Forget You ( jenlisa ) (gip)

11

J

There's a soundtrack to this town that I've always known by heart. It's a compilation of sounds with special, real-world lyrics that I'd recognize anywhere. The morning tracks are always a mix of waves hitting the shore or tourists scattering across the beach to stake their claims on chairs. In the afternoon, the tracks slowly give way to the loud laughter and horns from the trolley lines, with the hard beats of residents ordering ice cream cones and cold coffee. And at night, the final tracks steal the day when the sand softly sifts back into place, and the couples share secret kisses on the beach.

Today, I was learning the sound of a brand-new morning track. The silence of being stood up for the fifth day in a row.

"Are you sure he didn't call and say that he wasn't coming?" I asked the barista at The Creamery. "Like, he had to have said something."

"I'm sure he didn't call," she said, flipping her long red hair over her shoulders. "Just like I'm sure that the guys from the past few days didn't call and say anything either. They would've called you, not the coffee shop."

"Right..." I blew out a breath, and she moved from behind the counter—handing me a coffee.

"It's on the house," she said. "What's your name?"

"Jennie."

"I'm Rosé, Jennie." She extended her hand. "And something tells me that you've been out of the dating game for a minute."

"Kind of. I met all those guys at a bar, got their numbers, and after we texted for a few days, we set a date. Then, because I thought it was nice, I looked up their campus addresses and sent them a handwritten note saying how excited I was about our date later."

Her eyes widened. "You did what?"

"I sent them all a note." I shrugged. "I did that all the time when I was at Semester at Sea."

"Ah." She nodded, laughing. "Okay, so you're one of those sea-leg girls." She picked up my cell phone and tapped the screen. "You know what? I'm going to give you my phone number and help you out from time to time."

"Why?"

"Because I work all the time between my classes and I need to make some new friends," she said. "We've talked every day while you've been stood up this week, and since you don't strike me as a psycho, I think we'll get along. Just don't look up my address and send me a letter."

I laughed. "I won't."

"I'm here every morning, and this is our pre-rush time if you ever want to drop by," she said. "I'm off on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but other than that, I'm usually in class or stuck here. Feel free to text me whatever land-dating questions you may have, whenever you want. In the meantime, download Tinder and set up Facebook, since I know most of you sea-leg girls wait until the last minute to do that."

"I will." I smiled. "Looking forward to it."

"Well, good morning, Jennie." JK walked into the café, smiling at me before gawking at Rosé. "Who is your friend here?"

"I wasn't interested in you yesterday," Rosé said, crossing her arms. "And I'm still not interested in you today, whatever your name is."

"We didn't even speak yesterday." He winked at her, giving her one of his playful grins. "If we had, I would've asked you something important."

"What is it?"

"Just that I can't stop staring at a certain something that's on your lips." He smirked. "Would you like me to help you take it off with mine?"

"Seriously?" She rolled her eyes. "Get the hell out of my coffee shop, JK. Now."

"I thought you didn't know my name." He looked her over one last time and winked before leaving the store.