Stay With Me

Chapter Ten

I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and happy. It was so nice with Jimin last night which was especially weird because after he moved away, I always imagined myself hating him if I saw him again. The thought of hating him never once crossed my mind since I've seen him.

Throughout the whole time Jimin and I were together last night, I kept thinking about Lisa. I thought about how her date with Sorn was going, what they may have been doing, I thought maybe she'd be thinking of me; I mean, she did kiss me before she left to go on her date. As hard I resisted, almost everything Jimin did, I compared it to Lisa.

Why? Because I'm an idiot! I really needed to stop thinking about her. I needed to talk to someone about this, but the only person I had to talk to was Lisa and I couldn't talk to her about her. I could have called Jennie, but this conversation was something that needed to be said face-to-face. And I definitely could not tell Jimin, we weren't on that level yet and he didn't want to be considered my friend, so I didn't know where exactly we stood.

I ran my hands down my face, wiping the sleepy crap and trying to wake myself up. Jimin and I were going to get breakfast together at the Bed and Breakfast in town. It wasn't just an inn thing, the owners let anyone come to get breakfast. It was like a hotel with an open diner.

I walked to my closet and stood in the doorway, too miserable to get anything nice out to wear. It was getting cold out, so I should grab my hat and gloves. And my boots. I love my boots.

I glanced over at the mirror and looked at myself. "You're really losing your mind, aren't you?" I shook my head in disappointment and continued scanning my clothes.

Finally, I decided on just putting jeans and a white tee-shirt on. I put my long black, petticoat jacket on and buttoned it up so you could only see the very top of my white shirt. I put my boots, which went up to just below my knees, over my skinny jeans. With my boots and jacket, all you could see were my jean thighs. I combed my hair and left it the way it was, strawberry blonde, long and pin-straight. I put my beret-type hat on and slipped on my gloves.

Then, my phone rang. I answered it quickly, without checking the caller ID. "Hello?"

"Hey!" Lisa said in a cheerful voice. "Are you busy today?" I immediately froze and I could feel my face turning red.

"Um, yeah," I told her.

Lisa didn't say anything for a moment. Then, "Well, can you get un-busy?"

"Un-busy? Um, no I can't. Why?" I probably could tell Jimin that we had to reschedule, but I didn't want to see Lisa just yet. Too awkward.

"Aw, come on. I need someone to gush to about last night. If Jennie were here, I'd tell her. But she's not, so you're my next victim."

I was quiet for a moment. She'd rather tell Jennie than me? That made me feel even more weird around her. But, the fact that Lisa wasn't even fazed by what happened between us stunned me even more. "Um, sorry."

"Well, maybe tonight?" She asked. I was done with this weird feeling. I'm going to tell her that Jimin and I are hanging out, I thought.

"Um, Jimin and I have plans for the whole day." I closed my eyes tight, waiting for her reply.

But she was quiet. For a second, anyway. "You're hanging out with Jimin, now?"

My eyes popped open wide. Was that jealousy I heard in her voice? My confidence was boosted by this simple overthinking. "Yeah. We've been hanging out for a while now. We're going for breakfast this morning." That might have been a little exaggeration, but whatever.

"A while," she repeated. "Okay. Well, I guess I'll call Sorn. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?" Before I could reply, she hung up.

I held my phone in my hands, staring at it, not sure how I was feeling at the moment. Fine, call Sorn, see if I care! I shouted in my head, then chucked my phone to the head of my bed.

I sat at the end of my bed, folding my arms across my chest. I don't care if you went out with her last night! I was with Jimin, having the time of my life, without you! Go ahead, be her girlfriend and see if I give a freaking crap!

By now, I realized I was throwing my pillows and pushing notebooks off of my desk. When my mom knocked on my door to tell me Jimin was here, I looked around at the mess in my room. I glanced at the mirror and saw that my hair was messed up and static-y and my hat was just about falling off of my head. I quickly ran a brush through it, right before I snatched my phone and rushed out of the room, down the stairs to Jimin.

"Hey, babe," he greeted me with a hug. "What's up?"

I knew he could tell something was wrong by the way he looked at me, but instead of answering him just then, I pulled him out to his car.

"Hey," he stopped just before we reached his car, pulling me closer to him. "What's going on?" He cupped my face and caught a stray tear with his thumb.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. "Nothing," I whispered.

Jimin let go of my face and pulled me into a hug. He let the question go and we both got into the car. He was nosy, but when you wanted the conversation to end, Jimin would let it go.

We stopped at a stoplight, halfway to the restaurant, and Jimin turned to me in his seat, reaching over to take my hand in his. "You're sure nothing is wrong?"

I smiled down at our intertwined hands. "I'm positive, I just got some news that made me a little crazy." The light changed to green and Jimin let go of my hand to drive. I was determined to make this date with Jimin a nice one, no matter what I felt towards Lisa at the moment.

'*'*'*'

"Hey, look, its Lisa," Jimin said as we sat down and got our menus. Last night, I couldn't help myself, I couldn't stop talking about Lisa. I left out the messy details, but by the end of the night it was almost like Jimin had met her. I turned toward the door now and, sure enough, her and Sorn were walking in, hand-in-hand. I groaned and slumped down in my seat. "What? Are you two in a fight or something?" He asked me.

"Not exactly. It's just weird now without Jennie. Lisa and I weren't very close to begin with, she was more Jennie's friend." This was a lie, but with what she'd told me that morning, this felt like the truth.

"Oh, well she's coming over this way," he said quietly.

"Hey, Rose!" Lisa chirped.

"Hey!" I said as little as possible because I didn't want her to hear the fake cheerfulness in my voice.

"Jimin, how's it going?" She greeted Jimin. He answered her and they started with some small talk. My gaze lingered over to Sorn, who was watching me, too.

"Hi," she said quietly. I smiled a little and waved.

"Rose, for some reason, Bambam was asking for you this morning. He asked if you wanted to come over for dinner." I couldn't tell if she was just saying this because she wanted to make someone jealous, or what.

"Um, I already told you, I have plans." I looked at Jimin.

"Oh, it's okay. If you want to go to dinner with her, you can. We can reschedule if you want." Jimin said.

My heart and shoulders sank. My face fell, but I quickly regained myself, smiling up at Lisa. "I guess I'll see you tonight."

Lisa clapped and said, "Great. Well, I guess we'll leave you two alone. Have fun, you two," then they both walked off.

Have fun you two. Ugh! She drove me crazy! I felt the scowl on my face and noticed Jimin looking at me with concern. "You okay?" He asked.

I made a decision in my mind and, without thinking it over again, I said, "Do you want to get out of here? You know, go somewhere more... private?" I tried to sound y, but I don't know how well that worked. A sly grin started to spread across his face.

I don't know what came over me or what I was trying to prove, but I saw Lisa watching us from their table as Jimin and I walked out of the restaurant in a hurry to be somewhere else.