Tuesday, 01:30 am 

 

 

 

 

ONE THING led to another set of reminiscing and catching up after her divulge about the foreign cheerleader and Jennie realizes how disconnected she'd been with Jisoo all this time. Too caught up with Lisa and all that came after that she forgot just how important it was to keep in touch with the people that mattered the most. If Jisoo was aware of it all, she never took it to heart. The girl somehow had an infinity's worth of patience when it came to her. 

 

Jennie uncrosses her legs that had long fallen asleep. 

 

"You seem more excited about this than I am." 

 

Jisoo rolls over to face her again and props herself up with an elbow. 

 

"Such a small world, that's all. I remember the first time she'd set foot into the school. Girl was an instant hit and I had to keep constant watch of half the soccer team from engulfing her too much during lunch. They wanted her number and everything." 

 

Jennie nods in acknowledgement. 

 

"Has she ever dated anyone?" 

 

Jisoo arches a brow, but trances quietly to ponder with a finger on her bottom lip. 

 

"Not that I heard of or seen." 

 

"Have you ever thought of dating her?" 

 

A longer pause. And Jennie almost regrets asking in the first place.

 

"She's an eye candy. But I sort of already liked someone at that time.." 

 

Jisoo catches herself and promptly changes track. 

 

"Interested about her dating life? All of a sudden." 

 

Jennie's ears were starting to warm. 

 

"She's someone dear in my past. I'm simply curious about anything." 

 

"Dully noted." Jisoo innocently grins; eyes sparking with playfulness and observance. She cranes her attention to the clock on her left and does a double-take. Jennie catches on as she habitually checks her phone.

 

"Good god it's almost 2 o'clock." 

 

"Indeed it is." 

 

Jennie sighs at Jisoo's temperate tone. The girl need not to worry about staying up, while she on the other hand still has about eight months of senior year left before she could care less enough to freely lose track of times and dates. 

 

"I'll head on out then." 

 

"You should sleep over. Get you some extra time to sleep." 

 

"All good. I needed a fresh pair of uniform for later anyway." 

 

"Ah. Fixing to look more crisp when you see your childhood puppy-love again, perhaps?" 

 

"You're not leaving this alone from now on, aren't you.." 

 

"It's what best friends do." 

 

Jennie cracks a smile at the older girl's words. She'd missed these moments, and she kicks herself for ever taking them for granted. Jisoo sports a toothy grin, somehow hearing what Jennie doesn't say. 

 

She pats the girl on the knee and gleefully adds on. 

 

"Drive safely. Let me know if I have to lie to Seungri again later today." 

 

 

 

 

 

FRESH NEW DROPS  of rain bluntly crowd her windshield. It ought to flood soon enough with how many times the downpour had cycled back today alone, the intensity increasing as she finally pulls up into the parking lot just at the side of her condominium. She'd have to make a run to go around the building and get to the front of her flat, there was no other choice. 

 

Jennie chides herself for never thinking about keeping a spare umbrella as she jogs her way to her destination, only to stop midway to an eerie hooded figure standing in front of the shallow steps leading to the door. 

 

threatens to bubble up a scream. 

 

The hood drops, unraveling pink hair, and Jennie finds herself frozen once again just like their last encounter. She bites her bottom lip upon taking a closer look at the girl's drenched state.

 

"Your clothes-" 

 

"Sorry- I, I didn't know what I was thinking." 

 

Jennie hisses at her own clothes becoming wet by the second. Her hand grabs at Rosé's sleeve impulsively and she pulls the girl in close. She gets to the door somehow and struggles to grab the house keys from her coat's pocket, her other hand keeping its tight hold on soaked cotton sweater. 

 

She feels a slight resistance from behind and it makes her look back to find troubled eyes staring back at her. 

 

"What you said that night..."

 

"Don't worry about it." Jennie is determined to get the both of them inside before anyone got sick. Her door lock makes a click and she eagerly strides in. But Rosé had kept her footing, disabling her complete entry, and she finds herself in between the door's frame. One foot in, the other out. 

 

"I want to know what you meant." 

 

"Tell me, Roseanne." 

 

She awaits for an acknowledgement, the girl looking onto her eyes expectantly, and so she proceeds. 

 

"Why do you badly want to know of something that you don't even remember?" 

 

Rosé's eyes dilate and she adverts looking down on Jennie's paling knuckles, the girl's curled fingers slightly touching her skin.  

 

"Because it hurt."

 

Jennie makes a questioning tone, not quite hearing through the pouring rain. 

 

"What?" 

 

"It hurt not remembering someone like you." 

 

 

 

 

-♥-

 

 

 

 

"You." 

 

"Yes, me." 

 

Lisa sluggishly walks around a stunned Jisoo and makes her way to the living room couch straight ahead. She leans on the armrest, her body sinking from the couch's softness and she feels as if she could sleep for a whole day right there and then. She hears the door shut with small patters of house slippers against wooden floors coming her way and she feels the couch dip to her right momentarily. 

 

"You missed Jen by a hair." 

 

"I'm not here to see her." 

 

"Ah." The older girl hums, not seeking any further details. Lisa blows on her bangs, completely knowing Jisoo was waiting regardless.

 

"You lied."

 

This makes Jisoo turn to the girl, her left leg going with the motion until its curled form slightly touches Lisa's outer thigh and that's when she finally takes in the girl's fatigued demeanor. Worn-off make up that seemed to have been untouched for a whole day and Jisoo wonders if the fame was worth it after all. Otherwise, Lisa remained pleasing to the eyes, her pretty face still shining through the brief damages of thick foundation.

 

"I don't lie." 

 

"She's moved on." 

 

Jisoo thins her lips. She closes her eyes the same time she lets out a breath, remembering her own words not too long ago.

 

"You know very well she still has feelings for you." 

 

No matter how much she knew Jennie inside and out, she'll never know what the girl really feels. She'd been too carried away by her own emotions then, taking everything at face value. Assuming was such a bad habit to carry. 

 

"I don't lie." She whispers dejectingly. Lisa smiles at hearing the apology behind it.

 

Jisoo's guilt deepens when the smile slightly turns sour. 

 

"How do you move on from the one that got away?" 

 

 

 

 

 

SHE LOOKS DOWN on the new set of dry clothes she's donned. Black oversized Supreme hoodie and white pajama shorts, it amazes her just how lightheartedly Jennie tosses such expensive clothes onto her and even go as far as give them away for her to keep. 

 

Either Jennie didn't care much for money. Or she was a total germophobe. 

 

"Everything okay over there?" 

 

The muffled voice through the door sends her to tip over a porcelain flower vase with her hand that's been leaning over the sink's counter and the loud crash causes Jennie to knock rather aggressively.

 

"I'm sorry I broke your vase!" 

 

"Don't move. Are you able to reach the door?" 

 

The vase had landed far to her right where the toilet and bath tub are situated but the proximity did not stop some of the fragments from reaching the side of her right foot. 

 

The door was surprisingly a few steps away to her left, and she's yet again impressed by how spacious every area was in the condo altogether. Jennie was definitely no average high school student.

 

Rosé saunters over carefully to the door, her hand coming up to the knob but stops upon catching a picture on the wall, few inches adjacent to the door's frame. It seems to be of a young Jennie, wearing full equestrian suit as she sits on a big black horse. Her eyes had been covered under the cap's shadows but her gummy smile was out in the open, teeth radiating nicely with her pale face.  

 

An unexplainable emotion fills her chest. 

 

Knock, knock 

 

She jerks at the sound but was thankful for it. She opens the door and finds Jennie clothed and comfy. Her eyes automatically roam from the ground up; short black shorts that hugged just the right places, and the loose plain white shirt that was nearing to be a crop top, slightly exposing a flat and toned stomach. Rosé fights hard at blushing once her eyes reach Jennie's. 

 

She was totally checking the girl out and she hopes that the latter was oblivious to all of it.

 

"Don't worry about it." 

 

"What?" 

 

"About the vase." 

 

"O-oh." 

 

Jennie scans her up and down and Rosé feels her self-consciousness skyrocket at the scrutiny. 

 

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

 

"No." 

 

"Good." 

 

Grumble 

 

"..."

 

"..."

 

GRUMBLE

 

"I-I'm okay." Rosé consciously hugs her stomach, voice low and flawed of confidence. 

 

Jennie wrestles down a smile that was ready to form, her eyes never leaving Rosé's avoiding ones.

 

"I rarely cook at home, so I never run out of take out food." 

 

"I'm not hungry-" 

 

"Would be nice if you could join me. Even if you're not that hungry." 

 

Rosé clamps at the offer, the pink hue never leaving her skin. 

 

"I suppose I can join you." 

 

 

 

-♥-

 

 

 

"They're my favorite." Jennie mumbles through her half-stuffed mouth, leaving Rosé to stare at her in awe.

 

Rosé had spent some minutes forking at her share of the chicken salad moments ago, face subtly scrunched in dissatisfaction. It took Jennie three bites of her own to finally see the problem.

 

She still hates avocados. 

 

With her own resolve, she silently grabbed the girl's bowl and plucked at every single avocado slices visible. Jennie enthusiastically ate at her own bowl silently after sliding the other bowl back to its owner. She had to assure the flustered girl rather poorly when the silence prolonged.

 

Rosé remains silent and rooted to her seat. Jennie finally swallows the remaining bits in before reciprocating the girl's gaze. 

 

More silence. 

 

"Are you not feeling well?" She suddenly remembers the girl standing through the downpour for what seemed like a long time.  Her hand reaches out to feel the girl's forehead by instinct. 

 

Rosé holds the menacing fingers before they could get to her and squeezes lightly, lowering them down to meet Jennie's searching eyes. 

 

"No one has ever known or figured out my strong dislike for avocados. Not even my family." 

 

Jennie does not speak and chooses to listen. Her fingertips limp under Rosé's warm hold. 

 

"You seemed to know right away."

 

Two minutes of silence. Rosé's voice becomes soft and longing before making it to three. 

 

"You always ate the avocados for me." 

 

Jennie's eyes slightly widen in realization. Her voice otherwise remaining under clasped lips, fearing that the other girl will stop talking.

 

The girl shifts and holds Jennie's hand fully this time, gently placing them on the table's surface, half-eaten bowls long forgotten and set aside. Jennie seeing a younger Roseanne in front of her now, a familiar look of delight on her face. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"You still look pretty. Like a princess."