Lisa
I sat at work drumming my fingers on my desk and obsessively checking my text messages. So far, Jin told me that the one co-worker, he'd been comfortable asking said no and he was definitely joking about asking a parent, even though I begged him to ask someone else.
I asked about Jennie's co-workers. Jin said she probably wasn't going to ask and only said yes to appease me. I was outraged, so I texted her.
Me: Any luck with asking one of your co-workers to go with me?
I had to wait a few hours until she replied, but around 2pm, she finally got back to me.
Jennie: You're still on this?
Me: I would never joke about something so serious.
Jennie: Wow.
Me: So?
Jennie: I'll be honest: I didn't ask anyone and I'm not going to.
Me: WHY?!
Jennie: Because it's weird and I'm not going to make myself look bad at my firm to help you.
Me: I thought we were friends...
Jennie: I keep telling you that you are friends with my brother and the only reason we hang out, is because you insist on hanging out at my apartment.
Me: Rude.
Jennie: Good luck.
Me: Seriously?? That's it??
Jennie: I've got to go, lunch is over.
Me: That was the shortest lunch break in the history of lunch breaks.
Jennie: Ha. This was one of my longer ones.
Me: :( Fine. Have a good day at work.
There it was: I'd struck out. No one wanted to be my fake girlfriend and Nancy was going to win.
"It's fucking Christmas." I muttered under my breath. "Aren't people supposed to be charitable?"
"Did you say something?" Jackson asked.
"What? Oh no, sorry. Just talking to myself."
"Huh."
I smiled at Jackson then returned to my computer. I stared blankly at the screen. My brain shut off. I guess I was giving up and admitting defeat. Or it was time to download Bumble or Tinder. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I unlocked my phone and was brought back to Jennie's messages. I stared at her contact photo for a few seconds. I swallowed and decided that maybe my mom was right: it was time to ask Jennie.
It was risky; truly it was: I didn't know if Jennie would throw me out or ban me from the apartment or laugh at me when I asked her, these were all very viable options. Jennie had a temper but she also had a sense of humour. God, now I was overanalysing my best friend's sister.
I took a deep breath.
Focus, Lisa. Focus. You know a lot about Jennie. Stuff that you've unintentionally learned over the years, but stuff you know none the less.
The likelihood that she would be mad at me for asking? About 40 percent.
The likelihood of her laughing at me? 50 percent.
The likelihood of her throwing me out? Probably 99 percent.
That left a one percent chance of her saying yes to me. I guess that one percent was still better than the zero percent chance I had of finding someone else.
Alright, game plan. Let's go!
