“So, I know you’re a new transfer student, but I heard one of the guys say something about you being foreign. Is that true?” Rosé asked, glancing at Lisa through the rearview mirror. They were in the car, on their way to Rosé and Jennie's apartment.

“Um, yeah,” Lisa answered self-consciously. “I’m from Thailand.”

“Thailand, really? That’s so cool,” Rosé said in amazement. Jennie rolled her eyes from the passenger seat. “What are you doing all the way in America?”

“Well, I heard this school had a really good dance program…” Lisa started, tugging on her sleeves nervously.

“You dance?!” Rosé exclaimed happily. “Have you thought about joining the dance troupe?”

“I wanted to talk to you about that, actually. Do you think you could give me directions to the practice location?” Lisa asked.

“I’ll do you one better. We have rehearsal tomorrow. How about I pick you up and we can go together?” Rosé offered.

“Really? That would be amazing, thank you,” Lisa smiled. “Your performance tonight was amazing by the way.”

“Awe, thank you!” Rosé gushed as she parked the car. Together, the three girls got out of the car and made their way into the apartment. Rosé led Lisa inside and towards the living room. She smiled at the blonde, gesturing to the apartment. “Welcome to our humble abode. It’s small but it works for us.”

“Small? It’s almost three times the size of my dorm room!” Lisa declared.

“I’ll take it you like it then?” Rosé giggled.

“If you saw my room, you’d have a new appreciation for this apartment,” Lisa said. “Speaking of, I should probably call Jisoo and let her know I’m here with you guys.”

“Jisoo? Jisoo Kim is your roommate?” Jennie asked. Lisa looked up from her phone.

“Yeah… why?” Lisa answered slowly.

“Nothing. She’s just been super popular since she played the lead last year in Romeo and Juliet. I’d say you’re pretty lucky to be her roommate,” Jennie explained.

“I wouldn’t say I’m very lucky,” Lisa muttered, slight annoyance on her face as she glanced at her phone. “My phone just died. Jisoo’s gonna kill me.”

“Hey, no worries. I’ve got the same phone. You can use my charger,” Rosé assured the girl.

“You’re an angel sent from above,” Lisa breathed, finally seeming to have relaxed enough to joke.

“I don’t know about that,” Rosé laughed. “Let me go get the charger. I’ll be right back.”

Rosé excused herself, making her way down the hall that led to the bedrooms. She went into her room and began rummaging through her nightstand.

“You’re being awfully friendly,” someone said from the door. Rosé looked up to find Jennie leaning against the doorframe with a smirk on her face. The teasing expression, however, didn’t really seem to reach her eyes.

“I’m just being nice,” Rosé shrugged, returning to what she had been doing.

“You’re being a bit more than just nice, don’t ya think?” Jennie asserted, her voice becoming a little sharper. Rosé glanced up at her again, meeting her eyes.

“You and I both know what it’s like being the new kid in an unknown country. Wouldn’t it have been great to have some friendly faces when you first arrived in New Zealand? I know I would have really appreciated it when I arrived in Australia,” Rosé reasoned.

“Fair enough,” Jennie allowed, crossing her arms. She dropped her gaze and shrugged. “You were just being so friendly I thought maybe you had a crush on her or something.”

“She is cute. But I’m Team Jennie, remember?” Rosé said. She smirked. “Actually, I’m surprised you haven’t hit on her yet.”

“Eh, she’s not really my type.”

“Beautiful and sweet isn’t your type?”

“You know what? I’m gonna go shower.” Jennie turned around, quickly making her way out of the room with Rosé laughing as she left. Once Jennie was gone, Rosé found her charger and made her way back to the living room where she found Lisa looking at a picture frame.

“I love that picture,” Rosé mused, making Lisa jump.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to snoop or anything,” Lisa rambled nervously, stepping away from the picture frame.

“Lisa, calm down,” Rosé laughed. “It’s on the wall. It’s meant to be looked at.”

“Right…” Lisa breathed, relaxing. Rosé held out the charger and Lisa accepted it gratefully, plugging in her phone. When she turned around, Rosé was seated on the couch with the picture frame in hand. Tentatively, Lisa sat down next to the redhead, looking at the picture over her shoulder. It showed a younger, dark-haired Rosé with her arm slung across a younger Jennie’s shoulders. Not much of their location could be seen, but they were obviously on a beach. They were both posing for the picture, trying to look cool.

“It seems like this was taken ages ago, but it’s only been two years,” Rosé said, more to herself than to Lisa.

“You and Jennie seem really close,” Lisa commented. “How long have you two known each other?”

“Practically forever,” Rosé laughed. “We met in the first grade.”

“That’s definitely a long time. No wonder you’re so close.”

“It’s surprising actually. We spent a lot of time apart. She studied a few years in New Zealand, I lived in Australia for a few years. It wasn’t easy.”

“I never would’ve guessed.” There was a pause. And then Lisa hesitantly spoke again. “So… are you two… like, are you--?”

“Together?” Rosé finished. Lisa nodded, her cheeks flushing. “No, we aren’t. We’ve never dated. We’re not… strictly platonic, but we’re not together.”

“Oh…”

“Why do you ask?”

“I just… she didn’t seem to want me here. I was wondering if that was why,” Lisa explained nervously, refusing to meet Rosé’s eyes.

“Jennie’s just… she likes how exclusive our friend circle is. Just give her some time. She’s really a softy underneath her superficially standoffish attitude,” Rosé assured the blonde.

“That’s a relief. I was worried I might have upset her.” Lisa punctuated her sentence with a shiver. Rosé looked at her, noticing that the younger girl had pulled her sleeves down over her hands and that she was bent over.

“Lisa, are you cold?” Rosé asked.

“No,” Lisa lied. Rosé arched an eyebrow. “I’m fine, really. I’m just a little tired, and I get cold when I’m tired.”

“Why didn’t you say something earlier?” Rosé demanded.

“I’m fine,” Lisa repeated. Rosé shook her head, getting to her feet. She held out a hand to the younger girl.

“C’mon.” With a sigh, Lisa took Rosé’s hand and let herself get pulled up from the couch. Rosé guided Lisa down the hall and to her bedroom, ordering her to sit on the bed. Lisa did as she was told, watching as Rosé started rummaging through her closet. After a moment, Rosé tossed Lisa a few articles of clothing.

“What’s this for?” Lisa asked, holding up the flannel pyjama pants and the hoodie.

“Get changed and go to sleep,” Rosé ordered. Lisa looked at her in shock.

“Wait, what?”

“You’re tired. Just crash here for the night.”

“But Jisoo--”

“I’ll let her know you’re here.”

“And my classes--”

“I’ll take you to your dorm in the morning so you can pick up your stuff and then I’ll take you to your first class.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. What time should I wake you up?”

“Eight I guess.”

“Alright. Sleep tight.” Rosé turned to leave, pausing for a moment at the sound of Lisa’s voice.

“Rosé?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“That’s what friends are for.” With that, Rosé left the room, closing the door behind her.

***

“Where’s Lisa?” Jennie asked, walking into her room and finding Rosé sprawled on her bed.

“Asleep in my room,” Rosé answered nonchalantly.

“She’s staying the night?” Jennie continued. Rosé stood.

“Yep,” Rosé replied, slowly making her way towards the dark-haired girl.

“Okay, so what are you doing here?” Jennie swallowed as Rosé took her hand and led her towards the bed. Rosé crawled onto the bed, pulling Jennie after her.

“I believe we have some unfinished business,” Rosé whispered. She pulled Jennie into a kiss.

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Jennie murmured against Rosé’s lips. After a moment, Rosé pulled away and adjusted her position, curling up against Jennie’s side. Jennie wrapped her arms around the younger girl. It didn’t take long before Rosé drifted off to the sound of Jennie’s heartbeat.

Here it is, Chapter 4, as promised. I hope all of you are pleased by how things are moving along. Also, break is coming up so I will hopefully be able to update more than once in the next few weeks. Anyway, thank you all for reading and leaving comments. Until next time!

~unsungpoet *-*