JENNIE
Panic courses through me at the sight of Lisa sitting next to this girl—she doesn't even acknowledge my presence as I take the seat next to Jisoo, on the other side of the table from her.
"Hello, and who might you be?" Marco's friend asks with a smile. I can tell by his tone that he's one of those men that think they are better than everyone else in the room.
"Hi, I'm Jennie," I say, then smile curtly and nod. "Jisoo's friend."
My eyes dart to Lisa, whose lips press into a thin line. Well, she's clearly entertaining the man's daughter, so why ruin their fun?
"It's great to meet you, Jennie. I'm Max, and this is Denise." He gestures to the woman beside him.
"It's nice to meet you," Denise says. "The two of you are an adorable couple."
Lisa starts coughing. Or choking. I don't want to look at her and see which . . . but I can't help it. When I do, her eyes are narrow, glaring at me.
Jisoo laughs. "Oh, we aren't together." She looks at Lisa, like she expects her to say something.
Of course she doesn't. The girl looks slightly lost and a little uncomfortable. Good. Lisa leans into her and says something into her ear, and she smiles at her before shaking her head. What the hell is happening?
"I'm Lillian; it's nice to meet you," she introduces herself with a friendly smile.
Bitch.
"You, too," I manage to say in return. My heart is hammering in my chest, and I can barely see straight. If we weren't at the table with Lisa's family and Marco's friends, I would throw a drink in Lisa's face, and with her eyes stinging, she wouldn't have a chance to stop me from slapping her this time. A menu is placed in front of each of us, and I wait as one of the empty glasses in front of me is filled with water. Marco and Max begin to talk about the oddness of having to choose between tap and bottled water.
"Do you know what you want?" Jisoo asks quietly a few moments later. I know she's trying to distract me from Lisa and her new friend.
"I . . . I don't know," I whisper and look over the fancy handwritten menu. I can't imagine eating right now; my stomach won't stop turning, and I can't seem to control my breathing.
"Do you want to go?" she says into my ear. I glance across the table at Lisa, whose eyes meet mine before she turns back to Lillian.
Yes. I want to get the hell out of here and tell Lisa to never speak to me again.
"No. I'm not going anywhere," I say and sit up higher, straightening my back against the chair.
"Good." Jisoo praises me as a handsome server arrives at our table.
"We'll have a bottle of your best white wine," Marco's friend tells him, and he nods. Just as he begins to walk away, Max calls after him.
"We weren't finished yet," he says. Max orders a list of appetizers. I've never heard of any of the dishes he's chosen, but I don't suspect I'll be eating much of them anyway.
I try desperately not to look across the table at Lisa, but it's hard, so damn hard. Why would she come here with her? She's dressed up, too; if she doesn't have jeans on under the table, I think what's left of my heart will shatter. It takes me an hour of begging to get Lisa dressed in anything other than black jeans and a T-shirt, yet here she is next to this girl in a white button-down.
"I'll give you a few minutes to look over the menu, and if you have any questions about the dishes, my name is Robert," the server says. His eyes meet mine, and his mouth opens slightly before he looks away quickly, only to look back at me. It's this dress and the damn cleavage. I offer a small, awkward smile, and he returns it, red creeping up his neck and spreading to his cheeks.
I expect him to look at Lisa, but then I remember that due to the way we're seated, it's Jisoo and I that look like a couple, and Lisa's with Lillian. My stomach flips again.
"Hey, man. Take our order, or go," Lisa says, interrupting my thoughts.
"S-sorry," Robert stammers and leaves the table in haste.
All eyes move to Lisa, mostly showing disapproval of her behavior. Karen looks embarrassed; Marco, too.
"Don't worry, he'll be back. It's his job," Max says with a shrug. He would think Lisa's behavior was acceptable.
I scowl at Lisa, but she doesn't seem to care, she's too infatuated by those damn blue eyes. As I watch her with that girl I feel like she's a stranger to me, as if I'm intruding on some private moment shared between a loving couple. The thought causes bile to rise in my throat. I swallow it down, and I'm thankful when the server, Robert, returns with the wine and ice buckets, this time bringing another server along, likely for moral support. Or protection.
Lisa watches him the entire time, and I roll my eyes at her audacity: glaring at the poor guy when here she is, acting as if she doesn't know me at all.
Nervously, Robert fills my glass to the brim, and I quietly thank him. He smiles less shyly this time and moves to fill Jisoo's. I've never seen Jisoo drink except at Marco and Karen's wedding, and even then she only had one glass of champagne. If I wasn't so distraught over Lisa's behavior, I'd turn down the wine and not drink in front of Marco and Karen, but I've had a long day, and without the wine I don't think I be able to make it through this dinner.
Marco covers the top of his glass and says, "No, thank you," when Robert comes his way.
I look up at Lisa to make sure she isn't readying a snide remark about her father, but once again she's talking quietly to Lillian.
I'm so confused right now—why is she doing this? Yes, we were fighting, but this is too much.
Taking a big sip, I find that the wine is cool and crisp and deliciously sweet on my tongue. I'm tempted to just gulp it all down, but I have to pace myself. The last thing I need is to get drunk and emotional in front of everyone. Lisa doesn't decline the wine, but Lillian does. Lisa rolls her eyes at her, teasing her, and I force my eyes away from them before I turn into a puddle of tears on the beautifully stained hardwood floor.
". . . MAX WAS scaling the wall—he was so drunk that he had to be pulled down by campus security!" Marco says, and everyone at our table laughs.
Everyone except Lisa, of course.
I twirl my fork around my pasta and take another bite. I focus on how delicious the freshly made noodles are, and how they look wound around the tines of the fork. Otherwise I'd have to focus on Lisa.
"I think you have an admirer," Denise says to me. I look up and follow her eyes to Robert, who is clearing the dishes from the table beside us, his eyes on me.
"Don't pay him too much attention; just a waiter wanting what he can't have," Max states with a sly smile, surprising me with his callousness.
"Dad." Lillian glares at her father.
But he just gives her a smile before cutting into his steak. "Sorry, sweetie, I'm only stating the truth . . . A girl as beautiful as Jennie here shouldn't be looking at anyone working in hospitality."
If only he'd stopped there, but oblivious—or immune to—our discomfort, Max continues his degrading remarks until I finally drop my fork onto my plate with a clatter.
"Don't," Lisa says to me, speaking to me for the first time since I arrived.
Shocked, I look at her, then back to Max, weighing my options. He's being a jerk, and I've had almost an entire glass of wine. I should probably keep my mouth shut, like Lisa said.
"You can't talk about people like that." Lillian looks at her father and he shrugs.
"Fine, fine," he grumbles, waving his knife a little and chewing on his steak. "Far be it from me to upset anyone."
Beside him, his wife looks embarrassed as she wipes the corners of her mouth with a cloth napkin.
"I'm going to need more wine," I tell Jisoo, and she smiles, sliding her half-empty glass over to me. I smile at the gesture. "I'll wait for Robert to come back to the table. Thank you, though."
I can feel Lisa's eyes on me as I search the restaurant. I don't see the server's blond hair, so I reach over, grab the bottle myself, and fill my glass. I half expect Max to make a comment about my manners, but he refrains. Lisa is staring coolly across the room, and Lillian is talking to her mother. I'm in my own world, a hallucination in which Lisa is sitting next to me, his hand on my thigh, and she leans in to make some cheeky comment that makes me laugh and blush feverishly.
My head is a little fuzzy as I clear all of the food off my plate and finish off my second glass of wine. Jisoo is in conversation with Max and Marco about sports, of course. I stare at the printed tablecloth, trying to find faces or pictures inside the black and white swirls. I find a cluster that resembles an L, and my finger traces the pattern repeatedly. Suddenly I stop and look up quickly, paranoid that she may have seen me tracing the letter.
But Lisa isn't paying attention to me; her eyes are only for that girl.
"I need some air," I tell Jisoo and stand. My chair screeches against the wooden floor, and Lisa looks up from her conversation momentarily, but then she catches herself and pretends to have only been looking for her water before she returns to talking to this new girl of her.
