3: 3
At ten that morning, Jill posted in the group chat, calling the whole class to the Bayfront duty-free shop in Miami.
【Come with me, everyone. I've got an insider VIP discount, I can get you all twenty percent off!】
I changed my clothes and tagged along with the crowd.
On the ground floor, in the luxury section, Jill stood ringed by a cluster of girls.
Slung over her shoulder was the pink Chanel Gabrielle bag I'd ordered in Paris two months ago.
Around her neck was my limited-edition Hermès scarf.
Even the lipstick she pulled out of the bag to touch up her makeup was the Tom Ford limited red she'd lifted from the drawer of my vanity.
One of the girls beside her gushed.
"Jilly, this whole look is so classy on you. That must've cost tens of thousands all together, right?"
Jill covered her mouth and laughed softly, her gaze sliding to me out of the corner of her eye.
"Well, a girl's only young for a few years. You have to be willing to invest in yourself."
Julian stood at her side, both hands loaded with the shopping bags of cosmetics she'd just bought.
Watching their backs, I thought of the start of freshman year.
Jill said she was going to the welcome party, and cried while she begged to borrow my custom evening gown, the one worth twenty thousand.
When she returned it the next day, the hem was ruined, crushed under a heel.
She took my hand and wheedled.
"Lena, I'm so sorry, there were just too many people last night. We're best friends, you'd never hold one dress against me, right?"
Junior year, my twenty-second birthday, Julian promised well in advance to take me to the Hamptons to see the ocean.
I'd booked the flights and the hotel.
Two hours before we were supposed to leave, Jill posted to her feed.
【My stomach hurts so bad I could die, I'm all alone and so scared.】
Julian canceled his flight.
He spent the whole night in the ER with Jill, who had nothing more than ordinary indigestion.
And left me alone at the airport, waiting until the plane took off.
Senior year, hunting for internships.
Jill changed the name on my project experience to hers and used it to apply for positions.
When I caught her, it was Julian who lectured me.
"Athena, you're talented, you'll land an offer anywhere. Jilly's family isn't as well off as yours. Just let her have this one!"
But I couldn't even count how many times I'd let her have things over the years.
Jill carried her two chosen jars of face cream to the register and turned to look at me.
"Lena, don't you have the black-tier loyalty card for this place? Hurry, take it out and swipe the discount for me."
Julian was looking at me too.
"Come on, there are people waiting behind us."
I stayed where I was, hands in my pockets, and didn't move a step.
"The loyalty card? I didn't bring it with me."
Jill bit her lip.
"It's fine, I'll just pay with a regular card……"
By six that evening, after a full day in the shop, everyone had bags in hand.
Jill stepped to the front of the group in her heels and cleared her throat.
"You're all worn out from shopping today. Dinner's on me tonight! Let's go to the Atlantis underwater restaurant for a seafood feast!"
