Beneath the Surface

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Jennie finds herself doing stuff she never imagined doing.

Rooftops, motorcycle rides and swimming pools and everything in between.

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Rooftops weren't her thing, she prefers the usual; coffee shops , where her thoughts were blocked off by the constant chatter. If she was feeling a bit bold, most days. She'd probably say the parking lot instead with the empty cars and cigarette smoke that lingered in the air.

"You've been doing that for God knows how long..."

Jennie looks back and catches her smiling slowly, rolling the cigarette between her fingers again and again.

"Excuse me?"

"Look Delilah, I wouldn't jump if I were you," she walks closer and stops right where the light flickers, casting shadows on her face, and draping her in seemingly faded off darkness that drowns out her smile.

"Look woman. I have no idea what the fuck you're talking about." Jennie turns away to look at the cityscape and cars that make the buzzing inside her head feel a little less invasive and a little more welcome.

Jennie feels the weight of her stare, against the suddenness of the awkward silence that followed her own little outburst and for some strange reason finds the urge to take a quick peek, and finds her resting both arms on the metal railings, biting the cigarette between her lips and letting it stay there unlit before she clears her throat.

"What brings you out here tonight?" the cigarette bobbing up and down.

The question startles Jennie, even though ... if she thinks about it more, it shouldn't, but it does anyway. The same way she finds herself a little startled by the everyday questions that she tries to go through with smiles and half nods and the occasional half lies that gives her enough room to get them off her back.

"Surely not jumping." The answer comes out a little too curt and sharp, even for Jennie's own taste.

"Are you always this charming?" She looks away for a second to take the cigarette from her lips, keeping it between her fingers before glancing back at her with a grin.

"Are you always this nosy?"

Her laughter cuts through the evening cold, clear and unbreaking and for a quick second Jennie almost wavers. "No, you're just incredibly lucky tonight."

This almost makes Jennie smile back. Almost.

"You... have a screwed up view about luck ." Jennie looks closer, taking in the way she subtly shakes her head before smiling and how her bangs fall to the side whenever she leans in to catch the cigarette in her lips and how... after all this time, the damn cigarette is still unlit.

"That's what they all say," She burrows both hands inside the pockets of her bomber jacket and walks towards Jennie in a slow gait that makes her sneakers drag on the floor. "I think it's one of the things that makes me rather endearing."

"I honestly can't see the endearing part." Jennie allows the smile to spill. Something about her was making Jennie not think. The buzzing in her head was beginning to settle to a murmur that got buried beneath the sounds from the city below.

"Are you okay?" She whispers, making Jennie meet her gaze and focus on her eyes. She hopes it would have made her feel a little uncomfortable, like an unwelcome touch from a stranger, but it feels rather intimate, soft and... oddly enough not in the least bit invasive.

Jenlisa Drabbles Where stories live. Discover now