The Five Steps | Jensoo

Chapter 17

Jennie

Ben & Jerry's is heaven on earth.

I stare in awe at the massive buffet of toppings: fresh fruit, cookie dough, Oreos, sprinkles in every color imaginable. My huge paper cup is already filled to the brim with every topping on top of milk, strawberry, chocolate, and chocolate chip mint ice cream. It's bound for overflow.

My forearm is practically sore from scooping by the time I reach the end. "What even is that? Are you eating ice cream?" Jisoo asks, gaping at my cup.

I glance to Jisoo's cup and see she's added only one small scoop of Rice Krispies on top of her strawberry ice cream, like an actual psychopath.

"Out of everything here, you get that?" I shake my head. "No wonder you don't have a girlfriend."

She rolls her eyes and jabs me with her elbow, giving me a Really, Jen? look that I've become all too familiar with over the past two weeks.

Only this time, there's a trace of a smile underneath it all.

We head over to the cash register and put our cups on the scale, mine probably quintupling the total. I pull out a stack of notes I got from the tip jar this past weekend but Jisoo holds up her hand.

"I said it's on me," she says, swiping her credit card before I can stop her.

I feel slightly guilty considering my ice cream cup is eighteen times the size of hers so I put a couple of ones in the tip jar for the uninterested teenager working behind the counter. He grunts a thanks, his eyes laser focused on a YouTube video playing on his phone.

"Didn't pin you for a stripper," Jisoo says as we grab our fluorescent pink spoons and find seats by the wall of windows that capture a breathtaking view of a pharmacy, a Subway, and an overflowing trash can.

I laugh. "You caught me. I was thinking of throwing a dance routine together for my final project in bio." I point the spoon at her. "You're welcome to work lights. End of the semester? Ass crack of dawn on a Monday? Any availability?"

"I'll see if I can pencil you in," Jisoo says as I dig into my top layer of whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles, unearthing the sea of cookie dough and Oreos.

I jab at one of the blobs of cookie dough. "They're actually from–"

"Oh wait, that food truck job! You got it?" Her brown eyes light up, something about her excitement and the fact she remembered making my insides feel warm. I haven't been able to talk to anyone about it with Irene being upset at me this past week and my mum being... my mum. It feels good to have someone legitimately interested.

Besides, even if I could tell Irene about it, she'd probably think it was kind of lame. She was always saying that about my job at the club, telling me she wished I didn't work behind the counter and did something on the stage instead of watching from the crowd. I used to wonder sometimes if maybe she was embarrassed that I cleaned up glasses and poured drinks instead of banging out a sick bass line, but I shake it off now just like I always have.

She said she loves me.

"Yeah! My boss, Jiyong, is... a little rough around the edges," I say as I picture him ripping the food truck across three lanes of traffic, middle finger hanging out the window while I bounce around in the jump seat every other evening. "But I think it'll be good. Pays in cash. And my hours are mostly on the weekends and at night so it won't fuck with school. Plus, I get a cheesesteak or a burger every shift."

"Is the food good?" she asks, crunching on her Rice Krispies.

"Yeah! His cheesesteaks actually do Seoul justice, which is saying something."