If this is a rom-com, kill the director | Jenlisa

The Past

Rosie didn't mean to get Lisa drunk – not at all. It's just that Lisa is less guarded when she's had a little to drink. She talks more and snaps less. When Lisa had something to drink, she doesn't shut Rosie out as much. You'll forgive Rosie for being a little too generous with the alcohol, because she's worried.

She tells herself it doesn't make sense to be worried for her younger but has always-has-her-life-in-order cousin, but it's been creeping up on her more and more lately. There's something up with Lisa, and Rosie wants to know what.

Accepting the role of Romeo was probably a bad idea. Not in terms of the pay check, or the publicity. Since filming began, Lisa's been tired, stressed and the spark in her eyes has completely disappeared.

Rosie wants her cousin to be happy more than anything, but she has her own selfish reason for wanting Rosie to perk up again. She's always known her cousin as the one that has everything together – Lisa's her support system when things get a little tough.

Rosie's not sure that she can be the one that always has everything together.

Lisa groans, leaning back in her chair and taking a big swig of her drink. "Everywhere I go, all anyone wants to talk about is face-ache."

"Face-ache?" Rosie snorts. "That's a new one."

She flops in her seat, strands of hair falling from her plait. "It's because it hurts my face to look at her."

She takes another swig, and Rosie frowns, reaching out to snatch the drink out of Lisa's hands. "You should be more careful, what if there were paparazzi around here?" she chides.

Lisa sighs, but makes no attempt to grab the drink again. "Never thought I'd see the day that Rosie was being responsible."

Rosie bites the inside of her cheeks to stop herself from throwing back some sort of insult. She does that thing she was always taught to do when she was angry – breathe in and out gently and count to ten – before she reaches forward to take Lisa's hands.

"Seriously, Lisa. Tell me the truth. Are you okay?" she says.

"I'm fine," Lisa says, dragging out the word 'fine'. "Why wouldn't I be?"

But Rosie takes in Lisa's face – the hair out of place, the tired eyes, the frown lines – and she can't bring herself to believe her. She swallows, lets out a sigh and asks the question she's been afraid to ask.

"What really happened with you and Jennie?"

Lisa groans, pulls her hands out of Rosie's and rests back into her chair, rubbing her eyes. "We were friends, you know that."

"Yeah, we met her in the first year of Uni," Rosie says, nodding to indicate that Lisa should go on.

"We were really good friends for most of first year. And then she just stopped," Lisa says.

She's not looking at Rosie now, she's staring up at the ceiling, trying to pretend that she doesn't care about this conversation.

"Stopped?"

"She stopped wanting to be friends. I don't even know. She got really cold and distant, and she kept talking about how friendship was fleeting. Then she latched onto whoever became her new best friend, I guess," she says, still staring straight up at the ceiling, squinting when her eyes meet the fluorescent lightbulbs.

Rosie frowns. "I know most of this. That can't be it."

"And then," Lisa says, gritting her teeth. "There were the inter-college championships."

Her cousin's eyes widen slightly in recognition, and she settles back into her seat. "I'd forgotten," she says, quietly.

Every year, the University they had attended threw a competition of sorts. The university was split into smaller colleges, and every college would take part; it had become one of the biggest and most anticipated event amongst the student body. All sorts of events were had in the midst of it all, and the college with the most points won the championship cup. It was the most coveted thing by everyone who attended.

"You were preparing for the championships way before we were even accepted into the University," Rosie says, her voice much softer as everything begins to get a little clearer.

"I worked so hard," Lisa says. "I wanted that cup so badly. I did whatever I could to be noticed by the college so that they'd let me be their representative for the last event."

"The trivia challenge," Rosie says.

"Yeah," Lisa says. She's still staring straight up at the ceiling, refusing to look at Rosie. "I worked so fucking hard. I blew off my studies to prepare for that. I was going to win it for our house. Then, the guy who was representing Jennie's house got sick so he couldn't do it, and Jennie stepped in. She beat me without even trying."

Finally, she looks back at Rosie, and Rosie doesn't stop her when she reaches forward and grabs her drink. "Then when we were done, and Jennie's house were given the cup, she told me I should work on being more of a gracious loser."

Her fingers curl around her glass, her knuckles going white. "There you have it. Rivalry began. Continued to this day. Don't wanna talk about it anymore."

There is a long silence, while Rosie lets the conversation sink in and Lisa drinks.

"You know, Lis," Rosie says, after a while. "That was a long time ago now."

Lisa rolls her eyes. "No," she says, sharply. "I don't care how long ago it was. She was a bitch then, and she's a bitch now. End of."

She drains the last of her drink and then storms out of the room.

Rosie sighs and rests back in her chair, her hands covering her face. That had gone well.

"Hey, couldn't help but overhear."

Rosie looks up to see Jisoo standing next to her, offering up a sympathetic smile as she slips into the seat next to her.

"You still want to go through with the plan?" Jisoo asks.

"We can't back out now. The guys have already done their part," Rosie, twiddling her thumbs on the table.

"Yeah, but if you don't think it's a good idea, we don't have to do our bit," Jisoo says. "She sounded pretty angry."

Rosie doesn't say anything to that, she just stares down at her fingers.

"Rosie?" Jisoo says. "Do you still think we should do it?"

Rosie stares at the space where Lisa had been. She thinks about everything that Lisa had just told her – about Jennie's actions and the way that she was talking about her.

"Yeah," she says, after a few seconds. "We should."

————

Jennie spreads out across her bed, her arms stretched wide. God knows how long she's been lying here, staring straight up at the ceiling.

Lisa. Likes. Me.

It just doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense for Lisa to like her. Lisa's rude to her; she's always been rude to her.

...But her uncle, the director himself, was the one who said she liked her. There was no way that this could just be idle gossip or speculation.

Oh, no.

What if, all this time, all the insults and sarcasm had really just been flirting?

Well, she doesn't like her back. That much she's sure of. Lisa
Manoban and Jennie Kim is something that will never work out, not in a million years, no matter how pretty she is.

And funny, she's funny too. She'd found herself struggling not to laugh at some of the things she'd heard her say.

But none of that means anything!

Lisa argues with her all the time, she insults her near constantly, she's rude and mean and she does not like her.

Jennie groans, and presses her face into the pillow.

—————-

Jennie is acting weird on set today.

She actually said hello to her this morning. Just hello. No snarky comment, no hissed insult. She smiled at her. An actual smile.

The spark in her eyes are back. They're no longer cold or dead.

Lisa wonders if she should say something. She doesn't.

What is going on with the world today?