Seven Drinks

Vodka

Chaeyoung gets invited by the board to play her guitar in one of the executives' birthday parties. All four of them are asked to be there, and Jennie is excited. Not because they were in fact invited, but because Chaeyoung is singing an original at the event. Jennie knows that her little Rosie Posie's talent, though very good, is very well hidden beneath her shy exterior. She just needs the extra boost to come out of her shell.

"Lili," she calls their youngest. "What time did you say we are going to be picked up?"

"Uh," Lisa opens her phone to probably check the message. "Around 6:30PM? Party starts at 7:30PM. We're leaving early because Chaeng has to do soundcheck at the place."

"Sounds good," Jisoo nods at them. "You two are ready so I'll just go help Chaeyoung. Stay here and Lisa?"

"Yeah?"

"Stop fiddling too much. You'll wrinkle your dress," Jisoo sternly says. " Jennie?"

"What?"

"Make sure Lisa doesn't fiddle," their oldest laughs and proceeds to Chaeyoung's room.

"Unnie," Lisa walks over to her after a little while and sits right beside her on the couch. Her smile gets wiped off her face and a serious look replaces it. "I want to tell you something," She glances back at Chaeyoung's door, possibly trying to check whether or not the two are out of earshot.

"What is it, Li?" Jennie looks at Lisa closely and notices a frown forming on her face.

"I- uh. Look, I don't want you to worry but I figured you're the best person to talk to about this and it's sudden and I don't know why and I don't know why now, but-"

"Slow down," Jennie coaxes, cutting off Lisa's rant. "Calm down, it's just me. You can tell me."

"I never felt this before, Jennie, just now or before we got invited, I'm not really sure and all and I'm just..." Lisa trails off. "I'm terrified."

Jennie is taken aback by Lisa's statement. It was raw, honest, and out of the blue. And Jennie has no idea what's going on in her mind, let alone the correct words to tell her.

"Can you tell me more about what you meant, Lili?" she presses. Jennie feels the need to take full responsibility for making sure that Lisa's alright. For so many years, even before their debut, Lisa has always been their constant. She lights up the room when she enters and makes sure that everyone around her is fine. She would go extra lengths to keep Jennie happy in the beginning of their friendship when Jennie would be devastated about their evaluations. Jennie admires how strong her Lisa has become, so she vows herself to be as strong as her best friend too.

"Uhm," Her worried look immediately transforms but Jennie can see through it. "You know what, my hormones are probably just acting up,""Nevermind, Jenjen. Forget about what I said," Lisa laughs.

"We're talking about this later, you know that right?" Jennie tells her and silently wishes that the girl understands what she's conveying.

"No, really it's fine-"

"Lili," Jennie takes her chin and lifts it up so she and Lisa are at eye level. Brown eyes display sadness and longing. Without thinking, Jennie leans forward and connects their foreheads together. She closes her eyes and feels Lisa sigh.

"Whatever it is you're going through," she says, her right hand cupping Lisa's cheek. "You know that I'm here for you. We're all here. You're strong and smart," Jennie pulls back slightly to look at her. "And you can go through it all, but let me, us , be here for you."