Chapter Text
things are weird for about a week or so. jennie avoids them and disappears before the last bell every day. chaeyoung and lisa are clueless, and jisoo is just - well, she’s clueless, too. it’s not like she knows jennie super well, out of the three of them, and they’re all kind of worried.
but by the time monday rolls around again, things are mostly normal. jennie eats lunch with them again and chats awkwardly with jisoo and blushes a lot. jisoo hopes that she was okay last week, but she’s not about to bring it up. she’s perfectly fine with leaving it in the past and moving forward.
until she finds jennie waiting for her at her locker after school, looking mildly uncomfortable and getting more so by the minute.
“hey,” jisoo greets tentatively. jennie gives her best impression of a natural-looking smile. it could use a little work.
“hi,” she replies. “um. hi.”
“hi.”
god, this is bad. possibly worse than their first meeting. jisoo shudders at the memory.
“what’s up?” she tries.
“not much,” jennie says, then - “actually… actually kind of. a lot. can - do you - can i tell you something?” she looks like she wants to break eye contact, but manages to hold it firmly through a light blush.
jisoo’s stomach drops.
seriously? after jisoo had hyped herself up and prepared to give it her best shot, jennie chooses now to confess?
like, it’s about time, but also: rude.
still, jisoo keeps a pleasantly neutral expression on her face as she says, “yeah, sure.”
jennie takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.
“okay,” she says to herself. “so,” she says to jisoo. “i probably should’ve told you this a while ago, but, i don’t know. it didn’t really seem urgent at the time. i thought maybe it wouldn’t matter, in the end, but… i’ve realized that i can’t just ignore it, you know?”
jisoo knows. she really, really knows.
“and then chaeyoung told me i was being stupid and, like, you wouldn’t care that much, so…”
jisoo nods enthusiastically. come on, she can almost taste the “i like you” on the tip of her own tongue - if jennie doesn’t spit it out, she might do it herself.
i like you i like you i like you -
“i’m not actually a cat person.”
“me too!”
jennie blinks.
wait.
“what?” jennie is shifting uncertainly. “you’re - what?”
“no, no,” jisoo hastily corrects, “i mean - i am a cat person. i’m. i really like cats. i just - i thought you were going to say something different. you. you’re not a cat person? really?”
“yeah.” jennie blushes and looks down. “i know, it’s kind of stupid but i never really liked them. when - when i took you to see the cats that one time? i hadn’t volunteered with them for months before that. i always took care of the dogs.”
“seriously? really?”
jennie tilts her head back against the row of lockers. “sorry i never told you, and, like, made you think i like cats way more than i do. i just - ireallylikeyou and… chaeyoung somehow knew that you really like cats so i thought i’d. like. i don’t know.”
“you really like me.”
jennie stands up straight.
“what?”
“you really like me. you just said it.”
“no - i mean, yeah, yes, but it’s - ”
“dude. dude. do you not know that i’ve been crushing on you since, like, middle school?” jisoo is, honestly, dumbfounded. she’s probably been the most obvious person with a crush in the entire history of people having crushes. is jennie messing with her?
“...i kind of knew,” jennie admits quietly.
“then - why the whole thing with trying to impress me with cats, or whatever that was? i mean, i definitely appreciate it, but are you aware that it was completely unnecessary?”
“i wasn’t sure,” jennie defends. “and i really wanted you to like me. sorry for manipulating your love of cats to spend time with you.”
“stop acting like i wasn’t internally freaking out the whole time,” jisoo huffs. “i like you, you like me, apparently we’re both idiots who should definitely go on a date and get married and adopt a million - a million unspecified pets. which might be cats. unless you really don’t like them.”
jennie shakes her head. “they’re okay,” she smiles. “but i’m a dog person so we’re adopting just as many dogs as cats, right?”
“hell yeah,” jisoo whispers breathlessly. “this is gonna be so great.”
jennie clears her throat and takes her phone out of her pocket.
“maybe we should have each other’s numbers before we share ownership of a million animals,” she suggests wryly.
“i agree,” jisoo says. she pulls out her own phone and they exchange numbers, glancing shyly at each other until jisoo remembers that she was supposed to hang out with lisa today.
“shit,” she blurts out. “i need to go, i’m chilling with lisa after school and she’s - probably wondering where i am, i’m sorry, i will absolutely text you later about that date - ”
“it’s okay,” jennie laughs. it’s light and pretty, and it calms jisoo’s nerves a little. “see you later.”
“see you!” jisoo calls as she stumbles down the hallway.
maybe not back to normal, but normal wasn’t all that great, anyway. things finally took a turn for the better - with a few weird dips and curves along the way, but jisoo can’t wait for whatever’s next.