EXPERIMENT [JENLISA]

Chapter XXVIII

Jennie's POV

"It's your birthday?" Joy exclaimed, snatching the chocolate bar out of Jennie's hand.

Joy and Jennie were on their way back from lunch, and Jennie had stopped to check her mail. Their residence hall association sent out chocolate bars on student's birthdays with a generic "Happy Birthday" message attached, and Jennie had found one waiting for her in her mailbox.

"On Saturday," Jennie groaned as she reached to take her chocolate back.

"I didn't know that," Joy pouted. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't tell anyone," Jennie shrugged, walking past Joy toward where the elevator was located in the lobby.

"Wait, Lisa doesn't know?" Joy asked, raising an eyebrow at her as she stepped next to Jennie inside of the elevator.

"I don't like to make a big deal out of my birthday," Jennie sighed.

"Why not?" Joy quizzed as she reached to press the button for the fifth floor. 

"I've never really celebrated my birthday," Jennie admitted. "It's just not a day I like to remember, I guess."

Joy didn't respond, she just gave Jennie a look that was sympathetic but also expectant, as if she were waiting for Jennie to explain further. That was the thing about Joy, she was very curious. It was like she wanted to know everything about Jennie, and because of that they had gotten extremely close extremely fast over the past few weeks. Jennie had opened up to her about a lot of things; including her mom.

 "The day my mom left," Jennie started, pausing to take a deep breath. "It was my eight birthday," she finished, her eyes falling to the floor.

"Oh," Joy nodded. "I'm sorry," she added genuinely, wrapping an arm around the girl's shoulder.

"It's okay," Jennie smiled as the elevator doors opened. "It was a long time ago."

"So are you going to tell Lisa your birthday's on Saturday or am I?" Joy asked with a grin.

"Joy," Jennie warned, playfully narrowing her eyes at the girl as they walked down the hallway toward her dorm room.

"Come on," Joy pleaded. "She'd want to know! Besides don't you want to get your birthday sex?"

Jennie let out a small laugh, shaking her head at the taller girl as she reached to open her door, finding it was unlocked. She walked into the room, stopping in her tracks when she saw Irene sitting on her bed. Irene jumped a little when she saw Jennie and Joy, and it seemed as if she had been waiting for Jennie.

"Oh, hey Irene," Joy greeted awkwardly. "I'll see you later Jen," she added before quickly fleeing back down the hallway.

Jennie hadn't seen Irene since Friday night at the movie, and it was now Monday afternoon. Lisa had told Jennie about how Irene had played a role in everything that had happened at the party and with Tzuyu, but she hadn't  had a chance to confront the girl about it.

Until now.

Jennie felt a know grow in her stomach thinking about Tzuyu and the party; remembering how the girl had drugged her and how differently everything could have gone. How it could have potentially ruined things between her and Lisa. She sat down across from Irene on her own bed, folding her arms across her chest as she started at the girl expectantly.

"I owe you an explanation," Irene finally said, her voice sounding nervous.

"Okay," Jennie nodded, tightening her folded arms.