All That You Got (Skin to Skin, Oh My God)

Chapter 14

• The One Where They Finally Get it Together •

Lisa hated her school.

It wasn't exactly the school itself-truthfully, her classes were okay, as were her professors. But she hated her dorm room with its uncomfortable squeaky twin-sized mattress, and she hated the tiny cubicle shower in their small bathroom, and she absolutely hated the fact that she it wasn't where Chaeyoung was.

She should have anticipated how much of a pain in the ass it would be, honestly. Living in Seoul. It meant her dad called her every Sunday urging her to attend the campus church ceremony. It meant he demanded she come home once a week to have an awkward dinner with him, where he either wholly ignored any personal questions regarding how Lisa was feeling while asking again and again how her grades were and if there were any boys she liked yet, or he just lectured her the entire time about how this was her chance to atone for her past mistakes.

Chaeyoung, meanwhile, was hours away apparently having the time of her life. She posted new pictures every other day, having a blast with her new friends. She'd been true to her word and texted Lisa, but they were short and far and few in between. It was like they didn't know how to speak to one another anymore, treading on eggshells and unsure how to proceed with this awkward new dynamic to their relationship. The whole pretending they never had their tongues down one another's throat angle.

Sometimes things fell back to normal. Such as the day they moved into their dorms. Lisa had ignored the last text Chaeyoung sent, too upset at her for just leaving for college and not even bothering to stop by her house to say bye. Chaeyoung had called her that night, rousing her from sleep, and she'd stared at the photo icon of Chaeyoung's contact for a half beat, her heart hammering, before scrambling to answer it. Chaeyoung had greeted her in hushed tones, voice shaky...had apologized. Had cried.

Lisa cried too.

She didn't understand what went wrong between them. She didn't understand much anything anymore.

Still, she kept moving, kept surviving. She was currently curled up in bed with her nose buried in tomorrow's reading for her first-period class-until the jingle of keys alerted her to her roommate's return, anyway. Lisa's heart sank.

The light switched off as the girl trudged into the room toting the usual giant bag of science books she was never seen without. "Dorm rules states lights out by midnight, remember," grunted the girl. Her name was Darna, but considering Lisa wasn't a fan, she just called her by her last name, Tsing.

As Tsing fell into bed, Lisa sighed and switched on her phone's flashlight to continue reading. Usually she would argue, but God. She was tired. The fact that she hadn't spoken to Chaeyoung in a couple months beyond the odd vague text here and there didn't help.

Speak of the devil. She jolted as her phone buzzed in her hand, nearly dropping it. She quickly slid it open to see a text from Chaeyoung.

Chaeyoung: Are you awake?

She glanced at the clock. 12:04. Daegu was three hours ahead. Why was Chaeyoung awake at 3am on a Thursday night?

Lisa: Yes. What's up?

Park Chaeyoung is calling.

"Shit," Lisa muttered to herself, glancing at Tsing's form on the bed as she scrambled to get up without dropping her book and notes all over the floor. She hurried out into the hallway and answered the phone. "Hello?"

A pause. Then: "Hey." Followed by a sniffle that immediately had Lisa's stomach dropping.

"Are you okay?" she asked at once. "What's-has something happened? What's the matter?"