Chapter 31
Jennie
I didn't see Lisa much over the next week, largely because I spent my time avoiding her while I was at the compound. Before I knew it, it was Saturday and I was sitting in my apartment in my pyjamas obsessively scrolling through Kendall Jenner's social media feeds. She had been posting about readying herself for the gala all day and, as much as it hurt to see that Lisa was actually going through with taking Kendall as her date, I couldn't stop myself from reading everything she posted, viewing every image. It was a compulsion, a sad one.
Finally, as the afternoon turned to evening and the gala drew closer, Rosé used her key to come into my apartment and found me like that, pathetic and miserable. She approached slowly, placing a hand on my knee as she settled into the couch next to me.
"I messed up," I sniffed, looking up at her.
"Yeah," she nodded in agreement. "You did."
"Rosé! You aren't supposed to agree with me!"
"Well, you aren't supposed to mess up this bad," she countered. We sat
there for a moment in silence.
"Rosé, I'm sorry about-"
She held up a hand to stop me, shaking her head at the same time. "That
isn't necessary," she told me. "Besides, I should be apologizing to you. We shouldn't have bombarded you like that, all three of us at once. We were just concerned but... if I'd known how much Lisa already meant to you by then, I never would have said-"
"You were right though," I reminded her with a shrug, gesturing at the air around me to mean the current situation we found ourselves in. "It was stupid of me to believe that someone like Lisa Manoban could want someone like me."
She frowned, clearly not pleased by my assessment of the situation, and stood, pulling me to my feet as she did. "Come on, let's get you ready for
this gala," she told me gently. "The boys will be here any minute."
I nodded and let her help me up. I tasked her with readying my makeup as I stepped into the shower to rinse off. Then I dressed myself in the long, navy blue, scrunched body hugging dress that I had ordered for the occasion, adding dangling silver earrings to match my necklace and stiletto heels. Rosé sat me down and created a beautiful up do with my hair so that it was a pouf on top but cascading down my open back. Then she did my makeup. I glanced in the mirror when she had finished and had to admit I had never looked so beautiful. I only wished I was feeling up to going out
tonight. Not that it mattered. Rosé and I were required to attend.
Suddenly, there was a knock on my door and Rosé and I went to greet our dates for the evening. Mino and Hoony stood in the threshold, looking not half bad in their rented tuxedos. They smiled up at us as we let them in. "You two don't clean up half bad," Rosé complimented them as they
entered.
"And you, madam, look exquisite," Hoony said, taking Rosé's hand and
kissing it. She rolled her eyes. Mino and I exchanged looks of disgust. Hoony had always been attracted to Rosé but she had never let it go too far. We all knew about the harmless flirtation he liked to engage her in from time to time and tonight, I imagined, she would be hearing a lot of it. But what other options did two single girls have? And at least a night out with friends would be far more fun than our other potential options might have been.
"My Lady?" Mino asked with a mocking eighteenth century lilt to his voice as he held out his arm to me. I gave him a sad smile and took it. We all headed downstairs to the waiting limo that Hoony had insisted we take, claiming that he wouldn't be seen arriving at such a function in anything less. It was strangely quiet on the ride to the convention centre. I gathered that to mean that Rosé had told Mino and Hoony what had happened between Lisa and I and no one wanted to mention her or the upcoming event or anything associated with the Los Angeles Chargers for fear of upsetting me. And unfortunately, I wasn't in the mood to plaster on a fake smile and pretend that I was alright for their benefit. At least, not until we arrived and I had to greet all of my co-workers that way.
Hoony found our names on the seating chart and led us off to our table, pulling out the chair for Rosé as Mino did for me. Then we all sat, glancing
around the room and waiting for a waiter to approach with something of alcoholic content.
"These centrepieces are... um, wow," Mino tried and was effective only in drawing my eyes to the strange artwork adorning the centre of our table. It was a rounded golden tower with a few domes at the bottom. I couldn't, for the life of me, tell was it was supposed to be, only what it looked like. And I could see that my friends had noticed as well by the way they were smiling and trying very hard not to laugh.
"It's a very... male organ structured, isn't it?" Hoony said and Mino snorted.
"Maybe we should put some sweatpants over it," Rosé chimed in and Mino and Hoony both chuckled at that.
That easily, my mind was otherwise occupied as I tried, with my friends, not to burst out into an embarrassing amount of laughter at something so ridiculous. But as I looked at that golden schlong, I couldn't help myself. "If it stays like this for four hours, we should probably call a doctor," I said and my friends all laughed out loud.
"There she is!" Mino cheered, placing a hand on my shoulder in encouragement. I laughed along with them. That is, until I caught a glimpse of a commotion on the other side of the room.
Someone had just entered, someone important. My stomach clenched at the sight of the reporters swarming to shake the person's hand and I knew it was Lisa even before she pushed her way through the crowd of media, pulling Kendall Jenner along with her.
