Lean On Me (Chaelisa)

5| Jisoo's Serendipity

"Oh sure, you get all the chicks through some miracle or other," Jisoo was still complaining and stamping her feet an hour later after they finished practice, "and me? Single as a pringle! What am I? Some glorified sidekick? Hell, I hooked up all of the squad but I don't see anyone doing it for me!"

"Chaeyoung and I aren't hooking up."

"Semantics. It's only a matter of time!" Jisoo groaned, flopping face-down on the ground dramatically. "When do I get to have a turn, huh, universe? When is some pretty girl gonna swoop down from heaven for me? When?!"

"I'm sure there's someone out there for you," Lisa said vaguely as she mopped her face with the towel. Her thoughts strayed back to the blonde and the note tucked safely in her sports bag, unable to hold the inevitable smile that spread across her face.

"Stop smiling. I can feel you smiling from over here, it's nauseating," Jisoo mumbled, still face-down. "Some of us would like to wallow in misery in peace, if you don't mind."

Before Lisa could retort, a new voice called out.

"Hi, excuse me, Manoban is it?"

Lisa turned to find a petite brunette wearing glasses, her hair done in a top knot and her bangs long enough to dangle in her eyes, which were strikingly feline in appearance. She wore a preppy outfit and clutched a notebook and her phone to her chest.

Before Chaeyoung showed up in Lisa's life, maybe she might have tried hitting on the girl because she was quite pretty, but as it were, Lisa felt no desire to chat up the newcomer.

"Yeah that's me. Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Kim Jisoo, your team spokesperson? Oh I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself."

She extended her hand which Lisa apologetically declined with a wry gesture at her sweaty appearance. The girl understood and dismissed it with a casual wave, not even wrinkling her nose. Lisa was liking her more and more, despite her prim doll-like appearance.

"No worries. I'm Kim Jennie, from the campus journal. I'm editor in chief and we're running a serial about the women's team so I was wondering if I could get an exclusive."

"Someone said my name?" Jisoo looked up, her mouth promptly falling open when her gaze collided with Jennie's and her eyes grew very round. "Oh..."

Jennie chuckled. "Is this a bad time?"

"No no no no no, it's the perfect time," Jisoo assured as she shot up to her feet in an instant, hastily brushing off dirt. "What can I do for you?"

"It's like Kang told me. She said to look for the person face down on the ground next to Manoban," Jennie teased. Lisa grinned, deciding she liked this girl all the more especially when Jisoo's ears flushed a dull red. Her friend didn't turn bashful very easily.

"I don't think I ever saw you around before," Jisoo frowned, squinting at Jennie.

"Classes and editorial work leave little room for social time, and I prefer curling up with a book or TV series than mingling," Jennie shrugged.

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," Jisoo noted.

Jennie tilted her head. "So you're assuming I'm dull?"

Jisoo merely smiled wider, clearly enjoying herself immensely. "Well honey, I'm sure reading and watching TV can get pretty wild sometimes, but I could show you an even wilder time."

Lisa was about to facepalm at Jisoo's blatant attempts to hook up with a girl she just met and knew nothing about, but Jennie's response surprised her.

"Consider me...intrigued," Jennie said, her mouth lifting at the corner. Lisa thought her gaze seemed to hover on Jisoo's heart-shaped lips longer than what could be considered normal, before the veneer of professionalism was up again as Jennie tapped her notebook.

"Is it okay if I get a few words for the article, for now at least? I'm sure you got your own stuff to do so we could catch up some other time and I totally—"

"Nope, nothing at all," Jisoo interrupted smoothly. "I got all the time in the world for this. Do you?"

Jennie smiled. "Until 6pm I do."

"Ah, Cinderella curfew, is it?" Jisoo winked.

"Not really, just my designated slot in the day for TV watching."

"Really? No room for other distractions at all?"

Jennie's grin turned mischievous. "Depends on how good the other distraction is compared to my preferred methods of relaxing."

"I'd be down to show you," Jisoo offered.

The air was suddenly too thick to breathe fully. Lisa was still standing there, highly uncomfortable by the obvious eye-fucking that was happening right in front of her. She cleared her throat and edged to the side.

"I'll uh, be doing cool down if you need me," she said lamely. Neither girl paid her attention so Lisa quietly went about her cool down stretches and exercises a few feet away, glancing back at her friend now and then.

Lisa knew Jisoo was lying through her teeth about having no prior engagements because they so happened to have planned to meet up with the rest of the squad at the Tiger's house after practice, before tomorrow's game.

At one point, Jisoo sent her a shifty glance her way, silently pleading to cover for her absence later.

And Lisa winked, understanding the message, allowing Jisoo to relax and focus all her attention on Jennie to charm her with her charisma which seemed to be working, judging by Jennie's attentive gaze and deep giggles.

The attraction seemed to go both ways though—Lisa didn't remember seeing her best friend so intrigued by a girl before, and probably part of the reason lay in the fact that Jennie had somehow slipped through the radar in Jisoo's infamous network of friends, which had Jisoo more invested to learn about her.

It also didn't hurt that Jennie was very much Jisoo's type of girl: smart, driven, pretty and brunette—just like all the girls she had tried hooking up Lisa with before.

Seeing them talking so animatedly such that both girls forgot Lisa even existed made her smile and quietly slip away after she was done. On a whim, she took out her phone when she was a safe distance from the pitch and texted Jisoo with a big shit-eating grin on her face.

Don't stay up too long fucking her, and that's an order from your captain. We got a game tomorrow. Fucking is very taxing on the human body.

She got a reply hours and hours later, around 1am, reading simply 'fuck you'.

But Lisa only grinned wider as she sprawled on her bed, ready to pass out after a relaxing soak in the bathtub.

Maybe she wouldn't have to hear Jisoo complaining about being single anymore.