Five Steps | Chaelisa

Chapter 31

Lisa's POV

I try not to spill my fresh drink on about a million people, until I finally spot Roseanne leaning up against the black-painted wall outside the bathrooms.

"Dude, what are you doing?" I ask, pointing my thumb back toward the corner of the bar we left Suzy and Samantha at. "You can't just leave your date. Have I taught you noth—"

"I don't like her," Roseanne says, cutting me off midsentence. Her face is about as serious as it gets, blonde eyebrows pulled together in a frown.

"Suzy? What do you mean you don't like her?" I ask, wondering where the hell this conversation is going. They just flirted their way through the Cereal Killers' entire set.

"No. Samantha."

I give her an incredulous look. "What? You don't even know her."

Roseanne leans closer, no trace of timidity. "I know enough to know you deserve better than that. A lot better."

"What are you even talking about?"

"I don't like how she treats you," Roseanne says, crossing her arms over her chest.

I shake my head, letting out a laugh, even though this doesn't feel funny at all. A flicker of the past few weeks of her icing me out and hanging up on me flashes through my mind, but I push it away. I have to stand my ground. I'm not running away now.

"Well, if the last month has taught me anything, it's that you don't know shit about relationships, Roseanne." I take a step closer, glowering down at her. "I mean, you can't even ask a girl out without a detailed tutorial."

Roseanne flinches but doesn't back down. "I know what a healthy relationship looks like, Lisa, even if I haven't been in one. And that is not it."

"Well, sorry, but we weren't all raised in the perfect little family, with a white picket fence, and two-point-five kids, and Clare for a mom." I size her up, from the determined look on her face to the white-knuckled fists her hands have balled themselves into. "Why do you even care? You've got your dream girl."

The fists tighten, her jaw locking in frustration.

"Because I'm trying to help you, Lisa, even though you've been ignoring me all night. You're my—"

I don't let her finish. I don't want to hear her say the word "friend"... for too many reasons. "Well, we're done helping each other, aren't we? You got Suzy. Samantha's back. The plan is done, if there really ever was one. You know, I just made up all the steps, because you needed them so much. Who gives a shit about step five anyway?" I gesture between us, me and her, us. "We don't have to do this anymore."

And then the words tumble out of my mouth before I can stop them. The ones I can never take back. "We don't have to pretend we give a shit about each other."

Instantly I see them hit their mark.

And it is... even more awful than I could have possibly imagined, watching the small piece of Roseanne's heart I managed to find a home in over the past month absolutely shatter.

Her eyes widen, and she takes a step back, accidentally knocking into the wall behind her, tears forming at their corners.

I look quickly down at my scuffed Converse, squeezing my eyes shut as she brushes past me into the crowded room of people.

"Nice going, Lisa," I mutter, kicking at the wall.

I turn my head, watching as she grabs Suzy's hand, and the two of them disappear out the door and into the night. Into their happily ever after.