in every universe (one shot-s) | JENLISA

it comes and goes in waves

The first time it happened, it was an accident.

Jennie Kim would know Lisa Manoban anywhere.

At the age of 13, new to San Diego and taking her first family trip to the beach, she'd known Lisa. Not known known her, since they hadn't actually met yet. But she'd recognized something in the lanky girl with tanned skin cutting through the waves on a bright orange surfboard. Jennie recognized a piece of the girl's soul, perhaps.

And now, at the age of 25, she still knew Lisa. She looked out at the gorgeous blue waves off of the San Diego coast and recognized the honey brown waves and the air of confidence of someone who was doing what they were put on this earth to do.

She recognized the woman she'd spent almost six years of her life with, from freshman year of high school to sophomore year of college. She recognized the woman she'd broken up with over the phone five years ago, while she was at Stanford and Lisa was off surfing the world.

She recognized Lisa... but she also didn't. She was different somehow, and Jennie couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Leaning against the aged wood of the lifeguard tower, she narrowed her eyes behind her sunglasses, watching Lisa teach a young boy how to paddle out to catch a wave. She watched, and she felt every fissure and crack in her still-broken heart grow.

Yeah, she'd know Lisa anywhere, and she really wished she didn't.

"Shit," Jennie grumbled under her breath, watching a huge wave coming for the two surfers, a wave Lisa recognized the danger in and the boy didn't.

She motioned for the boy to follow suit and dive under the wave, but he didn't. He got caught up in it, sending him and the board beneath the water.

Jennie heard the pained, childlike yell and immediately grabbed her rescue tube. But she hesitated when her eyes locked on Lisa again. Maybe Lisa could handle things. Maybe she wouldn't have to swim out there and step in, forcing herself into close proximity with a woman she hadn't spoken to in over five years.

But she could see the look of panic on Lisa's face, even from this far away. She watched her brows furrow and her jaw tighten.

With another 'shit' mumbled under her breath, she jumped down into the sand and took off at a run, straight for the waves, the very scared boy who had just surfaced, and the woman she wished like hell she never had to see again.

~

Even after teaching for a few years, Lisa still hadn't gotten used to the tears from little kids when waves knocked them over. Whether they were tears of pain or frustration, didn't matter. She never felt equipped to take care of things on her own.

She sat up on her board, her legs dangling off of either side of her board, and her head tilted down in Noah's direction.

"You okay, dude?" Lisa asked, pulling Noah up onto his board.

"No," Noah spluttered, lifting his head up and showing the small split in his eyebrow that hadn't been there before she had duckdived under the wave.

Lisa opened her mouth to answer, to offer a few words of support or inspiration, but before she could say anything, she heard someone splashing through the water.

She heard and saw her, and her heart shattered in her chest for what felt like the millionth time over the past five years.

Jennie Iim looked the same as she had when Lisa had seen her for the first time. She looked the same, but she also didn't.

Her eyes were still just as striking, just as gut-wrenching, just as breath-stopping. Her skin was still as smooth, although slightly more freckled. Her face was still soft and kind, although somewhat thinner.