Lisa
"Lisa!" I turn at the sound of my name and spot Jennie. She's in the yard, if you could call it that; it's more like sprouts of weeds patched into dry dirt. She hangs on to a wire contraption that forms an upside-down U over her. It looks like something that someone, once upon a time, thought could be a good entranceway outside of their house until they got bored of it and lit it on fire, leaving nothing but the steel frame behind.
"What do you think?" she asks, leaning on the wires.
"I think you look like you're in a birdcage."
"It won't look like this, obviously. We'll layer it with vines and flowers... make it look pretty." She scales the thing with her eyes, fingertips dancing over the frame. Planning. "What do you say? Could you see yourself getting married under something like this?"
I touch the wire frame on the top. "That's a complicated question."
"Why?" She looks up at me. "Wait, don't tell me. Are you too cool to ever get married?"
"No." I say. "I think marriage works. For some people."
"Some people..." she interrogates. "But not you?"
"It's never been in my plan."
"That's the point of falling in love." Jennie argues. "It's never something you plan. It just... happens."
"You're the expert." I tell her.
"Because I organize weddings?"
"No. Because you've been there."
That dims some of the spark in her eyes. To Jennie's credit, her smile remains intact. "You're right... I've had a wedding. Half a wedding. I've never been married, though. We didn't get that far."
"Did it feel right when you were standing at the altar?"
Jennie shrugs. "It did. For me. Not for Taehyung, apparently." She runs her fingers through her hair. She does that, I've noticed, to brush off whatever complicated thoughts are going on in her head. "Anyway, I think Bambam and Mina will look great under it. But you're the one paying for it, so..."
"I defer to your judgment." I tell her. That, at least, brings back some of the spark in her eyes.
"Great! Hey, Ren!" she calls her colleague over. "Come check this out...!"
"That's wonderful!" Ren says when he lays his eyes on it. "We'll need something to cover it..."
"Flowers?"
"I think I saw some ribbon and such in the aisle over there. Why don't you check?"
Jennie goes scampering off in the direction that Ren points. The man shifts to stand beside me as we watch her go.
"She's amazing, isn't she?" Ren says.
"One of a kind." I agree.
"Jennie has a big heart." Ren continues. "The biggest heart I've ever known. Always has."
My guard goes up when I hear a protective edge slide into Ren's voice. He knows. I glance over at him, but he doesn't look mad. Instead, he turns to me and smiles. It's a shark's smile, all teeth. "If you break her heart, I will kill you. Do we understand each other?"
"Crystal clear."
"Good." And like that, Ren's entire demeanour changes. He gives my arm a friendly pat and says, "Let's go make sure that our kitten hasn't gotten herself tangled up in a ball of yarn."
We spend another hour at the thrift store before they've accumulated everything they need. By time we're ready to check out, we have a couple of huge stacks of stuff.
Nearly a thousand dollars for trash. Trash that Jennie and her team can turn into gold. Anyway, what do I know, so I just swipe my card.