Lisa
I ring the doorbell to Jisoo's house with a little nervous twitter in my belly. I really hope that tonight goes well. Jennie opens the door and my breath catches. She's only wearing comfy jeans and a t-shirt but she's radiant to me. My heart is screaming at me, this is my Jennie, but my mind is fighting back for control. She's not mine anymore, I can't let my heart run the show.
"Hi." I say, while smiling. "Happy birthday."
"Thanks..." she blushes, "... come on in." She says, while stepping out the way.
Once we're in the hallway and the door is closed, I hand Jennie the present that I got for her.
"You didn't have to get me anything." Jennie says.
"Please, what kind of old friend would I be, if I didn't buy my old friend a present on her birthday?" I scoff.
"Old friend, huh?" she looks up at me with one eyebrow raised.
"Well, we are, aren't we?" I smile cheekily back.
She gives me the look I was very acquainted with in my youth, one that says she sees through my cheekiness.
"We'll see." Is all she manages to say before a little version of Jennie comes out the door next to me.
"Lili."
"Hi Ella." I say, crouching down to talk to her.
"It's mummy's pirthday."
I bite my lip to stop myself from giggling at her mispronouncing birthday. "Is it? Have you been giving her lots of big hugs and kisses?"
"Yep."
"Why are you all standing in the hallway? Come sit down." Jisoo says from another door, making me jump a little if I'm honest.
After handing over a bottle of wine to Jisoo, we all sit down in the living room. Jisoo, her husband Hae-in, the two boys, Jennie, Ella and I all squeezed in.
"What have you got there, Jen?" Jisoo asks, seeing the present still in Jennie's hand.
Jennie looks down at the gift that I gave her as if she forgot she was holding it. "Lisa brought me a present."
"Well, open it then. Don't just hold it."
Jennie looks around a little shyly at being put on the spot. I nod in encouragement when she looks at me. Carefully, she rips the paper off and reveals the photo album that I bought.
"This is lovely, thank you." She says quietly.
"If you look in the front of the photo album, you'll find a voucher for one of those online photo printers. The ones where you upload your picture from your phone and they'll send you the print in the post. It's a year's worth of subscription, so you should be able to fill that book and more."
"That's actually really perfect right now."
"I thought it was something you and Ella could do together. Which reminds me. If it's okay with you, I've got something for her to open as well." With Jennie's blessing, I give Ella the gift that she opens with Jennie's help.
"It's a disposable camera."
Sometime later, after Ella has taken a few photos with her eyes closed, I find a quiet second with Jennie.
"Okay, don't hit me, but I may have put a few pictures in the album already."
"Really?" she asks grabbing the photo album from the table.
"Turn to the back."
She does and gasps. I've had old pictures of the two of us printed out, ones that were just for the two of us.
"I haven't seen these in years. I can't believe that you still have them."
"Safe and sound on an old memory stick."
Jisoo joins us, looking over Jennie's shoulder. "Look how young you both look; practically babies."
"It's only about a decade." Jennie chuckles softly. Sharing a smile with me, as we reminisce. Sitting here with her feels like no time has passed and I have to keep reminding myself that a lot has happened since then.
Heck, even I'm not the same girl that I used to be. I would really like to catch up with her though. Now, I just need to come up with a way to make that happen.
