JENNIE
I can't believe you're staying at a motel." She runs her hand over her hair. "Yeah . . . neither can I."
"You can stay at the apartment, I'll stay back at the frat house or something."
"No." Not happening.
"Please don't be difficult." She rubs her hand across her forehead. "Difficult? You aren't serious! I shouldn't even be talking to you right now!"
"Would you just calm down? Now, what's wrong with your car? And why was that guy staying at the motel?"
"I don't know what's wrong with my car." I groan. I'm not answering her about Taehyung, it's none of her business.
"I'll take a look at it."
"No, I'll call someone. Just go."
"I'll follow you to the motel." She nods toward the road.
"Would you just stop?" I growl and Lisa rolls her eyes. "Is this some sort of game to you, to see just how far you can push me?"
She takes a step back as if I pushed her. Taehyung's car is still here, waiting for me.
"No, that's not what I'm doing. How could you even think that after everything I've done?"
"Exactly, I do think that because of everything you've done," I say, almost laughing at her choice of words.
"I just want you to talk to me. I know we can work this out," she tells me. She's played so many games with me since the beginning that I can't tell what's real.
"I know you miss me, too," Lisa says, leaning against her car. Her words stop me in my tracks. So arrogant.
"Is that what you want to hear? That I miss you? Of course I miss you, but you know what? It's not actually you that I miss, it's who I thought you were, and now that I know who you really are, I want nothing to do with you!" I yell.
"You've always known who I really am! I've been me all along, you know that!" she shouts back. Why can't we ever just talk without yelling at each other? She makes me crazy, that's why.
"No, I don't know that; if I knew that I . . ." I stop myself before I admit that I want to forgive her. What I want to do and what I know I should do are two totally different things.
"You what?" she asks. Of course she would try and coerce me to continue. "Nothing, you need to go."
"Jen, you don't know what it's been like the last few days for me. I can't sleep, I can't even function without you. I need to know there's a chance we could—"
I interrupt her before she can finish.
"What it's been like for you?" How can she be so selfish?
"What do you think it's been like for me, Lisa? Imagine how it feels to have your life completely ripped apart within hours! Imagine how it feels to be so in love with someone that you give them everything, only to find out it was all a game, a bet! How do you think that feels!" I take a step toward her, my hands moving frantically between us. "How do you think it feels to lose my relationship with my mother over someone who could give less of a shit about me! How do you think it feels to be staying in a goddamn motel room? How do you think if it feels to try to move on from this when you keep showing up everywhere! You just don't know when to stop!"
She doesn't say anything, so I continue my rant. Part of me feels like I'm being too harsh on her, but she betrayed me in the worst way and she deserves it.
"So don't you sit here and tell me that it's been hard for you because you did this! You fucking ruined everything! Just like you always do, so you know what? I don't feel sorry for you . . . Actually I do. I feel sorry for you
because you will never be happy. You will be alone for the rest of your life, and for that I feel sorry for you. I'll move on, find a nice man who'll treat me the way you should have, and we'll get married and have children. I will be happy."
I'm out of breath after my long speech, and Lisa is looking at me with red eyes and an open mouth.
"You know the worst part of all of this? It's that you warned me, you said you would ruin me and I didn't listen." I try desperately to stop my tears, but I can't. They fall mercilessly down my face, and my mascara runs, burning my eyes.
"I'm . . . I'm sorry. I'll go," she says in a low voice. She looks completely and utterly defeated, the way I wanted her to look, but it doesn't give me the satisfaction that I thought it would.
I maybe could have forgiven her in the beginning if she'd have told me the truth, even after we slept together, but instead she hid it from me, offered people money for their silence, and tried to trap me by making me sign the lease with her. My first time being intimate with someone is something I will never forget, and she's ruined that.
I rush over to Taehyung's car and jump inside. The heat is on, blasting at my face, mixing with my hot tears. Taehyung stays quiet and I'm thankful yet again for his silence as he drives me to the motel.
By the time the sun goes down, I force myself to take a hot shower, too hot. The look on Lisa's face as she backed away from me and got into her car is etched in the back of my mind. I see her face every time I close my eyes.
My phone hasn't rung once since she left. I had this silly, naive idea that we could work. That despite our differences and her temper . . . well, both of our tempers . . . we could make it work somehow. I'm not sure how I manage to fall asleep, but I do.
THE NEXT MORNING I'm a little anxious about going on my first business trip and begin to panic. Plus I forgot to get someone to fix my car. I look up the nearest mechanic and call them. I'll probably have to pay them extra to keep my car for the weekend, but that's the least of my worries right now. I don't mention it to the friendly man who answers in the hopes they just won't bother charging me for it.
I get myself ready, curling my hair and putting on more makeup than usual. I choose a navy-blue dress that I haven't worn yet, something I bought because I knew Lisa would love the way the thin material hung on my curves. The dress itself isn't revealing at all; the hem reaches just below my knees and the sleeves go halfway down my arm. But the way it fits makes it look really good on me.
I hate that everything makes me think of her. As I stand in front of the mirror, I imagine how she would be looking at me in this dress, the way her pupils would dilate and she'd lick her lips before pulling her lip ring between her teeth while she watched me adjust my hair one last time.
A knock on the door brings me back to reality.
"Ms. Kim?" A man in a blue mechanic's uniform asks when I open the door.
"That's me," I say and pull open my purse to grab the keys. "Here, it's the white Corolla," I say as I hand them to him.
He looks behind him. "White Corolla?" he asks, confused. I step outside. My car is . . . gone.
"What the . . . Okay, let me call the front desk and see if they had my car towed for leaving it here yesterday." What a great way to start my day.
"Hello, this is Jennie Kim, room thirty-six," I say when the front desk guy answers. "I think you had my car towed?" I'm trying to be nice, but this is really frustrating.
"No, I didn't," he replies.
My head is spinning. "Okay, well then, my car must have been stolen or something . . ." If someone took my car, I am beyond screwed. It's almost time for me to leave.
"No, your friend came and got it this morning." "My friend?"
"Yeah, the one with . . . all the tattoos and stuff." He says it quietly, as if Lisa could actually hear him.
"What?" I know what he said, but that's all I can think to say.
"Yeah, he came with a tow truck this morning about two hours ago," he says. "Sorry, I thought you knew—"
"Thanks." I groan and hang up. Turning to the man before me, I say, "I am so sorry. Apparently someone has already had my car taken to another mechanic. I didn't know; I'm sorry for wasting your time."
He smiles and assures me that it's okay.
After my fight with Lisa yesterday, it slipped my mind that I needed a ride to work today. I call Taehyung to let him know, and he tells me that he already asked Mr. Vance and Kimberly to swing by and pick me up on their way. After thanking him, I hang up and pull back the curtain on the window. A black car pulls into the lot and stops in front of my room. The window rolls down and I see Kimberly's blond hair.
"Good morning! We're here to save you!" she announces with a laugh when I open the door. Smart and kind Taehyung, always thinking ahead.
The driver gets out and with a tip of his cap grabs my bag and stashes it in the trunk for me. When he opens the back door, I see two seats that face each other. On one, Kimberly pats the leather, inviting me to sit next to her. On the other, Mr. Vance and Taehyung look at me with amused expressions.
"Ready for your weekend getaway?" Taehyung asks with a wide smile. "More than you can imagine," I reply and get into the car.