You Got Me (JenLisa)

Chapter 20

"Hi!" Lisa said breathlessly and waved her hand and greeted Jennie. Although she wasn't sure if Jennie could hear her from the inside.

Jennie quickly put her phone away and rolled her window down. Lisa was greeted with the familiar scent of strawberry and spring and Jennie's gummy smile. Bright, warm and jovial. She missed that. It's been a week.

"Hi!" Jennie said sunnily, despite the gray skies and cold weather, and casually leaned her body on the window chrome.

Lisa had to stoop lower and hunched her back to accomodate the height difference between her and Jennie's car window. She could almost smell the delicious, expensive smell of  Jennie's shampoo.

"Hey! How did you--I mean, what are you doing here?" Lisa asked, mentally cursing herself because she couldn't wipe that stupid, wide grin off her face.

"Three things, actually. But first, I want to ask you about something," Jennie said with a serious face.

"Oh," Lisa muttered, taken aback by Jennie's seriousness. "Maybe we should talk about it inside? I mean, it's freezing in here," Lisa suggested and gestured the front door of her studio.

"Oh, yeah. Sure. I'm sorry," Jennie said and rolled her window up, grabbed her things from the backseat and stepped out from her car.

Lisa instinctively placed her palm on Jennie's lower back. Jennie did the same. They then walked together towards the front door that was made of wood and square glass panels, where a "CLOSE" sign was hanging from the inside.

"Just a second," Lisa mumbled as she fished her keys inside the deep pocket of her jacket.

Jennie was welcomed with a comfortable, warm scent of Lisa's studio when Lisa had finally pushed the door open. The door chime made a tingling sound that cut through the homey silence of Lisa's studio's receiving area.

"Come on in," Lisa said and stood beside the door frame to let Jennie walked in first.

Jennie walked in and looked around. The room wasn't spacious but enough to accomadate at least ten people.

The ceiling was somewhat low and bare, painted with midnight black and on its surface was a seemingly endless aesthetically-designed crisscross of electrical moldings. Light fixtures were placed strategically, emitting dim and low lights, their beams pointing directly at the framed photographs being hung on the walls on the either side of the receiving area. Like a mini-gallery of some sort.

A set of unmatched sitting chairs were situated on the left side of the room. A Compass square ottoman was placed in the middle of it and above it was a black book with the word "EVIDENCE" written across it. Beneath the furnitures was a round African carpet spread across the wood-designed vinyl floorboard, claiming half of the floor area. And across the furniture set was a small counter made of glossed waferboards and beside it was a built-in shelf that carries books about photography, including Bill Burke's I Want To Take A Picture, a small leafy plant inside a small white vase and some other trinkets from Lisa's travels.

"Can I look around?" Jennie asked, pointing at the framed photographs on the wall.

Lisa nodded and said, "Yeah, of course!" looking slightly anxious but still managed to put a smile on her face.

She was tailing on Jennie's wake, standing just about a convenient distance behind Jennie, towering over the petite figure, as Jennie started with the first picture nearest to her.

"She's beautiful!" Jennie gasped in awe as she was staring at the black-and-white close-up photograph of a beautiful Gypsy woman. Her large, dark eyes were staring intently at the lens. Her hair was long and wavy and a set of hoop earrings were hanging on her both ears.