Jennie's POV
Pulling into the spot next to Jisoo, I text Rosé to tell her that I have arrived. She writes back immediately with a note to meet her at the far left corner of the field.
I tell Jisoo where she'll be as she and Yeri walk up. "Sounds good," she says, but she seems less than thrilled. "Who's Rosé?" Yeri asks.
"She's my . . . friend." She is just my friend. "Lisa's your girlfriend, right?" she asks.
I look over at her. She doesn't seem to be implying anything, she just seems confused. Welcome to the club.
"No, babe." Jisoo laughs. "Neither of them are." I laugh, too. "It's not as bad as it sounds."
Right as we get to where everyone is, the school band begins to play and the field becomes more and more crowded. I'm relieved when I spot Rosé leaning against the fence. I point her out, and we head over there.
"Oh," Yeri squeals as we get close. I can't tell if she's surprised by her tattoos and piercings, or her good looks. Maybe both.
"Hey, beautiful," Rosé says, beaming, and hugs me. I smile at her, returning the hug.
"Hi, I'm Rosé. It's nice to meet you both." She nods toward Jisoo and Yeri. I know she's met Jisoo before, so maybe she's just trying to be polite.
"Have you been here long?" I ask.
"Only about ten minutes. A lot more people here than I expected."
Jisoo leads the way to a less crowded area near the enormous mound of wood, and we all sit on the grass. Yeri sits between Jisoo's legs and leans back against her chest. The sun is going down and the breeze is picking up. I should have worn long sleeves.
"Yeah, have you been to one of these before?" I ask Rosé, who shakes her head.
"No, this isn't my typical scene," she says with a laugh before adding, "But I'm glad to be here tonight."
I smile at her compliment and right then someone walks up to the central bandstand and gives us all a warm welcome on behalf of the school and the band. After a couple of minutes of rambling on, they finally count down to the lighting of the fire, and three, two, one . . . the fire ignites and swallows the mound of wood fiercely. It's actually quite beautiful being this close to the flames, and I can tell I'll be warm enough after all.
"So how long are you here?" Rosé asks Yeri.
She frowns. "Only the weekend. I wish I could come back for the wedding next weekend."
"What wedding?" Rosé asks.
I look at Jisoo, who answers, "My mother's."
"Oh . . ." She pauses and looks down, as if thinking about something. "What?" I ask her.
"Nothing. I'm just trying to remember who else said something about a wedding next weekend . . . Oh yeah—Lisa. I think. She was asking us what she should wear to a wedding."
My heart stops. I hope I don't show it on my face. So Lisa definitely still hasn't told any of her friends that her father is the chancellor, or that he's marrying Jisoo's mother.
"Bit of a coincidence, right?" she asks.
"No, they are—" Yeri begins, but I interrupt: "Quite a coincidence, but, then, in a town this size, there are probably a few every weekend."
Rosé nods in agreement, and Jisoo whispers something in Yeri's ear.
Lisa is actually considering going to the wedding?
Rosé chuckles. "I can't imagine Lisa at a wedding anyway." "Why not?" My tone is a little harsher than I meant it to be.
"I don't know, because she's Lisa. The only way to get her to go to a wedding would be if she knew she could have sex with the bridesmaids. All of them," she says and rolls her eyes.
"I thought you and Lisa are friends?" I say.
"We are. I'm not saying anything bad about her—that's just how Lisa is. She has sex with a different girl every weekend, sometimes more than one."
My ears are buzzing and the fire feels too hot on my skin. I stand up before I realize what I am doing.
"Where are you going? What's wrong?" Rosé asks.
"Nothing, I just . . . I need some air. Some fresh air," I mumble. I know how stupid that sounds but I don't care. "Be right back, I just need a second." I march away quickly before any of them can follow me.
What is wrong with me? Rosé is sweet and she actually likes me, she enjoys my company, and yet all it takes is a mention of Lisa and I can't stop thinking about her. I take a quick stroll around the stands and few deep breaths before walking back over to them.
"Sorry, the fire was just . . . too hot," I lie and sit back down.
Rosé has her phone out and turns the screen away from me as she slides it back into her pocket. She tells me it's fine and we make small talk with Jisoo and Yeri for the next hour.
"I'm getting sort of tired, I had an early flight," Yeri finally tells Jisoo, who nods.
"Yeah, I'm tired, too. We're going to get going." Jisoo stands up and helps Yeri to her feet.
"Do you want to go, too?" Rosé asks me. "No, I'm okay. Unless you want to?"
She shakes her head. "I'm cool." We say goodbye to Jisoo and Yeri and watch as they disappear into the crowd.
"So what's the reason behind the bonfire?" I ask Rosé, unsure that she really knows.
"I think it's like to celebrate the end of the football season," she tells me. "Or the middle of it, or something . . .?" I look around and notice for the first time that a lot of people are wearing jerseys.
"Oh." I look over at Rosé. "I see it now," I say and laugh. "Yeah," she says and then squints. "Is that Lisa?"
I snap my head in the direction she's looking. Sure enough, Lisa is walking toward us with a short brunette wearing a skirt.
I scoot closer to Rosé. This is exactly why I didn't listen to Lisa on the porch—she's already found some girl to bring here just to spite me.
"Hey, Rosé," the girl says in a high-pitched voice.
"Hey, Emma." Rosé hooks her arm around my shoulder. Lisa glares at her but takes a seat with us.
I know I am being rude by not introducing myself to this girl, but I can't help but dislike her already.
"How's the bonfire so far?" Lisa asks. "Warm. And almost over, I think," Rosé replies.
There is tension between the two of them. I can feel it. I don't know why there would be—Lisa made it clear to her friends that she doesn't give a shit about me.
"Do they have food here?" the girl says in her annoying voice. "Yeah, they have a concession stand," I tell her.
"Lisa, come with me to get some food," she demands. She rolls her eyes but stands up.
"Bring me back a pretzel, yeah?" Rosé yells, smiling, and Lisa clenches her jaw.
What is up with them?
As soon as Lisa and Emma disappear I turn to Rosé. "Hey, can we go? I don't really want to hang out with Lisa; we sort of hate each other, in case you forgot." I try to force out a playful laugh, but it doesn't happen.
"Yeah, sure, sure," she says. We both stand up and she reaches for my hand. We hold hands as we walk, and I find myself looking around for Lisa and hoping she won't see.
"Do you want to go to the party?" Rosé asks as we reach the parking lot. "No, I don't really want to go there, either." That is the last place I want to go.
"Okay, well, we can just hang out another . . ." she begins.
"No, I still want to hang out. I just don't want to be here or at that frat house," I say quickly.
She looks surprised as her eyes meet mine. "Okay . . . well, we can go to my place? If you want; if not, we can go somewhere else? I actually don't really know where else to go in this town." She laughs and I join her.
"Your place is fine. I'll follow you there," I tell her.
During the drive, I can't help but picture Lisa's face when she returns to find us gone. She brought a girl there with her, so she has no right to be upset, but it doesn't really ease the pang in my stomach to justify it like that.
Rosé's apartment is right off campus and is small but clean. She offers me a drink, but I decline since I plan on driving back to my room tonight.
I plop down on the couch, and she hands me the remote before going back to the kitchen to make herself a drink. "You can be in control; I don't know what you like to watch."
"Do you live alone?" I ask her and she nods. I feel a little awkward as she sits next to me and puts her arm around my waist, but I hide my nervousness with a smile. Rosé's phone buzzes in her pocket and she stands up to answer it. Holding a finger up to tell me she will be back, she wanders into her small kitchen area.
"We left," I hear her say. "So . . ." "Fair." "Too bad." The few snippets of conversation that I catch make no sense to me . . . except the "we left."
Is that Lisa on the phone? I stand up and walk toward the kitchen as Rosé hangs up.
"Who was that?" I ask.
"No one important," she assures me and leads me back to the couch. "I am really glad we are getting to know each other; you're different from the rest of the girls here," she says sweetly.
"Me, too," I tell her. "Do you know Emma?" I can't help but ask. "Yeah, her girlfriend is Jackson's cousin."
"Girlfriend?"
"Yeah, they have been together awhile. Emma's pretty cool."
So Lisa wasn't there with her, not in that way at least. Maybe she actually came there to try to talk to me again, instead of trying to hurt me with another girl.
I look over to Rosé just as she leans in to kiss me. Her lips are cool from her drink and taste like vodka. Her hands are careful and smooth against my arms, then my waist. Lisa's heartbroken face from earlier pops into my mind, the way she begged for one more chance and I didn't believe her, the way she watched me drive away, the outburst in class about Catherine and Heathcliff, the way she always shows up when I don't want her to, the way she never tells her mother that she loves her, the way she said she loved me in front of everyone, the hurtful way she took it back, the way she breaks things when she's angry, the way she came to her father's house tonight even though she hates it there, and the way she asked her friends what to wear to the wedding—it all makes perfect sense, but no sense, at the same time.
Lisa loves me. In her own damaged way, she does love me. The realization of this hits me like a truck.
"What?" Rosé says and pulls away from our kiss. "What?" I repeat her word.
"You just said Lisa." "No, I didn't," I defend.
"Yes, yes, you did." She stands up and steps away from the couch.
"I have to go . . . I am sorry," I say and grab my purse and rush out of the door before she can say anything else.