Lisa
I stall in the truck and keep it warm. I waste time on my phone, catching up on emails and making sure that everything is in working order. It's fifteen, maybe twenty minutes before Jennie and the rest of her crew come back downstairs and hop into the car.
"Took you long enough." I say.
"Urgent wedding business, I'm afraid." Ren clicks his seat belt in place. "Nothing you would understand. Do we know where we're going?"
"Nayeon?" Jennie asks hopefully.
The pigtailed girl looks down at her phone and scrolls through it. "There are a couple antique and thrift stores in the area. I'll direct."
Jennie burns gas as we drive around, following Nayeon's directions. I grip the side of the truck as Jennie gets a little trigger-happy on her turns and make a mental note to claim the driver's seat on the way back. The first set of directions takes us to a quaint little antique shop, but Jennie shakes her head and drives past. She also turns down the second shop, windows filled with porcelain.
Finally, Jennie finds something she likes. She pulls into the parking lot of a general thrift store. We hop out and I feel the corners of my mouth tug downward.
"Are you sure this is the place you want?" I ask.
It's a dump. The thrift store itself is a one-storey warehouse. It looks like half of their items are outside, however, the back and front lawn scattered with bits and pieces. Everything from a bathtub to tires to lawn flamingos.
"It's perfect." Jennie says as she stands beside me.
"You have to get out of the habit of saying this is perfect every time you see a garbage heap." I tell her.
I feel Jennie's eyes on me as though she's inspecting me. "In case no one has ever told you before..." Jennie takes my chin in her fingers, "... you're perfect, Lisa Manoban."
"Stop." I tell her and pull away sharply. Telling her to stop is easier than telling her to keep going.
Ren and Nayeon catch up to us. "Let's bloody do this!" Ren says and cracks his knuckles.
Admittedly, I'm impressed. The three of them clearly have some kind of method to their madness as they begin picking through the entire store. They work in tandem, Ren picks up what looks like a mangled bike spoke, Jennie hands over a candleholder, and just like that, they've created a centrepiece.
It all looks like trash to me. The only thing I manage to lift up is a small piggybank designed to look like a monkey. Its face is warped, the handmade thing didn't hold up over the years and when I show it to Nayeon, she screams.
Like I've said. I'm not good at this kind of thing.
