Five Steps | Chaelisa

Chapter 30

Roseanne's POV

The venue is small. There's maybe enough room for a hundred people to stand between the raised stage and a big rectangular bar at the back of the building. Antique pendant lights hang on long chains from the vaulted ceiling, and arched opaque windows run the length of the two long walls. It looks like a converted church.

"They're really good!" Suzy yells into my ear over the blasting speakers, her foot lightly knocking into mine on the black glossy floor. I smile and nod my head enthusiastically, but I've been so distracted that I haven't really listened to a single song.

Distracted by Lisa on the other side of me.

Distracted by the way she's been ignoring me all night apart from making sure I'm going to tell Samantha about what she's done for me.

Distracted by the way her attention has been glued to Samantha onstage for the past thirty minutes and the way Samantha has been staring back at her. Like every line she sings is only for Lisa's ears. Like they are the only two people in the room.

I take a sip of my Sprite and glance over at Suzy.

She's got on an adorable blue dress with yellow flowers that bounces up to her thighs as she dances along with the music. Her lips are outlined perfectly in red lipstick, and the tiny diamond stud in her nose is sparkling under the spotlights overhead.

She catches me watching her but doesn't stop bopping along to the music. She just smiles, that big bright smile that I have loved since ninth grade.

It's a smile that shakes me awake and reminds me that I'm here with Suzy Bae, my absolute dream girl.

"I'm really glad you came, Suzy," I tell her, my heart pounding in my chest.

"Well, it took you long enough to ask me," she prods. "Although, technically, I guess I asked you."

"Well, technically, we'd be studying for a biology exam right now if I hadn't brought up the concert, so..." I shrug a shoulder at her playfully. I can feel my nerves bubbling up, but it feels different from that night at the party when I could barely even look at her. I'm not nervous that I'm going to screw it up. I think I'm nervous that... this might actually work.

That I might actually get the girl of my dreams.

"True," she surrenders. "Then, I guess I'm glad you asked me. Really glad." She knocks her soda into mine, and we both take a sip as a roaring applause makes its way through the audience. Lisa glances in my direction for a split second before focusing her attention back on the stage. Samantha blows kisses to the crowd, and Lisa whistles loudly over two fingers as the band makes its way offstage.

A couple of minutes later, Lisa is waving someone down, but I can't see over the heads in the crowd. Soon Samantha breaks through and makes her way over to us, a few people around her pointing and whispering to their friends.

As I watch her get closer and closer to Lisa, I wonder if they'll kiss. It's been almost a month since they've seen each other, after all. But they don't, and I exhale, relieved. Instead, Lisa wraps her arms around Samantha and pulls her into a close hug, whispering something into her ear. I turn away, looking back at the bar, which is teeming with people trying to get drinks before the headliners start their set.

"What'd you guys think?" Lisa asks, opening up the circle to include Suzy and me.

"You were incredible!" Suzy says to Samantha. "I had no idea Lisa was dating a rock star."

I can see Lisa physically tense up at that. I wonder if it's because she's worried that Samantha might think Lisa hasn't talked about her much, her girlfriend.

"Yeah, well"—Samantha flips her long black hair over her shoulder, batting her mascara-caked lashes—"she's a lucky lady." Lisa relaxes a little, and it's so weird to see her nervous. It's all just so... not her.

But I guess they worked out all their issues or they wouldn't be here.

"Hey, baby, go get me a water," she says to Lisa. Like it's not even a question.

"Of course," Lisa says. "I'll be right back."

"I'll come with you." Suzy raises her empty cup. "Roseanne, you want a refill?" she asks.

"No, I'm good. Thanks." I shake my head, and Lisa gives me a look as the two of them disappear into the crowd, leaving me here with Samantha. Being here alone with her, I feel my anxiety kick up again, a tightening around my chest. But I think about Lisa, and even though she's been weird to me all night, I owe her this. "Hi, I'm Roseanne." I reach my hand out, and Samantha takes it after a two-second hesitation, which she spends looking me over. I feel that familiar sweat come over me. Push through it, Roseanne. "Lisa really is great. She has been helping me out a lot," I say, readying myself to tell her all about how she helped me get this date with Suzy, about how she's a different person from the girl she left in Philly. "For the past month, we've been—"

Samantha interrupts me with a snort and rolls her eyes. I stop and look at her, confused.

"Don't go thinking you're anything special," she says. "It's clear you're just a lost little puppy looking for attention. And Lisa will give it to anyone... for a while. That's just Lisa."

I step back as she stares me down, making me feel small, making me feel like the person I was before I came here, before I met Lisa. And as much as I want to defend my friend, as much as I want to tell Samantha that she doesn't even deserve to be in Lisa's life...

I just... can't.

And soon Lisa and Suzy return with drinks.

"You guys talk about me while I was gone?" Lisa asks, looking directly at me. I take a step back, uncurling my fingers.

"Only the good stuff." Samantha wraps her hand all the way around Lisa's waist and pulls her close, and this time she does bury a kiss in her neck. "Right, Roseanne?" she asks, shooting daggers across our small circle at me.

I stare back at her for a moment, trying to come up with something to say, but instead, I just nod.

"I'll be right back," I say, avoiding Suzy's gaze as I head off to find the bathroom, pulling my phone out as I squeeze through openings in the crowd, my blood practically boiling.

Meet me by the bathroom, I text Lisa, and then I wait.