The famed marimba melody rings loudly throughout Jennie's room, her phone buzzing somewhere beneath her sheets. A thin arm snakes its way out of the covers to grab the offensive source of the noise.

"Jennie!"

The brunette quickly jerks the phone away from her ear. 

"What?" she grumbles once she's deemed it safe to put it back to her ear again.

"Freaking finally," Jisoo exclaims on the line. "It's 7:00! Where the hell have you been?"

"Home?" Jennie says, confused.

"How come you weren't picking up?" her friend asks. "You know what, never mind. We're coming."

, Jennie curses inwardly, remembering their established plans for the night.

"Right," she says, more awake. "Just give me a minute."

"Did you just wake up?" Rose asks.

"Yeah, sorry, I passed out as soon as I got home," the brunette explains.

"Oh no," she hears Lisa says on the other end. "Maybe you should just rest—"

"Shh, ears on the road," Jisoo interrupts her.

Rose laughs, lowly, the kind that only her three closest friends get to hear. "You mean eyes on the road?"

"I said what I said," Jisoo snaps. "Oi, Jennie, hurry up. We'll be there soon."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Alright, see ya," Jisoo says before hanging up.

Jennie hauls herself off her bed, hurriedly shoving essentials into her overnight bag. She packs a towel, a change of clothes, a hairbrush and her toiletries. Planning a swift and painless exit, she quietly leaves her room and descends the stairs, making a beeline straight for the front door. 

"Jen?" her mother's voice comes from behind her. "Where are you going?"

She faces her mother. "Just out with friends."

The woman eyes her bag wearily. "Aren't you joining us for dinner?"

"No thanks, Mom," Jennie says. "I'm good."

"Jennie..."

She bites her lip. "My friends are outside."

"Ah. Well, okay, don't stay out too late."

Jennie frowns. "I was going to stay at Jisoo's place for the night."

"And now you're not."

Ugh. Jennie turns to see her stepfather next to her mom, arms crossed and face stoic. She sighs, "Seriously?"

"You're always out too late. It's becoming a habit," her mother says, concern etched on her face.

He nods. "Besides, you've got your own bed right here."

Jennie rolls her eyes; a gesture that doesn't go unnoticed. 

"You'll be back by ten," he says resolutely; Jennie thinks sometimes he really just wants to ruin her life. "That's an order."

"Excuse me?" Jennie asks incredulously. Who the hell does this guy think he is?

"Your mother is clearly concerned about you. You're always making things so difficult."

"So you speak for her now?" Jennie says bitterly. She scoffs. "I'm sure she's capable of telling me herself."

"Jennie," the woman sighs. "Just... be home on time, yeah?"

Jennie turns around, placing a hand on the doorknob. She pushes the door open and steps outside. "I'm going."

"See you," her mother says.

"You agreed you'll be back by ten," her stepfather reminds her sternly.

"I know." Jennie shuts the door forcefully.

She hears the beginning of another argument behind the closed door. Squeezing her eyes shut, Jennie throws her head back and takes a deep breath. She lets it go slowly and shakes herself off before heading towards the gate. She closes it behind her and walks towards Lisa's car.

"Took you long enough," Jisoo says snidely, yet the worry shows in her eyes.

"Hi," Lisa greets the brunette brightly with her signature wide smile, as usual.

"Hey," Jennie says with an awkwardly polite wave of her hand since she can't find it in herself to smile.

"Just get in, loser," Jisoo says.

"Are you alright?" Rose asks as Jennie climbs into the backseat next to her.

"Peachy," Jennie mutters, weakly pulling her door shut. Rose doesn't say anything more, settling for a sympathetic squeeze of the brunette's hand.

"Okay, where were we going?" Lisa asks as she pulls out of the driveway.

"I was thinking of this restaurant Chae and I went to the other night," Jisoo says. She looks at Lisa, and then at Jennie through the rearview mirror. "But you're a little underdressed."

"Whatever," the blonde says exhaustedly, "let's just eat at my house."

"Yes!" Rose exclaims enthusiastically, and the three look at Jennie for confirmation. She shrugs.

The brunette leans her head on the window as they drive off. She remains quiet for the rest of the all too familiar route to Lisa's house, gazing out the window absently as the nightlife scenery passes her by.

"Jen?" Lisa's voice cuts through her trance.

Jennie's head snaps up. She looks up to the source of the sound, finding the blonde standing outside her door. "Yeah?"

"You okay?" 

She shifts her gaze around, seeing Jisoo and Rose already making their way to the front porch. “Yeah.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, sorry,” she says automatically, forcing a smile.

It must’ve looked odd to Lisa; the blonde stares at her like she just grew a second head. “Okay, I don’t know what you’re sorry for, but it’s alright. Come on, we’re here.”

“Yeah,” Jennie breathes out an embarrassed laugh, “I see that.”

Lisa opens the door for her and gives her a hand to hold as she gets out of the car.

“Thanks,” Jennie says bashfully.

“Let’s go inside.”

They find Bam standing hunched over the sofa, balancing on one foot, with the other resting on the leather seat as he ties his shoelaces.

"Oh," Lisa says, surprised. "You're home—hey, feet off the couch!"

"Hey," he cranes his neck to look at her. "I didn't even hear you guys come in."

Jisoo and Rose greet the boy and Jennie makes herself comfortable on the couch, while Lisa looks at Bam disbelievingly as he finishes tying his shoe, completely convinced that he's doing it slowly to annoy her.

"Come on," Lisa huffs. "Get your stinky foot off the couch."

"Oh, speaking of," he smirks as he straightens up, "How's your ankle, Lisa?"

The blonde looks at the ground, speaking in a small voice, "Not sprained..?"

"Yeah, I had a feeling," he says teasingly.

Jisoo snickers. "He lowkey said you have stinky feet."

"Shut up," Lisa groans. She turns to the boy and sighs. “I didn’t plan on—“

“Don’t worry, he called me and I covered for your sorry ,” he teases, though when he sees her bruised ankle, his smile drops. “You know, that looks pretty bad, actually.”

Jennie nods. "That's what I said."

Lisa waves them off. "It's fine, it doesn’t hurt."

The brunette raises an eyebrow at her. “We all know you have the pain tolerance of a toddler.”

"No I don't!" Lisa protests indignantly.

"Alright, alright, stop guilt-tripping me already; it was my idea," says Jisoo. "Just letting you know, to get it off my conscience."

“What conscience?” Jennie mutters, earning a laugh from the group.

“Lisa, make sure you ice that or something,” Bam tells the blonde.

“Aw,” she coos. “You’re worried about me. You really do care.”

“Nope. Just trying to avoid death by your mom’s hands,” he says with a grin, earning a smack on the arm from the blonde. He hikes his bag up his shoulder. "You guys have fun with whatever it is you're doing."

"We will," says Jisoo.

Bam squeezes Lisa's shoulder as he walks past. "See ya guys later."

"See you," the girls say in unison.

"Wait, where are you going?" the blonde asks, trailing behind the boy as he heads towards the hall.

"Out," he responds sarcastically with a goofy smile, though he quickly relents under Lisa’s glare.

“To the city. The guys are thinking of having dinner together.”

“Oh, that’s what we’re doing,” Rose says. “You can join us if you want.”

And Jennie doesn't miss the strange look that flashes across Jisoo's face, although it was there one second and gone the next.

Bam grins. “I’d love to, but Lisa can’t cook anything edible.”

"Whoa, look at the time, you should go, you don’t wanna keep your friends waiting," Lisa says loudly as she pushes Bam down the hallway, while her friends laugh. “Bye!”

Jennie smiles at the interaction. She listens to their muffled conversation until the door clicks loudly as it locks and Jisoo plops down on the couch beside her.

"See, everything worked out fine," Jisoo says merrily when Lisa comes back to join them. "I told you."

Lisa huffs. "Right."

"He's cute," Rose pipes up, peeking out of the curtains as Bam's headlights shine through.

"He’s alright," the redhead says dismissively. “So what are we having?”

Jennie and Lisa share a look.

"Anyhow," says Lisa, “kitchen’s this way.”

"I should probably mention that I have a curfew," Jennie says as they head to the kitchen.

Jisoo raises an eyebrow. "That's new."

"A curfew?"

"You following your parents' rules."

"I'm not... Not necessarily," Jennie says. "I just thought I should let you know."

"Don't worry," Lisa chirps, her expression unreadable. "I'll drop you off in time."

Rose nods. "We'll cook quickly!"

“You know, I’m really craving pork,” Jisoo muses.

“Hey, you guys have a grill here, right?” Rose says, voice muffled, already rummaging through the fridge.

Jisoo snorts. "What kind of household doesn't?"

"We do," Lisa tells the brunette. "A small one."

“It's out here," she says, sliding open the glass door that leads to the backyard and stepping out to set up the grill. When she turns back around, she sees her friends searching around the kitchen whilst Jennie stands calmly by the counter, a chopping board and a knife already in front of her, giving out instructions on where to find things.

"How do you even know where everything in her house is?" Jisoo asks, a peeler in hand.

Jennie shrugs. "Probably because I'm here all the time."

Rose looks up with a good-natured grin on her face when Lisa rejoins them. "You should really start charging her for those tutoring sessions."

"Shh," Jennie hisses playfully. "Stop giving her ideas."

"Oh," Lisa says, mock-surprised, "I thought you already knew I'm keeping track of how much you owe me."

The brunette rolls her eyes while Rose and Lisa giggle with each other.

"Alright, alright, cut that out and one of you cut these up instead," Jisoo sets down a variety of skinned vegetables on the chopping board.

"Not it," Jennie and Lisa chorus immediately.

Rose groans. "You guys know that's not how life works, right? You can't just get out of stuff by saying that."

"Yeah we can," Jennie says plainly.

"We just did," Lisa adds with a grin, carefully handing the knife over to Rose.

Jennie starts to make a beeline for a stool in front of the counter, but Jisoo stops her in her tracks.

"Not so fast," the redhead says. "Go set up the table and the chairs outside."

"Dammit." Jennie groans. She beckons the blonde towards the backyard. 

"They're definitely ing," she says prophetically when Lisa closes the sliding door, watching Rose and Jisoo interact through it.

Lisa bursts out into a gleeful laugh. "Definitely."

"Seriously though."

"I believe you," Lisa smiles.

"Good."

"It's a bit cold out here. You should've taken your time getting ready," Lisa tells her while she begins to unfold a wooden table. 

She starts unfolding the chairs, shaking her head no although she can feel goosebumps erupting on her skin. "I'm fine. I was getting kind of desperate to leave the house anyway."

"The step-douche giving you trouble again?" Lisa asks with a sympathetic smile. 

"A little," Jennie sighs. "Not as bad as before though, now that I'm actually showing up to school and getting better marks. Thanks to you."

Lisa lets out a little huff in exertion as she finishes putting the table upright and carefully places the tabletop grill down. "No, you're the one putting effort in. If anything, you should be giving yourself credit. I mean, you wouldn't be doing better if you don't want to be."

Jennie hums. A thought crosses her mind; should she really be congratulating herself if the reason that she wants to be better is standing in front of her? She decides not to dwell on it.

"Since when did you have roses out here?" Jennie asks, observing a potted plant abundant with red flowers. She walks over to study it, arms crossed over herself, shivering a little from the chilly air. The blonde joins her.

"I bought them yesterday from a nursery," Lisa says shyly, "since I can't seem to grow stuff myself."

"My mom has a rose garden," Jennie muses. "You guys have to meet."

"Sounds good."

"Yeah, maybe she can help you keep these alive." 

"Speaking of keeping things alive, you'll catch your death if you don't keep warm. I'll be back in a sec," Lisa says before heading back inside.

The brunette finishes setting up the area, situating the chairs around the table and choosing one to sit on. When Lisa returns, she's holding a jacket, folded neatly over her arm. Jisoo and Rose follow close behind, with their loud and grand conversation-slash-argument. In the midst of the commotion, the jacket is wordlessly draped over her shoulders, and she only realizes when the warmth and the familiar smell of Lisa's perfume envelopes her. Jennie finds herself smiling at the sentiment.

The four have dinner under the stars and Lisa later drives Jennie home, mostly in companionable silence, with the brunette occasionally humming along to ballads on the radio. Jennie's mother is surprised to find her at their doorstep at ten o'clock on the dot, an unreserved smile on her face; a sight the woman rarely sees these days (she chalks it up to whoever is in the car, noting how they waited until the door has closed to drive away).

That night, Jennie lies in bed with the jacket pressed to her face, breathing in the flowerbomb perfume mixed with Lisa's scent; soft, simple and sweet, like the girl it belongs to.

And the warmth from Lisa's jacket is one thing, but Jennie feels a different kind of warmth that can only be from something else.