Sonnet seventeen - JENLISA

Part 6

Jennie shows up at dinner soon after Lisa, and Lisa's sure everyone catches onto the tension between them immediately, if only for the rare distance they place between them.

Lisa purposefully sat herself between Jackson and Yeri to avoid Jennie, but it still stings a little when Jennie doesn't even attempt to thwart the effort of evasion and instead places herself as far away from Lisa as possible, never sparing her so much as a glance.

When Lisa does sneak the odd stare Jennie's way, she can read the irritation written all over her best friend's face. And sure, Lisa knows she overstepped with how heavily she went at Jennie earlier, but she's allowed to be upset too, isn't she? Even if Jennie doesn't know how Lisa feels, she can't possibly think Lisa would want to hear about Mino while they were literally still in bed together. Surely Lisa is entitled to her own anger right now.

After dinner, Lisa makes a break for the beach before anyone can pull her into some painful activity that might force her to stick to Jennie's side. She's there for a while before Jackson is the one to eventually seek her out, settling down next to her on the sand.

Lisa can feel Jackson's eyes on her, waiting for his eventual soft sigh as he pushes them into a conversation that she's still in the process of preparing herself to have. It figures, really, that she tells Jackson. It's become a regularity at this point in their friendship that Jackson just happens to be there whenever she's about to launch herself into a meltdown.

"Everyone's pretty worried about you." He says, "And Jennie."

"That's ridiculous."

"Not really. They're not used to seeing you guys anything but happy together."

Lisa lets out a bitter laugh, "Yeah, well... things can't stay the same forever."

(Especially not when you take your perfectly fine friendship and flip it on its head with a fake romance and unrequited feelings)

"You guys will figure it out, though." Jackson is optimistic, still wearing that oblivious, easy smile, "You're Lisa and Jennie. You have to be okay or what hope is there for the rest of us?"

"I think I'm in love with her."

Jackson laughs, "See? You'll be fine."

Lisa sighs, wearing a deep frown, "No, I mean... Jackson, I'm in love with Jennie."

Jackson pauses, and his laugh this time is awkward, "Okay?" he looks at Lisa like she's declared she's from another planet, "Why're you saying it like it's a bad thing?"

"Because it is."

"I'm pretty sure being in love with your girlfriend isn't a bad thing."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Uh, yes she is. Are you feeling okay?" Jackson reaches out to check her temperature and Lisa swats his hand away.

"No, Jackson, she's not. We've been faking."

Jackson snorts, "Yeah, alright."

Lisa stares blankly back at Jackson, not offering up the 'just kidding' he's clearly waiting for, and understanding slowly dawns on his face.

"You're serious." He pauses, gapes, "So you're not-" Jackson looks almost constipated trying to work his mind around the news, "... oh. That's fucked up."

"Yeah." Lisa huffs, falling back onto the sand and frowning up at the night sky.

There's a good few beats of silence before Jackson speaks again.