"So what's the deal?" Bambam asked, the moment Jennie and Kendall stood up to go hit the ladies' room.
"What's the deal with what?" Lisa met her friend's eyes across the table. Bambam merely raised his eyebrows and tilted his head in the direction the girls had just gone.
"I don't know." Lisa shrugged, looking down at her hands. "Jennie had a couple of weeks off, so I invited her to come out and stay with me."
"So she's staying at your house?"
"Yeah."
"Wow." Bambam said, eyeing Lisa speculatively. "That's a big deal."
Lisa felt herself starting to fidget in her seat under the scrutiny. It was a big deal. Bambam had no idea how big a deal it was. Well, maybe some idea. If anyone knew how long Lisa had been carrying a torch for this particular woman, it was Bambam - her best friend and song writing partner.
"Just... don't make a big thing out of it, ok?" Lisa said. "I don't know where this is going."
Bambam took the hint and changed the subject. Minutes ticked by, and the two of them were just about to send in a search-and-rescue party when they saw the Jennie and Kendall emerging from the restroom at last. The girls had their arms linked at the elbows - fast friends, apparently - but Lisa did a double-take when her eyes landed on Jennie.
She'd taken off her jacket and let down her long brown hair around her shoulders. Kendall had done up her eyes with sparkly shadow and taken a scissor to her blouse, cutting it off a few inches above her waistline to expose Jennie's bare midriff.
"What the hell happened in there?" Lisa asked, not failing to notice the blush creeping up Jennie's neck and colouring her cheeks as Lisa ran her eyes over Jennie's new outfit.
"Makeover!" Kendall exclaimed. "Doesn't she look amazing? Come on, we're all going to Lure!"
Lisa couldn't quite read Jennie's expression. Makeover in a restaurant bathroom? Seriously? Who did that? Of course, there was some kind of makeover scene in 90% of chick flick scripts Lisa had been reading lately, but she'd never actually seen that kind of thing happen in real life. Lisa opened her mouth to question further, but Kendall was already dragging Bambam up out of his chair and talking a mile a minute about some DJ who was spinning tonight.
"What did you do to your shirt?" Lisa whispered in Jennie's ear as they all made their way out of the restaurant.
Jennie merely shrugged and nodded her head towards Kendall. "Crop-tops are in, I'm told."
"We don't have to go with them," Lisa whispered. "Aren't you tired?"
"Why would I be tired? It's barely ten o'clock!"
"Really? You really want to go?"
"Definitely." Jennie answered without looking back at Lisa. "It sounds amazing."
Half an hour later, they were all ensconced in a corner booth in the club's VIP section. Kendall had insisted on ordering a bottle of Cristal, of course. "It's a special occasion!"
"I'm in hell." Lisa muttered under her breath in response.
It was the last place on Earth she wanted to be at. Lisa hadn't even wanted to go out to dinner. All she wanted was to be alone with Jennie and peel those skinny jeans off of her. Now it was nearly midnight, and Lisa was in a packed LA club with the strobe lights flashing and the music blaring so loud they couldn't even carry on a conversation.
How had she let the evening get away from her like this? Lisa could swear she'd been five minutes away from getting Jennie back home at the end of dinner. She took a gulp of champagne and tried her best not to let her growing impatience show on her face. What was she doing here? How much longer was Jennie going to want to stay?
Just go with it, Lisa told herself. Things could be worse. Think of all the things that were going well right now. Jennie was here. Jennie was sitting next to her. These were good things. Lisa had her arm around Jennie's shoulders, and she was leaning against Lisa, bopping her leg to the beat of the music. If Lisa turned her head and inhaled, she'd be able to smell Jennie's hair. That would be a bad idea, of course. Smelling Jennie's hair tended to get Lisa in trouble. But at least the possibility was there. These were all very good things.
The music made it difficult to talk, but Jennie seemed to be having a good time. Jennie was smiling. She was getting along with Lisa's friends. Very good things. Excellent things.
Lisa had to think about the long game here. The key was to show Jennie a good time in LA and convince her to stay. Permanently. That's what Lisa really wanted. As long as Jennie was having a good time, there would be plenty of other nights to come.
