Jennie waited outside of her house, this would be the fourth date she’s had with Lisa, and honestly it was terrifying how fast she seemed to be falling for the thai girl. She was terrified of letting her in at 100% even if every time she looks at Lisa, her heart seems to tell her it’s okay, she’ll catch us, which is why she’s giving the girl a chance. It’s not like her heart had a choice in the matter. The girl got her in as soon as she laid eyes on her.

It was early november so she could feel the cold chill of the upcoming winter as she felt goosebumps on her skin and she started to debate the cost/benefit of her look when a sudden current of breeze touched her arms and just for a second she regretted not putting a jacket on, but damn it she looked good and didn’t want to ruin her outfit. Thankfully a black ford mustang fastback pulled up in front of her.

"Good evening Miss." The drive greeted getting out of the car.

"Good evening." Jennie nodded.

"Why are you out on the cold in this fine evening?" The driver asked leaning against the car.

"I'm meeting someone here actually." The brunette responded.

"Oh! This lucky person's name wouldn't happen be Lisa would it?" The driver asked, a smile on her face.

"It is actually." A smile on her face.

The driver took a few steps forward stopping right in front of Jennie, her hands going to her waist, and giving her a soft kiss.

"Then I guess I'm the lucky girl." She said after pulling back, a soft smile on her face.

Jennie felt a smile stretch across her face as they pulled back from each other, she took in the thai girl standing in front of her.

"You clean up pretty nice Ms. Lalisa Manoban." She commented with a smile as her eyes went up and down checking out the other girl.

"I do my best.” She shrugged. “But you... whew! Man... you look breathtaking." the thai girl said looking straight into brown eyes. “A vision for sure.”

"We you already got the date. not need to sweet talk me" She said playfully shoving the other girl, although a blush on her cheeks showed her true feelings. “But thank you.”

“So shall we?” Lisa extended her hand towards the other girl, which the brunette took gladly.

“We shall.”

————————————————-

They arrived at a very nice restaurant simple. trendy but also elegant.

“My Lady.” Lisa said, holding the door open and taking the brunette’s hand helping her get out of the car.

The brunette took Lisa’s hand and looked at the restaurant, it was right by the riverfront and as they walked in she noticed it was a big place, with big windows providing an amazing view of the river and the Astoria bridge, large planking floors, high ceilings, it really was a beautiful place.

The thai girl made a reservation which meant they didn’t have to wait to get seated, the hostess brought them to a table which was next to the window, giving a perfect view of the river.

As they took a seat, they had their orders taken so Jennie decided to start up conversation with the girl while they waited.

“So why come back?” She asked, “I mean you said you studied in NYU and you came back because you missed it, you missed your books, but why is that? What’s the difference between a bookstore here and one in a big city”

“I know it might sound weird because usually people from small towns want to run away and move to a big city, but I love books and I like living in the clouds” She said, playing with the base of her wine glass, a faraway look in her eyes. Jennie could help to notice the specks of gold that reflected from them.

“You can’t really do that in a city like New York, where everyone is moving super quickly, always on their phone, billboards everywhere, it’s just not the same, I really didn’t like the fast paced life that living in New York would bring. ” She paused for a second, sighing “I wanted my life to be what I actually loved, and I want to live it in the pace that I want.” She finished.

“Yeah… I get that.” The brunette said, with a soft smile on her lips.

The girls continued their meal. Lisa learned that Jennie had chosen to get an MBA because her father did and she always admired him. She loved the idea of taking over her dad’s company together. Jennie learned that Lisa needed coffee first thing in the morning before she could start to deal with the world. Lisa learned she loved Jennie’s laugh after breaking her with a ridiculous pun about pasta. And so she promises then a there to make up a thousand puns if means hearing her laugh like that again.

———————————————---

Two months and a two hour drive to Portland later, Lisa was ignoring how fast her heart was beating and how nervous she was of meeting Jennie’s social group. Apparently there was a gala of some sort and with her father being a prominent figure, she was obligated to come hence why Lisa also needed to come as her plus one. She’s not meeting the parents yet, God no. But she’s meeting her friends which she supposes comes first. She’s not sure she’s ready to meet the grand Mr. Kim just yet.

Walking hand in hand with Jennie and going in to the very fancy venue, the thai girl could already tell this was not her crowd, they all looked snobby, she could count at least 15 very expensive watches, and she could already feel the judgement at her clothing choices and the very old casio watch given to her by her mother.

“Jennie.” A blonde came up from behind Jennie. She was beautiful too, taller than Jennie about Lisa height.

“Rosie!” Jennie squealed, turning around to give her hug.

‘Oh so she’s a friend’ Lisa thought, ‘We are meeting the friends five seconds after arriving, awesome.’ Guess there was no beating around the bush now, she really needed to be her best fancy self right now.

“I missed you, Jen.” She said keeping Jennie on a side hug and she looked from the brunette to the thai with a smile. “Is this the Lalisa we’ve been hearing a lot about?”

“Just Lisa… but yes that’s me” She said, giving the shorter brunette a small wave, her other hand in her dress pants pockets.

“Nice meeting you.” The blonde said with a smile and a wave of her own. “I’ve heard a lot of good things about you.”

“All from Jennie, I guess.” She said smiling at how Jennie seemed to try and hide her face in embarrassment.

“It’s like she doesn’t know how to stop.” The blonde joke chuckling.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Jennie said stopping both of the girls.

“Just kidding, Jen” She said. “By the way my mom needed to talk you. Sorry I have to borrow her for a minute.” She said while taking Lisa’s girl away…Lisa’s? Was she Lisa’s? The thai girl shook her head and stored that thought for later. The brunette in the meantime looked back at Lisa apologetically, the taller girl only shrugged and waved her off mouthing ‘Its fine’.

Lisa went off to look for the bar, once she did she asked for a whiskey and she turned to look at the party after getting it, leaning back against the counter she found Jennie in her line of sight, for other people it may look as if Jennie was very interested in what the people around her were talking about, but to Lisa it seem the opposite, it was little hints like how she looked away every once in a while, or how she kept tapping her finger against her clutch. How the smile she was giving them did not reach her eyes, didn’t look genuine.

Taking a deep breath and realizing the girl was not going to get free anytime soon she walked towards the balcony, it had an amazing view of the city and since it was a bit chilly not a lot of people were outside, leaning against the rail she let her thoughts fly away, they weren’t always necessarily deep, sometimes it was dumb stuff like the kind you have when you are showering, like right now she’s thinking about how fitbits are technically tamagotchis except the creature you need to keep alive is yourself or how the titles of shakespeare's books are spoilers of who dies.

“Hey stranger.” A lovely voice snapping her out of her thoughts. She turned to her right as a gorgeous brunette in a red dress stood next to her. “You look like you are having fun.” She said taking the thai girls hand.

“I am.” She said. “I made a friend.” She pointed at an ant that she assumed was drinking from the water condensation on on her glass. “His name’s Fred.”

“I’m sure he’s nice.” The other girl said chuckling. “What’s on your mind?” She asked seeing as how the other girl went back to look at the city in front of her. Her mind clearly somewhere else.

“Why are we here?” She asked. “I mean, why are we still here? I don’t have a lot in common with your friends and to be honest it doesn’t seem like you are having the best of times either.” She said honestly.

Jennie waited a second before answering, as if trying to organize her thoughts. “I always think, that this things will be fun, like somehow they will be different from the rest, then I come in and is the same superficial thing. Rosie is the one true friend I have and the one person that makes this thinks tolerable. I guess at the end of the day it’s what I know, it’s what I grew up in and it’s almost like I’m forcing myself to like it because I feel like I’m supposed to.” She shook her head and turned to look at the city. “It’s the reason I left Korea, too many people knew me there, it’s also one of the reasons why I chose to settle a new label here. Like a fresh start.”

“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to force yourself to. I’ve known you for two months now and I’m not going to pretend to know what it’s like to grow up in this world, but what I do know is that for someone who grew up around money you are the most humble, soft, big hearted person I know and you shouldn’t force yourself to be somebody else just to be liked, because the people that matter will love you regardless of where you come from or what your last name is” She said staring deep in to Jennie’s eyes, her thumb moving back and forth against the brunette’s hand in a comforting manner. "I like you because of what's in here" She said pointing to her heart "And so far it's seems pretty perfect to me"

Jennie stared completely transfixed by the thai girl’s eyes. Her heart once again leaping in both fear and excitement. Lisa looked at her with the most honest and soft eyes and the brunette couldn’t help but gently frame Lisa's face with her hands pulling her in and crashing their lips together. The taller wrapping her arms around her waist, pulling her closer.

“Let’s go home.”