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

Chapter 36

Everything was awful. Lisa had turned into one of those girls who had no food in her fridge and moped around with lank hair and dark circles under her eyes. She hadn't unpacked her boxes because everything in them still smelled of Jennie’s house, and she'd gone back to wearing her grimy old clothes to work because she couldn't bring herself to dig through her packed-up life until she found something better. Piles and piles of couture dresses lay in vacuum-sealed bags in her living room, because she didn't have a guest room in her new apartment and there was no way she was ready to let them near the bedroom where she was being forced to sleep alone.

The only piece of furniture in the whole apartment was a bed, because she hadn't realised that getting thrown out by her girlfriend would also mean taking a trip to Ikea, and she didn't have the energy or the mental strength to do that yet. Instead, she'd begged her old bed off of Mary and promised to return it as soon as she'd gotten her life back together. Except it had already been two weeks and that was nowhere close to happening yet.

Slumped behind her desk with a big hole in her heart, Lisa knew she wasn't getting transferred to the editorial team any time soon. Whatever good work she'd done during the past month had been undone by her sullen face and rapidly shrinking waistline. She wore long sleeves all the time because she was so cold inside and out, and judging by the way people kept looking at her, she was pretty certain that someone on the subs desk had started a rumour that she must be self-harming. She spent most of her days waiting for someone from HR to come over for a 'private talk'.

"Lisa," Chaeyoung sighed halfway through week three, when she couldn't physically stand it anymore. She'd rolled over in her office chair and Lisa hadn't even reacted to her bumping into the desk. "Come on. You need to cheer up."

"I know," Lisa replied. "I'm trying."

"Are you?" Chaeyoung asked cautiously. "You've been wearing the same shirt for three days."

Lisa looked down at herself and realised from the oatmeal stain at the bottom that she might be right. "Oh. Yeah."

"Do you want to go out on Friday?"

"Not really," Lisa admitted. Chaeyoung immediately fixed her with her hardest look.

"It wasn't really an offer."

"Chae..."

"It's been nearly three weeks and you need to get out of the house. Come on, we'll get drunk and complain about our love lives. Did I tell you that DJ Dave cheated on me?"

Lisa longed to be sympathetic, but Chaeyoung and her DJ hadn't even been dating. They'd slept together a few times and done a butt load of coke, but that had been about it.

"No, you didn't," she forced out. "I'm sorry – are you okay?"

Chaeyoung rolled her eyes. "That wasn't even semi convincing, but thanks for trying. Seriously, let's go out on Friday and have a good time and maybe find some hotties for you to distract yourself with."

"You're going to regret suggesting that when I spend the whole night drinking tequila and complaining."

"I know, but it's better than you sitting at home by yourself drinking tequila and complaining," Chaeyoung pointed out. "Come on, it's what friends are for. I just want you to know that I'm here for you."