THE HAPPIEST GIRL | JENLISA

Chapter 40

Jennie

"Of course the first show back after your twenty first birthday would be New Orleans." I tease.

"Hey, I didn't make the tour schedule, but I'm not mad at the person who did." Lisa grins as we walk down the French Quarter.

Somehow she convinced Hyun-suk to let us go out to explore the city. So here we are, Lisa, Don, Hyun-suk, a few other crew members, and me walking around. Granted, Lisa protested against them coming, but she should know better by now that it's a condition to at least have Don around.

We all got up early this morning to beat the heat and the crowd. While the streets are almost vacant, the heat and humidity are unruly, even with clouds coating the sky. I stop walking for a second to throw my hair that's grown twice its normal size into a ponytail, wanting to get it off the back of my damp neck.

"Too bad we won't get to see the night life." I say. "I bet it's wild."

While the streets are bare now, I can't even begin to imagine how packed they'll be tonight. I've heard it's like one big party every night on Bourbon Street and people can get really crazy. I've witnessed some of the wild activities that goes on here when the boys had a show here once.

"Even if I didn't have a show tonight, there's no way Hyun-suk would let me step foot out of the hotel." Lisa mechanically laughs, turning the baseball hat on her head backwards, adjusting her sunglasses as she wipes some sweat off her forehead. Even though the sun isn't shining, she put sunglasses on to cover her face, hoping no one will recognise her.

"True." she has a point.

As we continue to walk around I feel something wet hit my nose. Looking up, the cloudy skies have gotten a little greyer and I know a downpour is ahead. Just as I suspected, one rain drop turns into two, three, and then hundreds. In the blink of an eye it starts to pour. Instinctively, I quickly dart to the nearest sidewalk, ducking under a nearby building's awning. Lisa follows, both of us pressing our backs up against the building to shield ourselves from the pouring rain. The rest of the crew end up running to the other side of the street to another building.

The wind starts to pick up in our direction and the rain starts spraying us in the face. We both put our hands up, trying to shield ourselves from the precipitation. After a few moments, Lisa turns her body in my direction, standing in front of me. She places her hands on the wall on each side of my head to shield me from the rain, letting it spray against her back instead. This oddly feels like déjà vu.

I can't help but think back to when we rushed into the bus shower after the last pouring rain we encountered. When she stood the exact same way, with body inches from mine, and I wondered if she wanted to kiss me or not. And I definitely can't help but think back to her birthday, when she actually asked me to kiss her.

For the last few days, that memory has been burned into my brain, haunting me. No matter how hard I try not to think about it, it keeps creeping up into the back of my mind. I can't get her stupid piercing blue eyes, smile, or face out of my head. As much as I wanted to kiss her, I knew she was drunk and would probably regret it in the morning. That is if she even remembered...

If we had kissed and she didn't remember, I would be crushed. I'm still not certain, but I think she does remember drunkenly wanting to kiss me. The way she told me she was sorry the next morning, and the look in her eyes when she said it, lead me to believe she remembered.

For the remainder of the break, all alone in my apartment going stir-crazy, all I could think about was Lisa. Why would she ever ask me to kiss her? Does she regret it? Or does she feel the same way I do?

She was drunk, Jennie. There's no way someone like her would actually fall for someone like you, I tell myself.

Shaking my head of my thoughts, I'm brought back to reality only to be met with those piercing blue eyes that have been making me feel a bit weak in the knees lately. A particular large gust of wind comes through, pelting Lisa's back. Almost as if she'd been holding her breath, she lets out a puff of air, it fanning across my face.

Shaking her head as if she was coming out of a daze, she stands up straight, removing her hands from the wall.

"We should get inside." she suggests, clearing her throat and putting her hand on my lower back to guide me to the nearest shop.

When we enter, a bell attached to the door rings out and we're greeted by an older man behind the counter. It's some sort of hot sauce shop, a variety of bottles lining the walls on shelves.

"Hello! Welcome to my rain shelter." the man behind the counter jokes, knowing we came in here to avoid the weather. "Would you like to try some samples?"

"We'd love to." I say, shooting Lisa a playful smirk, knowing she hates spicy food, only to earn a glare in return.

"Great! This one is our most popular." the man says, handing me a small sample cup. He tries to hand one to Lisa, but she politely declines.

"Not bad." I comment after tasting the sauce with a tortilla chip. It wasn't too spicy, but it had a kick to it.

"Here, try this one. It's a level up." The man offers another sample. I taste it, instantly feeling the heat on my tongue. "Oh, wow. That one really has a kick to it." I say, reaching for the water bottle in my purse, taking a few gulps.

"You took that pretty well." The man chuckles. "Most customers start freaking out and cough up a storm after that one. Maybe you want to try our hottest sauce?" he asks, a glint in his eye.

"No, I think I'm good." I chuckle, capping my water bottle.

"Oh, come on. I thought you liked spicy food." Lisa challenges, with a smirk on her face.

"I do like spicy food, but not things that can burn my tongue off!"

"Chicken." Lisa playfully taunts me. "Come on, I dare you to do it."

"No way! Not for a person that can't even handle a hot chicken sandwich."

"Still, I tried it!" she tries to defend herself. "Now it's your turn to know how I feel about spicy food."

"You're a bit dramatic, aren't you?" I smirk, raising my brows.

"No, you're just a chicken." Lisa quips back, getting me riled up.

I don't know if it's my competitive nature after growing up with a bunch of boys, or if it's me wanting to impress her, but I take the sample from the man, daring to try the hottest one. At first it tastes fine, but after a few seconds I instantly regret it. It feels like my whole mouth is on fire and I grab for my water bottle, downing it, not that it does much to help.

"Shit, Jen. Are you ok?" Lisa asks when I start to have a small coughing fit. "I didn't think you'd actually do it!"

"Here, let me run to the back and get you a cup of ice." the man says, darting to a back room. I try my best to even my breathing, trying not to think of the burning sensation in my mouth. Soon enough, the employee comes with a cup of ice and I gratefully take it, swishing the cubes around in my mouth.

"Wow, in my five years working here I've never seen someone badass enough to try that. Hats off to you, kid. She's a keeper, man." he says to Lisa, smiling and giving her a thumbs up.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to keep her around." Lisa teases, soothingly running her hand up and down my back as I try to recover.

"You're crazy, you know that?" Lisa chuckles as we sit in her dressing room eating lunch.

"You dared me! What was I supposed to do?"

"Say no?" she laughs, causing me to roll my eyes.

After the rain let up and I didn't feel like I was dying anymore, we left the shop and found the rest of the crew. Hyun-suk didn't look happy that Lisa and I broke off from the rest of the group, but there was no way I was running through the pouring rain to stand with them on the other side of the street a few feet away. When we all met back up, we went back to the hotel to freshen up to go to the venue.