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

An Awkward Alliance

It's been twelve hours and she's still wearing the same dress she had on last night. Her hair is falling out of her neat braid and her make up is smudged everywhere. She's sitting cross-legged, her back leaning straight up against the wall, next to the door she knows belongs to Rosie.

"Lisa, did you go to bed last night?" Jennie says, moving down to sit down beside her.

On que, Lisa yawns, rubbing gunk out of her eyes. "No. I stayed to make sure she was okay, but she wanted to be alone. I just... don't want to be too far away in case she needs me."

"Are you saying you've been sitting out here all night?" she says.

Lisa nods, and says nothing more.

Jennie rakes her hand through her hair and sighs. "You need to get some sleep."

"No," she says, forcefully. "I need to stay out here and make sure that I'm here if she needs me."

"Okay," she says, raising her hands in surrender. "I can go if you want me to."

It's silent for a moment.

"No," Lisa says. "You can stay."

Jennie gives a small smile at that, and gets herself comfortable on the floor. There's another long silence as the two of them sit there outside the door. There's so much between them that's gone unspoken, so many things that they haven't addressed. If it were any other time, Lisa would want to talk about them, but right now, her only concern is Rosie.

"You know she has nightmares about being outed," Lisa says, breaking the silence. "She likes to pretend that she isn't afraid of anything, but I've been there when she's been up all night worrying about it. She's always been so afraid that she'll accidentally let it slip in an interview. This is like a living nightmare for her."

Jennie places her hand on hers. "We'll figure something out," she says.

She stares down at where her fingers are rested atop hers, and it occurs to her that this is the first time they've touched outside of filming. This is the first time their hands have been connected as Lisa and Jennie and not as Romeo and Juliet. This is the first time they've touched as each other, and not under some costume or disguise.

She doesn't know how to feel.

Lisa takes her hand away and lets it rest in her lap. Jennie gives a mumbled apology that she doesn't acknowledge.

It's quiet again, and the two of them just sit there, and it feels wrong. It feels wrong because she and Jennie are supposed to argue. That's what they do. They make quips and they insult each other and they don't get on.

Yet here they are, not talking, not arguing and it's too quiet and it feels wrong.

Lisa breaks the silence with drawn out yawn.

"Okay, Lisa, you have got to get some sleep," Jennie says. "Look, go back to your room, and take a nap. I'll stay out here, and if Rosie comes out, I'll tell her where you are."

"I can't," she says. "I've got to stay out here."

"At least go and take a shower and change your clothes," Jennie says. "You'll be more comfortable. Lisa, please. I'll stay out here until you get back."

She thinks about it, fully prepared to snap and tell her that she has to stay. Then she stops, and bites her tongue.

"Okay," she says. "But I'm only going to take a shower. Then I'm coming straight back."

"Okay," Jennie says. "And I'll stay here for as long as you want me to."

She nods and begins to walk away. She's halfway down the hall before she turns and comes back up to her.

"Jennie?" she says.

"Mmm?"

"Thank you. For last night. I'm not sure I could have got rid of that crowd without you," she says. "So... thanks."

She looks up at her, her eyes shining. "Anytime, Lisa."

—————-

Lisa really does mean to take a shower and then go straight back to Rosie's room. But when she gets to her room, the bed is just so inviting. She hasn't slept in God knows how long, and everything aches. After her shower, she collapses onto the bed without really thinking, drifting straight off to sleep.

When she wakes five hours later, she hurries back to Rosie's room, cursing herself for letting herself sleep for so long. Jennie is still there, sitting cross-legged beside the door.

"Sorry," she mumbles as she sits down. "I fell asleep. I didn't mean to be gone for so long."

"Hey, it's okay. I'm glad you slept," Jennie says. "Although, I've got some bad news."

"Oh?"

With a grim look, she hands her her phone. When she's sees what's on it, she swears.

Her phone is opened up on an internet search, which reveals hundreds of online news articles, all commenting on the reveal of Rose Park's sexuality. After she passes the phone back to Jennie, she groans and tosses her head into her hands.

"Don't they have more important news to report?" she says, her teeth clenched.

"I know, it's ridiculous."

Lisa drums her fingers on the carpet floor. "We have to talk to Jay about this. He's her father and the director, surely there's some kind of damage control he can do."

So, together they go, off to find Jay to see what he can do.

"Sorry, I can't do anything about this."

Lisa all but slams her hands on the desk between them. "Why not? Can't you issue a statement saying that it was a mistake?"

Jay scoffs. "Don't be naïve, Lisa. Now that the news is out there, it's out there to stay."

She sits back in her seat and scowls, but says nothing.

"Besides, she could've been more careful. When I told her to keep her little gay thing a secret-"

Jennie winces. This was the nuclear bomb of things that would make Lisa's fuse blow.

"What the fuck?" Lisa yells, cutting him off before he can even finish his sentence.

She stands up, and slams her fist on the table. "Tell me right now that was a joke," Lisa hisses. "Tell me right now that was a shitty, distasteful joke."

"Lisa, this isn't at all appropriate. You can't speak to me like this."

"No," she says, at this point so worked up that tears are coming to her eyes. "You don't get to say that. You don't get to dictate how I speak to you right now. You should be caring about your fucking daughter, who just got outed in front of all those film journalists, who are now going to pry into her private life and make endless speculations about her. I thought she was keeping it a secret of her own accord, but apparently, you've been meddling too."

Her fingers grip in her hair, and she wants to say so much more, there's so much she wants to yell about right now, but she just can't put into words. Instead, she stomps her foot and makes a loud noise of frustration. A part of her kicks herself for sounding like her old six year old self, throwing a tantrum instead of expressing her feelings. But right now, she wants to scream. Rosie deserves so much better than what she's getting.

"You know what?" she says. "I can't even fucking be here right now."

Then she storms out the room. Jennie runs after her.