Stay The Night (Chaelisa)

Chapter 29

The day before the game, they’re lounging about in Lisa’s bedroom, SportsCenter playing in the background, volume low. Roseanne’s stretched back against the pillows of Lisa’s bed dividing her attention between her phone, the television and the mobility routine Lisa’s putting herself through at the foot of the bed.

As Lisa pulls into a particular stretch that has her lunging forward and reaching for the ceiling - a move that exposes the play of muscle in her biceps and quads - Roseanne refocuses on the television lest she interrupt Lisa’s routine.

There’s an old package of shots playing to promote the saga of the Lakehawks and Skippers rivalry. After Tzuyu’s comments, the footage of Tzuyu as a Lakehawk seems particularly relevant. A clip of Tzuyu jumping on Lisa’s back enthusiastically as they celebrate a championship in the locker room plays and it’s so jarring, Roseanne has to comment. “It’s a tad bizarre to think of you two as friends.”

It pulls Lisa’s attention from her stretch and she adjusts her glasses to look at the screen. The footage has moved on to a quick clip of Lisa spraying champagne and beer over Tzuyu’s head. “It was a long time ago,” she murmurs as the screen moves on to highlights of the two of them on the court - a particularly savage pick-and-roll in which Tzuyu dunks over a Wonders player’s head.

Though they’d talked about this briefly, more than once, Lisa’d never really gone into detail about what went down between her and Tzuyu. Nothing more than a she wanted more from me than I could give her.

The screen shifts from old footage to the much newer interview in which Tzuyu all but threatens Lisa with another injury in between accusing her of being a player.

“What exactly happened to make her hate you so much?”

Lisa stands up completely and moves to the bed, scooting to sit next to Roseanne and shrugging. “I don’t know.” Roseanne shoots her a look that makes Lisa laugh and insist, “Seriously. I think I’ve already proven to you I’m terrible at understanding emotions. Especially when they involve my own.”

Roseanne chuckles, rolling her eyes and shoving a little at Lisa’s shoulder. “Come on, you have to have some idea. I feel like you’re not telling me something.”

Lisa pulls her leg up and rests her arm on her knee, regarding Roseanne with an honest expression. “I really don’t know. I knew she was mad when I like - when I made it clear I thought we were just having fun,” Lisa explains, fumbling a bit around the words. “But that was two years ago,” Lisa says, her head dropping back a bit in exasperation.

Roseanne shifts down in bed, laughing at Lisa’s expression. “Perhaps you’re harder to get over than you realize,” she says, pulling Lisa down with her until they’re settling under the sheets.

Lisa shoots her a doubtful expression that Roseanne can’t help but find endearing. “There wasn’t really anything to get over.”

“According to you,” Roseanne points out trying very hard not to remember the feeling of Lisa assuring her I don’t have feelings for you - it’s an incredibly distant memory now. Tempered by the shift in their relationship and the warm feeling of Lisa’s body scooting closer to hers, but there’s still a pang there that Roseanne’s not sure will ever leave.

“She threw like four pairs of shoes at my head when I told her I didn’t think we were dating and now years later she’s threatening to put me on a stretcher,” Lisa says dryly, slipping further down in the bed. “Kind of an overreaction, don’t you think?”

Roseanne hums neutrally and shifts down next to Lisa, accepting the invitation into Lisa’s body when Lisa lifts her arm to bring her in. Her leg shifts over Lisa’s and her cheek settles against Lisa’s shoulder. “Some broken hearts don’t mend, I guess,” Roseanne says quietly, watching the program on the television shift to a stat comparison between the duos of Lisa - Jennie and Tzuyu - Momo.