What even are you. (Jenlisa fanfiction)

Chapter 46

Saturday, 7:55

"W-what are you wearing?!" Jennie immediately looked away in indignation right as Lisa opened her door.

"What?" The latter only frowned, still not fully awake. "Be thankful I actually have something on. I usually don't wear anything when sleeping."

"You could have at least put some pants on." Jennie answered in her head, following Lisa to her living room, still making sure not to stare at her clothing choices.

One big white T-shirt barely covering up her mid-tights and no undergarments. Seriously, what kind of indecency was that?

"Do you want something to eat or drink?" She heard Lisa ask.

"Just water." She answered, making the Thai stand up from the couch, not without dangerously revealing some more skin, to her greatest displeasure. Maybe they should have sat at the table.

Being back in the apartment after the events of last weekend was weird, but Jennie couldn't be more thankful that her French partner had no recollection of them. She had been scared this whole week, constantly dreading the possibility of her remembering. But no, Lisa was right that fateful night, when she told her that she would forget all of it the next day. 

And Jennie was glad; she didn't think she would have been able to take this sort of humiliation. Picturing herself running away from Lisa like some sort of pudic prepubescent still made her cringe internally.

"Hey I just realized we didn't actually decide on which part we were going to cover for the presentation." Lisa commented, handing the brunette a glass of cold water, which the latter emptied in one gulp. "Okay, maybe I should bring the whole bottle." She added, a little taken aback, before making a U-turn to her kitchen.

"Yes, I was thinking I could present the whole passage, its context, as well as the introduction of the the Valmont/Merteuil relationship's thematic, and you could develop on that and conclude."

"Fine by me." Agreed Lisa, refilling the empty glass and plopping herself on the couch, book in hand. "So is there anything you want to talk about today? How much time do you have?"

"I have to leave at 10:00. And I thought we could take a look at what we missed this whole week. I know the passage we're going to present on Monday is more interesting, but I feel like we kind of left out the other characters."

"Yeeeaah..." Sighed Lisa, looking at the ceiling. "Hard to blame us though, Merteuil and Valmont are way funnier to theorize on."

"Obviously, but they still serve a purpose in the book."

"I guess. They're here to represent certain archetypes of French society in the eighteenth century; and they all play a scenaristic role in the book. I mean, without them, no story."

"You forgot something."

"What?"

"All these characters, being naive and manipulable, are also here to make Merteuil and Valmont shine more."

"Hmmm." Lisa looked pensive. "I don't know...Are you sure about that ?"

"Why would Laclos write them in such a way then? I mean, he could have actually made them smarter, worthy opponents, and therefore creating a fairer battle. Why didn't he do that if it wasn't to enhance the libertine's qualities?"

"Yeah, yeah, I get what you're saying. But what if Laclos's goal in writing the book wasn't to take sides, politically or scenaristically?"

"You must be joking." Jennie raised her eyebrows. "I thought we established that this entire book was a huge attack on the nobles and their empty morals."