LISA
I crack open my fourth beer and spin the cap on the glossy wooden surface of our coffee table. When is she going to be here? Is she going to be here?
Maybe I should just text her and tell her that I did have sex with Minnie, just to end both of our miseries.
A loud knock on the door breaks me from my plotting.
Here we go. I hope she's alone. I grab my beer, take another swig, and head for the door. The knocking quickly shifts to pounding, and I swing open the door to find Jisoo. Before I can react, her hands grip the collar of my T-shirt and she slams me against the wall.
What the fuck? She's much stronger than I ever expected, and I'm astounded by her aggressive behavior.
"What the hell is wrong with you!" she yells. I didn't know her voice could even get that loud.
"Get the fuck off of me!" I push back, but she doesn't move. Fuck, she's strong.
She lets go of me and for a second I think she's going to punch me, but she doesn't. "I know that you slept with another girl and you caused her to wreck her car!" She gets in my face again.
"I suggest you lower your fucking voice," I snap. "I'm not afraid of you," she says through her teeth.
The alcohol makes me indignant, when I should be ashamed. "I already beat your ass before, remember," I say as I go back to the couch and sit.
Jisoo follows me. "I wasn't as angry with you then as I am now." She lifts her chin higher. "You can't just go around hurting her all the time!"
I wave her off. "I didn't even sleep with that girl. I just slept over at her house, so mind your own damn business."
"Oh, wow! Of course you're drinking!" She gestures at the empty beer bottles on the table and the one in my hand. "Jennie is all banged up and has a concussion because of you, and here you are getting drunk. You're such a prick!" she practically screams.
"That wasn't my fucking fault and I tried to talk to her!"
"Yes, it was your fault! It was your damn text message that she was trying to read when she crashed. A text that she knew right away was a lie, might I add."
The breath is knocked out of me. "What are you talking about?" I choke.
"She was so anxious to hear from you all day, she grabbed her phone as soon as she saw your name."
This is my fault. How did I not put it together? I cause these injuries to her. I hurt her.
Jisoo continues to stare at me. "She's done with you—you know that, don't you?"
I look up at her, suddenly weary. "Yeah. I know." I reach for my beer. "And you can leave now."
But she snatches the bottle from my hand and walks into the kitchen. "You're really fucking pushing it," I warn her and jump up.
"You're being an idiot and you know it. You're here getting shit-faced while Jennie's hurt, and you don't even care!" she yells.
"Stop yelling at me! Fuck!" I twist my fingers into my hair, tugging at the roots. "I do care. But she isn't going to believe anything I say!"
"Do you blame her? You should have just come home, or how about this, never left at all?" she says and pours my beer down the drain. "How can you be so uncaring? She loves you so much." She goes to the refrigerator and hands me a bottle of water.
"I'm not uncaring. I'm just sick of waiting for some shit to happen. You were babbling on and on about your fucking perfect love life and making sacrifices, blah, blah. Then Jen goes and says her damn name." I roll my head back, staring at the ceiling for a moment.
"Whose name?" she asks.
"Rosé. She said her name in her sleep. Clear as day, like she wanted her to be there instead of me."
"In her sleep?" she asks, and I can hear the sarcasm in her voice. "Yes. Sleeping or not, she said her name instead of mine."
She rolls her eyes. "You do realize how ridiculous this sounds, don't you? Jennie said Rosé's name while she was sleeping, so you go out and get drunk? You're making a big deal out of this for no reason."
The water bottle crunches and collapses in my hand from my grip.
"You don't even—" I start, but then hear keys and the sound of the front lock turning and opening.
I turn around and see her come through the door. Jennie.
. . . and Rosé. Rosé next to her.
I can't see straight as I get up and move toward them. "What the fuck is this shit?" I scream.
Jennie takes a step back, stumbles, and catches herself on the wall behind her. "Lisa, stop!" she yells at me.
"No! Fuck this! I'm sick of you coming around every time shit goes down!" I say and shove my hands against Rosé's chest.
"Stop it!" Jennie yells again.
"Please," she says, then looks at Jisoo. "What are you doing here?" she asks her.
"I . . . I came to talk to her."
I nod sarcastically. "Actually, she came here trying to fight me." Jennie's eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. "What?"
"I'll tell you later," Jisoo says.
Rosé is breathing hard and she's staring at Jennie. How could she bring her here after everything? Of course she'd go running to her. The woman of her dreams.
Jennie turns to Rose and puts a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Thanks for bringing me home, Rosé. I really appreciate it, but it's probably best you go."
She eyes me. "Are you sure?" she asks.
"Yes, I am. Thank you so much. Jisoo's here, and I'll be going to her parents' place tonight."
Rosé nods in agreement—like she gets enough of a say to agree to anything!—then turns and leaves. Jennie closes the door behind her.
I can't control my anger as Jennie turns to me with a scowl on her face. "I'm getting my clothes." She walks into the bedroom.
I follow her, of course.
"Why did you call her for a ride?" I shout behind her.
"Why did you go drinking with this Minnie girl? Oh, wait, you were probably complaining how needy and full of expectations your girlfriend is," she snaps.
"Oh, let me guess how quick you were to unload to Rosé about how fucked up I am," I growl back at her.
"No! I didn't tell her anything, actually. I'm sure she already knows it." "Are you going to let me explain my side of this?" I ask her.
"Sure," she remarks, attempting to pull her suitcase from the top shelf in the closet. I move to help her.
"Move," she snaps, obviously out of patience with my bullshit.
I step back and let her get the case down. "I shouldn't have left last night," I tell her.
"Really?" she sarcastically says.
"Yes, really. I shouldn't have left and I shouldn't have drunk so much— but I didn't cheat on you. I wouldn't do that. I only slept at her house because I was too drunk to drive—that's it," I explain.
She crosses her arms and gets that classic mad-girlfriend pose. "Then why lie?"
"I don't know . . . because I knew you wouldn't believe me if I told you." "Well, cheaters usually don't admit when they cheat."
"I didn't cheat on you," I tell her. She sighs, obviously not convinced. "It's really hard to believe you when you blatantly lie all the time. This time isn't any different."
"I know. I'm sorry for lying before, about everything, but I wouldn't cheat on you." I put my arms in the air.
She neatly places a folded shirt in her suitcase. "Like I said, cheaters don't admit they cheated. If you didn't have anything to hide, you wouldn't have lied."
"It's not that big of a deal, I didn't do anything with her," I say, defending myself as she adds another article of clothing.
"So what if I got wasted and stayed the night at Rosé's house? What would you do?" she asks me, and the thought nearly sends me over the edge.
"I'd fucking kill her."
"So it's not a big deal when you do it, only if it were me?" She calls me out on my double standard. "None of this even matters—you made it clear that I'm only temporary in your life," Jennie says. She walks out of the room and into the bathroom across the hall to get her toiletries. She really is going with Jisoo to my father's house. This is bullshit. She isn't temporary to me, how could she even think that? Probably because of all the shit I said to her last night and my lack of words today.
"You know I'm not going to let this go," I tell her when she zips her suitcase.
"Well, I'm leaving."
"Why? You know you'll be back." My anger speaks for me.
"That's exactly why I'm leaving," she says, her voice shaky as she grabs her suitcase and leaves the room without looking back.
When I hear the front door slam shut, I lean my back against the wall and slide to the floor.