Lisa stood in the doorway of her house with nothing but a towel wrapped around her waist and a singlet, taking in the view. Jennie was here. She was wheeling her suitcase up the front drive, with the famous hilltop Hollywood sign just visible on the horizon behind her.
"Hi." Jennie said as she came up to the door and stopped in front of Lisa.
Lisa stood still for a moment, her face blank, studying Jennie without a word. Was Lisa happy to see her? Jennie couldn't quite tell.
"Hi." Lisa said at last.
"I probably should have called."
"No." Lisa shook her head and reached out to take Jennie's hand. Lisa pulled Jennie into the house and kicked the door closed in one smooth motion. Lisa had Jennie's back pressed up against the door, and she leaned into Jennie, kissing her like a drowning person fighting for breath.
"Hi." Lisa gasped, when she finally came up for air.
Jennie reached up and ran her fingers through Lisa's hair, still damp from the shower. "Hi." Jennie whispered back, wondering how long they were going to go on standing in the doorway, greeting each other. Lisa still wasn't smiling. Just staring at Jennie now, with that look she sometimes got - like Lisa was trying to set her on fire with her eyes.
There was a word for that look, wasn't there? Bedroom eyes? That come-hither look that made the magazines fly off the shelves of the grocery store check-out aisles whenever Lisa's face graced the US Weekly or Rolling Stone. Even after seven years apart, it still took Jennie's breath away whenever she unexpectedly comes upon Lisa's face on the cover of some magazine.
There was something surreal about it now, seeing that look in Lisa's eyes up close and personal. Jennie experienced that same sense of parallax she'd felt the week before, spending time with Lisa in New York. Like Jennie had left reality behind and stepped into some movie-version of her life, starring the celebrated Lisa Manoban as the hero. This must be the part now just after the opening credits had rolled, when the two co-stars first find themselves face to face. Jennie wouldn't have been entirely shocked to hear some schmaltzy orchestra music swelling to a crescendo just behind her....
Jennie blinked her eyes and forced her mind to focus. "My suitcase..." she said.
"What suitcase?" Lisa dipped her head and kissed Jennie again, leaning against her heavily. Lisa was still feeling a little shaky. She had nearly fallen over just now when she saw Jennie pull up to her house. Five minutes ago, she thought she was never going to see Jennie's face again, and now she was here. Jennie was here. Jennie. Jennie. Jennie was in her house. Jennie was saying something about a suitcase.
"I left it outside."
Lisa stood up straight and took a deep breath. She needed to get a hold of herself - couldn't let Jennie see how much she was affecting her right now. Play it cool, Lisa thought to herself. Play-it-cool-play-it-cool-play-it-cool.
"Right..." Lisa said, stepping aside so Jennie could turn and open the door. Jennie's suitcase was sitting on the front stoop, and Lisa reached past her to pick it up and carry it inside. "Come on." she said. "Let me show you around."
It wasn't much of a tour. The whole house consisted of three rooms: a living room that opened to the kitchen and dining area, a bedroom dominated by an enormous California king-sized bed, and a master bathroom with double sinks and shower heads.
"It's kind of a house for a single person." Lisa said with a little smirk as she dropped Jennie's suitcase off next to the dresser in her bedroom.
"I know." Jennie replied, smiling back. "I saw your episode of Cribs on MTV."
Lisa laughed, taking in the unmade bed and messy room. "Yeah, I guess it was a little more neat and tidy for that."
Jennie was leaning against Lisa's dresser and she lifted up her hand, wrinkling her nose at it in distaste. "What is this?"
The hair gel Lisa had spilled, she remembered with a wince. She had never bothered to clean it up.
"Is this hair gel?"
"Sorry." Lisa grabbed a towel and went to wipe it up, but Jennie was grinning at her. Jennie lifted her hand and gestured as if to run it through her hair.
"Are you sure it's just hair gel, Lisa?"
Lisa was having trouble following this conversation. Jennie was in her house. Jennie was in her bedroom. How was she supposed to play it cool when Jennie was in her bedroom? "What else would it be?" she asked.
"Don't you remember?"
"What?"
"That first summer after my freshman year?"
Lisa closed her eyes for a moment, trying to focus. The summer after Jennie's freshman year at NYU. Jennie's parents had wanted her to go home, but she'd defied them and spent the three months crashing in Lisa's apartment instead. They'd holed up together in that minuscule bedroom that barely had room for a person to stand beside the twin bed. It felt like they'd spent the whole summer in that bed.
But that couldn't be true. They must have come up for air at some point. It came back to Lisa now. A brutal New York City heatwave. A week straight, day after day, over 100 degrees - and of course her air-conditioner had broken down. They'd gone to the movies out of sheer desperation, and Lisa had bought tickets to the first thing that was showing – 'There's Something About Mary'.
