Lisa
"I had no idea you ever actually left the office."
Jennie and I both turned around instantly to find a tall man in an outrageously expensive suit for mall shopping standing in the doorway of the boutique. Taehyung, the ex-boyfriend, flashed us both with a huge smile of his perfectly white teeth.
"It's hard to find the time to leave when I have to clean up after you." Jennie retorted and returned to the snow globes. She picked up one and examined it closer.
Taehyung was unperturbed by the dig. "That temper of yours is why we broke up."
Jennie gently set the snow globe down and slowly turned her head to glare at him. Fear was struck in my heart and I knew instantly that I would never, under any circumstances, do anything to warrant the look which Jennie used to pin Taehyung against the wall. "Actually, the reason we broke up was because you're actually an asshole."
Taehyung laughed humourlessly and began his retort, his face twisting in rage in such a way that only the hatred of bitter exes could conjure. Naturally, I decided to step in and diffuse the situation before it ended in Jennie breaking a snow globe and stabbing Taehyung with the shards of glass.
"That's not what you told me." I said loudly, while stepping closer to Jennie and wrapping my arm around her waist.
They both looked from my face to my arm around Jennie's waist in confusion. "I thought you said the sex with him was so bad that you switched to girls. Like he won't ever be able to find your clit even if you gave him a vagina-map."
Jennie's mouth popped open in a silent laugh and Taehyung's face burned red, with a vein popping in his forehead. I stuck out my hand like I was oblivious.
"Hi I'm Lisa, Jennie's girlfriend." Taehyung eyed me, with his eyes bouncing across my face like he was trying to register the memory of my face. I didn't think Taehyung would remember me, because even on the few occasions that we'd met, he was both too drunk and too self-centred to remember much of anything else except the suit he'd worn. He'd also refused to hang out at Jennie's apartment with us.
Taehyung looked back and forth between the two of us, with his mouth flapping open and closed like he wanted to say something. Jennie seemed to catch on once she saw Taehyung's expression and she slide her hand into mine. His eyes trained on our intertwined fingers. Slowly, he reached out and shook my hand.
"You're gay?" he asked Jennie.
"I don't know if she was when you were dating, but she definitely is now. Really, I have to thank you Taehyung. Without you, I don't know if Jennie would have given me the time of day. Anyway, we really should be going. It was so nice to meet you." Taehyung blinked but didn't say anything.
I turned Jennie back to the snow globes and pointed to the one in her hands earlier. "Is this the one you want?" She nodded and I brought it to the cashier, who wrapped it in brown paper and gently placed it in a bag, which I handed to Jennie. I grabbed her hand again and led her out of the store. We passed Taehyung again on the way out. He hadn't even moved an inch.
Once we were a few stores down and made sure that Taehyung hadn't followed us, we burst into laughter.
"Did you see his face?" Jennie gasped between breaths.
"I sure did. Totally worth it."
"That was hilarious. Thank you. I really needed that."
"Any time. You've already so graciously agreed to be my fake girlfriend, so I figured the least I can do is agree to be yours on the occasion that Taehyung appears."
"You know what? I might drag you along to my company holiday party, just to rub it in his face a little more."
"See? Now you understand why I need you!"
Jennie laughed but agreed. "Yes, I understand. If Nancy is anything like that asshole Taehyung..." Jennie shuddered.
"Exactly!" I said. We walked by the food court and the smell of melted cheese and freshly baked dough wafted through the air. "You want a pretzel?"
"Absolutely."
We bought a pretzel and sat at a plastic mall table to eat. We tore off little chunks and dunked it in hot, melted cheese.
"How much do I owe you for the snow globe, by the way?" Jennie asked between mouthfuls of pretzel.
I waved her off. "Nothing, it's on me."
"No, I can't let you buy it."
"Really, I don't mind. I want to buy it for you." Jennie looked like she was going to argue more, but I stopped her. "Really, Jennie. I'm happy to buy your snow globe this year. Consider it a thank you."
"It can't be a thank you when you're already doing stuff for me."
"Can I please buy it for you? I want to. Not for any favours or as a thank you, but because I genuinely would like to buy it for you." She looked at me for a moment and her eyes waived with tears. I reached across the table and squeezed her hand.
"Thank you, Lisa."
She was silent for a moment. I smiled at her and offered her a napkin which she used to dab her eyes. "I think I will watch 'The Office' with you."
I grinned and pumped my fist in the air. "Yes! Now hurry up, we have a lot more shopping to do!"
