Back To You || Chaennie

III

Oh God. My body goes into a frenzy at just the thought of seeing her again, let alone getting lunch with her and having to sit and talk and act like I'm perfectly fine without her. Every instinct in my body is telling me to run, telling me to make up an excuse, telling me to lie through my teeth and tell her I'm leaving Korea in the morning.

Jennie: That sounds great. What about the day after tomorrow?

Rosie: Perfect. See you then.

The day after tomorrow comes a lot quicker than I thought it would. I was expecting time to drag on and torture me while I waited for this dreaded lunch to happen, but it didn't. It went by in a flash.

Rosie had texted me the day before to work out the details, and of course she picked my favorite sushi spot, even though she's never been a huge fan.

I'm running around the house trying to find my wallet so I'm not late, but knowing Rosie, she'll probably be late, as well. That girl could never get to anything on time, even if she had the latest call time. I think she spent too much time around Lisa. Or maybe it's because we would be up at all hours of the night when we were sleeping together.

Whoah. It's time for me to get a grip.

I finally find my wallet under a pile of dirty clothes and head out the door. The whole drive there I'm talking to myself and telling myself that everything will be completely fine. That my heart won't still flutter when I see her, or that I won't laugh at her stupid jokes that aren't funny, or that I won't want her back in my life.

Because that's not possible. Because she doesn't want to be in my life.

It takes a while for me to get to the restaurant, but when I finally do, I tell the hostess the reservation name and she tells me that the other half of my party is already seated. I'm in complete shock as she leads me to the table. Rosie is never on time.

She sees me before I see her and she's already beginning to stand as my eyes finally catch hers. She has a large grin on her face and as soon as I arrive to the table she pulls me in for a hug. Granted, it's not a tight koala hug like she used to give me, but it's still a hug nonetheless, and my brain can't formulate a coherent thought.

The only thing I can do is wrap my arms loosely around her back and return the hug before sitting down across from her.

"I'm glad you agreed to come, Jennie. I honestly thought you'd turn me down," she laughs a bit and plays with the straw in her water glass.

"In all honesty, I thought I would, too," I admit, even though I know I'm just making things even more awkward.

"Well either way, I'm glad you're here. I've missed you," she says and then it's like she realizes what she's admitted, because she looks away and down to the very interesting path her straw is making through the ice cubes in her glass.

It's a struggle, but I refrain from commenting on that. I don't need her knowing just how much I've missed her too. Hell, I don't even know if my brain could come up with a complete sentence at this point. Not when she just told me that she misses me.

"So, how long are you in Korea for?" Rosie says after she's decided the silence between us has grown far too uncomfortable.

"I'm here for another week or so, then I'll head off to do promotions," I tell her. "What about you?"

"I'm here for a few more months. I'm working on my second album already, so I've just been doing lots of studio work," she tells me. "I've actually been working in a studio across the street from where we recorded Square Up."

"Which one?" I chuckle. "Regular? Japanese?" I joke with a smile.

"Don't forget remixes," she laughs and it makes my smile grow even bigger. Her laugh is angelic. "I honestly still can't believe we came out with a few separate EPs before we put an album out. Before I put out my album, I still saw jokes about fans wondering if 'soon' meant in five years. Or how many versions of the album I'll put out before I make another," she rolls her eyes in good fun.