"Lisa, are you ok?"
All memory of their argument was erased from Jennie's mind as she watched Lisa rise unsteadily to her feet, her arm braced against the wall for support. Lisa swayed to the side dangerously as she shook her head. "No." she said. "Not ok."
Lisa attempted to take a step toward her and stumbled forward, and Jennie reached up with both arms to break Lisa's fall.
"Lisa!" she exclaimed, staggering beneath Lisa's weight.
Lisa leaned against Jennie heavily, and she managed to hold her upright long enough for Lisa to get her feet back underneath herself.
"Come inside." Jennie said, leaving her suitcase where it stood in the hallway and using her free hand to open the door and help Lisa back into the hotel room. "Come lie down. Should I call the doctor?"
"Dizzy."
Jennie struggled to get Lisa into the bedroom and onto the bed. She let out a groan, closing her eyes for a moment, as she sprawled out on her back.
"Lisa?" Jennie shook her by the shoulders, and her eyes popped back open, blinking rapidly.
"Ok," Lisa said. "Better."
"I'm calling the doctor." Jennie had dropped her purse just inside the door, and she turned now to retrieve it, but Lisa reached out and grabbed her arm, gripping it with surprising strength.
"Don't go." Lisa was still breathing heavily as she spoke, but Jennie saw with some relief that the colour was starting to come back into Lisa's face. "Please. Jennie. Stay." Lisa panted.
"Ok." she responded, sitting back down on the edge of the bed. "It's ok. I'm here."
"You came back."
Jennie nodded, once again recollecting the events of the past ten minutes. She'd stormed out, half-expecting Lisa to stop her before she made it to the elevator, but Lisa had let her go. She was all the way downstairs before she'd started to calm down. The anger of the argument had faded almost immediately, replaced by an overwhelming sense of loss. It was over. She'd left and Lisa hadn't stopped her.
She'd wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball on the floor, but she'd gathered herself as best she could as the elevator doors opened in the hotel lobby. If she was serious about flying back to New York, she'd realised, she needed to call ahead to the airline. She'd flicked on her phone and was shocked by what she saw. Missed calls. Texts. Voicemails. All from Lisa's number, from the wee hours of the morning. She'd sat down on a bench in the lobby and began to play one of the messages, hearing Lisa's voice, thick with panic.
"Jennie, please call me back. I need you to call me back. I just need to know that you're safe..."
Message after message after message. Lisa must have been waiting up for her all night. She remembered the words she had spoken to Lisa in anger, moments ago. "I could swear you used to care about someone other than yourself..."
Jennie shouldn't have said that. Whatever Lisa felt for her - or didn't feel for her - whatever it was that they were to each other now, she couldn't say Lisa didn't care about her. You don't leave so many messages for someone you don't care about at all.
Jennie looked at Lisa now as she lay on the bed with her hand still encircling Jennie's arm and Lisa's eyes glued to her face. "You came back..." Lisa said again.
Jennie bent forward and brushed her lips lightly against Lisa's forehead. "You filled up my mailbox."
"Sorry."
"You're crazy."
One corner of Lisa's mouth curved upward in a sheepish half-smile. "I went a little crazy." she agreed. "Just a little bit."
Jennie smiled at Lisa softly. "Thirty-seven calls..." she said. "And I didn't even look at the texts yet."
Lisa shrugged. "I thought you were dead." she said, resting her eyelids closed as she spoke. "I thought you were chopped up into little pieces in some serial killer's trunk."
Jennie chuckled. "Why would think that?"
"I don't know." Lisa shrugged again. "You can accuse me of a lot of things, Jennie, but you can't say I don't care about you." Lisa opened her eyes again and looked at Jennie. "That's not fair."
"I know. I care about you too, Lisa."
"You ditched me..." Lisa replied, pulling herself up now so that she was sitting with her back resting against the pillows.
"Take it easy." Jennie reached out a hand to stop her.
"I'm ok now. I feel better."
"Let me go get you some water or something."
Lisa was still holding onto Jennie's arm, and she tightened her grip on it again to keep Jennie in place. "What is this all about, Jennie? Why did you ditch me last night and go to a hotel?"
"I didn't think I was ditching you."
"You were supposed to go home with me, and you didn't. In what universe is that not ditching me?"
"I'm sorry..." Jennie said again. "I shouldn't have lied to you about where I was going."
"Never mind that. Whatever. I'm just trying to understand what was going through your head."
Jennie looked down at the bed, and the moment lengthened as Lisa waited for her to reply. Lisa broke the silence again before she could speak. "You didn't honestly think I was with that other girl, did you?"
She let out a deep breath and met Lisa's eyes again. "Why did you tell your publicist to say 'no comment'?"
Lisa looked at Jennie questioningly.
"When reporters ask about me..." Jennie continued. "Why no comment?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Jennie could feel herself starting to tear up again, and she struggled to maintain her composure. "Are we just friends, Lisa?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, isn't that what you've been telling people?" Jennie asked. "Because it really seems like that's what everyone thinks."
Lisa shook her head. "Who thinks that?"
"It's ok. It's fine, if that's what you want. It's just... I probably shouldn't stay if that's what this is because I don't think I can... I don't think I can..." Jennie broke off, pressing her hand against her mouth as she felt the tears start to spill over and roll down her cheeks.
"Jennie." Lisa gave the arm she was holding a gentle tug, and Jennie turned and crawled across the bed to where Lisa was sitting. "Come here..." Lisa said, as she slipped her arm around Jennie's waist and she buried her face into Lisa's shoulder.
"I don't think I can be just friends with you." Jennie whispered to Lisa without looking up.
