rereading the chapters brings nostalgia, it's been so long since I've looked at the early chapters of it (they were created September-October 2013)

Please enjoy!

The quartet entered a restaurant called ‘Specialty’ with dark velvet red walls and again wooden floors, though the welcoming area was black and white tiled.Why would she choose this place?

     “Table for four, please.” Sunny said to the employee in the empty front entrance, smiling friendly. Because it wasn’t busy? 

   “Four? Right this way please.” The male employee replied, grabbing four menus from the side of the podium he had been standing at before started to walk down the main central of the restaurant. 

  Jessica followed silently while Sooyoung and Tiffany discussed something uninteresting to her, it sounded like a sport. Sunny kept to herself while walking alongside the leader, sitting immediately in the seat next to Sooyoung when they arrived at their table on the right side of the center hallway. 

  “Your waiter will be here soon.” The employee curtly retorted as he set down the menus on the table, disappearing thirty seconds later. 

   “Thank you,” Sunny responded professionally, finally looking at the other two across from her; Tiffany and Jessica. Jessica had just sat down in the front of her, happening to be in between Tiffany and Sooyoung. “Now that we’re here, it’s time we learned more about each other.” 

   Jessica wanted to escape again, Please tell me we aren’t introducing ourselves like first graders. Tiffany and Sooyoung nodded at Sunny’s request, Tiffany opening to start obediently. Jessica was dearly thankful of the performer’s actions, she truly didn’t want to start the conversation. 

  “As I said before, I’m Tiffany Hwang from California. I’ve been wanting to be a singer since I was little, and even have done a few gigs, just nobody wants to sign me. I love pink, and almost everything I own is pink-” Jessica’s attention wandered away from what the brunette was saying, her thoughts flashed to her pink phone, and if anybody had called or texted her from last night. “I do own a dog, his name is-” Tiffany was cut off by the waitress coming across from the table twenty feet away. 

  “Hello ladies, my name’s Isabel and I’ll be your waitress today. Can I start you off with a drink?” The woman queried, a small notepad in her hands, ready to write. Tiffany and Sooyoung both asked for water, Sunny for a lemonade, and Jessica settled herself for a coffee and a glass of water. 

   “You were saying, Tiffany?” Sooyoung started to bring up the conversation back to Tiffany and it was obvious that she very interested in the bright girl’s whole story. Jessica guessed it was a normal thing for her to meet strangers on the street and talk to them, Or you know, marry them.

    “Can I be excused to the bathroom?” Jessica interrupted Tiffany talking about her teenage years, sliding out of her chair quickly and tucking it back into the table before turning the other way and fast walking down the hallway. 

  She kept trekking until she saw a white sign in the middle of the dark walls, saying ‘Restrooms’ with two figures for males and females. Jessica breathed out heavily and entered the woman’s room, ready to talk herself over in front of the mirror. 

  “Okay Jessica, you can handle this. It’s only two days until you leave right? You can do this, she won’t annoy you that much right?” She consoled, turning on the silver faucet and wiping her face with the cold water. “Right?” Jessica asked herself again, wishing it was true. 

  “Jessica Jung?” The familiar voice scared her, and she coughed out of surprise. Jessica turned around to see one of her best friends from home, Kwon Yuri, coming out of one of the stalls in a stunning black dress and heels while carrying a dark brown medium sized handbag. 

  “Yuri? What are you doing in Las Vegas?” She asked as her friend strolled over to the sink to the left of Jessica, pumping some soap onto her left hand and turning on the faucet. 

   “Yoona didn’t tell you? I thought she texted you last night..” Yuri replied, finishing washing her hands and walking over to the paper towel dispenser near the front of the bathroom. “Never mind that, I came here for work also. My boss added me last second to the team that had to go here.” 

   Jessica nodded, “Oh really? Are you in an important meeting right now that you have to get to or do you want to chat in the bathroom some more?” Even though she wanted out of her luncheon, she didn’t want Yuri to miss out on something significant for her job. 

    “My partner has it, we can talk a bit more.” Yuri smiled as she responded, zipping open the main part of her bag and taking out lip balm. She started applying it while speaking again, “Why are you here there though? I thought you had an important presentation today for your work.” 

   Oh shoot, Jessica bit her lower lip and threw out a response. “We decided to have a ‘good luck’ lunch afterward, we hope it went well.” She truly hated lying to Yuri, but she knew it was the best way to reply to things like that at the time. 

    Yuri stuffed her lip balm back into her bag, “I hope you did well too.” Her friend’s eyes flashed down to her wristwatch, and she sighed. “I have to go now before they start worrying, you should start going back too. Only two days left you said? I’m sure your assistant won’t annoy you that much.” Yuri’s reassuring smile set a chill down Jessica’s spine, making the guilt from lying go from medium to high. 

   “Thanks Yul, I hope your business meeting goes well too. Fighting!” Jessica set on a smile as her friend exited the restroom before her, ready to walk out soon afterward. “I can do this, I can do this.” 

    Jessica opened the door and left the bathroom behind her, scurrying down the hallway as if she was in a fast walk race. She slowed back down as she approached Yuri’s back, who thankfully turned left instead of right in the center. 

    “Jessica! What took you so long? I had to order for you!” Sooyoung exclaimed immediately after she returned to her seat, and Jessica was set back to reality. 

  “I met a friend, that’s all.” Jessica replied back quickly, searching for what they had talked about before. Tiffany was sipping from her drink and looking into the distance, her eyes springy and cheerful. Sunny was eating her salad very meticulously, watching every piece and examining it like it was poisonous. Sooyoung on the other hand, was sitting jubilantly and casually while taking a sip from her drink every other minute or so. Something hit her and Jessica blurted out, “Wait you ordered for me? What did you order?” 

  “Oh, that? I got you a pulled pork sandwich, you seemed like that kind of girl. I hope you’ll like it, we can’t refund it.” Oh gosh what am I going to do with this person? 

  Jessica summed up a response, “That’s fine I guess. I like pulled pork. What did you guys talk about while I was gone?” She tried to bring up a conversation, something to tear away the awkwardness. 

   Tiffany flinched out of her trance almost automatically, “Jessica! When did you get back? We talked about my life, Sunny mentioned something about getting back to her store soon, and the waitress asked what we wanted to eat.” Jessica was shocked by the performer’s snappy listening skills, both oblivious and intent. 

   “About that, I remembered that we were having a large pickup of shoes today at two, that’s why. I’m going to have to leave as soon as I finish my meal, sadly.” Sunny spoke and Jessica realized that the salad was now finished and pushed to the side. What’s up with her? 

   “It’s fine, us three can talk about you behind your back then.” Sooyoung teased, brighting up the mood with a cheeky smile of hers. “I’m cool with paying, I have enough money from my paycheck on Wednesday.” 

   “Really? Thanks a million S.Y, I’ll add a bonus to your next paycheck for this.” Sunny replied, bringing up a gentle grin back. She drank a gulp of lemonade and Jessica’s eyes rested on her own drink. It looked like nobody was sitting at the seat at all, the table and utensils untouched, the coffee still. 

  She felt her right hand on her lukewarm coffee cup, and taking a sip of it. It tasted bland and rough, not her favorite, but she could deal with it for lunch, let alone that it was getting colder by the second. Jessica decided it was best to take it in two gulps rather then a dozen sips and drank down one of the gulps quickly. 

    “So do you all live in Vegas? I know Sooyoung is from around here, I see her sometimes. I know Sunny is around here too, I’ve stopped by her store before. Actually, that means I don’t know about you, Jessica. I’ve never seen you before, did you just move here?” Tiffany asked, her glass of water was now empty with nothing but ice. 

   Jessica sighed silently and replied, “I don’t live here. I’m only visiting for my work, I’m leaving back to South Korea on Sunday, so you probably won’t see me for long.” 

   Her wife had a surprised expression, “Sunday? Already? I don’t think they sell tickets this late for that plane do they?” Sooyoung’s mind went elsewhere, Jessica noticed, and she wanted it not to. She didn’t want to have to explain how she got married when she was supposed to be working to her friends, or her colleagues. 

   “You’re not going with me? Are you? I thought you knew from this morning that I had to leave soon, I had said on the phone with my boyfriend-” There it was. The mistake. 

   “Boyfriend?” Sunny and Tiffany asked in unison, though there tones were completely different. Tiffany’s was pure curiousness, while Sunny’s was bewilderment. Help me now. 

  “Your food is here,” the waitress interrupted the conversation, coming over carrying a tray full of plates. Thank you God, I’ll remember to go to church soon. She handed over the correct plates to their respectful owners, grinning an affable smile. 

  Jessica hurried to start eating, avoiding the eyes of the other people at the table. She tried her best to eat a medium pace, not too fast or she’ll have to explain sooner nor too slow or she would annoy herself. She was halfway through the pulled pork sandwich when somebody decided to speak again. 

    “Sica do you want to explain who your boyfriend is? He seems like he’d be good if he was dating you,” Tiffany began, and Jessica was amazed how coolly the street performer had taken the whole situation. Never too curious. Never too uninterested. Maybe a bit too talkative, but that was alright for the others, especially Jessica herself. 

   “Just call me Jessica, please not Sica.” Jessica replied, picking up her glass of water to drink another gulp of it. They waited patiently and she was surprised how quiet Sooyoung was at the moment, she was usually more talkative. “He’s a great guy, I guess.” This is so awkward. 

   Sooyoung gave her an intense glare from above her very busy plate and continued eating, not answering. Sunny was too into eating also to even notice that Jessica had been talking, her plate already over seventy-five percent gone. Tiffany nodded and ate another bite of her hamburger, “He must be! Do you want to tell us about him?” 

   “Yeah, do you? I’m sure we’re all interested,” Sooyoung added into the conversation, eating a bite of her mashed potatoes. 

    Sunny unexpectedly raised her head and slid out of her chair, and Jessica’s mouth opened to a gape. Her food was all gone. Already. “I’m really sorry, but if I don’t start heading now, I won’t get back in time. Please forgive me.” She swiftly grabbed a couple dollars out of her bag and slapped it on the table, “Add this to pay. It was nice meeting you Tiffany, you too Jessica. I hope I can see you both again soon!” With her last words, she escaped off at a faster pace then Jessica had when she had gone to the bathroom. 

  The leftover three stared after her, confused at what had just happened. Is she alright? Is it me? Jessica gently bent her neck to sniff a small portion of her shirt, it smelled fine. She grabbed her nearby hair and sniffed it also, it still smelt like strawberries. Not me, then who? 

   No conversation stood back up in the lunch and everybody kept to themselves while they kept eating, sometimes bringing up something irrelevant for a minute or two of small talk, but nothing big. It ended on a silent note and Jessica helped pay, leaving Sooyoung to pay for a lot less than expected.

   They were walking down the hallway when Jessica recognized Yuri’s partner for work, and froze in her steps. The two were talking to each other calmly in front of the door, and she knew that it was impossible to avoid a collision between her and Yuri again. 

    “Hey Jessica! You remember Jooyeon right? You guys met at my house party before, didn’t you?” Yuri greeted her, and Jessica prepared herself. 

   “Hi again Yuri! Of course I remember her!” Jessica cheerfully spoke up, thankfully she was a few feet away from Tiffany and Sooyoung. She shook Jooyeon’s hand and turned back to Yuri, just as the other two had caught up. “How was the business lunch?” 

  “I was just going to ask you that,” Yul commented, her eyes flashing to the two nearby Jessica’s sides. “Oh! Who are they?” It was right that moment Jessica knew she was screwed.