Lisa
"It's so crowded." I said to Jennie, while bumping shoulders with a stranger in the mall.
"I would expect the mall to be crowded in December."
I rolled my eyes but didn't comment, instead I straightened up, prepared to shoulder check the next person who dared to walk too close to me.
"So who are we shopping for?" I asked.
"A white elephant gift for my firm's holiday party, Jin, and a few of my friends."
"Okay, so not a lot then."
"Nope, not like last year."
"Why was last year a lot?"
"I don't even want to tell you how much I spent."
I grinned. "How much did you spend."
"I don't want to talk about it."
I nudged Jennie. "C'mon."
"Nope."
"Okay fine. Why did you spend so much last year?"
"Because I was dating that asshole Taehyung. He kept spending more and more money, so I felt like I had to as well." Jennie grimaced. "Guess money can't buy love. The Beatles lied to me."
"I don't know, I happen to think that presents are the best way to show someone how much you care. It's like this tangible thing that you can point to and say, 'Hey man, I love you this many dollars' worth.'" Jennie's expression was blank. "You've never seen 'The Office'?"
"No."
I stopped walking. "I don't know if I can be fake dating someone who doesn't love 'The Office'."
"Here we go." Jennie muttered.
"What?"
"You and your little antics."
"What does that mean?"
"You and my brother are so dramatic."
"We are not!"
Jennie made a face.
"But I swear to God, I will walk out of this mall if you don't watch 'The Office'."
"I rest my case."
"This isn't court room number five, dude."
"Everywhere is court room number five if you try hard enough."
"Is this what you're going to be like at the party?"
"Oh, absolutely. I told you that you should not go with a stuffy lawyer."
I thought a moment. "It's fine. Just be your snarky self to Nancy and everything will be great." Jennie chuckled and we waltzed through the mall, popping into different stores while Jennie perused and pulled seemingly random items from the shelf and into my arms.
"You at least have to watch the Christmas episodes with me." I said after a couple hours of being dragged around like Jennie's pack mule.
"What?"
"Of 'The Office'. You have to watch them with me."
"I don't have to do anything."
"You can never make anything easy, can you? You always have to say no and then make me wear you down."
"Nothing in life is easy."
"I am literally asking you to watch television with me."
Jennie shrugged and put a huge coat in my arms.
"How are you and Jin even related? You're the exact opposite! He would have said yes instantly!"
"Then I guess he should've been your fake date, huh?" Jennie said with a smirk. I couldn't help but smile back.
We wandered into a cute little store with beautiful glass blown ornaments, hand crafted buildings for a tiny North Pole, and breath-taking snow globes. Jennie wandered over to the globes and lost herself in the world of artificial snow. I admired the tiny buildings that created Santa's workshop, amazed at the details.
