With You By My Side -Chaennie FF-

Part 7

"So, how did your date go?" my sister asked once I finally bothered to answer one of her calls.

Oh my god... "For the last time, it wasn't a date." And I really wished she'd stop calling it that.

"Uh huh." She wasn't convinced. "Are you going to see her again?"

"Yes. I think so. I..." I honestly wasn't sure. That was completely up to Jennie and whatever time she had left before going back on tour. She said she'd be back on tour in a few weeks so...

"But you'd like to see her again," my sister said with a smile in her voice. "First dates are always tough," she added, likely looking back on personal experience. "You need to feel her out, you know?"

I rolled my eyes even though she couldn't see me. "Like I said, it wasn't a date. We hung out in the shop and talked books, that's it." That wasn't entirely true, but if I wanted to keep Jennie's identity a secret, a few white lies couldn't hurt.

"For you, that's a date. You used to spend hours with... what was her name?" Lisa released a long breath, then continued. "You spent hours in the bookstore down the way going cover to cover just to see if they had something we didn't."

"I wasn't that bad, was I?" I knew I liked to go with my ex to the other bookstores, but we met over books as well. She never said anything, so I figured it was fine.

"If someone likes you enough, they'll listen to you ramble over stories and far-off worlds just to enjoy your company."

"You're starting to sound like Mom." It was exactly something she would've said if she were still alive.

"So what can you tell me about her?" Lisa asked, going back to our original conversation. "Is she cute?"

"Lisa!" I groaned, thankful when she couldn't see the color on my cheeks. "If you must know, yes, she's cute." Very cute. I smiled then, looking around the shop at where we sat a few days ago. If I looked hard enough, I could almost see her sitting on the sofa beside the front window with a book in her lap.

"And when are you supposed to see her again?" She didn't ask about my next date this time but it was implied.

"I..." I paused, chewing my bottom lip as I did. "I don't know. She's really busy with work right now and I don't know when it's going to get any better."

Not to mention her going back on tour meant she wasn't girlfriend material. Not for me, anyway. I never cared for the long distance thing, and believe me, I tried. College was a bad time to start a new relationship, especially when that girlfriend decided to go to school several states away.

But with Jennie, she'd be gone more often and for longer periods of time. The time zones alone would make talking to her extremely difficult.

Not that we were dating, of course, but she was nice to talk to.

"You guys didn't set up another date?" my sister asked, surprised.

"Sort of?" I'd offered Jennie a place to go when she needed to unwind, but that didn't really count, did it? My sister would know for sure, but not without me sharing every single detail with her. If there was one thing I knew about Jennie Kim it was her need for privacy, privacy I was happy to give any way I could.

"So it wasn't a date," Lisa said with an exasperated sigh.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you. We're just friends." More like acquaintances, really, but it wasn't like I'd know the difference.

The friends I had growing up were the ones I read about inside one of my books. Mom and Dad tried to get me to hangout with a girl down the street, but I couldn't be bothered.