shake the dust // JENLISA

Chapter 5

After the coffee was consumed and conversation had, Chaeyoung offered to let Lisa sleep over. She decided to accept, since she was still trying to really figure out what to do. Jisoo urging her to take the counselling helped. Lisa just needed to get over her doubts and steel herself for a very big argument when she got home, so she stretched out on their couch and had a blank, dreamless sleep. She woke up before her friends did and made breakfast to say thank you. Afterwards she accepted a shower, dressed in fresh clothes and then hurried out to her car.

"Good luck!" Jisoo called out to her. "And try not to kill each other, alright?"

Lisa slid her window down and put her key into the ignition. "Can't promise anything."

"Call us as soon as you've made a decision," Chaeyoung said. "Or I'll call you myself."

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Yes mom!"

Jisoo laughed loudly and accepted a playful slap from Chaeyoung, but then they started kissing and Lisa averted her eyes quickly before her chest started burning. Jisoo distractedly waved her away and so she drove off, shaking her head but smiling softly. What on earth would she do without Jisoo and Chaeyoung to take her in for a night and talk some sense into her? She was insanely lucky to have them in her life. She briefly wondered if Jennie also had people like that, minus Chaeyoung. It was no secret that on most arguments, Chaeyoung usually defended Jennie while Jisoo, ever loyal, stuck behind Lisa.

Traffic was very light as she drove home, mainly due to people already being at work. The rush was at least over, so Lisa took her time driving through the highways towards the inner city. She considered stopping somewhere just to stall, but had to argue herself out of it. This needed to happen, whether she liked it or not. Her wedding ring still sat on her finger, a simple silver band, and with it the promise that they would stick together through sickness and in health. Lisa owed it to them, to Jennie, to give this a try. Even if all she wanted to do was just shrug and move on to something easier. Lisa was never one to back down, though.

The house was just as she remembered it, though the only noticeable difference was that Jennie's Porsche sat in the driveway. Lisa hadn't seen it in such a long time that she had to really think about it for a while before she remembered that yeah, it had always been such a dark shade of black. Just realizing that she'd barely recognized her wife's car made Lisa's mood drop low.

She climbed out of her car on shaky legs, but steeled her nerves and headed inside. To her surprise she heard the tapping of nails on wood and their three dogs came running down the hallway, eyes wide with excitement. A rush of happiness filled Lisa at the sight of them.

"Hey babies," she greeted them eagerly, laughing. Spot, the oldest of the three, a full bred Pitbull, wiggled her butt as well as her tail and appeared to be resisting the urge to jump up on her. The other two, Scar, a Border collie mix, and Fluffy, a mix of what was possibly every breed of dog, wiggled beside Spot, crying softly and staring up at her with their big, brown eyes. Lisa had trained them well not to jump on her, or anyone, even when they were beyond excited. That usually meant that they would all just sit and wiggle around until someone gave them a pat on the head, so Lisa gave in and dropped down onto her knees. The dogs knew that that gave them permission, and so they bounded forward to paw at Lisa's legs and lick her neck.

Spot was the wettest when it came to her kisses, but Scar had the sharpest nails. Fluffy was the most excited out of all of them, and she all but climbed into Lisa's arms to lick her squarely on the cheek.

"You guys really missed me, huh?" she laughed, scratching them each equally. She struggled for balance as Spot stood on her leg. "I missed you guys too." She pressed a kiss to each of their little heads, laughing softly when they only exploded into another bout of whimpering and vibrating.