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

Chapter 2

She barely slept. Of course she didn’t. The second she’d left Jennie behind in the car, everything had turned cold and irritating, and her empty apartment was suddenly the last place she wanted to be. She’d briefly considered calling Jennie and asking if Sidney could come and get her again, but instead she'd gone to bed wearing a thick sweater even though it was summer.

The only rest she got came just before her alarm went off, and when she jolted awake again, she wasn’t particularly surprised to see that she’d overslept by 30 minutes. Forcing herself out of bed, she hurried around getting dressed while trying desperately to think about anything other than the one thing that was swirling round and round her head.

Just as she squeezed some toothpaste onto her brush, the buzzer went downstairs. She ignored it. Her apartment wasn’t too far from the local middle school and it wasn’t rare for kids to enjoy a game of ding-dong ditch on their way there. It buzzed again while she was brushing her teeth, but it wasn’t until the third time that she actually started to get annoyed.

She rinsed off her toothbrush and headed back to the bedroom, grabbing a sweater. It was then that there was a knock at her door.

Glancing at the clock, Lisa wandered over with one arm tangled up in a sleeve. When she pulled the door open, her heart stopped.

“Hey,” she said. Jennie was smiling nervously back at her, but Emma was already braced for a fight. “What are you doing here?”

“You gave me a spare key.”

“Right. That’s not what I meant. What are you doing near here?”

“I…” Jennie started, exhaling heavily. She looked down at where Lisa was still half tangled in her green sweater. “Well. It’s going to sound stupid.”

Lisa was too tired to reply with everything you say sounds stupid, so instead she just shrugged and waited.

Jennie hesitated before saying, “I didn’t get the chance to give you a hug last night.”

“Sorry?”

She recognised the faint look of embarrassment on Jennie’s face before she clarified, “You were upset, and I let you go without…”

Lisa's arms went limp by her sides. “You drove all the way here at 8:30am just to give me a hug?”

The second Jennie nodded, Lisa disentangled herself from her sweater and tossed it to the floor. Jennie opened her arms, and she fell into them with a sigh of relief.

“I thought you were here to yell at me,” she mumbled after a few moments. Jennie’s soft laughter against her ear warmed her all over.

“I don’t tend to make appointments for that.”

When they pulled apart, Lisa felt just as exhausted and worried as before, but at least her heart wasn’t hurting so badly. “I really am sorry for being such a dick last night.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m used to it by now.”

Lisa rolled her eyes. “That’s really nice.”

“Consider it payback.” Jennie suddenly lifted her hand and cupped Lisa's face. She considered her carefully for a moment, her dark gaze taking in every one of Lisa's pale features before she said, “I’m going to fix this, Lili.”