"Wait, so you're going back to New York already?"
"In a couple days," Jennie nodded, turning her head to look at Bambam from the other end of the hotel room couch. "I fly back on Sunday."
Bambam met her eyes with a brief look of surprise, before returning his attention to the slice of pizza sitting on a plate in his lap. "Damn this stuff is like crack," he said, taking another bite. "Why is this so good?"
"NY-style," Jennie replied. "Here, have another slice."
"NY-style, huh?" Bambam lifted his plate to receive the slice of pizza Jennie held out to him. "I guess New York beats LA for pizza... and bagels."
"And cheesecake," she added.
"Sure," he agreed. "No contest. But the tacos don't hold a candle."
"I guess I'm not all that into tacos."
They each took another bite and chewed in unison as the silence grew. Bambam glanced down at his watch. "Are you sure I'm not keeping you? I can go..."
"No no," Jennie said, reaching out a hand and touching his arm. "Lisa will be back soon. Rosé said she'd have her back here in an hour. And you shouldn't be alone right now."
"Nah," he shrugged. "I'm fine. Really."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
He looked over at her. "It's not that big a deal. Honestly, Jennie. It's not like she was the love of my life or something."
"But you didn't see it coming at all?"
Bambam shook his head slightly. "Probably should have. I mean, Kendall didn't exactly have the longest attention span in the world."
"When did she tell you?"
"That she was dumping me?"
Jennie nodded.
"She texted this morning. Apparently, she's seeing Devin Booker now."
Jennie let out a disbelieving laugh. "She texted you that?"
"Hey, he's a good catch for her. NBA pro player. I'm just a guitarist."
"But Bambam..."
"Listen," he said, holding up a hand to stop her in mid-sentence. "I knew going into it that I was just a rung on her ladder."
"Then why did you go out with her?"
He took another mouthful of pizza. "Usual reason," he laughed.
Jennie screwed up her face at him. She wasn't buying this act. Not from Bambam. He might try to play it off like he didn't care, but she knew him better than that. He'd always been the sensitive one. The guy who'd lock himself in his room with nothing but an acoustic guitar for hours on end - practicing the same melancholy chord progression over and over - whenever some girl he was trying to pick up at a bar turned him down.
Bambam shrugged and looked down at his plate. "It's not that easy, you know," he said softly.
"What?"
"You think - when you're just a kid in a band - you think if you could only make it big, it would be so much easier. Getting girls. I mean, that's pretty much the whole reason guys start bands."
Jennie smiled at him. "Not the whole reason."
"Maybe like 90% of the reason."
She laughed. "And it isn't easy?"
"Sure. I could go out tonight and come back with someone new. And Lisa... well, you know. She has to beat them off with a flyswatter."
Jennie looked away, the smile fading from her face as she stuffed another bite of pizza into her mouth.
"But that's why it sucks so much," Bambam continued.
"Doesn't sound like it sucks that much."
"No, but you can never tell what's real andwhat's fake, you know? Who actually likes you, and who's just in it for whatever else. Money or fame or whatever. It's a piece of cake getting laid, but to actually find a girlfriend? A real girlfriend who actually means it when she says she loves you Way easier back when we were nobodies."
"What was easier?" Lisa's voice asked from the other side of the room.
Jennie looked up in surprise. She hadn't heard Lisa come in - too focused on the conversation with Bambam. "Kendall broke up with him," she said to Lisa as she came across the room to where they were sitting.
"Yeah I heard," Lisa replied. "I just texted Hoony. He's on his way with the whiskey."
"It's really not necessary," Bambam said, keeping his eyes on the half-eaten slice of pizza on his plate. "How'd you hear anyway?"
"The Pop Candies YouTube channel has a video of her with Devin Booker."
Bambam winced and stood up, walking over to the living room window and looking down at the street below.
"Already?" Jennie asked.
"They run a tight ship over there," Lisa shrugged. "Rosé got them to hold off posting it for a few days, in exchange for the interview."
"That was your interview?" Bambam asked over his shoulder. "Why are you doing interviews with YouTube channels?"
"You don't want to know," Lisa said, shooting Jennie a smirk.
She smiled back at Lisa, feeling her cheeks start to warm under Lisa's gaze. Before Jennie could come up with a retort, they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Jennie rose to answer it. She passed Lisa her plate of unfinished pizza and slung her purse over her shoulder as she went.
"Where are you going?"
She pulled the door open to see Hoony standing in the hallway, carrying a stack of paper cups and a bottle of whiskey.
"Room service!" Hoony called, stepping past her into the room.
Jennie wrinkled her nose as she stood in the doorway and watched him pass out the cups. "I'll let you guys do your thing," she said.
"You don't have to go, Jennie." Bambam held out a cup in her direction. "Drink with us!"
"Stay?" Lisa said, watching Jennie uncertainly.
She shook her head. "That's ok. I've got some work stuff to catch up on anyway."
"Just don't go to the airport," Lisa said. "Promise."
Jennie broke into a grin. "You don't go to the airport!"
"No no." Lisa shook her head. "I'm not allowed to leave the room for 24 hours. Rosé put me in timeout."
Lisa heard Jennie chuckling in the hallway as she let the door swing closed behind her, and she turned her attention back to her friends.
"Dude," Bambam said to Lisa the moment the door was closed. "What the hell is the matter with you?"
"What?" Lisa looked back to see her friend glaring at her.
"Why are you letting her go?"
"She hates whiskey!"
"Not that!" Bambam responded. "Why are you letting her go back to New York?"
"She's going back already?" Hoony asked, holding out the whiskey bottle toward Lisa.
"On Sunday," Bambam confirmed.
Lisa took the bottle and poured herself a cup. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Come on, man!" Bambam said, sitting down across from Lisa. "You're crazy to let her walk away again."
