and there it is, a mark of the divine | JENLISA

Chapter 7

February (3)

It's generally not Jennie's intention to break something as soon as she enters a room. It's also unusual for her to burst through a door like she just did, letting it slam against the opposite wall so carelessly. She even wiggles the door in hopes she hadn't broken anything, but to no avail. The doorbell makes a distorted sound that causes her to wince.

"Shit. Is this a 'you break, you buy' kind of thing? Is it a hundred year old antique? 'Cause I only have, like, twenty bucks and a dream."

There's only one other person in the shop with her, and she moves towards Jennie from behind the front counter. As she attempts to catch her breath, she steadies herself and focuses on the woman. It's good manners, after all, but that's not the reason her eyes linger.

It's like laying eyes on a very delicate, very tanned doe eyes. This woman is all freckles, and her sun-bleached hair looks impossibly soft. She's taller than Jennie, too, which isn't exactly difficult, but it's always a plus in her book. And those eyes... almost golden, a honey-brown she could sink in. Top it all off with the glasses she's wearing, and Jennie is suddenly desperate to spend the rest of her afternoon staring at her the way she is now.

She meets hot strangers all the time. Perks of travelling the world and all of that. However, this woman is far more than hot. There's a dreamlike quality to her that is wholly unique. It's the kind of thing that has its own gravitational pull.

"It's a bell," the woman responds, like she's somewhat dazed herself. "It's from Amazon."

The accent is a surprise, and it really doesn't help matters. Now Jennie just wants to hear her talk and talk and talk.

What comes out of her is the result of a lot of nervous energy. "Oh! That's good. If it is important though, I can definitely scrounge up some change."

The woman just stares at her, and Bennje can't get a read no matter how hard she tries. "I— No, it's— It's really nothing."

Jennie is suddenly overcome with the urge to impress her, like that will somehow make her forget that she's broken the doorbell. "You know, for that I should win the No-Bell prize."

Jennie doesn't outwardly fist pump, but she can see the woman's brain rebooting right before her eyes. Besides an actual laugh, she's a big fan of that response. "Wow. That was..."

"Spectacular?" She asks with a teasing wiggle of her eyebrows.

The woman stutters, "I— Are you... looking for something in particular?"

"Yes!" Right. She came in here for a reason. She can multitask. Definitely. "I'm Jennie and I need every single book you have on whales."

Did this woman need her name? Not at all. Jennie knows she'll likely forget it by the end of the day, but if there's one thing she'll do, it's try to make an impression. She can aim to be unforgettable if she really tries.

"Every...?"

"Yes!" She exclaims again, and begins to ramble a lot more than she normally would about whale watching and tours and picture books and yeah, okay, she's talking a lot. She wouldn't say she gets nervous around people she finds attractive, but her body tends to generate a lot of energy that would say otherwise.

It takes a moment for the woman to process the information. Jennie expects her to be dismissive — people often are when she begins to talk a lot. She's chosen to be the kind of person who just takes the brunt of people's annoyance, instead of toning down her own personality.