your boots beneath my bed | JENLISA

Chapter 4

"Good morning," Channing called softly into Jennie's room.

"Ugh," Jennie grumbled, picking up her pillow and putting it over her head.

Channing padded across the room toward her bed, holding a glass of water and an Aspirin in her hands, a smile playing at her lips at the sprawled out way her sister was sleeping.

"Go away. I'm dying," Jennie mumbled.

"I brought you an Aspirin," Channing whispered, settling on the edge of the bed.

"Leave the Aspirin. I'm dying," Jennie repeated, moving the pillow from her head and looking at Channing through half-lidded eyes.

"I know. You came in pretty drunk last night. I'm glad Lisa got you all home in one piece," Channing hummed.

At the mention of her name, flashes of last night immediately flew through Jennie's mind. The pool game. The reminder of their working relationship. The car ride. The admissions under the stars. The laughter.

"Oh my Lord," she sighed, sitting up and putting her face in her hands.

"What?" Channing asked, putting the water and the bottle of Aspirin on the bedside table.

"I... the details are fuzzy but I think I told Lisa her laugh was like magic and I wanted to hear it more," Jennie admitted, her words muffled behind her hands.

"Well, that's very sweet," Channing said slowly, concern making her forehead crease.

"But earlier in the night she called me her boss," Jennie added, cringing at the reminder.

"I mean, you kind of are, I guess. Although, you don't have the power to fire her, so you're kind of not also," Channing thought aloud.

Jennie lifted her face from her hands, wincing at the sunlight coming in through her window.

"It would be so much easier if she really was a stable boy," Jennie sighed.

"Not a really attractive stable woman?" Channing murmured, brushing some of her sister's hair away from her face.

Jennie nodded. "One who definitely is going to go back to not speaking to me."

"You don't know that," Channing replied.

"Oh, but I do," Jennie murmured, grabbing the Aspirin and taking it with a sip of water. "My life's not a trashy romance novel. So I'm going to be professional like I should have been from the start. Like she wants me to."

"Well, you probably wouldn't want it to be one anyway. Like all of them are heteronormative," Channing said matter-of-factly.

"Not if you know what section to shop in," Jennie replied with a small, pained smile.

"I stand corrected," Channing said, holding her hands up. "I think you just need to smooth things over. She knew you were drunk. She probably doesn't mind. It was a compliment," Channing said with a smile.

"Apology muffins it is," Jennie decided, slowly getting out of bed and hoping the headache would fade as the morning dragged on. "And then I'm going to do better."

"Oh, speaking of," Channing hummed. "Your plate's at the door."

"Intact?"

"With a note," Channing said with a smile.

Jennie might have moved quicker than she should out of her room, considering how her stomach rolled and her head pounded. She moved down the stairs and through the house, throwing open the front door and picking up the plate, her eyes landing on the note sitting on the plate.