The Runaway

8

The tension in the club was palpable despite no one verbally pushing Lisa to a decision. She even wondered if the glances and whispers were just products of her imagination, but it was impossible to miss Kane hovering around Roseanne as if he wanted to snatch her himself. On top of that, Roseanne had complained that Mike was coming on to her whenever Lisa wasn't around, and that it was getting tedious.

'Tedious' was one way of putting it, but Lisa would have said that Mike's advances were out of fucking order. Roseanne lived with Lisa, and he still wouldn't give it a rest. Starved for pussy as if the club wasn't swarming with easy girls.

The worst thing was that it did make Lisa wonder, that it did make her jealous, but worst of all—suspicious. She even got to the point where she wondered if Roseanne wasn't telling her about Mike's amorous intentions to steer Lisa off them actually flirting. Or worse. She trusted Roseanne, but everyone had limits, and Lisa's were being breached all too often.

She took refuge on the roof, smoking in peace with binoculars in one hand. So maybe it was shitty to spy on her own girlfriend, but whatever—no one needed to know—and if Roseanne had nothing to hide, no wrongdoings would be revealed, anyway.

To Lisa's annoyance, she spotted Roseanne in the courtyard dipped in the red light of the sunset, with Mike, who was showing Roseanne his old beat-up dirt bike. Since when was he into those again? Roseanne shook her head, but Mike laughed and urged her over with a gesture. She looked around the empty courtyard and approached him.

Lisa had to take a big drag of smoke. Roseanne was wearing the obscenely short denim hot pants and a loose tank top that showed off bits of her bra on the sides. A view Lisa would usually relish, yet couldn't when Mike was so close to Roseanne he'd just need to move his hand by a couple of inches to grab her ass.

They talked about something, but then Roseanne's bored expression turned into a wide smile and she stood closer to Mike, even patting his arm. That gesture alone had Lisa breaking the cigarette in her fingers. She didn't know if she should be angry with Roseanne, or consider her own emotions punishment for spying. And yet she couldn't take her eyes off the scene in the dusty yard.

Roseanne sat on the dirt bike, and Mike's gaze wandered to her butt as soon as he stood behind her. He leaned over her shoulder, practically hugging her from behind under the pretence of showing her how to operate the bike. Was this how much Roseanne 'hated Mike's sleazy attitude'?

Lisa got up and was about to yell something at them from the roof, even if just to distract them from whatever the fuck was going on, but her phone beeped, and she looked down at the screen in frustration. Dad was asking to see her in his office, and that always took priority over pettiness, so she dragged her ass off the roof with a groan.

Roseanne and Mike smiling at each other was still an image etched in blood on her retinas when she walked downstairs and into Dad's office. It was hard to focus on whatever he might want from her when she heard the dirt bike's engine outside. She sure fucking hoped Roseanne hadn't been enticed into going for a ride with Mike.

"Close the door behind you," Dad said, and his serious voice brought Lisa back to reality.

Lisa did as asked and sat in a chair in front of his desk.

"Roseanne's brother was in town today again."

Her stomach dropped. This was the last thing she wanted to hear. As if this past week hadn't been tough enough on her.

Lisa crossed her arms and sank in the chair. "So?"

Dad pulled something out of the drawer and placed it on the desk in front of Lisa, making her mouth go dry.