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

Chapter 15

Maybe Jennie had noticed Lisa's distinct lack of enthusiasm over the food she'd been served the previous night, or maybe she just fancied a change – either way, she'd chosen a restaurant that managed to serve normal food in actual, human-sized portions, in a blatant contradiction of its two Michelin stars. Lisa dove into a plate of tortellini, making soft moaning sounds while Jennie watched her in amusement.

"You're going to get sauce all down your nice dress," she pointed out.

Lisa shrugged, struggling to stop herself from leaning directly into her plate. "Someone's got to make the big sacrifices."

Laughing, Jennie continued cutting up her sea bass. Lisa had spent a solid 10 minutes trying to persuade her to order some carbohydrates, but Jennie was somehow even more stubborn than Lisa had given her credit for.

"Just because you were blessed with the natural figure of a baby giraffe doesn't mean we all were," she'd snapped at the time. Now, however, she was sizing up Lisa's food with heavily lidded eyes.

"Just try some," Lisa said, holding out a piece of pasta on her fork.

"No thank you."

"Jennie, please? Don't be so difficult."

"I am the same amount of difficult as I've always been," Jennie said, sitting back in her chair like she was trying to get as far away from the fork as possible. "Stop trying to force that onto me."

"Fine," Lisa grumbled, putting it into her own mouth. "But you're getting dessert."

Jennie smirked at her. "It's cute that you think you can boss me around."

"I can."

"You can try," Jennie said. "I doubt you'll ever succeed."

Rolling her eyes, Lisa said, "We'll talk about this again when you have the dessert menu in front of you."

A smile flickered across Jennie’s face as she looked back down at her plate. Lisa didn't want to get too ahead of herself, but she thought it might be the happiest she'd seen her so far.

She pulled her chair closer to the table. "Did your meetings go okay today?"

Jennie responded with a despondent wave of her fork. "They were fine. I'm just glad it's the weekend now."

"It was already the weekend," Lisa pointed out, since it was Saturday. Jennie laughed, but it was a humourless sound.

"The weekend is Sunday only," she said. "I don't remember the last time I had a Saturday off."

"You should try it. It's really nice."

"When you're not getting lost in Central London, that is," Jennie said cheerfully, and Lisa glared at her.

"I don't know if I made it clear earlier, but that's not something I want to re-live any time you need a cheap laugh."

But Jennie was already laughing. "Come on, Lisa. It's funny, I promise you."

Lisa tried to scowl at her, but there was something all too infectious about Jennie's dark chuckle. "Shut up."

"Anyway, did I not come to your rescue?" Jennie asked, finally pushing her empty plate away from her. "Like the knight in shining armour I am?"