Tea Leaves and Opal Necklaces

Tina's Party, Flashbacks, and Failure

Match Twenty-Four: Tina's Party, Flashbacks, and Failure:

-Ju-

Tina's party was on a Saturday. Yao and I stood at the front door of her apartment.

"Dean's a really good guy," I told my husband. "I've met him personally and he's really cool. He doesn't talk much though."

"How did she meet this one?" Yao asked.

"I think she met him at school," I said. I turned and knocked on the door. Tina opened up and greeted us.

"Ju! Yao!" she said. "You've made it!" Tina wildly hugged me as she laughed.

"Hello, Tina," I said. She pulled me inside with Yao following behind.

When we got inside, a sea of eyes fell on us. She must have invited most of the old gang to this party. Most of the guests were white. As far as I could see, there were only about eight women and thirteen men, including Yao and myself. I think they were from Tina's old school before I met her. I could only recognize two of them. One of them is like named Dave or Dustin while the other one's name escapes me at the moment. I waved at those two and they waved back. I've always thought that Tina has had some weird friends at times. Speaking of which, she jogged over to Dean's side and took him by the arm. He had his eyes slightly downwards.

"Hello, Dean," I said.

"Hi," he mumbled. Still shy as ever. He has become a little bit social with us as of late. I gave him a little wave. Dean just nodded. I wondered who else was here. I happened to look over at the stuffy brown couch. My jaw dropped at who I saw. To my surprise, Qun sat in the living room. She looked up and waved when she saw me.

"Qun!" I said. "How have you been? I haven't seen your face in years!" My old friend stood up and bowed.

"How have you been?" she asked.

"Great," I said. "How has your husband been doing?" I walked over and hugged her.

"It's so good to see you," I said. Tina clapped her hands together.

"Great, everyone's here!" she said. "Let's party!" All of the foreign guys cheered.

I found myself quite surprised how toned down this party was. I've known Tina for years. Her idea of partying was drinking, loud music, scary movies, pigging out, and causing mischief. She's had pot at one or two of her parties before. (I remember one of the guests at those parties tried to get me to smoke a joint. Tina had to turn that guy down for me. I remember her words were, "She doesn't do that kind of stuff.") I looked around the living room with my fruit punch in hand. There was plenty of food and drinking. The music was kept at a low volume. Tina was looking for a movie to put on from her collection. Everyone else looked pretty chill. My guess was Dean wasn't exactly the partying type. In fact, he stayed over my the corner as the party began. I frowned as I walked over to him. Dean looked up from his drink when he heard me coming towards him. I stood inches away from.

"Is everything okay?" I asked in English. He pressed his lips together and nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm fine."

"Partying isn't your thing, is it?" I asked.

"Not really," he said.

"I see." I swirled my cup around as I looked down at the deep red liquid inside. Dean was a nice guy once you got to know him. Tina's trying draw him out of his shell. Sometimes I wondered if she wore him down just like she did with me.

"Tina may be pushy at times, but she is a good person," I said. Dean looked down at me.

"Hm?" he asked. I smiled and shook my head.