Jennie
Lisa now seems like a molehill compared to the Armageddon Irene. Warning bells, not wedding bells, are going off in my head. There's nothing more dangerous than a woman in love.
"What's a pretty lady like you doing in a dump like this?"
I glance around and sigh. "Great. Trouble Number Two."
"Well, not quite the welcome I was hoping for." Lisa lifts a finger to motion to the bartender. Why is it everyone can get the bartender's attention except for me? She's in a black Ralph Lauren pea coat, and she looks a step above everyone around her. "What are you drinking?"
"I don't know, something blue... listen, you can't just crash the bachelorette party. There are rules to this kind of thing. Protocols."
"If you don't want me here, just say that."
Lisa's eyes meet mine. Her irises have gone dark again, and now I feel bad for taking it out on her. "No, I don't want you to leave. Stay."
My forearm brushes against hers when I lean against the bar beside her. Lisa doesn't budge.
"You texted me." she says. "It seemed like you needed a distraction."
Bingo. That's it. Irene needs a distraction. After all, what better way to get over heartbreak than to rebound?
It worked for me. Didn't it? Get over Taehyung by getting under Lisa?
I look over at Lisa. She's not unlike the first night that I saw her, stormy eyes, that hair that constantly begs for fingers raked through it. Not that you can. Her posture is too stiff, detached, as though she'd be doing you a favour to let you touch her flat, washboard abs.
Lisa orders me a cocktail, club soda and lime for herself. When my drink comes, I chew on the straw. "What'd you do today?" I ask.
"We all bought suits for the wedding."
"How was that?"
"Great." Lisa says at first. When I stare at her dubiously, she ultimately shrugs and confesses, "I wanted to blow my brains out."
"I have something that will cheer you up." I say casually.
"I'm listening."
I stir my straw in between the ice cubes. "Well. It's sort of a favour."
"Forget it. I'm not helping you stitch this wedding back together."
"You'll like this favour, though. It's about your plus one."
Now Lisa's eyebrows lift. Her eyes flicker through the crowd until they find the curly redhead, and he tilts his head in her direction. "Bambam's Irene?"
"That's the one." I sip from my straw and give myself a second to mull over my next words. "You remember when we first met... at the hotel? I told you about how I lost my mind after Taehyung broke off our wedding, and you told me that you'd fix it with your penis?"
"I hardly think those are the exact words I used."
"Well, Irene thinks that she's in love with Bambam. She's going to throw the wedding over it." I twist my straw in my multi-coloured drink. "I need you to fix it."
I feel Lisa's stare like ice on my flesh. "What!?"
"You know..." I wave my hand in a vague gesture. "Do that... thing you do."
When I look at Lisa, I wish I hadn't. Her dark eyes look like coal, burning fiercely. "You want me to sleep with her?" she clarifies.
I shrug. "Well... if the inspiration hits."
She takes a swallow from her glass, reaches into her back pocket, and pulls out her wallet. She drops a twenty on the bar counter and then says to me, "You're right. This was a mistake. I'll leave you to your bachelorette party."
"Lis..."
She doesn't acknowledge me; she simply gets up off the stool and exits as swiftly as she came.
