Lisa shook her head at Rosé in irritation and directed her attention back to Jennie. "What are you talking about?" she said, taking a step toward her. "What new friend?"
"The girl you kissed this morning?"
"And we have a kiss!" Rosé exclaimed. "In public, I presume?"
Lisa ignored Rosé. "What girl? What kiss?"
"The one with the phone?"
Lisa rolled her eyes. Of course, she thought, stifling a groan. Jennie must have somehow heard about the airline attendant who'd helped her this morning and the impulsive peck on the cheek she'd given her in gratitude. "Oh, come on, Jennie." she said. "That was nothing. That was just a fan!"
"Great," Jennie replied. "I'm guessing about 5 foot 10, right? Blonde?"
"For fuck's sake, are you going to trash one of my cars every time a fangirl flirts with me? Seriously? Because that could get expensive."
"Nope." Jennie shook her head at Lisa. "Don't worry. I'll just collect my things and be on my way. That's what you want anyway so..."
"You're not going anywhere," she responded.
Jennie turned toward Rosé, pointing at the notepad in the publicist's hands. "You're also going to want to retract that whole girlfriend thing from yesterday," Jennie said. "Lisa broke up with me this morning."
"What?" Lisa exclaimed. "Rosé, don't write that!"
"It's fine," Jennie said. "We gave it a try, Lisa. Some things are just not meant to be."
"It is meant to be!"
"You're an LA person. I'm a NY person."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"I don't even know how to drive, Lisa. Bet you didn't know that. My main skills include going for walks around the block and failing to drive to the airport."
"So learn how to drive!"
"Maybe I don't want to learn!"
"Right," Rosé interjected, muttering to herself. "So we're going with 'The Breakup Was Mutual.'"
"No, it is not mutual!" Lisa shouted. "We are not breaking up!"
Lisa strode across the room to where Rosé was standing and snatched the notepad from her hands. She ripped out the page that Rosé was writing on and tore it into pieces. "And you!" she said, pointing a finger at Jennie. "You are not doing this again."
"Doing what?"
The finger Lisa was pointing shook slightly as she struggled to hold on to the last shreds of her composure. "You always do this," she said. "Every time, Jennie. Another girl bats an eyelash at me, and you start breaking up with me before I can even say anything. That wasn't cute even when we were 19 years old..."
"It's not about the other girl."
"I am too old for this shit. You are too old for this shit!"
"It's not about the other girl," Jennie said again.
"Then what is it about? Everything was going great."
"Yeah, everything was going great until I woke up this morning and you started telling me it was over!"
"What are you talking about?" Lisa shook her head at Jennie in disbelief. "I never said anything like that!"
"I believe the exact words were... 'I don't think I can do this.' You're going to stand here and tell me that wasn't a breakup?"
Lisa stared back at Jennie wildly, remembering the words she'd just quoted. This morning. Over coffee. "I don't think I can do this. I'm sorry. I'm trying..." Lisa hadn't meant... Jennie couldn't think she'd meant...
"No!" Lisa exclaimed. "I didn't mean us. I didn't mean you and me!"
"What then? What were you trying to say?"
Of course, she knew exactly what she'd been about to say - that she couldn't wait six months. That she wanted to get engaged now. But she couldn't tell Jennie that. Now was definitely not the moment for a marriage proposal.
She had to tell Jennie something. Lisa couldn't let Jennie think she was having doubts. That was the last thing Lisa had meant for Jennie to think. "I meant..." Her brain was going a mile a minute, trying to come up with a believable lie. Lisa cast her eyes around the room, searching for inspiration. "I meant this goddamn hotel room!" she said. "Ok? I meant I can't live out of a hotel anymore."
Jennie had already opened her mouth to reply, but she closed it again in puzzlement. "The hotel?"
Lisa looked over at Rosé. "What's the deal with my house? Can I go back yet?"
"Still pretty well staked out," she responded, shaking her head.
"Right," Lisa said. She took a tentative step towards Jennie. "So I guess that means we need to go house hunting."
"We?"
"Yes," Lisa said, nodding. "We." She closed the distance between them and put her hands on both of Jennie's shoulders. She looked up into Lisa's face, unsure whether if she should push Lisa away. She allowed Lisa to draw her towards her and slip her arms around her.
"Everything is fine," Lisa murmured. "I wasn't breaking up with you. Everything is good."
"So we're gonna run with: 'Rumours of a Breakup Were Unfounded.'" Rosé chimed in from the other side of the room.
"You weren't?" Jennie asked, studying Lisa's face.
"No," she said. "Not breaking up. I don't want to break up. Ever."
"I don't want to break up either," she whispered, leaning forward and burying her face in Lisa's chest.
"Definitely not." Lisa stroked her back with one hand and then tilted her head forward, pressing her face into Jennie's hair. "Definitely, definitely not."
"Really?"
"It's ok. Everything is ok."
Lisa heard Jennie reply into her chest, but her voice was too muffled to understand the words.
"What was that?" Lisa asked.
Jennie looked up at her again. Her eyes had gone all wide and bright with tears. Something in Lisa's chest constricted at the sight of them. She found it nearly impossible to focus on what Jennie was saying when she looked at her that way.
Driving. She was saying something about driving. "I still don't know how to drive."
"So I'll give you a driving lesson."
"You're going to need a car for that," Jennie said.
Lisa felt her mouth curve into a lopsided grin. "So you just ditched it? On the side of the highway?"
Jennie looked away. "I was upset."
"Where exactly did you leave it, Jennie?"
She shook her head helplessly. "I don't know."
"Do you know what exit?"
"I'm sorry," she whispered
Lisa pulled Jennie back against her, running her hands up and down Jennie's back to soothe her. "It's ok, baby." she said to the top of Jennie's head. "I'm sure we can track it down."
"Found it," Rosé said, looking up at them from her phone.
"What?" Lisa lifted her head. She had forgotten Rosé was still in the room. "Where?"
Rosé held up the phone, and Lisa squinted over the top of Jennie's head at the picture on the screen. There was her car, parked on the shoulder of the 405 freeway. A cop car was sitting just behind it. A highway exit sign hung directly overhead.
Rosé turned the phone back toward herself and looked down at it through the reading glasses perched on the tip of her nose. "One quarter mile to Exit 23," she said, reading to Lisa off the sign. "It's all right here on TMZ."
