "What is it?"
Maddy looked worried. "Maybe I should go home. I really don't like it when the power goes out."
Jungkook watched her face, "I can take you home if you want. I'm sure it will be fine though. Why don't you like power outages?"
Maddy bit her lip, "I can tell you later, I don't really want to talk about it right now." She thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think I do want to go home. Let me run down and say 'bye' to Tae and then we can go, okay?"
"Sure." Jungkook nodded. She ran off and he sat down in a chair in the living room to wait for her. His eyebrows rose when he noticed Juwon on the couch with his tongue down a girl's throat. The lights flickered again, then went entirely out. Everyone heard the music go out and then a general scream from people all over the house, followed by lots of talking and laughing.
Jungkook, and everyone else, turned on the flashlights on their cell phones. Jungkook started down the stairs to find Maddy. He flashed the light back and forth as he went down the stairs and walked towards the dance floor. People weren't dancing anymore but everyone was still there, standing around talking excitedly.
Jungkook found Tae, "Have you seen Maddy?" Tae shook his head. Jungkook texted her and heard a little chime to his left. He used his flashlight to head that direction and found Maddy sitting on the floor next to a chair, with her arms around her knees with her face buried in her legs.
"You're okay Sunshine, I'm here." Jungkook said as he sat down next to her and put his arm around her and rubbed her back. "There are lots of flashlights, if you open your eyes."
Maddy shook her head. It came out muffled but he heard her say, "I'm not scared of the dark, it is just power outages that make it difficult to breath."
"Does it help to have your eyes closed?" He asked. She nodded. "Okay keep your eyes closed and I'm going to get us out of here okay?" She nodded again.
Tae was there now, "Is she okay?"
"She doesn't like power outages, I'm going to take her home." Jungkook replied. Then he said to Maddy, "Keep your eyes closed, here we go."
He lifted her up to standing from behind. He had his arms around her middle, holding her up in front of him. Maddy put her hands over her eyes. Jungkook kept his cell phone light pointed in front of them. He mostly carried her weight but she tried to walk a little also. "Okay, we are going up the stairs now." She was able to mostly walk up the stairs then it was just a few meters to be out the front door.
"We're outside now Maddy, is that better?" She nodded her head, pulled away her hands, and opened her eyes. She was able to take a few deep breaths. She was always much better once she got outside because her power outage fear was really more about claustrophobia. She wasn't ready to tell Jungkook about it yet though.
The wind was really whipping the trees around now. They could see that the power was out in the whole neighborhood including street lights. They headed to Jungkook's car and he drove to her house by memory. On the way he asked, "You want to talk about it?"
She shook her head, "Not right now, if that's okay."
"Sure, sure. Did you have fun tonight?" He asked.
Maddy smiled then, "Yes. The view of the stars was amazing, thanks for sharing it with me." Jungkook nodded. "And I had fun dancing with Tae and Jimin."
Jungkook smiled, "Yeah, they're pretty good dancers. We used to have dance parties when I was a kid. Most of my brothers really like to dance. Jimin and Hoseok are the best dancers in the family."
Maddy looked at him, "I would have liked to see you dance."
Jungkook shook his head, "Nah, I haven't danced in a while. I enjoyed watching you dance though." His eyes sparkled as he looked at her. Maddy just laughed, she was fully aware of how silly of a dancer she was.
He pulled up in front of her house. "Which window is yours?"
She pointed, "The big bay window in front by the tree."
"Okay, wave to me from the window when you get in."
"Or I could just text you when I get in." Maddy got out and walked around the car.
Jungkook unrolled his window. "Do both."
"Okay. Thanks for driving me!" She pointed at his face. "Make good choices." She raised an eyebrow at him.
He stuck his lower lip out. "Yeah my plans for tonight changed a bit. I guess I was saved from making a horrible mistake. Supposedly, I'll be thankful about it later."
She yelled to him as she crossed the street, "You will be!"
She didn't know that he already was. He'd had more fun hanging out with Maddy than he would have had doing anything with anyone else.
He watched her go through the gate. He kept his eye on the window for her to wave when he noticed something in the tree next to her house. He recognized her pink sweatshirt right away. What was she doing? She made her way up the tree to the little roof outside the window. She crawled through the window while Jungkook shook his head at her. She never failed to surprise him.
Maddy didn't turn on lights but waved her cell phone light in the window. He did the same thing back. His phone chimed then.
Maddy: I'm in.
JK: I see that. Was there a problem with your front door?
Maddy: Ha! 😜 No, I've always wanted to sneak out and the tree outside my window gave me the perfect opportunity.
JK: So your parents don't know you were out?
Maddy: 🤫 I don't know what you are talking about, I was sleeping in my bed all night.
JK: So, I can't vape but you can sneak out and drink alcohol at a party? 🤨
Maddy: I'm only doing those things one time to cross them off my bucket list! 😇 You vaped once. Cross it off and be done with it.
JK: Mmmhmmm. Night Maddy.
Maddy: Night Kookie, thanks for tonight.
Jungkook drove home with a smile on his face. No one was around when he got home. Tae and Jimin were presumably still at the party. Jungkook could hear the TV on in Jin's room. He didn't know where his other brothers were.
Jungkook decided to fix himself something to eat. He got out some eggs and bread and decided to make egg toast.
As he was cooking Namjoon came into the kitchen holding a notepad. Namjoon liked to write poetry and he was pretty good at it. "Whatcha cooking?"
"Egg toast, want some?" Jungkook offered. Namjoon smiled and nodded.
Namjoon had always had a hard time in the kitchen. He got so distracted by his thoughts that he ended up burning most of the things he tried to make. Now, he mostly stuck to things that were fool proof like rameyon. "Did you have fun at the party?"
Jungkook smiled, "I really did." Jungkook's smile caught Namjoon off guard, Jungkook wasn't usually one to be excited about going to a party. As he watched Jungkook cooking, Namjoon realized that his littlest brother had really grown up. He was turning seventeen in a few days, he wasn't a baby anymore. The loss of their parents had been especially hard on Jungkook because he was so young. They had all tried to protect him as much as they could, but they had been kids themselves. Namjoon often wondered if they had done enough for Jungkook. He'd wondered if any of them had a chance for a normal life. They were still all together, which gave Namjoon hope.
Jungkook dished both he and Namjoon a double bread sandwich of egg toast with cheese and ketchup. They sat down at the kitchen island to eat together.
After their parents were gone, most of their care had been done by Jin. He did the cooking, supervised the cleaning and made sure everyone got up and went to school. But Namjoon had been instrumental in their survival. Namjoon was the one to deal with all the lawyers, social workers, and case managers when their Dad had died. It was because of Namjoon's persistence that they got the settlement that they did. This made them able to start over a new life together.
Jungkook remembered Namjoon at seventeen years old reading law books and court documents in order to protect their little family. At one point, a county social worker said Jungkook was too young to be in Jin's care, since Jin was only eighteen. Namjoon had been the one to fight tooth and nail to keep Jungkook with them and Jungkook had never forgotten it.
Namjoon enjoyed the food, "Mmmmmmm! So good! When did you grow up so much?" He teased. "What do you want for your birthday this year?"
"You usually get me a book." This was true. Namjoon got everyone a book for their birthday and Christmas. He loved books so much and he thought they were the perfect gift if you got the right one.
Namjoon chuckled, "Okay, what book do you want for your birthday this year?"
Jungkook couldn't even think of a book he would want. Which didn't mean he wouldn't like one. Namjoon had gotten him books on many topics over the years and Jungkook had enjoyed almost all of them. "You usually pick a good one for me. I trust you."
Namjoon put his plate in the sink and ruffled Jungkook's hair. "Alright little brother, thanks for the food. I'm headed to bed."
Jungkook headed to bed too. He laid in bed and thought about his night. Mostly he thought about Maddy. He didn't know if he could go the whole weekend without seeing her again. She had been so cute laying on the blanket tonight, feeling the slight effects of the alcohol. He remembered her climbing in her window and shook his head. She was always full of surprises. He drifted off to sleep thinking about when he would get to see her again.