JUST FRIENDS

THREE

By the time Jisoo rushes into the cafe across from YG's Building, Jennie and Lisa are already sitting at one of the window tables. She spots a third cup sitting on the table as she walks up, and she smiles lightly at her friends' consideration.

"Sorry I'm late," she greets, draping her bag off the back of her chair.

Jennie leans over the second she sits down to give her a quick peck on the lips, something that makes Jisoo flush and quickly hide her face with the coffee they got her.

Lisa gives her a curious look but says nothing, opting instead she turn to Jennie and ask her, "So how was your Valentine's Day? You seemed pretty excited about it when you called me the night before."

"It was great!" Jennie tells her, catching Jisoo's eye and grinning at her. "Jisoo and I were valentines."

"Oh, really," Lisa enthuses, eyebrows raised and looking between the two of them approvingly. "Well it's about damn time, jeez."

Jennie squints her eyes, her face an odd mixture of confusion and worry. "What do you mean?"

"The two of you together! I mean, I get that you guys were making that whole 'friends-with-benefits' thing work out all right, but, I don't know," she pauses, running a hand through her hair, "something about you guys going out just makes sense."

Jisoo, who had just attempted to take another sip of her coffee, chokes at Lisa's statement, bringing her hand up to her mouth to stop herself from spraying the mouthful all over the table. She doesn't even get a chance to consider to swallow it before Jennie cuts in.

"What? No, Lisa; you've got it all wrong! Jisoo and I were friend-valentines! Just as friends, right Jisoo?" She rounds on Jisoo, looking at her pleadingly and silently asking for her support. Jisoo catches one glance at Jennie's face and almost chokes again, swallowing thickly and coughing when the liquid slips down her windpipe.

Both Jennie and Lisa react immediately, pounding her back as she coughs out the coffee she inhaled, and the second she can speak again, she settles on a topic she knows always distracts her two friends.

"How's Leo?" she asks, voice still hoarse from coughing. She internally prays that they won't continue to press her on Valentine's Day, and much to her luck, Lisa's eyes light up and she starts on a long-winded story about her cat.

When she catches Jennie's eye again, she deflects the concerned look with a shaky smile.

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Jennie and Lisa have a work together right after lunch, and Jisoo's done for the day, so she says goodbye to them at the café entrance and heads off back to her apartment. The walk back is by no means long, but after the conversation at lunch, it feels like too much time for Jisoo to be alone in her head.

She really shouldn't be surprised it was just a best friends thing, she reasons, annoyed at herself for getting so worked up about it. There's no reason for her to make such a big deal out of it, even if it's only mentally. And besides, their relationship is good – great, even – the way that it is. She shouldn't mess it up by worrying about such silly things.

She shouldn't mess it up by worrying about such silly things, she tells herself again, like repeating it will somehow make it more convincing.

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Their relationship doesn't really change after the day-after-Valentine's fiasco. Jennie still comes over on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and Jisoo still goes to visit her on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. They still cuddle up when they sit together on the couch, and they still get frisky almost every other night.