Work Text:
Jennie is fuming.
Well, to be fair, she’s been at different degrees of anger throughout the day. Maybe it’s because she had to skip her morning coffee when she saw an unusual long line, or that she got called out by her boss for showing up late to work, or that she ordered takeout for the third dinner in a row after realizing that she, once again, had forgotten to restock her fridge.
But this is it. She doesn’t think she can get angrier than this. She can feel her temper sparking like never before and she’s this close to doing something about it.
All she wants to do is to get started on this new case she’s been assigned to. But here she is: tiredly hunched over her desk, staring at the stacked sheets of paper in front of her, and rereading the same sentence over and over again, like she hasn’t spent the past fifteen minutes doing so already.
Why?
It’s because her damn neighbor has been blasting hip hop music on repeat for the past hour or so. At one in the morning.
And the thin ass walls of the apartment are doing so little in helping her focus enough to get past said sentence.
She seriously contemplates pounding her fist against the wall and telling this person to shut the hell up, but who knows how they would react? After all, someone with this level of obnoxiousness might not take her complaints well, and the last thing she wants is a heated argument with an ignorant idiot in the middle of the night.
She hears the song’s outro fade out and sighs in relief when everything grows quiet for almost a minute. This newfound peacefulness in the atmosphere encourages her to gather up what’s left of her energy and start doing some actual work. Huh, so her neighbor has finally called it a night. Maybe the universe decided against pissing her off again after such a long-
A sudden blare of bass interrupts her thoughts, startling her. She lets out a frustrated groan and stomps to the wall that has been driving her mad ever since she moved in two weeks ago.
That’s it. She’s been trying to put up with such an inconsiderate person for so long. Enough is enough.
“Hey! Shut the hell up!” she yells, banging her fist again and again, just like the way she pictured it. “You’re too loud!”
And she doesn’t hear another sound from the apartment the rest of the night.
The next time Jennie hears music through the wall is when she’s chopping some green onions for dinner. It’s a faint beat but it bothers her nevertheless. She narrows her eyes and tightens her grip around the knife but does nothing. This doesn’t deserve her attention now, all she needs to do is focus on the meal she’s cooking for her best friend.
She hasn’t seen Jisoo in a while. The older Kim was busy shooting a drama in Busan, and even though Jennie is used to her tight schedule and all, she couldn’t help but feel a little bit giddy when Jisoo sent her a message, telling her that she'll come visit her at her new apartment as soon as she lands. So, Jennie did what she always does when she has her over: she spent the whole day cleaning up the place, buying groceries, and overall trying to give her best friend the impression that she is keeping it together. She can save herself an hour-long lecture from a worried Jisoo on how she needs to take care of herself.
Her acknowledgement of the progress she made today draws a small smile on her face; the smell of the cooking pot seems to be telling her that she’s been doing a good job at dinner so far. She then takes out two wine glasses to place them on the kitchen table and goes back to continue chopping. But the sound of the knife against the cutting board gradually fades to the beat from next door, shifting her mood back. It isn’t until she can’t hear the chopping at all that she loses it. She slams the knife on the counter and storms out of her apartment.
She’s finally doing this.
She doesn’t even care that she is confronting her neighbor with a sloppy ponytail, or that she is in her custom made “Jennie” apron that her mom gifted her a few years back, or that her left hand is still holding the green onions for god’s sake. She’s had it.
This person deserves what’s coming at them.
She has to violently knock on the door several times before she can hear the volume of the music lowering and the sound of footsteps approaching. The number of loud evenings and sleepless nights she endured in the past two weeks remind her to not hold back at all, but the door opens, and the person behind it surprises her.
1) It’s a woman about her age that’s standing in front of her (she doesn’t know why she’s been picturing a man this whole time).
2) She’s in a sports bra and some sweatpants, visibly panting, and dripping with sweat. And for a split second, Jennie’s eyes can’t help but follow a tiny drop that’s trailing down her toned abs.
3) It seems like her neighbor has caught her staring, because she raises her eyebrows in surprise and her face flushes the slightest shade of pink.
It’s when Jennie meets her eyes that she realizes that her neighbor is really really pretty.
Fuck.
Okay, so her bothersome neighbor turned out to be slightly more attractive than she thought. That still doesn’t make up for the inconsiderate, loud behavior that’s been disrupting her peace.
Even so, it takes her a few more seconds to form a coherent sentence and say it out loud.
“I’m Jennie Kim,” she says, “I moved in next door?”
“Hi. Lisa Manoban.” She smiles. “Nice to meet you.”
And Jennie feels a little bit guilty that the other woman is being nice to her. Lisa’s probably expecting nothing more than a pleasant conversation with her new neighbor. But the rage takes over her once again and she soon remembers why she’s here in the first place.
“Can you please”-she takes a deep breath-“turn down the damn music and shut the hell up?”
Lisa looks taken aback to say the least. Her smile falters and she narrows her eyes at the shorter woman. “Excuse me?”
“I haven’t had a good night's sleep ever since I moved in, and it’s all because of you and your stupid music!” She throws her hands up in frustration. “Seriously, what is wrong with you? How can you be so ignorant to the fact that you’re disturbing those that are unfortunate enough to have to live next to you?”
“Did you…” she trails off. “Were you the one shouting a few days ago?”
“Yes! And I had every right to do that. You’re too fucking loud!”
“I.. I didn’t know I was being that loud again.” Her eyes fall to the ground.
“W-well you are,” she replies. “So quit it or this won’t be the last time you’ll be hearing from me.” And now she’s pointing the green onions at her.
Her neighbor looks at her like she’s crazy. Jennie can’t blame her.
She lets out a huff of air and stomps away to her door, feeling Lisa’s bewildered stare on her the whole time. Great, now she’s fumbling with the keys, her face all red and flustered. She slams the door behind her, hoping this sends the message loud and clear.
“Oh wow.” Jisoo takes a sip of her drink. “And she hasn’t been loud since?”
“No, she hasn’t,” she says, proud of her accomplishment. “It’s only been a couple of hours though.”
“Fair enough.” Jennie thinks that puts the conversation to an end, but Jisoo pipes up with another question. “What’s she like?”
“Huh?”
“Is she pretty?”
“Seriously?” Jennie scoffs. “I went on and on about how insensitive and obnoxious she is and all you care about is what she looks like?”
Jisoo shrugs.
“We’re grown ups now. This isn’t like high school when-”
“-Jennie,” she interrupts, giving her a knowing look, “is she pretty?”
She lets out a sigh, extravagantly rolls her eyes, and mutters out a yes.
“Guessed so.” Her best friend leans back in her chair, smiling in triumph. “I mean, you haven’t stopped talking about her since dinner.”
“I.. I-” Jennie stutters. “I haven’t stopped talking about her because she pisses me off, Chu.”
“Mhhmm.” Jisoo takes another sip. “Sure.”
Every now and then, Jennie hears a feeble sound next door, but that’s about it. She’s genuinely glad that her neighbor respected her wishes. She even feels a little bit regretful of her little blow up the other day. But hey, at least now she’s not as sleep deprived as she was a few days ago, and she is making some significant progress in that case she is working on.
She did notice one thing, however: music isn’t the only thing that can be heard through the thin walls. She can hear her neighbor’s routine as well, especially early in the morning or late at night, when everything is so still and quiet. She doesn't necessarily welcome the unavoidable introduction to some parts of Lisa’s life, but as days pass, she finds herself growing accustomed to them.
There are some things she picks up about her, like the fact that she’s Thai. She learns that when she accidentally overhears Lisa’s conversation with her mother one Sunday morning. Come to think of it, Lisa’s Korean did imply that she didn’t move here long ago, but of course, Jennie was too busy waving green onions in the air to even notice that.
She's also a fitness coach. Probably. Or maybe a dancer. Jennie’s betting on the latter, because of the hip hop music and everything. She occasionally runs into her at the stairs, when she’s coming back from work or going for a run, and she pays attention to the way Lisa’s dressed. It’s almost always a loose fitting top and some tights that are rolled up to her calves, which further confirms her thoughts. Obviously, Lisa’s purposely avoiding her gaze everytime she sees her, and it kind of bothers her a little bit.
Jennie’s even gotten to know the names of some of her close friends. There’s Bambam, the friend who shows up at her doorstep just about every Friday to drag her to some club. There’s Momo, who works with her and sometimes calls in the morning to wake her up when she sleeps through her alarm (which strangely happens a lot). And then there’s Chaeyoung, her best friend. They’re attached at the hip. If she’s not at Lisa’s place, sometimes even spending the night, they’re calling. Maybe this is why Jennie knows more about her than the rest. Well, all she knows is that she's an aspiring singer who likes giving her best friend a hard time every now and then, and Jennie thinks she’s pretty cool. But whenever the woman is around, Jennie keeps hearing muffled giggles and bickers from the wall. And ugh, she can be as loud as Lisa sometimes.
One day, while distracted at work, Jennie stares blankly at her laptop screen, thinking about whether the front row seat she’s gotten to her neighbor’s life is an invasion of privacy or not, but then starts to wonder if Lisa can hear movement in her apartment as well, if she pays attention to her doings throughout the day like she does.
She brushes off her thoughts and continues typing.
The woman probably hates her anyway.
“Don’t worry, I won’t be late. I promise.” Jennie props the phone on her shoulder, lets go of her Tumi suitcase, and digs in the pocket of her jacket for keys. “I’ll unpack later. I just need to unwind for a few hours before we go out.”
After unlocking the door of the apartment, a yellow post-it note on the ground catches her eyes. “Uh-huh,” she hums to whatever Jisoo is saying, squinting to try and read what it says. The handwriting is too small, however, so she places the keys on the kitchen counter, goes back to the door, and kneels down to pick the note up.
your package arrived and you weren’t
home so I signed for it.
i have it with me for safekeeping.
-lisa
Right. The iced coffee maker she ordered a week ago when Yeji, the new intern at work, recommended it to her. Of course it had to arrive then, the couple of nights Jennie had to spend in Daejeon because of some negotiation meetings. Great. Just great. She’s already dreading the thought of walking up to that woman’s door once again.
“Hey,” Jisoo’s voice cuts off her train of thought, “are you with me?”
“Yeah yeah, I am,” she lies.
“Anyway, Nayeon sent me the location. I’ll forward it to you.”
She bids her farewell and hangs up.
She has to stare at the note for another two minutes before gathering up enough courage to walk to Lisa’s apartment. As much as she wants to pretend to have missed the note, she knows she has to talk to her at some point. Might as well get it over with.
She knocks on the door and waits for what feels like hours, subconsciously shifting her weight from one foot to another. Lisa opens the door with a faint smile on her face, which instantly falls upon seeing the brunette. The Thai looks a little bit different. In a good way. She’s not wearing her usual athletic attire; she’s in a white, sleeveless turtleneck and flared jeans that fit her long legs perfectly. And Jennie doesn’t know why she has to force herself to keep from staring at her again.
“Hey.”
“Hi.”
“I got your note.” She holds it up.
Lisa presses her lips into a thin line, nods her head. “Right. I’ll go get the package.” She turns on her heels and goes inside her apartment.
It doesn’t take long for her to return with a box in her hands and hand it over. Jennie mumbles a quick thanks, and the woman shrugs in response. She’s about to walk away and go on with her day when she realizes that her neighbor probably deserves better thanks from her than whatever that was.
It definitely doesn’t help that Lisa’s staring at her like her presence is really annoying, but she doesn’t let that stop her. “Really,”-she clears her throat-“thank you for signing for me. You didn’t have to do that.”
“It’s okay,” says Lisa, who looks a little bit surprised to say the least, like she doesn’t expect anything genuine to ever come from Jennie.
“I should probably go now.” She gives Lisa a halfhearted smile before heading to her apartment. See? That wasn’t so bad.
When she locks the door behind her, Jennie thinks she imagined the brief change in the way Lisa looked at her. Sure, it’s no way near the welcoming expression Lisa had when they first met, before Jennie yelled at her and all, but it’s still progress nonetheless.
So, she comes up with this idea, something that will show Lisa that she’s not as bad as she seems. It doesn’t matter that she’ll have to give up her long awaited nap for it to happen. She tells herself that if it weren’t for Lisa, she wouldn’t be able to drink some good iced coffee tomorrow. The least she can do is repay her with a nice gesture. There’s nothing more to it than that.
That’s what good neighbors do, and Jennie is a good neighbor.
There’s nothing more to it than that.
She’s all dressed up for Nayeon’s birthday party when she puts on her mitts, gets down on her knees, and takes out the baking pan from the oven. All that's left for her is to put the final touches on her makeup and wear some jewelry to compliment her outfit. When she does just that, she picks up the wrapped pan on the kitchen counter and heads out of the apartment.
The first thing she does is place it in front of Lisa’s doorstep and knock softly. She doesn’t wait for her to answer the door, even though some part of her wants Lisa to see how hot she looks right now. She’s in a Fendi blazer dress that hugs her body in all the right places, and Jennie knows that she’ll definitely turn some heads when she arrives at the club, so it would be quite interesting to see if she’ll have the same effect on her neighbor. But she thinks another awkward conversation with her might ruin the whole thing, and Jisoo did make her promise to not be late, which she already is.
Shortly afterwards, when Jennie’s going down the stairs, Lisa will open the door to find her signature fudgy brownies along with a neatly handwritten note.
Sorry :)
The chilly breeze and the golden glow of the sky encourage Jennie to go for another lap this afternoon. And even though she really wants to go home to cuddle up in her plush blanket and binge watch a few episodes of ‘How I Met Your Mother’, the weather is too nice for her to spend the rest of her day indoors. So, she takes a sip from her water bottle, puts in her earphones, and quickens her pace once again.
She’s so focused on powering through the burning feeling in her leg muscles when she catches a glimpse of a tall, slender figure jogging near her. It takes her another look for her to place her as none other than her neighbor. Lisa must have noticed her too, because she noticeably slows down her pace to match Jennie’s.
And Jennie doesn’t know why she did that, because now they’re next to each other, but no one says a word at all. They spend a few seconds like this, the uncomfortable quietness between them growing in the air. Lisa, thankfully, speaks up first.
“The weather’s really nice today, huh?”
“Yeah, it really is.”
“Best weather we’ve had all month.”
Jennie turns her head and politely smiles at her. “Agreed.”
Silence.
When they stay like this for another three minutes, Jennie seriously considers sprinting ahead, away from the woman. It certainly won’t be any more embarrassing than whatever this is, that’s for sure. But Lisa saves the conversation again.
“By the way,” she says, “your brownies are really delicious. I never would have thought I’d be spending my Saturday practically hugging a baking pan.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Lisa nods, smiling. “I had a few friends over then, and they kept telling me to ‘thank whoever made you these heavenly brownies.’”
“Thank you,” she says. “I mean…. I’m glad you enjoyed them. I wanted to make up for that first impression and umm….you read the note?”
“Yeah, I did,” she says nonchalantly, like Jennie had nothing to apologize for in the first place. The casual tone in her voice surprises Jennie a little bit, because a few days ago, Lisa didn’t even want to look her in the eyes for god’s sake. Yet here she is, willingly starting a conversation with her. “Anyway, I wouldn’t be surprised if you do this for a living, you’re very talented.”
“Actually, my job is totally unrelated to it.” And so Jennie tells her about working in corporate law, and Lisa looks amused from the look on her face.
“Are you any good at it?”
“I’d like to think so, yes,” she chuckles. That would have been a sufficient answer, but something in the way Lisa looks at her, like she genuinely cares about what she has to say, makes her go on. “I mean, it wasn’t what I wanted to do but…” She instantly regrets saying these words out loud. Opening up to her noisy next door neighbor who barely even knows her is not what she had in mind today. This isn’t therapy, Jennie.
Lisa furrows her eyebrows when she notices her spacing out all of a sudden, but doesn’t point it out. “I get that. I spent many years hesitating over a career change before making up my mind and moving here,” she says. “It’s worth it.”
“And what do you do?”
“I’m a dance instructor.” Jennie holds back a smile. It feels good to learn that directly from the woman, definitely better than playing guessing games.
“Well… that explains a lot.” She smirks. Lisa gives her a puzzled look. “I’m talking about the loud music you play all night.”
“Oh, not this again.” She exaggeratedly sighs, making them both laugh.
They run into each other one evening and Lisa asks for her number, says something about notes and paper waste and saving trees, and Jennie plays along with her, a genuine smile on her face the entire time.
Jennie’s mouth is full of foaming toothpaste when she notices her phone screen lighting up. She glances at it.
(come over for breakfast??)
Her eyebrows furrow. Jisoo is out of town for a few days, and it’s too early for Nayeon to even consider getting out of bed. She checks the sender.
Lisa Manoban
Oh.
She spits the toothpaste, rubs her eyes with both of her hands, just to make sure that she’s not imagining things, and brings the phone closer to her face. The name’s still there.
When she opens the chat, Lisa’s ‘typing’ bubble comes and goes. She gets her message about a minute later.
(okay that was way too forward)
Another minute.
(my friend’s coming over and i think i’m getting better at making pancakes)
(sooo... wanna join us?)
That’s how she meets Chaeyoung.
And she never thought she’d get along with Lisa, let alone one of her friends. But right now, she’s sitting at her kitchen island with the two of them, giggling like a six year old because Lisa won’t stop flipping pancakes in the air.
“Yah! Lisa,” Chaeyoung whines when her friend misses another pancake, watching the half cooked batter fall to the ground. “We’ve spent half an hour watching you do this. Now, can we please have breakfast?”
“You don’t appreciate art,” Lisa said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Art?” She scoffs. “Isn’t that what you called your ‘signature cocktail’ last week?”
“It wasn’t even that bad!”
Chaeyoung turns in her seat to face Jennie. “It was that bad.” Lisa rolls her eyes at that.
Jennie laughs. “I’m not surprised.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lisa feigns offense, scrunching up her eyes at her.
“Nothing….” Jennie says while aimlessly playing with the cutlery in front of her. “Well... your so-called art has been putting off breakfast for a while.” She shrugs, and Chaeyoung seems to be enjoying her joining in the banter. Lisa then lets out a sigh of defeat, so Jennie hops off the stool and walks up to her. “Here, let me help you out.”
And soon enough, they’re all munching on the pancakes they’ve been waiting for, having a smooth flowing conversation between them the whole time. Jennie thinks everything’s going so well, but she eventually loses track of everything they talked about and that’s when things start getting weird. See, she doesn’t know how they got from making fun of Lisa’s cooking skills to talking about Chaeyoung’s career, but the latter woman is now doing the dishes while telling her about choosing to sign with YG after months of getting scouted.
“I’m just waiting for them to finalize some papers,” she says, “then it’ll be official.”
“Oh, congratulations,” Jennie awes.
“Thank you.” She shyly smiles. After placing the last plate on the drain rack, she looks at her and says, “By the way, I’m having this party next weekend. It’s nothing big, just Lisa and a few friends coming over to celebrate this whole thing.” Lisa walks in the kitchen, as if on cue, and nods at what Chaeyoung is saying. “Anyway, you should come by.”
Jennie glances at Lisa, who seems to be staring at her already, waiting for her response. “I’d love to,” she says. And Lisa is holding back a smile. She’s not imagining it. Lisa is holding back a smile.
“Oh!” Chaeyoung suddenly exclaims. “Tell your friends to come over too!”
“My friends?”
“You know, the actress and the one who misses her girlfr-” She snaps her mouth shut, probably because Lisa’s been making rapid motion with her hands to tell her to shut up, but the damage has already been done.
“How do you-” She says to the blonde, who’s visibly wincing now, then turns to Lisa. “What?”
Lisa’s cheeks are flushing the darkest shade of red she’s ever seen.
Jennie’s genuinely confused for a few seconds, but then puts two and two together. “Do you eavesdrop on my conversations?”
The woman is just glaring at Chaeyoung now, and that says it all, so Jennie rolls her eyes and lets out a sigh. She knows she has no right getting mad. She’s guilty of the exact same thing, but Lisa doesn’t have to know that, of course. She’s planning to let it go and pretend to not care that her cute neighbor talks about her to her friends (yeah, she’s so not going to think about it all day) when Lisa speaks up.
“In my defense, I’m not the only one who’s loud.”
“Excuse me?”
“Well..” She clears her throat. “For someone who seemed pretty pissed off at me for being ‘inconsiderate’ and ‘annoying’, you’re pretty loud yourself.”
“Okay, now you’re just making excuses.”
“I’m not! I have to fall asleep to the sound of some Netflix series every single night.”
Jennie snorts.
“And sometimes, I find myself waking up to the clinking sound of all those pots and lids,” she says. “Who even cooks at three in the morning?”
“Well, that definitely can’t be worse than having to put up with your loud one night stands." She crosses her arms. "I mean, shit, Lisa, I had to buy earplugs because of them.”
The confidence on Lisa’s face suddenly fades away, now replaced by that same look of embarrassment from a minute ago. Jennie smirks at the sight in front of her. “Yeah?” Lisa says, trying to recover. “And that’s coming from the woman who fell asleep while a guy was eating her out?”
That takes her aback. “H- How the hell did you know about that?” Right. That call with Jisoo the next morning.
They continue to bicker, and they don’t even notice Chaeyoung leaning against the kitchen counter, eyeing them with a knowing look and a playful smile.
Jennie is not aware that she’s feeling so challenged and full of life, but when Lisa winks at her after some teasing remark, that’s when she realizes that she’s grinning from ear to ear.
“We have to go!” Nayeon childishly says after chugging down her drink. Jennie groans, but that doesn’t stop her. “Come on!”
“And that’s enough for tonight.” Jennie snatches the bottle out of her hand. Talking some sense into Nayeon is one thing, but trying to do so with soju in her system is definitely something else.
“Whyyy?” She pouts at her, and Jennie heaves a sigh.
It wasn’t even Jennie’s idea to go drinking tonight. It’s a Sunday night and she has to wake up early for work tomorrow. Nayeon was the one who called her a few hours ago, telling her that she wants to meet up and "have some fun, just like old times", and Jennie mentally groaned at this week’s flimsy excuse. She knows her friend is doing so to distract herself, that’s always been the way she copes. Her girlfriend’s been in Japan for a few months now, taking care of her sick father, and Nayeon hasn’t been doing so well without her. But Jennie decided against confronting her tonight, even though she’s starting to get a bit worried at this recent impulsiveness of hers, and went along with what she said.
“Why do you care so much about that party anyway?” Jennie asks, changing back the subject.
“Because,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows, “I don’t want to miss out on seeing you embarrass yourself in front of your crush.”
“Woah, crush?” she scoffs, annoyed by the mocking tone in Nayeon’s voice. “That’s a strong word.”
“Whatever, keep telling yourself that.” Nayeon rolls her eyes. “But you do realize that this Lisa probably likes you too, right?” She says with much more seriousness, catching her friend's attention.
Jennie gives in. “I doubt it.” she replies, leaning against the bar. “But... why would you think that?”
“Oh, Jennie.” She shakes her head in disbelief, like Jennie’s missing out on the most simple, obvious thing in the world. “She went out of her way to get to know you even though you were a total bitch.” Strike one. “Obviously talks about you to her friends.” Strike two. “And asked you for your number, dumbass.”
Yeah, Jennie’s out.
She stays quiet for a few minutes, thoroughly thinking about what her friend just said while gazing vacantly at the bottle in her hand.
Nayeon must have softened at her obvious struggle, because she reaches her arm out, rubs Jennie’s hunched back, and asks, “Wanna know why I’ve been nagging you about this whole thing?”
She looks up at her with a defeated look, gesturing for her to go on.
“I don’t want you to miss out on something special.”
The door opens up to a smiling Chaeyong. “Hey, you made it!”
“Hi.” Jennie smiles back, trying to will the nerves away. She steps aside to introduce Jisoo and Nayeon to her.
After exchanging all the introductions and handing over the bottle of wine they brought over, Chaeyoung drags them inside to meet the rest, and Jennie’s eyes can’t help but scan the place as she trails behind the woman.
She spots this familiar jet black hair and her heart skips a beat and she’s just about to look away when Lisa notices her. The woman slightly tilts her head to the side and crooks a brow, observing her with curiosity. And god, anyone would melt under that look.
Jennie makes an effort to maintain her composure and halfway succeeds.
Not a minute later, Lisa says something to that woman she was talking to, probably excusing herself, stands up, and walks in her direction.
“Look who’s here,” she says, wearing a smug grin on her face.
“Oh, believe me,” Jennie replies, “I’m just as surprised as you are.”
Lisa stares at her for a second too long, but then shifts her gaze to her friends, who appear to be overly invested in such a small exchange. “I’m Lisa, by the way,” she politely says, “Jennie’s neighbor.”
“I’m Jisoo.” She holds out her hand. Nayeon follows suit. They shake hands, smiling at each other. And Jennie pretends she doesn’t notice her two best friends unsubtly nudging each other as soon as Lisa’s eyes fall back on her.
Lisa looks like she wants to say something; her lips are slightly parted and her eyebrows faintly furrowed. “Well…” She settles for a sigh, her shoulders falling just a little bit. “Enjoy the party, Jen.”
Jennie soon finds herself mingling with Chaeyoung’s friends, recognizing some of the voices even, and eventually gets caught up in some of the stuff they’re doing, like how she’s currently dancing with Bambam in the middle of the living room. She’s downing her second bottle of beer when she realizes that she’s actually having fun and slowly, she lets herself relax to the music. When some time passes, she looks over to check on her own friends. Jisoo is being the social butterfly she is, probably handling all the ‘where do I know you from?’ conversations with grace, and Nayeon’s grinning while playing flip cup with Sooyoung, Momo, and Jungkook. All is well.
She turns back to face Bambam, who, to her surprise, doesn't seem to grow tired from all the dancing, tells him she’ll be back, and grabs a few other empty bottles on her way to the kitchen.
The first thing she sees is Lisa leaning against the counter, her thumb grazing the neck of the bottle she’s holding. Jennie can tell that she’s spaced out from the look on her face, but Lisa snaps out of it and turns her head upon hearing her walk in.
“Someone’s not having a good time.” Jennie states, looking around the room for the bin.
“What?” Lisa responds. “I’m just a little bit tired, that’s all.”
“Sure thing,” she nonchalantly says, but then adds, “You’re brooding though.”
Lisa breaks into a small smile. “I’m not.”
Jennie turns to face her, giving her a disbelieving look. Lisa shrugs and doesn’t say anything, so she decides that she’s not gonna push the matter any further. She recycles the empty bottles in the bin, and she’s just thinking about walking out of the room and giving Lisa some space when Lisa scoots enough for her to come stand next to her.
“Now’s not the time to mull over anything anyway,” Lisa speaks up, “I just wish I was enjoying myself like how your surprisingly-good-at-flip-cup friend is right now.”
Jennie settles in beside her. “I know for a fact that everyone is enjoying themselves tonight.”
“And I know for a fact that that’s not true.” Lisa’s smile grows wider, a twinkle of the familiar mischievousness in her eyes glows, and that reassures Jennie in a way. “Chaeyoung’s kinda pissed that her boyfriend’s been busy playing drinking games all night,” she says. “Poor guy doesn’t know what’s waiting for him.”
She looks to her side to see a smiling Lisa, who looks much more at ease now that they’re starting to converse like they usually do, and she can’t help but keep staring at her. Lisa must have felt her eyes on her, and it takes her a few seconds to glance in her direction. She feels a fluttery feeling in her stomach and fuck, what is this woman doing to her?
Jennie averts her gaze and clears her throat before it gets too weird. “But hey, you’ve got Bambam,” she says, a little too fast, “he’s having the time of his life, I couldn’t keep up with all of his dancing.”
“Oh, I saw that.” And here’s her signature smirk.
“You did?”
Lisa moves a little bit closer, just enough for her leg to lightly brush against hers, sending her these fluttery feelings once again. “I didn’t know you’re such a good dancer.”
“Well…” she trails off, “there’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
Jennie sees that brief look of uneasiness crossing Lisa’s face once again. Lisa’s eyes fall to the ground, and Jennie doesn’t say anything, just worryingly looks at her. It takes Lisa a minute for her to look up and meet her eyes. She rubs the back of her neck, shaking her head slightly. “Okay then…” She puts down her bottle on the counter, perhaps a little bit too hurriedly, because the sound of the impact startles the both of them, and that seems to mess with her nerves even more. “Let me… let me change that.”
Jennie looks at her quizzically.
Lisa sighs, places herself in front of Jennie. She takes a long breath before saying, “I’ve wanted to ask you out for a while now.” And as Jennie eyes that nervous look on her face, with her tinted cheeks and soft smile and glistening eyes and everything else, she realizes that this is probably the most adorable sight she’s ever seen. “I’d completely understand if you say no, of course. I mean.. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re currently seeing a guy…or a girl… or a person…or...” She looks so flustered and Jennie feels so bad for her. She tries to interrupt her but Lisa just won’t stop talking. “And I can also tell that you’re super busy with work so I’d get it if you don’t have time for-”
Jennie skims her fingertips on top of Lisa’s skin, softly lacing their pinkies together, before intertwining their hands, and that’s the thing that gets her to shut up.
They stumble a few times while making their way to Lisa’s bedroom, Lisa moving her mouth against Jennie’s in just the perfect blend of eagerness and intimacy, making her feel all sorts of things. And she’s left wondering why it took them so damn long to do this, because this is so so good, totally different than anything she has ever experienced. Jennie deepens the kiss, brushing her tongue against hers, and it’s nothing more than a faint touch, but Lisa grabs her by the waist to pull her even closer, moaning in approval.
She doesn’t even know how they ended up here, back in the apartment, a mere few hours after Lisa was a stuttering mess back in Chaeyoung’s kitchen. And it’s really surprising because she thought it would take them one date, maybe even two, before they’re doing this. Yet here they are. Jennie partially blames the alcohol in her system (she might have had a little too much wine that night), but it’s mostly on Lisa, really.
Well, upon realizing that Jennie reciprocates her feelings, Lisa’s nerves started to slowly disappear, and eventually her charming nature rebounded. It felt like everything went back to normal. From then on, a flirtatious conversation developed between the two of them, making it so obvious to everyone around that something did happen, as almost all the people they know had this nearly identical knowing looks and smiles on their faces. But how can something not happen between them? Everything with Lisa just feels so… easy. The conversations, the flirting, the banters. Maybe this is why she didn’t hesitate at all when Lisa made the first move on their way home, leaning in to press her soft lips against hers, eyes lighting up when they pulled away, outshining the dim streetlight they were standing beneath.
But that doesn’t matter now, because here they are: Jennie’s legs are wrapped around Lisa’s waist as they sit on the bed. She’s placing sloppy kisses all over her chin and neck when Lisa pulls her hand up to her hair, her fingers threading through it. Her other hand roams over Jennie’s body, eventually settling on the inside of her thigh, and a shiver courses down her spine; she needs to feel her now. Lisa lightly shoves her, and Jennie falls back onto the mattress. And as Lisa starts running her hands up the inside of Jennie’s thigh, prowling over her at the same time, Jennie can’t help but let a soft moan escape her lips. Lisa silences her with a kiss.
“Careful,” Lisa says, pulling away with a smirk on her face, “apparently, the walls are thin and my neighbor won’t stop bitching about it.”
It’s a chilly November night and it’s just one of these times when work has drained all the energy out of Jennie. She tiredly climbs up the three flights of stairs, and instead of heading to her own apartment, she grabs the spare key she knows Lisa has under the welcome rug and unlocks the door.
Lisa’s sitting cross legged on the couch, her hair up in a ponytail, dressed in some baggy sweatpants. She looks up from the laptop screen she was staring at to smile at Jennie. “Should I just give you your own key by now or....?”
Jennie lets out a faint laugh, places her coat on the nearest chair, and walks over to her. And upon seeing how tired she looks, Lisa puts her laptop aside and opens her arms out wide, and Jennie practically throws herself in them. They fall back a little bit and the both of them chuckle, but they eventually settle themselves so that her head is on Lisa's lap.
Lisa caresses her hair, tells her about almost missing the bus this morning, choreographing a new dance for her class, catching up with her childhood best friend over the phone.
And Jennie kind of feels bad for zoning out while listening. It’s not because she’s not interested in what Lisa’s saying or anything. It’s because she’s looking up at her and she can’t stop thinking about how Lisa’s embrace is so warm, or how gentle her touch is against her hair, or how this just feels so right, like she's meant to be here, in her arms, all along.
“You're not even listening to me, are you?” Lisa glances down at her, gives her this look of adoration mixed with something else she can’t quite pinpoint, but it makes her breath hitch and fuck, she just knows she’s in too deep. Jennie doesn’t answer, just reaches a hand up and holds her face, lazily tracing circles with her thumb across her cheek. Lisa leans into her touch.
She thinks about that time she took advice from a tipsy Nayeon and how her friend may have been right after all. This is something special.