That Night | JenLisa FF

Part 3

Jennie woke gasping for breath. Spots swam before her eyes as she clawed at the hand, fisted in her hair. She didn't have time to prepare as he tossed her off the bed, sending her crashing into the aging chest of drawers. She crumpled into a ball, whimpering on the floor as he advanced.

The bedroom was brightly lit, and Ella was long gone. Her mother was probably already at work and Jennie was missing school – again. Not that it particularly mattered, especially at the moment. She covered her head with her arms as he advanced. She didn't need to look up to know who it was. Only one person touched her like this. Only one person knew that the cute little Jennie Kim who was friends with Tiffany really lived in a rat-infested walk-up in the South Bronx.

"Pete," she whimpered as he grabbed another fist full of hair and forced her to her feet. She met his furious gaze as he backed her against the wall, pinning her there with his body.

"Where were you last night, Jennie?" he asked, his face mere centimetres from hers.

"I ... uh," she stuttered.

He slammed her head into the wall hard enough that she saw stars. "You were supposed to be at Eddy's party," he said. "You were supposed to meet me there."

Jennie whimpered as one of his hands wrapped around her upper arm, squeezing to the point of pain. Pete had been her on-again, off-again boyfriend for the last four years. At first, she had gloried in his attentions. He was older than her by several years, handsome, usually charismatic with a trust fund that eclipsed the gross national product of several small nations. At the moment, she had no idea how these things had made him even remotely appealing. He had always been controlling and lately had been getting even more so. His behaviour seemed to get more possessive, more erratic by the day. She knew he was doing a lot of coke, but she really thought maybe he'd finally fried himself.

When she was a sophomore, he'd gotten mad one night and broken her wrist. She hadn't spoken to him for a month. Not until he bought her a diamond bracelet that cost more than her mother made in a year. Now, she knew it hadn't been worth it. None of this would ever be worth it. Pete truly thought he was better than everyone else and she knew that he saw her as nothing more than a piece of property. His possessive behaviour had nothing to do with actual concern for her well-being.

"I stayed home last night," she said though clenched teeth as she fought the pain.

"Really?" he sneered in disbelief. "You mean you weren't out fucking some guy?"

Jennie yelped as he tore her pyjama top off, roughly fondling one of her breasts.

She clenched her eyes closed tightly. This had happened countless times before, but she was usually drunk or high, anything to help numb the physical and mental pain.

There was a loud banging on the front door of the apartment and both of them went silent. "Jennie," Lisa yelled through the door, "are you okay?"

Pete laughed in her ear. He reached into his back pocket and slapped something against the wall by her head. Turning, Jennie looked at the coldly glinting metal. She swallowed thickly. The knife had been a present from Pete's father, smuggled out of Russia for a hefty price. It had belonged to one of Stalin's main enforcers and had doubtless been used to torture and kill countless innocents. "Your little puppy is worried about you, Jennie," he said. "Get rid of her, or I will."

Pete and his father both marvelled over the knife. Jennie thought it was sick and she knew that Pete wouldn't hesitate to use it on Lisa. He probably thought he could murder some poor kid in cold blood and get away with it. Jennie was more than a little terrified that he was right.

She was so nervous her hands were shaking. Even without the knife, Pete would tear Lisa to shreds. Lisa was sweet and devoted, but she wasn't a fighter, and she was physically outmatched. Lisa was tall, but painfully skinny. Pete took several martial arts for fun, and she didn't doubt he would love to try some of them out. 

Jennie walked to the front door and Pete followed. She pulled it open, thankful that Pete had latched the chain behind himself when he came in. She stared up into Lisa's worried face, clutching her torn pyjama top to her breasts. A blush rose in Lisa's cheeks as she realized Jennie was topless.

"Hi," Lisa said nervously, a small smile playing on her lips. 

"Hi," she replied and then steeled herself. If she didn't get rid of Lisa, Pete would, and she knew just how vicious he could be. "What do you want, Lisa?" she asked far too harshly.

 Lisa flinched at her words, almost as if she had been hit. "You weren't in school," she said in a near whisper. "I just wanted to make sure that you were okay ... after last night."

Pete peeked his head around the corner and Lisa's entire posture went rigid as she watched Pete pull Jennie's bare back possessively against his chest. "Last night?" he purred in Jennie's ear. "What happened last night, Jennie?"

 Jennie ignored the hand that was attempting to fondle her breast. Pete loved to put on shows, especially for Lisa. "Nothing, Pete," Jennie ground out. "I was sick last night; Lisa is just checking up on me this morning." She shot Lisa a glare that threatened her not to contradict her version of events.

But Lisa wasn't going to contradict anything. She had gone very pale as she watched the sadistic jerk paw the woman that she loved – while she let him do it. Jennie wanted to die. The look on Lisa's face should have been disgust, hatred, anything but the soul wrenching pain she saw etched on her features, permeating those huge brown eyes. Everything inside of her screamed for her to push Pete away, to run to Lisa and tell her everything, make her understand that she loved her – because she knew now that she did. Jennie knew she was capable of love, because she would have done anything to protect Lisa. 

And in the end, she did protect her. Lisa's family was poor, as poor as her own. Her father was on disability and her mother barely made end's meet by working in the garment district – in a factory owned by Pete's father. Pete knew this. And if he had any idea of what had really happened between Jennie and Lisa, he would have beaten Lisa to a bloody pulp and arranged for her mother to lose her job. It would have destroyed not only Lisa, but her whole family.

Jennie couldn't do that. She wasn't good enough for Lisa anyway, she couldn't let that happen. Better to break her heart than to destroy her entire life. In a performance that should have won her on Oscar, she pushed back into Pete's embrace, craning her neck to kiss along his jaw. "Lisa was just leaving," she said.

As she turned back to look out the door, Lisa was already gone.

Forever.