Short Story Title: See You On The Next Trip

Chapter Title: Yes, I’ll Miss You

Alright, so, I didn’t proofread this. That’s how I really am. So forgive me for the typos and stuff. And sorry for taking so long to update.

Also, I’m going to shamelessly promote the twitter account that I made, it’s @cinnamonnapper in case you guys wanna follow me or talk to me idk bye.

As always, please enjoy.

The sky is inked with blue by the time they had reached the foot of the mountain. By this time, the same familiar faces were around them, putting their things back in the trunk, taking pictures of the place before they bid their goodbyes. Lisa lifts her bag, throwing it lightly inside the trunk. The other three follows the process while Lisa heads towards the driver’s seat.

She never really liked driving but she has license because her mom forced her to take the test. She doesn’t even want to hold the wheel with no particular reason at all. She just wants to enjoy the ride. Let her hand feel the wind when the windows are down. Smile when something positive passes by her vision. That’s what she wants during car rides. But today, she’s in charge of driving. She takes the driver seat, immediately dragging the seatbelt over her head. And by the feeling of the seatbelt locking her in her place, she knows that it is goodbye. Goodbye to the place. The mountain. The sunset and sunrise. The stars. The fresh smell of the grass. The nature. And maybe, even sleeping next to Jennie. Once the engine starts, all of this will just be a part of something worth to remember.

The keys dangle. The weight of it seemed to double as she brings herself to stick it into the ignition. Lisa sighs as the engine roar. The sound of it suddenly became a cue for an ending of something so great.

Just outside the car, were her three friends, still loading their bags inside the trunk. And possibly, arguing who takes the passenger seat. Jisoo wants it. She already called dibs on it before the start of the trip. But the change of who drives suddenly puts it up for a debate.

“I’ll sit in front.” Jennie says. Obviously stealing the seat from Jisoo, the car owner.

“Yah, I already called dibs on it.” Jisoo quickly argues.

“I don’t care. I’ll take that seat.” Jennie answers, quickly making a run for the front seat.

A hand grips softly on Jisoo’s wrist before she could even chase after Jennie. It was Chaeyoung’s. That soft hands stopping her from having a war with Jennie was Chaeyoung’s. A hand so soft she would rather sit anywhere as long as it’s with her.

“Let her be,” Chaeyoung softly says, smiling genuinely at Jisoo.

Jisoo sighs. Letting the defeat take over her.

Grunting, Jisoo enters the car, alongside with Chaeyoung who immediately secures her petite figure with the seatbelt. She chuckles hearing Jisoo snicker something towards Jennie who stole the front seat.

A surprise draws on Lisa’s face, seeing Jennie rather than Jisoo, take the seat next to her. Nonetheless, Lisa doesn’t want to bother wondering why, for it will spark all other questions that need an answer. And she doesn’t want that. She doesn’t want to be reminded of how many unanswered questions she has. Lisa looks at Jennie. She smiles a bit upon seeing the girl cozying herself on the seat.

“Jennie, put your seatbelt on.” Lisa says.

Jennie follows. And the swift sound of leather grazing the plastic echoed inside the car. She adjusts herself, making sure that the seatbelt is not, in any way, making her uncomfortable.

“Can we turn the music on?” Jennie asks, smiling so sweetly at Lisa.

Lisa answers with a nod, her eyes focused on the road that will soon be covered in darkness.

Jennie reaches for the aux cord. She plays a song that is something familiar to anyone who will hear it. For Jennie it means something. It contains words that could be or might be answers to her pending questions. She starts humming to the rhythm. Her eyes glued on to the stars that softly lit the night sky— tracing the outlines.

Chaeyoung and Jisoo already dozed off, long before Lisa started driving. Clearly, their energy has been drained from going down the mountain. Now, Jennie and Lisa are left with only the music, giving them a comfort that only the two of them understands.

But Lisa’s mind has gone somewhere beyond comfort. She knows she needs to feel the comfort of the music. Or Jennie beside her. But with everything that has been said during sunrise, had kept her mind busy. 330 hours. That’s what Jennie said. It didn’t take a genius for Lisa to figure it out. Her mind goes on its own, adding and multiplying numbers to come up with one definite answer. And that is… two weeks. Her heart sunk, her breath fell short for a few seconds. She wanted to make that 330 hours longer. Turn it into days. Weeks. Months. Years. She wanted to stop the car. Wanted to stop the time— and maybe— stop Jennie from going back to where her life is.

But she can’t. She can’t have or do all those things that she wanted. And as painful as it is, she knows that sometimes, people don’t get what they want.

“Two weeks...” Lisa mumbles, successfully taking Jennie’s attention.

The brunette immediately brings her eyes to look at Lisa. She wonders why Lisa suddenly brought it up. She wished she could read through people’s minds. Or maybe read their facial expressions. To have an idea of what’s going on inside their head. There’s nothing that she could see from Lisa’s side profile. Her eyes are both glued to the road, and even then, it says nothing but emptiness.

“You only have two weeks left here...” Lisa adds, her voice soft, blending with the soft music playing.

Jennie brings the volume down, just enough for them to still hear the artist and the sound. She waits, patiently. She waits for Lisa to say something more. But she’s unsure of what that something more is. She chuckles, hoping that Lisa would laugh with her too. Hoping that she’ll hear the laugh she had been accustomed of hearing. She could feel the gloominess around Lisa’s presence. It is rare, and she hates it. The latter isn’t mad, Jennie’s sure of that. She had never seen her this way. The silence is something she’s not accustomed of having, especially with Lisa. And she hoped —although it seems amiss— that it means something more than just a gloomy feeling.

“Are you gonna miss me?” She jokes, taking another shot to lighten up the mood.

Lisa’s hands grip tighter on the wheel. Her jaws clench, trying to control herself from saying things that might add up to the uncertainties inside her. The unknown feelings that she has been keeping at the far corner of her mind. But even if she tries, she knows she would never be able to hold it any longer.

Just this. She says to herself.

Lisa slows down the car. She looks at Jennie, risking her life and the others’ lives, just to see her eyes.

“Would it freak you out if I said yes?” Lisa says, her eyes boring into Jennie’s.

Jennie gulps. Not knowing why. But she did. She feels a light pull in her stomach. Butterflies maybe. She had seen Lisa’s eyes so many times, but this is the first time that she became aware of the fact that the girl’s eyes can make her feel something. And now she knows why. Why she wants to be lost in Lisa’s eyes.

“No,” Jennie whispers.

Lisa takes a few seconds, then says, “Well then yes, yes, I’ll miss you.”

Lisa doesn’t want to admit it. All the things she keeps inside her, she wants it to stay there. Unsaid. She doesn’t want to admit that she’ll miss her, even though she screams it inside herself. Yes, she screams it. She doesn’t just yell or shout. But she screams it. Because that what she feels. She doesn’t want to miss her, or even recognize it as missing her. Because she knows, if she misses the girl more than the capacity of a person to miss another, she’ll fall.

For her.

And she’s afraid of that, for she knows that falling for her will be as hard as an exam she didn’t study for.

It took Jennie a couple of seconds to process Lisa’s words. And another second before Lisa tears her eyes away from Jennie’s.

While Lisa focuses back on the road, Jennie was left there. Staring at Lisa. Watching her. Letting her words sink into her, invading every fiber inside her whole body. Her heart clenches and the same time, beats faster. Suddenly, she could feel that distinct tug in her heart. The pull that people can’t identify whether it’s pain or something else. Jennie knows she’ll miss the latter as well. Even more than she could ever imagine. She’ll miss her so much, it’s going to hurt. But she doesn’t want to miss her. She doesn’t want to be reminded of how far their distance will be. Of the time difference. Of being in two different places.

But she wants Lisa to know.

“I’ll miss you too...” Jennie says, softly.

The song changes. It’s something far different from the first song. It’s pop. Lisa knows it’s a song released not too long ago. And as the song changes again, the atmosphere between them, changes as well. It’s no longer gloomy nor bubbly. It was just, calm. The silence no longer feels like a heavy anchor trying to pull something down. It’s the kind of silence that Jennie loves sharing with Lisa. The whole ride went on with the two of them exchanging a couple of words to each other when someone wants to skip a song. And the other two, still sleeping.

They reached the city by 9PM. And Lisa, in spur of moment, becomes unsure of where to go next. She knows the way, but the thing is, she doesn’t know who to drop off first. Because, it’s not Jisoo.

“I’m hungry,” Jennie says, glancing at Lisa.

Silently, Lisa thanks the latter for saving her from the impending debate inside her head. They haven’t eaten anything since they went down the mountain. Lisa is surprised to herself for not feeling any hunger. But since Jennie had mentioned it, she now feels it creeping inside her stomach. She turns left, looking for a place to eat.

“Would a pizza place be okay?” Lisa asks, driving slowly, waiting for Jennie to make a decision before they pass by it.

“I think that’s fine, as long as they sell chicken too.” Jennie says, and Lisa pulls over at the parking space provided by the store.

Jisoo stirs from her sleep. She felt the car stopping and it almost became her alarm, waking her body up. In most cases, Jisoo would abruptly sit straight to wake herself even more. But this time, she had to be extra careful. She holds Chaeyoung’s head in place, making sure it won’t fall from her shoulder.

“What’s going on?” She asks, confused.

“We’re hungry, wake Chaeyoung up.” Lisa says, unlocking all the doors before pulling the keys out. She gets out, and Jennie did too.

“Chaeng, wake up,” Jisoo whispers.

Chaeyoung isn’t really that hard to wake up. You could just give a few taps on her head and she’ll be getting up without question. She groans then sits straight.

“Where are we?” Chaeyoung asks, yawning.

“Somewhere in Seoul, c’mon.”

“I can’t believe we slept the whole time,” Jisoo says, munching on her third chicken leg.

“How can you not believe that?” Lisa asks with disbelief. “You could sleep through an earthquake.”

A crumpled tissue paper goes directly to Lisa’s face. She laughs even more, sticking her tongue out playfully to mock Jisoo. Chaeyoung and Jennie joined in, laughing softly at their friend. The laughter dies down after a couple of seconds. And their so-called dinner went on with the four of them sharing random banters, throwing shades at each other, and reminding themselves how things were back in the day. That’s always been the highlight of every conversation. The part where you get to reminisce and bring back one of the happiest moment in your life. Or maybe the most embarrassing one.

Lisa doesn’t share much. Unless it’s with Jisoo or Chaeyoung. She doesn’t share much about the memories of her past. But she would be more than happy to share her past with her friends. She looks at Jennie. No. She peeks at Jennie. Stealing some of the latter’s cutest smiles, storing them inside her head, where it can’t be touched or forgotten. She smiles when Jennie smiles. She chuckles when Jennie laughs. And little by little, she knows, that the unknown feelings are introducing themselves to her. She tries so hard to shake it. Brush it off. Lock it in farthest corner of her mind. But it’s no use. She glances at Jennie, only to meet one of the purest pair of brown orbs in the world. Her heart stops. Jennie smiles. Her world stops.

It’s quite clear to the world why this happens to Lisa. The world knows what this is. But Lisa doesn’t. Her mind doesn’t want her to know. It’s not allowing her to process more than what she already feels.

The four of them leaves the place after an hour and a half of bickering and stealing glances. Jisoo offers to drive and immediately regrets it when Lisa throws the keys to her direction. Chaeyoung immediately retracts herself from opening the door of the backseat, knowing that a certain brunette would want to take the place. Jennie smiles at her as a way of thanking her.

Lisa was just about to open the door but was stopped when she notices Jennie’s hand against the window. She looks at the girl, confused.

“Will you stay with me at the hotel? Just for tonight.” Jennie asks, with hopes that the latter would agree.

It is a request that poses danger. A request that would certainly tap on the things Lisa had been trying to keep at b