JL OS

Mad

Lisa sat down next to Jisoo and sighed. Her friend glanced up from unfolding a sleeping bag. "What's wrong?"

"I don't even know."

"Are you two arguing?"

Lisa looked across the clearing where Jennie was helping with the cooking. She seemed like she was having a great time laughing at something on her phone. "I don't know. I think she's mad at me."

"For what?"

"I don't know! She won't talk to me."

They both looked up as Chaeyoung dropped an armful of tent poles onto the ground in front of them. "Maybe it was because of your fall, Lisa."

"Why would she be mad?" Lisa inspected the bandage on her right hand. "If I'm injured, shouldn't she be fussing over me or whatever?"

Chaeyoung shrugged. "I mean, you know Jennie. She told you not to go up the rocks alone because you'll hurt yourself."

"And of course you did," said Jisoo dryly. "And you got hurt. Yeah, I can see why she's mad."

Lisa looked first at Jisoo, then at Chaeyoung. "How does that even make sense? It's not like I fell on purpose!"

The two exchanged looks. "I'm not Jennie," said Jisoo, "so I can't say anything. Here, can you hold these for now? Chaeyoung and I will set up the tents."

So Lisa sat there gloomily, holding all four sleeping bags as she watched the camp come to life around her. As night fell, the smell of food grew stronger. Chaeyoung walked over and gave Lisa a paper bowl.

"Here you go," she said, "and here's a fork."

Lisa looked into the bowl. It was full of carefully cut-up meat and corn that was sheared off the cob. "Thanks for doing this for me."

"Oh, it wasn't me, it was Jennie." Chaeyoung raised her eyebrows. "Whatever the reason for this argument is, don't let it go on too long, okay?"

"But-"

"Okay, bye."

Lisa tried to catch Jennie's eye all throughout dinner, but somehow Jennie managed to always be looking away or doing something that required a lot of focus. Finally, out of frustration, Lisa stood up, said good night, cited her injured arm as a reason and went into their tent to sleep.

No matter how well padded a sleeping bag is, or how flat and rock-less the ground is, sleeping in a tent is almost never a comfortable situation. Lisa tossed and turned for a long time, listening to the laughter of her friends outside, until she finally dozed off somehow.

The next time she woke, it was quiet outside. She moved slightly and frowned as a blanket slipped off her sleeping bag. How? She hadn't had a blanket on when she lay down.

To her right, something shifted.

For a moment Lisa nearly pooped her pants in fear – but then realized it was just Jennie moving in her sleep. So the blanket was probably Jennie's doing, then. Lisa stared at Jennie's back for a while as her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Jennie's breathing was calm and even, but Lisa just couldn't go back to sleep. Carefully, she slipped out of her sleeping bag and stepped outside the tent.

The first thing she noticed was the moon. It was so big and bright that the entire campsite was lit up. Was this how people of old walked through the night, Lisa wondered. Because now, she could definitely see how it was possible. She found a camping chair and sat down in it, staring up at the moon.

Suddenly, she heard Jennie's voice from inside their tent. "Lisa? Lisa?! Oh my god, where did she go?"

Lisa stumbled back into the tent. "I'm here, shh, you'll wake them all up."

"Where were you?!"

"I was just outside, looking at the moon. Are you okay?"

In the sudden darkness of the tent, Lisa could barely make out the shape that was Jennie, sitting up in her sleeping bag.

"Sorry, I just had a bad dream," said Jennie. She moved her arm slightly and Lisa heard a quiet sniff.

"Are you crying?" Lisa crawled further into the tent. "Was it a really bad dream?"

Jennie reached out and Lisa found herself hugged very tightly. "We were hiking," said Jennie, her voice very close to Lisa's ear, "and suddenly you disappeared and then I woke up and you were actually gone so I got really scared and yeah, I may have started to cry a little." She laughed shakily. "So stupid, I know."

Lisa reached up and carefully felt Jennie's face until she found where the tear tracks were. She wiped them away with the sleeve of her jacket. "I'm sorry, I left quietly because I didn't want to wake you."

"I know. It's just me."

They sat there in silence for a long moment. When Jennie stopped sniffing, Lisa cleared her throat. "The moon is really pretty outside, want to see?"

Jennie shook her head. "I don't want to move."

"Okay." Lisa hesitated. "Also, sorry for not listening to you earlier and falling off the rock."

Jennie's hold tightened briefly, then relaxed. "It's okay, I definitely overreacted. I shouldn't have gotten so mad at you."

"I won't do that any more, I promise."

"Do what? Fall off rocks?"

"No! I won't do stupid, dangerous things like that again. So you don't have to worry anymore. But that too.."

Jennie exhaled gently into Lisa's hair. "Okay, silly."

"Tired?"

"A bit, yeah."

"Okay, wait." Lisa felt around blindly until she found her sleeping bag. She wormed into it, zipped it up halfway, and moved closer to Jennie. "Do you have enough space?"

"Yeah. Blanket?"

Lisa threw the blanket over the two of them and lay down, snuggling closer to Jennie. She felt Jennie adjusting the corners of the blanket and smiled.

"Is your hand okay?" Jennie whispered. Under the blanket, Lisa felt Jennie touch the bandages gently.

"It hurts a bit, but it's okay."

"Let me know if it hurts more, alright?"

"Will you kiss the pain away?"

"I'm being serious, Lisa!"

"Don't worry about it. I'll tell you if it hurts," Lisa added hastily before Jennie busts a vein, "but it's really okay. Go back to sleep."

"Mhmm. Good night. I love you, stupid dork."

"Jeez, what's with all the negative name calling today? I like it better when you call me daddy during s-"

"Lisa, I will push you off the rocks myself if you don't shut up."

Lisa kissed Jennie on the cheek. "Hehe. Good night, Jen. I love you too."