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

Chapter 30

Lisa had thought that being forced to set up camp into the guest room meant she would at least get to see Jennie every morning and every evening. In fact, in the complete clusterfuck that was her life right at that moment, she'd allowed herself to look forward to it a tiny bit. They might be going through the roughest patch to end all rough patches, but bickering with Jennie was still far more enjoyable than just talking with anybody else. And so, as she struggled to fall asleep that night, she allowed herself to think that maybe the universe was about to cut her some slack.

It turned out she was wrong, though. She woke up on Tuesday morning expecting to find Jennie bustling about in the kitchen, but she was already gone. Her bed was neatly made and there was a note waiting on the kitchen counter: Call Sidney and he'll take you to work. When Lisa got into the car, Sidney informed her that he would be back again later to collect her at whatever time she needed him.

And so she stumbled into work in a tailored shift dress that was the definition of power dressing, feeling slightly faint from not having eaten dinner or breakfast, or maybe just from everything that had happened over the past 24 hours. Chaeyoung took one look at her and dragged her into their favourite supply closet, and it all spilled out. All of it.

Chaeyoung was less angry than Jennie had been, although not by much. But at least she hugged her afterwards.

"I always knew you had that prison look about you," she muttered in her ear. She was trying to make her laugh, but it didn't work. All the muscles in Lisa's face had turned solid, and the only expression she could muster that day was a frown that did absolutely nothing to make Violet the intern look less afraid of her.

As Lisa furiously typed away at her keyboard, one of her eyes was always on her cell phone. She was waiting for a text, an email, anything at all to come through from Jennie, but by lunchtime she was still waiting in silence.

Eventually she scooped it up and called Jennie herself. After one and a half rings, she was sent through to voicemail.

Sucking in her cheeks, she put the phone back down on top of her notepad. Then she looked up and nearly jumped out of her fucking chair.

"Nice dress," Cherin said from her perch on the edge of the desk. Her arms were folded, and she was looking intently at Lisa's face. "Dolce & Gabbana, right?"

"Cherin," Lisa gasped, her hand on her chest. "Why are you sneaking up on me?"

"Because you've got a face like a slapped ass and I can't look at it anymore. What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing," Lisa said right as her office phone started ringing. She picked it up just to avoid the rest of the conversation, but Ingrid waited patiently where she was.

Don from the mailroom was on the line, helpfully informing her that Cherin's weekly order of premium green tea had been mistaken for paper samples and so had accidentally been sent to their printing company. Lisa didn't realise she was yelling at him until the fog lifted from in front of her eyes, and when it did she found Cherin still there, still watching her, wondering what the fuck was happening.

"Just fix it," Lisa hissed down the line. Don was just stammering his apologies when she slammed the phone down.

"Jesus," Cherin said, sounding interested. "Who stole your firstborn?"

"He lost your tea shipment," Lisa said. Normally this would have instilled apocalyptic rage in her boss, but right then she just looked at Lisa like she was completely insane.