Always (Sequel to "I'm Here") (Jensoo)

Bringing Home Back

(Rosie's POV)

This fricking box is so fucking heavy!

I have to lug this box filled with paint stuff inside Anne's small house to paint Junior's room with her.

Anne had to go figure out something with her sister because the sister got in trouble so I'm staying with Junior at the house.

Anne and I met up a couple times before for dinner or lunch. She's actually really nice and funny. If I didn't know she was straight and I wasn't still in love with Lisa, then I definitely would've hit on her.

She's incredibly sarcastic and loves dark humor so one night, her and I binged "Dead To Me" and absolutely loved it.

I love Jennie and Jisoo but they're both so in love with each other that sometimes it feels like I'm their child when I go over and I'm interrupting. So having a friend in Anne is really nice because we both went through heartbreak and she's just so understanding.

She tells me about her ex-husband and how uninvolved he wanted to be in Junior's life. How he didn't want to have time for her and Junior.

I told her about how Lisa and I fell out. She sympathized with me and gave me some advice.

"Life is like you're surfing. For a while you'll feel amazing and balanced while going on that wave but the moment you lose balance, you'll drown and you need to fight and swim your way back up to the surfboard. It might feel like this Rosie, but everything will work out in the end if you think you have a surfboard waiting for you."

And I always thought my surfboard was Lisa. Everything I had.... revolved around her and our love. It's not a bad thing to be each other's world but I completely lost sight of who I was.

Now that I'm not taking care of Lisa, I can seriously go back to my job and do something I love. Making people happy at something I did always makes my heart sing. I get a lot of satisfaction even if the job isn't paying as well as other jobs would.

I go up the small staircase after locking the door and step into her bedroom. I see Junior in her tiny smock with gloves and her blonde hair pulled into a ponytail.

"Rosie!" She shouts and hugs my leg.

I laugh. "Junior wait! Let me put this stuff down! It's heavy!"

She pulls away and I nearly drop it down with a loud groan of pain. I stretch side to side and then pull out a tray and lift up a paint can. I take out some bottle of water and see that Anne already put plastic covers everywhere.

I open can and Junior gasps. "You brought the blue paint?!!"

I smile and nod. "Yup!" And then I reach into the box again and pull out the glow in the dark stars.

She jumps up and down excitedly but suddenly starts coughing and I rushingly give her my water bottle.

Junior flops down on the carpet and drinks the water. She hands it back to me sadly and I don't say anything.

Today is about avoiding both of our problems.

I smile and pour the paint into the tray silently and hand her a paintbrush.

"Let's do this!" I say with enthusiasm and she grins back at me and starts painting the wall sloppily.

"No!" I laugh loudly. "There is a skill to painting and a form. Watch me."

I pick up a paintbrush and paint side to side strokes. "You should do it in one direction so that it looks neat. Copy me."

Her eyes watch my hand attentively as she slowly moves her brush like mine. "Great job!" I praise.