“Okay so a man goes to the doctor, okay?”

“Okay.”

“And he has a strawberry growing on his head, alright?”

“Alright.”

“And the doctor says, ‘I’ll give you some cream to put on it’!!!” Gongchan exploded into laughter as he ended his joke and CNU couldn’t help but smile at the stupidity of their youngest member.

Currently we were all in the car, in different spots from before and I ended up in the back with Gongchan and CNU next to each other telling the other random stupid jokes to pass the time. Jinyoung, Baro, and Sandeul were all up front chatting about some sort of topic that I didn’t quite catch and Jinyoung’s parents were arguing up front about where to go to get to Disneyland from where they were. Like parents like son I suppose, but luckily for us they weren’t as bad as Jinyoung got.

“Nu-uh! May!” I heard Sandeul shout and he turned to look at me and I looked back at him in confusion. “They were saying that Wolf was the last character that is unlockable in Brawl, that’s not true, right? I remember it being Mr. Game and Watch!” I almost laughed at just the fact that he was in a heated discussion about a video game but I held it in and just smiled at him instead.

“If I remember correctly they’re right Wolf is the last one to be unlocked in Brawl, you’re thinking Melee for Mr. Game and Watch.” I corrected him and he just sighed in response knowing I had to be right. Boys will be boys I suppose and everyone knows boys absolutely love to play and talk about video games.

I went back to listening to Gongchan and CNU and caught them on another joke, this time it being CNU’s turn to think of something, “There was a sloth that had just been mugged by a group of snails. On the way to the police station, the office started asking questions like they always do. The first question was what did the snails look like; the Soth replied, ‘I don’t remember it all happened so fast!’” CNU chuckled after he finished and Gongchan just stared at him not understanding the joke at all.

“Gongchan, snails are super slow but so are sloths.” I explained and Gongchan lit up and started laughing immediately after he caught why it was funny. Hanging out with these boys means there is never a dull moment in the day.

The conversations went on just like this for the whole hour of heading to Disneyland but finally when we saw it in our views everyone switched to talking about the park and what they were going to do. It ranged from wanting to play the arcade games to eating to getting on the fastest tallest ride they could see. CNU confessed that he really didn’t like rides while Sandeul said he wanted to go on all of them. Gongchan seemed interested in the food and some of the rides while Jinyoung worried about getting lost and stressed that we should either be in two groups or one whole group. Baro seemed like he was up for anything that the others wanted to do and I sided with him saying that whatever they wanted to do was what I wanted to do.

“So its settled, Jinyoung can accompany Gongchan and CNU while Sandeul, May and I can go on the rides and we can all meet up some place in a few hours to spend some time together.” Baro suggested and Jinyoung, CNU and Sandeul were okay with it.

But Gongchan was not. “I want to spend time with my best friend.” He pouted and crossed his arms while leaning into me.

“We’ve known you longer than her and we’re all a band and yet she’s your best friend?” Sandeul immediately jumped on Gongchan’s statement and turned to look at Gongchan.

“Yeah because she’s always fun to be around and we’re always together, you’re just jealous because she’s not your best friend!” Gongchan stuck his tongue out at Sandeul and pulled me closer to him while hugging me around my waist. I decided this was up to them to decide and I did not want to join in and take sides.

“Well whatever at least we get to room together.” Sandeul ended the argument and turned around in his seat to ignore Gongchan. Gongchan pouted even more and nuzzled his head in my neck.

“I wish I could room with you.” He whispered and sighed before finally letting go and looking out the window once more to look at the park as it grew nearer and nearer to us.

We discussed this subject a while back ago, the topic of friendship and no thoughts of relationships. Gongchan thought of me as a best friend only, someone he could rely on if he couldn’t talk to his band-mates, he would talk to me about personal things that he couldn’t bring up around them. I remember once he came to me one time during the weekend saying he felt useless in the band because he couldn’t sing well enough yet and he felt like he was going to be dropped when they go to South Korea to audition. I had to comfort him all night telling him that he was definitely going to make it and that he singing voice was just right and it wasn’t bad at all. He sang to me that night and said he felt so much better and that he could trust me with anything. He’ll always love his band-mates but I guess we had a different friendship between the two of us and that was what he was trying to convey to them but he didn’t want to say anything too personal to them.

Everyone stayed quiet after that small argument and I had a feeling it was going to be brought up later on in the day if they don’t resolve it quick. I did like the idea of splitting into two groups and I did like the thought of being able to ride all of the rides without leaving CNU out since he didn’t want to. If the two groups worked well enough he’d always have either Jinyoung or Gongchan to keep him company.

“We’re here!” Jinyoung’s dad broke the silence and drove right through the entrance and straight for a good parking spot. He picked a spot farther out with more of a walking distance just so it’ll be easier to leave when everyone was done for the day.

Everyone’s mood brightened up after that and the argument of just a few moments ago disappeared and it felt like it never happened. Sandeul was chatting with Baro about how excited he was, Jinyoung was talking to his parents about the plans, CNU kept looking away from the big rides and Gongchan clung to me saying he was going to miss me all day and that when we got back together as a whole group I’d have to spend time with him and that tomorrow when we come back I have to go with him instead of Sandeul. I laughed at how clingy he was but agreed nonetheless and said I would definitely hang out with him tomorrow and we’ll have tons of fun just being in Disneyland.

When we entered the park the groups split up and we were off towards the main part of the park where all of the rides were. Sandeul kept pointing at all of the rides with a huge smile on his face and kept keeping me close to him to make sure I didn’t get lost. Baro seemed slightly annoyed every time Sandeul would do that and seemed to try to split us apart every time Sandeul held my hand. I was okay with that since I felt slightly awkward with how comfortable I felt holding Sandeul’s hand but it didn’t help that whenever he would do that he would end up holding my hand instead. I felt like there was a tension between the two boys but I couldn’t exactly explain why I felt that.

“Hey May let’s go on the California Screamin’ it looks fun!” Sandeul shouted and pointed at the giant rollercoaster near the end of the park. It looked like a ton of fun but at the same time I felt slightly scared to go on a ride that big so quickly into the park.

“How about Mickey’s Fun Wheel, that one seems like a good one to start with and we can see the whole park and figure out where everything is.” Baro suggested ignoring Sandeul’s shout and looking at me for confirmation; I was already regretting not going with Gongchan.

“Okay so since we’re going to go on all of the rides eventually by the end of the day I suggest we take up Baro’s idea and tour the area without having to walk; after that we’ll go on the rollercoaster.” I explained and hoped for the best result and luckily for me Sandeul agreed with my terms and we were off to ride the Ferris wheel first.

I had to choose who to sit next to on the ride and after Sandeul and Baro playing rock-paper-scissors Baro won and I sat next to him and across from a pouting Sandeul. Though throughout the whole ride I didn’t even glance at the two boys because I was far too interested in all of the sights and views that Disneyland had to offer. I could see all of the people from below walking to their destinations, I could see the other rides and the screaming people on them; I felt like I was on top of the world. That is, until I noticed Baro attempting to hold my hand. I looked over at him and he was looking away from me on his side looking out at the park but his hand held mine firmly as if silently saying he was not letting go. I had a feeling Baro had a crush on me ever since our kiss back at my house I could tell he was always trying to talk to me or be around me. I thought it was sweet of him, but I didn’t hold the same interest for him—sure he was my first kiss, but I never saw myself being with him.

When the ride finished and we were back on the ground he released my hand before Sandeul noticed and we all exited the ride without a single word. I knew I had to tell him at some point about my neutral feelings for him, but I still felt awkward and rude to say that to him when in reality I liked two of his best friends. Jinyoung of course and I couldn’t help but still like Sandeul, but I still continued to push my feelings for him away.

“Come on May! Since you sat next to Baro on that ride I get you on this one.” Sandeul cheered, grabbed my hand and ran as fast as he could to get to the rollercoaster. Baro walked behind a lot slower but still reached the line fairly quickly and we waited for around thirty minutes until it was finally our turn. We got seat belted in and listened to the safely rules until finally the ride started and the second it hit the top and went down I screamed until the ride was over.

“THAT WAS AMAZING!” Sandeul yelled out and jumped up and down. I sat up, held my stomach and sighed in relief, and Baro seemed slightly annoyed at the little kid who had to sit beside him and was glad to be off the ride.

“Now what?” I asked hoping for something less fast and a lot closer to the ground.

“Golden Zephyr!” Sandeul exclaimed and there was no choice but to follow him when he went running for the ride. I felt awkward running with Baro beside me but I kept quiet in hopes of him doing the same.

Once that ride was done and over with Sandeul wanted to ride the Silly Symphony Swings and then he wanted to go to the Twilight Tower and soon enough all the rides were ridden and I was completely exhausted. After the very last ride it was about time to suggest meeting up with the second group, which Baro agreed to and Sandeul was forced to agree as well.

Searching for the three members took a lot longer than expected and by the time they were found—after being lost by Jinyoung—we all agreed to go somewhere in the park to eat and then call it a night. I was glad we were coming back tomorrow because I wanted to see more of the park instead of just the rides and it would be nice to be around Gongchan the next day.

“So it’s settled, May is with me tomorrow.” Gongchan proclaimed and sat beside me at the table. On the other side of me was Jinyoung while the other three sat on the other side. Mr. and Mrs. Jung were at their own table as usual and told us we could order whatever we wanted as long as it wasn’t too expensive—at that Sandeul was browsing the whole menu to find the best looking item.

“Can I join you two tomorrow?” Jinyoung asked and my heart started fluttering almost immediately. Jinyoung wanted to be with me tomorrow too?!

“Sure! CNU can go with Sandeul and Baro since they’ve already been on the rides anyways.” Gongchan agreed and established the groups for the next day and I was already excited to be going back.

Sandeul and Baro seemed like they wanted to argue with Gongchan but they knew better than to ask to hang out with me for both days and should have been happy to be with me today on the first day. The conversations soon died down when we ordered our food and waited for it to be ready. Nothing really big happened in between ordering the food and eating the food and soon enough we were back in the car driving back to the hotel before it got too dark. Now that Mr. Jung knew how to get to Disneyland from the hotel everyone hoped for an easier ride there tomorrow.

And as expected the second day was just as fun as the first. It was filled with random snacks, tons of arcade games and finding Jinyoung whenever he got lost. At some point in the day Jinyoung and I both got lost and had to spend almost an hour trying to find Gongchan in the crowd of people. It was nice being alone with him to be honest, but being lost in a large amusement park was not on my to-do list for Winter Break.

“I’m really happy we got to become friends May.” Jinyoung spoke up and nudged me slightly making me blush just from the sudden nice comment.

“I should be thanking you guys really, I always thought it was really hard to make friends but I made such great ones so early on right after I moved here.” I smiled and nudged him back, even though we were still lost at least we were making the best of our time there.

“I don’t see how you could not have any friends besides us; you must have just been really shy.” Jinyoung chuckled and turned to go a left; I grabbed his arm and pointed to the right. He sighed and knew I was going the right way.

“You could say that, but I guess I never really had the people skills. I had one best friend in a way but he didn’t count.” I explained trying to avoid talking about the only actual friend I had.

“Why wouldn’t he count?” Jinyoung questioned and followed me as I took another right then a quick left. I really didn’t know where I was going, but I had a feeling we’ll find Gongchan eventually if we continued to walk around for him.

“He was imaginary.” I left it at that and hoped for him not asking too much about my sad pitiful childhood that was only great when I had Sandeul in it.

“You know,” Jinyoung started going into a deep thought before finally saying, “they say sometimes an imaginary friend is created when a child goes through some sort of traumatic experience in their life. Like an accident or a death of a family member.”

I at first didn’t think anything of it and stayed silent as we continued our search but I couldn’t help but think about it. How could Sandeul be made up because of a traumatic experience in my life? I don’t even remember anything happening to me that would cause me to make a boy who already existed in this life. It was completely and utterly impossible. And yet I continued to think about it for the rest of the afternoon until we finally found Gongchan and soon enough reunited with the rest of the group.

Things went by fast after that and soon enough our second day in L.A. was done and it was time to head back to the hotel. No one really talked on the way back, everyone was too tired from walking all day and Gongchan held on to me in the car the whole way back feeling sorry that he got lost and couldn’t find us. He made me promise to be with him when we go to Universal Studios and I accepted but reminded him that tomorrow was our free day and I already had plans to hang out with Sandeul that day.

The whole night at the hotel room Sandeul couldn’t help but talk on and on about how great tomorrow will be when we go to the beach and have our nice date all by ourselves. He talked to Jinyoung’s parents about it and they were fine with the idea as long as we tell them when we want to go and when we want to be picked up. Sandeul set everything up and told me not to worry about a single thing and also told me to sleep early so we can have more time tomorrow to hang out.