Journals [Chaelisa]

chapter 8

Chaeyoung waited patiently for Lisa to board the bus the next day. Sleep hadn't come easy the night before. She was restless with the idea of Lisa being something more. The possibilities of what could come of her confession excited her. She didn't know what to expect. She desperately wanted to talk it through with her.

Lisa had slipped away from detention yesterday. She'd gotten lost in the crowd before Chaeyoung could talk to her. Then she missed the bus, but Chaeyoung was starting to think she'd done it purposely. She knew all about Lisa's habit of avoiding problems by literally avoiding them. Chaeyoung wanted to explain that she wasn't a problem. There was nothing awkward going on and there was no tension. Chaeyoung wanted to clear up her position before Lisa had the chance to assume anything.

Nameless faces continued to pass by her. When she saw Lisa's flushed cheeks, she grinned. She had her head down, staring down at the floor instead of what was in front of her. She gripped her bookbag's straps and chewed on her bottom lip. Lisa was sort of hoping Chaeyoung had missed the bus today. She wasn't ready to talk about it. She wasn't in the mood to be shut down and rejected.

"Lili!" Chaeyoung squealed when Lisa got in earshot. For the first time in her life, it was a voice Lisa dreaded hearing.

Lisa sighed and lifted her head. She offered Chaeyoung a meek smile as she continued to make her way down the aisle. She was planning on occupying the seat next to Jisoo, but Chaeyoung grabbed Lisa's wrist and pulled her to sit right beside her. "Sit by me," Chaeyoung pleaded.

Although she didn't necessarily want to, she knew she was going to. Lisa would end up doing anything for Chaeyoung, and it annoyed her. So she slid off her bookbag and plopped down next to Chaeyoung, prepared to get it over with. She was expecting awkwardness and a bit of hostility. Why wasn't she speaking? Lisa turned to face Chaeyoung and saw her staring back at her with a tender expression. It made her uncomfortable. She was having trouble reading her. She had absolutely no idea what to expect of the face to face confrontation.

"Hi..." Lisa mumbled, sufficiently making things awkward.

"Hey," Chaeyoung smiled. "Are you okay this morning?"

"I guess..." she shrugged. Was she trying to soften the blow by making small talk first? Maybe that was it, keep the small talk going.

"Okay. Well, just don't feel weird about what you told me yesterday. I actually wanted to-" Chaeyoung began, but Lisa interrupted her, sensing where the conversation was headed.

"I don't. But guess what Jules did this morning," Lisa prompted with a small smile.

Even in the relative darkness of the bus, Lisa's smile was bright enough to make Chaeyoung pause. Instead of wanting to say what she needed to say, she wanted to hear Lisa's little story. So she went along with it. As long as Lisa wasn't feeling bad about her confession, Chaeyoung assumed all was well.

"What did she do?" Chaeyoung asked.

"She put hand soap on her toothbrush... Like instead of toothpaste," Lisa laughed lightly.

Actually, that was what Lisa did this morning. It was a mistake she'd made in her sleepy haze. How she could've gotten those two mixed up, she didn't know. But she felt like it was a more socially acceptable thing for her sister to have done than her. Then she wondered why out of all things, she'd decided to share that with Chaeyoung. But whatever, keep the small talk going.

"Wow," Chaeyoung smiled.

"You should've seen her face," Lisa forced another laugh. It was a dumb thing to be talking about, but it was keeping them preoccupied.