There is no point in putting her phone on silent. There are exactly three people who text her, and zero people who call her. Chaeyoung never really considered it all that bad or upsetting. Tonight, it becomes a small blessing. If she had a habit of putting it on mute, there is a good chance she would have slept through a sudden night call.
But it's ringing loud and clear and Chaeyoung barely manages to open one eye, blindingly searching for her phone and swearing when she knocks it off the nightstand.
“Hello.” her voice is rough and sleep-laden. She doesn't even bother looking at the caller ID. Unless Anya is back in town for a surprise visit, there is only one person who would be calling her at 2 in the morning.
On the other end of the line, Jennie is silent, and Chaeyoung is about to sigh and end the call when she finally speaks. “Can you come pick me up?” These are the first words Jennie's said to her in a week. They are slurred and mumbled. Chaeyoung imagines her step sister sway in a hallway of someone's house, spilling her drink and holding onto a wall.
She sighs. “It's late, Jennie,” she points out, voice still scratchy.
“Shit.” Jennie curses, and she hears a crashing noise before the other girl speaks again. “I know.” the words are smudged now. Something coils in the pit of Chaeyoung's stomach, then, cold and dreadful. Jennie doesn't sound like that. This isn't her usual voice. “I'm – I don't feel so good.”
Chaeyoung doesn't even realize she's already standing and grabbing her sweatpants when Jennie mumbles again. “Chaeyoung, please.”
“Stay on the phone with me,” Chaeyoung orders. Her mind is instantly sharp and crisp, jolted out of its sleepy state as soon as the dread starts to rise to her throat. It claws at her chest, urgent and so, so cold. “Where are you?”
“Finn's,” Jennie mumbles. Finn Choi. Of course. The complicated mess of an ex. Chaeyoung should've known, really. Neither Jisoo nor Lisa go to Finn's parties. Neither Jisoo nor Lisa would've let this happen. At least she hopes so. She hopes this hasn't happened in the past, when Jennie couldn't call her for whatever reasons the girl had at the time. She really, really hopes so.
Jennie never sounds like that.
“Jennie,” she snaps when the girl doesn't reply. “Stay on the phone with me. And don't drink anything else.”
She spends her entire ride to Finn's house instructing Jennie to lock herself in a bathroom and try to throw up. Thankfully, the girl drank enough to manage that with no problem. Chaeyoung's never thought the sound of retching would bring her relief, yet here she is.
Her parking job is far from precise when she pulls up in front of Finn's house, and her fingers tremble just slightly when she clutches her phone, Jennie still on speaker, not retching and not saying anything either. There are no sounds. Thank God, Chaeyoung thinks.
She doesn't have time to think why Jennie hasn't called Niylah first.
She storms inside, bass lines and loud laughter washing over her, and barely refrains from grabbing Finn by his hair when she spots him in the kitchen, mixing drinks. She knows he wasn't the one to spike Jennie's drink. She's not even completely sure Jennie's drink was spiked, but she knows Jennie never drinks to the point of passing out.
Jennie's never sounded like that.
Finn's eyes flash with surprise when he sees her. “Chaeyoung?” he blinks, rubbing his red eyes. “Am I tripping or are you actually out of bed past ten?” He grins.
Chaeyoung doesn't smile back.
“Where's your bathroom?”
He almost chokes on his drink. “Um.” She really doesn't have time for his pretty frowns. “You don't have one at your own house?”
YOU ARE READING
Forbidden - chaennie
Romancejennie's mother is engaged to chaeyoung's father, and the girls are about to become unwilling step siblings. Instead, they become so much more. Or, step sister au. 🔞 credits to the original owner (geralehane, AO3)
