Choosing you | LisRene AU [BOOK 2]

3

"Lisa?" Irene called, concerned as she heard the front door open and close extremely fast. She was in the bathroom, having just taken off her makeup, but immediately rushed out to see that her girlfriend was okay. Lisa was leaning against the door, her eyes squeezed shut and her breathing heavy and uneven. It looked like she'd been running from something. "Lisa, are you okay?"

"I just... met my dad," Lisa breathed out, her eyes still closed. "I went to my mom's, and this guy opened the door and I had no idea who he was... his name is Marco..."

Irene's eyes were wide, but she pushed aside the questions that were suddenly flooding through her mind and crossed the room to her girlfriend. "Hey, it's okay," she soothed, grabbing Lisa's hands and pulling her away from the door and into a soft hug. Lisa wrapped her arms around her immediately, desperately clinging to her and burying her face into Irene's neck. "You're okay."

"He was so calm like he thought that I'd just be like, 'hey dad, what's up?'," Lisa muttered, and Irene felt tears on her neck. "And my mom didn't even seem fazed... I mean, I guess he's been here since earlier this week, but... what the fuck?" Lisa pulled away from the hug, and the tears streaking her face were so foreign to Irene. Her girlfriend hardly ever cried, and it hurt to see them. "Why the fuck is he here?"

"I don't know, babe," Irene murmured.

Lisa's phone went off suddenly, and the younger girl jumped slightly at the abrupt sound. She grabbed it out of her coat pocket and scanned over the screen. "It's my mom. I don't want to answer."

Irene took the phone from her, giving Lisa an inquisitive look that was met with a weak nod. As Irene slid the answer bar and lifted the phone to her ear, Lisa wiped her face, starting into the bedroom. Irene followed her carefully as Lisa's mom began to speak. "Lisa, are you alright? You really shouldn't be driving, you were shaking so badly when you left. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about your dad coming into town, I was going to talk about it with you on Saturday, and –"

"Chitthip," Irene said quickly, cutting her off, "it's Irene."

"Oh, Irene. So Lisa made it home, or she didn't have her phone with her?"

"She's home," Irene assured the woman, and Lisa disappeared into the bathroom as Irene took a seat on the edge of the bed. She heard the sink water start running and figured that Lisa was cleaning off her face. "I don't really think she's in any mood to talk with you right now."

"No, I understand. I feel so awful for not telling her sooner, but I was processing him coming back into town and I needed to calm down before I could involve Lisa," Chitthip explained weakly. "I really didn't think that she would come by at all this week. I mean, you two spent Christmas with me, and then you were moving, I figured she'd still be busy adjusting and with school and everything."

"Yeah." Irene frowned, thinking of why Lisa had decided abruptly to go see her mom. It was still hurting, thinking about watching Lisa leave earlier. An hour hadn't even passed since then, but Irene knew that this was no time to be bringing up New York again, so she pushed the topic from her mind.

"Could you ask her if she still wants to come to lunch on Saturday? I really owe her an explanation."

Lisa came out of the bathroom then, her tears and makeup washed off her face, and Irene gave her a curious look, moving the phone away from her mouth. "Your mom wants to know if you still want to do lunch with her on Saturday?"

"Sure," Lisa murmured, walking past where Irene was sitting on the bed and climbing under the covers, sitting up against the headboard.

"Yeah, she'll do lunch on Saturday still," Irene said into the phone, scooting back and sliding her legs under the blankets. Lisa leaned against her, and the brunette just wanted to hold her girlfriend and try to promise that it was all going to be okay.