Stuck

CHAPTER NINE

" It's Kim, by the way" Jennie said as she sat on one end of the couch, her feet propped up on the coffee table and a textbook open on her lap.

Lisa looked sideways at Jennie. She was sitting on the other end of the couch, her laptop open on the coffee table. She was in the middle of writing a paper for a class but she was now looking at Jennie with a confused expression.

" What are you talking about? " Lisa asked, Jennie bit her lip and shrugged.

" My name. you only know me as Jennie. My last name's Kim. Jennie Ruby Jane Kim" She explained extending her right hand towards Lisa with a smile. Lisa just laughed and shook her head.

" I didn't think it would only take a week and a half for you to break down and tell me your deepest darkest secret " Lisa teased extending her hands to shake Jennie's but the latter took her hand back before Lisa could even touch it, a defiant look was written on her face.

" Are you gonna mock me for actually telling my whole name?" She said, an eyebrow raised, her hand was now clutched against her chest. Lisa grinned and looked at her apologetically, her hand still outstretched.

" I'm just kidding! Nice to finally know you, Jennie Ruby Jane. I'm Lisa. Lalisa Pranpriya Manoban" She retorted Jennie snorted and extended her hand once again, finally shaking hers.

" Pranpriya? That's your second name? " She teased. Lisa raised an eyebrow

" I can't tease you but you can tease me?"

"Of course. It's my house. I rule" she said with a shrug. Lisa rolled her eyes and let go of Jennie's hand turning back to her work.

" I knew you were gonna be a headache. But did I stay away? Of course I didn't" She muttered.

" You didn't seemed to mind me when you were making out with me though" Jennie teased again. Lisa turned to her, tilting her head to the side

" What? You think that's the main reason why I come here every night for the past week and half, no less" Lisa said, leaning back on the couch, her hands behind her head as if she was actually pondering what Jennie was going to say. But then Jennie smiled at her.

" I don't know. You tell me. Why have you been coming over here every night?" Jennie asked, turning suddenly serious.

Partly, she was actually just teasing Lisa. But there was a nagging part of her that really wanted a sincere answer to her question. Lisa looked away from her, thinking of the best way to answer the question.

She didn't know if Jennie was serious or this was another one of her quirky questions. This was one of the things liked, and at the same time one of the things that unnerved her about Jennie: she was unpredictable. One minute she was mocking her, the next she was actually serious. Lisa finally shrugged.

          

" To be honest? I don't know. Something about you, about this ... " Lisa hesitated before finally saying the next words

" Friendship that we have just lures me in. This is the first time I've actually become comfortable around someone I've only met for a short while."

Hearing her answer, it was pretty sincere. But then again a keyword had jumped at Jennie: FRIENDSHIP. She knew she'd told herself not to assume or expect from this, for lack of a better word, arrangement that they had. But somehow, there it was.

A flutter—however minimal it was – that told her she was starting to expect, which was not a good sign. She had to stop it before it was too late. She grinned at Lisa and just nodded.

" Like what I said, I'm hard to stay away from" She said. Lisa's phone rang and she saw her mother's number flashing on the screen. She was probably calling to ask when she'd be home. Lisa looked at the time and didn't realize how late it was: 10:47 PM

" It's my Mom. I should probably go now" Lisa said ignoring her mother's call. She shut down her laptop and closed the lid. Jennie nodded.

" When am I gonna meet the parents?" Jennie teased, closing the book on her lap and grinning at her. Lisa turned to her with a raised eyebrow

" Meet the parents for what?" Lisa asked. Somehow, the idea of Jennie and her parents in the same room is a bit agitating.

Jennie was a lot to handle on the first meeting. Not just that. Jennie meeting them seemed too serious. Like relationship-type serious. She wasn't sure if she could handle the anxiety.

" To get some scoop on your embarrassing childhood stories, of course. What else for?" Jennie said with a laugh. She placed her book on the coffee table and stood up, straightening her denim shorts in the process.

Lisa was momentarily distracted by the view her short shorts had afforded her before she forced herself to turn to her laptop, placing it inside her bag that was lying on the floor beside her foot.

" If that's the agenda you have of meeting the parents, I'm sorry but it will not be in the immediate future" Lisa said, zipping up her bag and standing up. Jennie laughed and walked Lisa to the door before turning to her.

" Oh come on, don't be such a kill joy" She utter, her hand on the knob. Lisa shook her head with a grin

" No Way" Lisa said, crossing her arms. Jennie let go of the knob and moved closer to Lisa, her body was against hers, she put her hands on her arms tracing light circles with her finger on the exposed skin under her shirt. Jennie looked up at her under her lashes.

" Are you worried that your parents won't like me? I'm pretty sure I'm a world away from the girls your parents have met" Jennie teased, slowly moving her hands up to cup the back of Lisa's neck.

Lisa took in a sharp intake of breath at her sudden close proximity. Lisa forced herself to ease up a little. Even in the week and a half that she's been with her every day, she still couldn't shake off the tingling Jennie ignited in her whenever the latter got like this. She put her hands on Jennie's waist and shook her head.

" If I can handle you, I'm pretty sure my parents can" She said resolutely, although she knew her argument was meek. Jennie laughed, toying with the latter's hair at the back of her neck.

" Oh please, Lis. We both know you can't really handle me. As it is, your heart's racing just by having me this close" Jennie confidently said, her voice slowly fading to a whisper.

Without any warning, she gently pulled Lisa down while she's pushing up as their lips meeting halfway Lisa tightened her grip on Jennie's, pulling her closer and kissing her gently, she had half mind to stop. After all, it's been almost two weeks of kissing and being together and they haven't even talked about what exactly the score between the two of them.

But she didn't want to ruin the moment, though. She especially didn't want to ruin whatever it is she had  with Jennie just by talking about it, especially if Jennie didn't want to. And right now, she'd had no indications that Jennie wanted to talk about it.

Jennie was probably just having fun, even though Lisa wasn't used to that kind of set-up, she'd just have to wallow in it for now. Lisa enjoyed Jennie's company and she was pretty sure Jennie was enjoying hers too.