your hand in mine

vi

"Hold up. You're going to a party hosted by Lisa Manoban?"

"Dude," Hyeri sighs, rolling her eyes at Ashley who's staring at Roseanne, bewildered. "They are dating . You really need to choose better things to freak out about."

"We are not dating," Roseanne corrects, not turning away from the mirror. Her friends are lounging on her bed while she's trying out outfit after outfit, and so far they proved to be very unhelpful. She's lowkey regretting asking them to come. Not that she'd ever tell them that.

But - it's a dinner party hosted by Lisa Manoban. And from what Roseanne gathered, it's going to be a rather intimate, close-knit affair. Jessica's going to be there. People close to Lisa - people Lisa trusts - are going to be there.

She has to look perfect, whether they are dating or not - which they aren't, at least she doesn't think so. They haven't talked about going exclusive or anything.

Hyeri snorts, jarring Roseanne from her musings. "Honey," she says. "You hold hands and you kiss and you go on dates. Hate to break it to you, but that's dating."

"Okay, then we're casually dating. But we haven't really… discussed the terms."

Except Lisa implied she was falling for her and they haven't gone a full day without talking ever since, be it texts or calls or dates. Even if they wanted to see other people, they wouldn't have the time, Roseanne thinks to herself.

"She invited you to a private party," Ashley points out. "This is serious."

"It's not really a private party."

"It's an invitation-only party," Hyeri pipes up. "That makes it a private party."

Roseanne huffs, blowing a strand of hair away from her face. "Do you want to make me even more nervous about tonight?"

And holy crap, is she nervous. Her stomach is an anxious ball of knots, and there's another one lodged in her throat. To Lisa, tonight might be a simple step forward in their slowly - seriously, so slowly - evolving relationship. But to Roseanne - and to Jessica, and to everyone close to Lisa - this is a test. When Eunwoo and her discussed their plan, at the beginning, they assumed it'd be easy because of Lisa's affinity for conquests. She didn't even realize that would actually be one of her disadvantages.

Lisa's friends, people who care about her - they are used to the likes of Roseanne. Only there for the money and status that Lisa Manoban's affections bring. Claire has a feeling Jessica was only a tip of the judgmental overprotective iceberg.

So yeah. She's fucking nervous alright.

Her friends remain mostly oblivious to her inner turmoil. Obviously. They don't know about the plan. They don't know the actual reason for Roseanne's anxiety. For them, it's date jitters, not more.

"Damn," Hyeri whistles. "Lisa must be good if she got Park feeling like a schoolgirl with a crush."

"I am not-"

"Come on, Roseanne," Ashley interrupts, rolling her eyes. "This is the third outfit you tried on and you haven't stopped chewing on your bottom lip since we walked in. Face it. You're crushing. Hard."

That would probably be better than what's actually going on. "Fine," she says, throwing her hands up in defeat before tugging a white blazer off. "I have a crush and I have a date with said crush and I have nothing to wear. Now will you help me or not?"

"Technically, that's not a date tho-"

Roseanne glares. "My ethical stance on murder is rapidly shifting, Hyeri."