Dressed in her best impression of Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's, Lisa wished she'd had time to come up with something better. She pushed off coming up with something clever so long, that when it was time for the party, she was left with whatever she had in her closet. A little black dress, dark sunglasses and black pumps. Her mom had come through with a pair of long black gloves she borrowed from a friend along with a huge statement neckless and matching broach to stick in her updo.
All in all, she didn't look bad, but she was bummed that Jisoo had to cancel her trip last minute. She was the reason Lisa had agreed to go in the first place, and she would've bailed if Jisoo hadn't made her promise to go and collect in-person gossip on how their former classmates were doing.
Even if she hadn't promised, she might have gone anyway. Things at the office had been strange and tense with Roseanne. They were always on the verge of saying something, but never found the words. Or the nerve. The tension was exhausting, and Lisa was just grateful to have somewhere to go and experience a little levity. The prospect of meeting someone that might distract her incessant thoughts of Roseanne was a nice motivator too.
When the rideshare dropped her off at the huge Mediterranean style house and the massive white tent in front of it, Lisa had half a mind to go back home. People were everywhere and that was just one tent. Another peered out from behind the house, and there were people congregated inside the house too. Jisoo wasn't kidding; it was really a whole affair. Her chances of running into her friends among all those people was miniscule.
As soon as she took a tentative step out of the car, her fears of awkward isolation were destroyed.
"Lisa!" a woman in a Betty Rubble costume shouted as she raced toward her while waving. The costume threw her off, but after a second she recognized her friend.
"Jisoo! What the hell are you doing here?" Lisa shouted as she slammed the car door and raced up the walkway toward her.
"Surprising you, obvi!" she joked, pulling her into such a strong hug, she nearly lifted her off the ground.
"I've missed you so much! I can't believe you're here!" Lisa stifled the sudden and nearly overwhelming urge to cry.
"Me too! I can't believe you'd really think I'd bail on you at the last minute and still make you come to this," she said with a laugh before finally breaking the embrace. "Come on. Let's get you a drink so we can gossip properly."
Lisa followed her inside the tent without complaint. Apart from being a refreshingly breezy evening, the tents were outfitted with some kind of outdoor air conditioners and clear plastic walls to keep the space cool. They found a relatively quiet corner, which wasn't easy given the number of guests and loud music streaming in through the speakers mounted to the metal beams holding up the tent.
"Cheers," Jisoo said, clinking her martini glass against Lisa's matching red drink.
Lisa took a sip of the pomegranate martini they were calling a red carpet after toasting to Jisoo's welcomed sneakiness.
Jisoo rearranged the blue bow glued to the top of her short, black wig. "So, where's Roseanne?"
Lisa took another sip. "I can't believe you waited an entire three minutes to ask me that. Tell me about you first. How's it going with your new beau?"
As they talked about the amazing date they'd gone on just before she flew to Miami, Lisa kept her eye on the walkway. If Roseanne arrived, she would have to come through there.
By the time they were joined by familiar faces, Lisa started to relax and stopped looking for Roseanne. She only regretted having waited too long to talk to Jisoo about what was going on between them. She hadn't counted on so many of their former classmates showing up. As the most recent graduating class, they made up a rather large part of the attendants.
