Love isn't easy

Chapter 11: December 2009

December 2009

Eighteen-year-old Roseanne blinks awake face down on a velvety mattress. She wets her dry lips and her hand instinctively comes up to dry the damp pool of saliva at the corner of her mouth. She turns on her back and looks around the room. She's disoriented at first then the clues around her remind her where she is.

The almost annoying neatness, the endless books methodically organized on the shelves, the carefully displayed vinyls and the record player, the perfectly aligned photos and artwork on the walls, the black and white wallpaper, the monochromatic-ness and minimalism of it all. This was unmistakably Lisa Manoban's room.

Roseanne throws her head back onto the pillow and beams remembering the previous night. Recalling how Lisa's lips, hands, and skin had finally been all over every inch of her body. How after months of wanting...needing that and needing Lisa, it actually happened. Realizing how it was better than she could have ever expected.

The only thing Roseanne hated about what happened last night is that she woke up alone. She's on a mission to remedy that though. She hops off the mattress and tries to locate her underwear in the pile of clothes at the foot of the bed. She manages to find her thong, but she can't find her bra or her shirt. She vaguely recalls those being discarded somewhere outside. She looks around and spots Lisa's leather jacket hanging on a hook behind the door. She grabs it and throws it on before exiting the bedroom.

—

Roseanne finds twenty-year-old Lisa sitting on the couch with her legs crossed as she scribbles on the notebook resting on her lap while holding a book with her forearm. She's wearing sweatpants, a hoodie about twenty sizes too big for her tiny frame, and glasses. Her hair is held back by the intricate braid that falls over her shoulder. Roseanne looks at her and feels her heart expanding tenfold. This is before she even notices how her missing bra, shirt, scarf, gloves, and coat are all tidily folded on one of the chairs and that her shoes were carefully placed next to them. She can't help but smile at the undeniable care that went into doing that.

"You're cute when you concentrate."

Lisa looks up at the husky sound of Roseanne's voice splintering the silence she had grown accustomed to. The sight that she comes across causes the book to slide off her arm. Lisa fumbles and tries to catch it, but it hopelessly falls on the floor with a loud clunk.

Lisa follows the book with her eyes on its way down then swiftly looks up from the floor and back at the girl who was the catalyst for all of this. Roseanne is resting her shoulder against the living room entrance wearing nothing but the tiniest of undergarments and Lisa's unzipped leather jacket while sporting what could only be described as sex hair. Lisa's eyes gape as wide as they physically go and she instantly looks away feeling like she got caught staring. Roseanne chuckles at her reaction.

"You can look at me, you know?"

While Lisa tries to pick which one of the million thoughts dashing through her brain is appropriate to say, Roseanne speaks again.

"You did more than look last night."

Roseanne's tone can't be described as anything but flirtatious and the inflection of her words make Lisa's face turn a deep shade of red.

"I..."

Lisa's trying to sort her brain out.

"I made breakfast."

It's the first thing she thinks of. Without looking directly at Roseanne and her distracting nudity, Lisa points to the opposite end of the apartment. Roseanne notices the spread on the kitchen table.

"You made breakfast?"

Roseanne sounds marveled at the thought of Lisa going through the trouble of making what seemed like an overkill of food sitting on the table.