Sonnet seventeen - JENLISA

Part 10

It's been three days since Jennie left for New York. In those three days, Lisa has barely left her room. She knows doing so doesn't really help the excuse given that Jennie only left due to school, but at this point Lisa doesn't really care what anyone thinks.

She's an idiot and Jennie is gone and Lisa is going to spend the rest of this summer dealing with the fact that she single-handedly broke her own heart. Lisa's not about to add to it with attempting to keep up the exhausting façade that everything is just fine. The narrative for their little fake relationship can frankly get fucked.

Since Jennie walked out, all Lisa has done is relive the moment over and over again. Sometimes, it's different. Sometimes she isn't a complete coward and she tells Jennie exactly how she feels and everything works out.

She's wearing a hoodie Jennie left behind, which is tinier on Lisa, but it smells like Jennie and if Lisa closes her eyes for a moment she can picture the girl lying in bed next to her, and pretend just for a moment that she did do everything right, and Jennie never left.

At one point, she reaches for her phone, fueled by the aching in her heart to just hear Jennie's voice. She's calling Jennie before she's even thought about it, raising the phone to her ear and telling herself that if she just speaks to Jennie, everything will be fine.

It rings for a torturous amount of time, and Lisa should know better than to hope for an answer. But when it rings out, it hurts all the same.

-

Lisa knows there's a time limit to how long she can hideout before her friends come breaking down her door to host an intervention. Honestly, she's surprised they haven't done so already. Lisa is sure her only saving grace from such an occurrence is Jackson's efforts to guard her secret, despite how many times he has complained of having to do so.

Lisa has been expecting her friends. She's prepared for her friends. So she's surprised when the first person to appear demanding answers from her, isn't one of them.

It's mid-afternoon and Lisa is making a rare dash for the kitchen while everyone is at the beach, junk food and a bottle of wine on mind. When she reaches the bottom of the stairs, however, she catches a glimpse of Mrs. Kim sitting at the kitchen island.

Lisa immediately turns, intending to barricade herself back into her room and wait Mrs. Kim out.

Of course, Mrs. Kim sees her. That woman sees everything. When she was younger, Lisa had convinced herself Jennie's mom was a witch.

(She's still not entirely definite she isn't)

"Lisa." Mrs. Kim calls, voice barely raised yet still so commanding that Lisa freezes in her place.

For a moment, she genuinely considers running. Which she would do, if she weren't terrified that Mrs. Kim would find a way to curse her for eternity. So she turns, finding Mrs. Kim 's eyes on her, an unreadable expression on her face as she regards Lisa over her coffee mug.

"Hi, Mrs. Kim." Lisa attempts a carefree smile, but she knows she fails.

A small smile toys at Mrs. Kim's lips, but it does nothing to quell the intimidating presence of the woman, "Join me."

Lisa knows this isn't the kind of invitation that allows for a denial, and she hangs her head in defeat and makes her way over to Mrs. Kim. She sits at the island on the stool opposite Mrs. Kim, and a solid minute of excruciating silence hangs between them before Mrs. Kim finally speaks.