Stay With Me

Chapter Thirteen

I cried myself to sleep that night and in the morning I didn't feel like doing anything at all.

I needed to talk to someone. About Lisa, about Jimin, about my feelings, about how crappy I felt at that moment.

I was still in bed when I reached over my desk to grab my cell phone. I was going to give Jennie a call. She hadn't come to visit since she left and we hadn't spoken as much. She'd be happy to hear from me.

"Chaeyoung!" Jennie cheered in a phony Italian accent. "How are ya, babe?"

I cracked a small smile, but still felt like crap. "Fine, you?"

"Amazing! Rose, I love it here, it's beautiful," Jennie sang. I didn't say anything. Just hearing her voice and knowing that she'd always be there for me made me feel a little more hopeful. "What's wrong?" She asked suddenly with a serious tone.

I shifted to my side, getting more comfortable. I rested my head on the pillow and made up my mind. "Can I come visit you?"

She was stunned quiet for a second. "What? Come visit? But that's, like, a lot of money just to randomly come visit me." I could tell she was freaking out inside.

"Don't worry, I have the money," I said. I really did have the money.

"How do you have that kind of money?"

I chuckled through my nose. "You know the money I've been saving for that car. I can use tha-"

"No way," Jennie interrupted me. "You're not using that money just to come visit me. You've been saving for that car for a long time."

"It's okay. The car isn't that important." I shifted in my bed again, this time sitting up.

"I'm not that important! Rose, you've been saving for more than two years, you're not randomly coming to see me with that money," Jennie tried to protest, but it didn't work.

"Too bad," I said. "I'm coming. Anyway, this is really important to me."

She was quiet then she heaved a big sigh. "Okay, fine. What happened anyway?"

"I want to tell you face-to-face. It's nothing to worry about, but I'd rather tell you in person."

I could imagine her giving me a quizzical look, and she said, "Okay. See you whenever, then?"

I laughed."Yep, see you whenever." We said our goodbyes and I flopped back on my bed, looking at the ceiling while I took a deep breath to clear my head. Honestly, it still hurt from all the crying I did last night. I thought about Sorn driving me home and how nice it was to have someone there, even though we didn't say a word to each other. But, at that moment, I wanted to spill my guts out to her. She'd probably sit there, horrified by me, but it didn't mean I didn't want to tell her everything that was going on in my head.

I took a deep breath and ran my hands down my face, then I got out of bed. I lazily slumped down the stairs and found my mother in the kitchen. What if I told her? Not about going to see Jennie, I was going to do that with or without her permission. What if I told her about Lisa? What if I told her that we kissed, or that I think I might be falling in love with her?

I walked over to the cabinet, and pulled out a box of cereal. My mom was too into her book, she didn't even notice me. I poured the cereal, then the milk. I stuck a spoon in the bowl, but left the bowl there. I quickly took a seat in front of my mom, who glanced up at me from her book, and gathered the courage to tell my mother everything. Well, almost everything.

"Mom, I think I like Lisa. I mean, like-like. Not just as a friend, but as something more. No, scratch that; I know I like Lisa. I like her a lot." I said it so quickly that I was afraid she didn't hear me. I really didn't want to repeat myself.