LISA

“Oh my ing God,” Jimin said.

I turned to him and my eyebrows shot up.

“Potty mouth much?”

“Do you ing see this?”

“See what?” I asked.

I was feeling pretty good. There wasn’t a keg at this party like at the one the night before, but Laura’s parents were nice enough to open up their bar as long as everyone was good about giving them their keys.

So far no one had been stupid enough to ruin the nice arrangement. Sure it seemed sort of wrong that there were so many parents out there who were willing to furnish alcohol for their kids, but that was another part of living in a small town I suppose.

I took another sip of my drink. Something fruity with a little bit of kick. Normally I wouldn’t have anything like this. Normally booze wasn’t my thing.

That was before I’d had my heart broken and then I decided to give up on a dream that had been fueling me for the last decade or so.

Yeah, it seemed like the kind of night to enjoy a little bit of a drink, thank you very much.

“Seriously Lisa,” Jimin said. “You need to turn around.”

I realized Jimin wasn’t the only one staring behind me. Other people were staring, wide-eyed, at something. It made my shoulder blades itch. It was exactly like a scene in some horror movie where the huge hulking monster stands at the edge of a bunch of drinking teenagers until they notice it and then the rampaging starts.

That couldn’t be what was happening here though. That was just the silly sort of thing that happened in movies. This was real life.

Yeah, real ing life. Where I didn’t get my happy ending because life s on you in the real world and there’s nothing you can do but roll with the punches.

I turned around. Blinked a couple of times.

What the hell was Donghyuk doing at a band party? The captain of the football team did not come to these sorts of things. And why the hell was Jennie standing right next to him looking like she’d rather be anywhere but here?

My eyes narrowed. I couldn’t believe her. It was bad enough I had to see the two of them locking lips behind his pool house last night. Now she had to come out here to my territory and rub it in?

It was enough to make me want to scream. It was enough to make me want to walk over to her and deposit all of this fruity red drink onto her pretty little blouse that made her look so beautiful as she stood there looking uncertain and…

Damn it. I wasn’t going to do this anymore. I wasn’t going to obsess over her or think about how beautiful she looked. That was what got me into this situation in the first place.

I’d already told the universe I was letting her go, damn it. Why did it have to turn around and screw me over by bringing her here tonight to remind me of what I was giving up?

“Go over and say something to her,” Jimin said.

“What am I going to say to her?” I hissed back. “So glad you could come out here with your new beard? No ing thanks.”

It looked like I wasn’t going to have to go over to them to talk though. No, the moment Jennie locked eyes on me I knew it was over. She whispered something to Donghyuk and then, weirdly, he started dragging her over towards us.

What was going on here?

They came to a stop in front of us. Jennie looked away like she was embarrassed to even be standing there. Yeah, I could see why she’d be embarrassed considering what she’d done to me last night. Considering everything that had happened over the past week.

“Hi,” she finally said when Donghyuk elbowed her in the side.

What was his game? Was he out here because she told him about everything that happened between us and he was angling for a or something? That sounded like the sort of thing he’d do based on his reputation.

Well I wasn’t going to be anyone’s . If that’s what they thought they were getting out of me tonight then I really was going to spill this drink all over her. Then I was going back to the bar, getting another two, and dumping the contents out on both of them.

“What do you want Jennie?” I asked.

T

hat earned me an elbow in my side from Jimin. I let out a surprised grunt and I very nearly spilled the red drink in my hands. I shot him a glare then turned back to Jennie.

Okay, so maybe my tone wasn’t the nicest in the world. Considering everything that had happened to me it’s not like she deserved the nicest tone in the world though.

Jennie, for her part, blushed and looked like she would’ve rather been anywhere but here. I could understand that considering what she’d done and why she was probably here right now.

“Hey, you must be Jimin right?” Donghyuk said, surprising both of us from the way Jennie looked up at him suddenly unsure of herself.

“Um, yeah?” Jimin said.

I giggled. I couldn’t help it. His voice sounded like a tiny little squeak. In short, it sounded ridiculous.

Plus it really was kind of funny. All those times Jimin had stared out over the football field talking about how he’d love to talk to Donghyuk and now here was Donghyuk talking to him first. Of course there still wasn’t a chance anything was going to happen, Donghyuk was probably just being nice or something, but I’m sure that wasn’t stopping Jimin from imagining what their adopted children would look like someday.

That was exactly the kind of ridiculous thing he’d think of.

“Why don’t you show me around the place?” Donghyuk asked. “I think these two have some stuff they need to work out.”

“Um, sure!” Jimin said, still sounding as though he couldn’t quite believe this was actually happening.

I couldn’t quite believe it was happening either. Donghyuk was acting as the wingman for Jennie? What had happened in this world? I thought they were together.