First Times

The first time Jennie said hi

It started out like any other Sunday. Lisa was sitting on the same old bench at the same old park listening to her same old ipod reading her same old book. She'd never been able to concentrate at home. The constant ruckus caused by her roommates was fun, but it definitely didn't help with her studying.

So every Sunday morning, she'd come here. Legs folded under her, a textbook or notebook open on her lap, and a bag of old bread crusts from the bakery for when the geese showed up. To focus. To think. To have a little slice of the world all to herself.

A couple of hours later, she started to notice the joggers showing up. Mostly old guys in old, tattered shorts and old ladies in new, expensive sweat suits. If the silence before was her favourite part of Sunday, this was a close second.

With her studying done, she could lounge on the bench and watch the rest of the world wake up. When the geese waddled into view, each leading a tidy trail of tiny baby geese, Lisa pulled out the bread and threw them some chunks. She watched the orderly lines of goose babies dissolve into a fluffy mob of bread consuming adorableness. She grinned to herself, throwing some to the outskirts of the circle, so the littlest ones could get some breakfast too.

As she distributed the last of the crusts and crunched up the bag, she figured it was about time to head back. She was packing up, half listening to one of the old guys chat up a group of sweat suit ladies, when she saw her.

A new jogger, one she'd never seen on any other Sunday morning, was coming down the path towards her. And this jogger. This girl in pink short shorts and black tank top. Was not an old dude in old, tattered shorts. Was not an old lady in a comically sweat-free ironed sweat suit.

This. Jogger. This. She. Jogger. Jogging. This.

She'd passed Lisa by before Lisa could remember how to blink.

Lisa spent the entire walk home wondering who she was. But when she opened her door, the first thing she saw was Jisoo crouched behind the kitchen counter with a nerf gun, trying to snipe Seulgi hiding behind the couch.

When Seulgi slid a third nerf gun towards Lisa across the hardwood floor, Lisa momentarily forgot about the beautiful jogger. And she definitely forgot about it when Jisoo vaulted over the counter, shot her square in the face, and bolted into her room. They spent the rest of the day converting their apartment into a makeshift battle zone.

The next Sunday, Lisa was at the park again. Ipod. Textbook. Bread crusts. Old guys. Old ladies. Geese. Geese babies. And just as she was packing up, it happened again. Just like last week, the same gorgeous jogger coming down the path towards her.

Her brown hair up in a ponytail, earphones plugged into an ipod wrapped around her arm. They made eye contact this time, and the girl smiled at her before jogging by.

Lisa spent the walk home being incredibly proud she hadn't collapsed onto the ground and passed out.

Another Sunday.

And this time Lisa remembered the jogger. She wondered if she'd see her again. Study. Old people. Animals. By the time geese were done eating, Lisa was sure the past two weeks had been a fluke. She'd stayed longer than she usually would, in hopes of seeing the girl again, but so far all she'd seen was an old guy get a phone number and a kiss from an old lady. She huffed, and stood up to put her ipod back in her bag.

But just as she was turning to throw away the crumpled up bread bag, she saw her out of the corner of her eye. As if on queue, the girl was coming down the path towards her. This time Lisa was prepared though. When they made eye contact, the girl smiled, and Lisa smiled back. But then the girl did something that Lisa hadn't even thought to prepare herself for. She stopped.

The girl.

Stopped.

In front of her.

And waved.

To her.

"Hi! I'm Jennie! I've seen you a couple times while I'm jogging! What're you reading? Looks difficult."

She was pointing to the textbook Lisa was holding. Lisa looked down at her hand. Up at the girl. She opened her mouth.

"Uh."

And the girl smiled. Again. At her. Her eyes in crescents and her lips pulled into a grin, cheeks puffing out. "Well, maybe I'll see you next week? Have a good day!"

And then she was gone, jogging along the path back around the lake.

Lisa has no idea how she got home. She spent the rest of the day lying on the couch, wondering if she was starting to hallucinate from all the nerf bullets to the head. Because she was pretty sure that angels didn't have bright brown hair or wear sinfully tight pink shorts.

She googled angels just to make sure.