so, do we like each other or not? // JENLISA

Chapter 4

Chaeyoung face was one of sheer awe as she listened to Lisa recount the events of the previous evening.

"Are you sure it wasn't Natalie Portman?"

Lisa wrinkled her nose. She was leaning against Chaeyoung's desk, her head resting on her hand. "I didn't get a proper look. She was on the other side of the room."

"You didn't try again on your way out?"

"I was distracted on my way out," Lisa said. When Chaeyoung looked at her quizzically, Lisa clarified, "Trying not to trip over. I'd had a lot of wine." Her friend didn't need to know that she'd been busy staring at Jennie instead.

Chaeyoung slumped back in her chair with a disappointed sigh. "Did you see anyone else famous?"

"I don't think so," Lisa said. "Sorry. I was a bit of a mess and couldn't really concentrate on what was going on around me."

Chaeyoung blinked at her. "Why were you a mess? You didn't get wasted and embarrass yourself, did you?"

The way she asked it like it was all too likely made Lisa glare.

"No," she said. "It's just the woman. Jennie. She's super intimidating and I felt like such an idiot the whole time she was talking to me. I can't even remember half of what I said."

Chaeyoung snorted, reaching out to pick up a pencil and twirl it between two fingers. Her desk was covered in sketches and cover art mock-ups, and the disorganisation was too much even for Lisa. "I wouldn't mind feeling like an idiot for a free dinner at Le Bernardin."

She must have seen the defeated look on Lisa's face, because she quickly backtracked. "I'm sure you didn't do anything that stupid, though. You were just nervous."

Lisa sighed. "To be honest, I kind of feel like she liked the fact that I was nervous."

"Oh really?" Chaeyoung asked, leaning forwards. "In what way?"

"Like..." Lisa grasped for the words, her cheeks burning. "She watched me like she found me funny, rather than stupid. And she kept asking questions that she knew might trip me up. And she laughed a lot, but not at me, more like with me, because I was so delightfully lame."

"You are quite lame," Chaeyoung said thoughtfully, ignoring the slap she received against her thigh. "I know you keep saying that this wasn't a date, but it really sounds like it was."

"It wasn't," Lisa said, but her voice wasn't as firm as she'd hoped.

"How did she say hello to you?"

"She didn't, really. She was already there and was busy sending emails so I kind of just sat down."

Disappointment clouded Lisa's face. "Oh. How did you say goodbye, then?"

There was a pause as, for the thousandth time that morning, Lisa remembered the way Jennie had leaned into her. The feeling of her hand on her elbow, the smell of her perfume, the light brush of her lips against her cheek. She swallowed hard.

Chaeyoung's eyes were already glinting. "Oh my god! It was so a date."

"No, it wasn't," Lisa backtracked. "Nothing happened. Nothing like that. She kissed me on the cheek and said she'd see me again soon."