DELICATE ★ JENLISA - Chapter 13: Chapter 13

Waking up the next morning was so much worse than it usually was. Granted, most of the time I wasn't waking up to blinding sunlight, but nevertheless. I stumbled out of bed and ran to the bathroom, trying but failing to keep the contents of last night's dinner inside of my body. After a few minutes, I sank back against the floor and put my hair up, trying to compose myself.
Why the fuck was I hungover?
I'd felt like this enough to know that I was in fact hungover, but I couldn't remember anything from last night. I figured that was courtesy of the alcohol I had probably consumed, but I usually at least vaguely remembered what I'd done the night before.
I sighed, pressing my hand to my forehead and making my way back into the bedroom. I could already tell that the morning had passed, meaning I hadn't woken up and Lisa had gone to the school without me. Frowning slightly, I moved forward to grab my phone, only to see a piece of paper laid over top of it.
You're going to be too hungover for school. Drink water and eat something. I don't care what it is, even if it's a single cracker, just eat something.
I took the note off my phone, frowning. I started to think that she should have at least let me decide whether or not I was up for going to school, until I felt my stomach churning again and my head started to ring. When I went to flip the note over, I realize there was a phone number written on my hand and I tried to remember what I had done last night.
I faintly remembered talking to Taemin, and then I felt the weight of my new ID in my back pocket. As I was trying to force a glass of water down my throat, I recalled spending the afternoon with him and showing up at the door of a frat house.
But everything else after that was blurry.
What happened last night?
I asked myself that question for what felt like hours. I couldn't go back to sleep, no surprise there, and I felt too shitty to do anything productive, not that there was anything productive for me to do in Lisa's apartment anyway. I continued trying to remember anything from after the moment I stepped foot in the frat house, but I couldn't. By the time it was time for Lisa to return home, I'd decided that I would have to ask her how I got home last night and what happened after I did so.
But before she returned, the door bell rang and I couldn't decide what to do. Was I supposed to answer it? Let whoever was outside stand there and think Lisa was ignoring them?
I sighed, standing up from the kitchen stool and trying to make myself look like I wasn't suffering from one of the worst hangovers I'd ever had. I lifted myself up on my toes slightly and peered through the peephole to see a woman in a black blazer, a dark blue dress, and black stilettos.
Lisa's sister.
Ark was standing next to her, and I took it upon myself to assume that Lisa was supposed to watch over her this weekend. I thought that Ashley would have known that Lisa didn't get home until after two-thirty, but glancing at the clock, I realized it was passed that time and Lisa was running late.
I wouldn't have answered the door because I knew Lisa wasn't particularly happy to be flaunting me around to the people she was associated with, but Ashley had already met me. I reluctantly opened the door, and Ark's face immediately lit up at the sight of me. She jumped into my arms, nearly tackling me to the ground because I was definitely not physically stable enough at the moment to be holding up her weight.
"Jen! You're here!"
I smiled tightly, setting her down and peaking out of the corner of my eye to see Ashley's skeptical glance. "Yep, Aunt Lisa told you I would be, didn't she?"
Ark nodded and scurried into the apartment, forcing me to look up from the floor into Ashley's eyes. Her eyebrows were raised slightly and there was a small smirk on her face. "Where's my sister?"
I scratched the back of my head. "Uh, work. I guess she's running late."
"And..." She waved her hand in the air, gesturing to Lisa's apartment. "You're still here. Without Lisa. That is certainly an interesting turn of events, no?"
I honestly wished that I could shrink back into a shell of some sort so that I didn't have to answer her. But I didn't get that luxury, and I knew Ashley was expecting an answer.
I laughed awkwardly, "I'm just waiting around for her..."
She raised an eyebrow, taking my appearance into account. "I see. And you're.. hungover.. so early on a Friday afternoon? Also, may I ask why you are always in the presence of my sister? I have not, in the past two years, seen her around the same person for longer than a day or two at a time, let alone two weeks.." She paused then, letting something that resembled a laugh escape her lips. "Well besides my daughter, anyway."
I stuttered out, "I think you should maybe let Lisa answer that..."
She quirked an eyebrow. "So Arabelle was not mistaken last week; you are living with my sister?"
I was at a loss for words, and all that I managed to force out was, "U-uh..."
And almost immediately following my response, the devil herself emerged from the stairwell, her bag over her shoulder and her keys in her hand. Her eyebrows met and she stared at us with confusion. "What's going on?"
Her sister looked at her expectantly. "Have you forgotten that you have a seven year old to be attending to?"
Lisa glanced at her phone, shaking her head. "You said four. Some people have an actual work schedule they have to follow, Ash."
Ashley flashed her a sarcastic smile. "You're funny, sometimes I forget to give you credit. Perks of answering to myself Lalisa, you can't fault me for using my brain."
"Who are you, dad?"
I found that I certainly did not fit into their conversation, and I prepared to leave, but after spitting a few words back at Lisa, Ashley placed a hand on my exposed shoulder and stopped me. I felt so uncomfortable, mainly because I was in front of both Lisa and her sister while I looked like shit, wearing nothing but a muscle shirt and a tiny pair of black shorts.
"Now now, not so fast. I've got a bit of time and I'd like for one of you to answer my questions."
Lisa pulled her lips into a thin line, peeking at Ark behind me and then proceeding to push me into the apartment. "Unfortunately Ashley, we don't always get what we want. See you Sunday."
Lisa prepared to shut the door on her sister's face, but the brunette stopped her. "If my daughter is going to be around you Jennie, for such extensive periods of time, I think I deserve to know a bit about you."
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat, glancing at Lisa. She seemed to sigh at her sister's words, adverting her eyes elsewhere.
"Who are you to Lisa and how old are you?"
I looked at Lisa yet again, silently asking her what she wanted me to tell her sister, and her expression told me to be honest. I turned back to Ashley, biting my cheek. "A friend.. and.. seventeen?"
She narrowed her eyes. "Is that a question?"
I shook my head, intimidated beyond belief, and Ashley's mouth fell slightly open. She immediately turned to Lisa, who only gave her sister a bored look, bringing her hand up to Ashley's chin. "You might want to close that, wouldn't want to catch flies."
"Lisa," her sister began, narrowing her eyes. "I'm fairly certain you're intelligent enough to limit your flings to men and women older than eighteen, preferably adults in their twenties.."
"I do not have a fling with Jennie. She is a friend, Ashley, and I know that's hard to believe, but it's the truth."
"I am not an idiot Lisa," she said, glancing between the both of us. "There is quite clearly something going on between the two of you." Then she fixated her gaze on her sister. "I think that you and I need to have a private conversation."
I didn't need to hear her to say anything else, and I took her words as my que to escape into the living room. I could definitely see how being a lawyer was Ashley's calling. She could be ridiculously intimidating, but as I turned back to see her and Lisa having what seemed to be a light argument, I realized Lisa could certainly hold her own. She wasn't intimidated at all by her sister, and I could tell by the expression on her face that she was relatively bored.
"Jen! Can you braid my hair?"
I still felt sick, but I tried to put on my best smile and walk over to where Ark was sitting at the kitchen stool. I sat down next to her, taking a few strands of her hair in my hands.
"You have beautiful hair Ark."
She giggled, giving me the reaction I had wanted to receive. "Thanks."
"Does your daddy have blonde hair?"
Ark nodded, causing me to have difficulty braiding. I held her head in place, considering her answer. It made sense; I gathered that Ark probably resembled her father a lot more than her mother because her bright blue eyes and blonde hair contrasted with her mother's dark brown locks and striking green eyes. I glanced over Ark's head as I braided to see that Ashley had disappeared. Lisa was facing away from me with her head pressed against the wall, her eyes closed.
"Is everything alright?" I called out.
She shook her head, turning around and walking towards Ark. She placed her hands over her niece's ears, allowing her voice to fall to a whisper. "No, everything is not alright. It is impossible to lie to Ashley."
Ark pulled Lisa's hands off her ears and spoke. "Hey... you can't tell Jen secrets unless you tell me them too!"
Lisa pulled her lips into a thin line. She was clearly unhappy, and I sighed. I had thought that after those first few days, she had loosened up enough so that this side of her wouldn't resurface. I was obviously wrong.
She spoke, "I wasn't Ark. No secrets, I promise, I just... used a word your mother doesn't want you hearing."
Ark sat back in her seat. "It's bad to curse Aunt Lisa."
"I know Ark, I shouldn't."
I finished braiding Ark's hair, placing my hands on her shoulders and squeezing to let her know I was done. She scurried off into the other room, presumably to play with her toys, and I turned to Lisa.
"Does she.. know?"
Lisa sighed heavily. "Does she know what? That I've done the very thing that she's dedicated her life to put people away for? Yes, she knows. But what's the big deal, right?"
"Lisa... I am really sor-"
"Stop apologizing Jennie. There's nothing either of us can do now, and it's not like Ashley is going to turn me in. I'm just never, ever going to live this down."
Both of us stayed silent for a while after that, until I spoke up. "Did she ask... why I'm staying here?"
"Yes, but when it really matters, Ashley cannot do a thing to squeeze information out of me. To her, you're still just a friend of mine that needs a place stay, even though she knows I don't make friends."
"And.. why is it that you don't make friends?"
Lisa placed her hands on the edge of the counter, bracing herself as her eyes fluttered up to meet mine. She shook her head, choosing to ignore my question. I spoke instead. "So what happened last night?"
"Nothing happened last night," she answered immediately, turning away from me towards the sink to wash dishes. I gave her an odd look, but she couldn't acknowledge it because she was facing away from me.
I shook my head at her. "Uh... okay..? So what you're saying is, I didn't get drunk and my hangover is just a figment of my imagination?"
"No," she answered firmly, still facing in the opposite direction so that I was staring at her backside. "You were very drunk and I am still beyond upset with you for allowing me to believe that you were in danger last night."
"Lisa I'm really sorry about that, but I can't remember anything, aside from being with Taemin in a restaurant."
"Who's Taemin?"
I prepared to speak but then I stopped myself, silently cursing. I still was not, in any way, interested by the thought of sharing information about my past with her. "He's uh... my old foster brother."
After I spoke, she turned back to me, her expression hard as stone.
What the hell did I do this time?
"And truthfully, the only thing you can remember is being at a restaurant?"
I let my hair cover my face so that she wouldn't be able to see the slight embarrassment in my expression as I spoke again. "And the frat house... but uh, that's really it. I don't remember anything after we showed up. What happened when I came back here last night?"
"Nothing," she immediately answered again, and this time I wasn't willing to just let her weird behavior slide.
"Okay Lisa, what the hell? Why do you keep doing that?"
"Doing what?"
"You keep shutting me down every time I ask you about last night. I'm only trying to piece together everything that happened. I mean for shit sakes, I have a phone number on my arm and I honestly don't even know who it belongs to. Can you at least help me out a little bit?"
Her green eyes burned into mine for the moment, before she pressed her lips together and nodded. "You came home, drunk and probably high-"
I cut her off. "I have never gotten high in my life, and I never will Lisa."
She stared at me, before shooting me and odd look and continuing. "Okay... you came home drunk, I yelled at you, and then I put you to bed because you could hardly walk by yourself. That was it."
I had a feeling there was something minor, or even major, that she was leaving out, but I decided not to push because I was still feeling pretty bad and I just wanted to rest. Unfortunately, Lisa had other ideas. She took a stack of papers out of her bag and plopped them on the counter in front of me, and I swear I saw something that resembled a smirk on her face. "Get to work."
I placed a hand in my forehead, flipping through the papers. "What the hell is this?"
"The classwork and homework you missed from yesterday and today. Have fun."
Something told me that she was enjoying this.
A lot.
I groaned, my headache growing. I pushed the papers away, shaking my head. "I've got the weekend. Maybe I'll do it when I don't feel like I've just been run over by a train and hit by a bus simultaneously."
She eyed me, before shrugging and walking into the bedroom to check on Ark.
"Suit yourself. It's your grade, not mine."
By Monday, it Jenme quite clear to me that something had changed. Ark had gone home late on Sunday night, but the weekend hadn't been at all like the previous one. Lisa wasn't in the mood to talk, and the only two times she did speak to me after the events of Friday afternoon happened to be when I was playing with Ark and she needed to put her niece to bed.
Other than that, I was being completely and utterly shut out, and I had no idea why.
I had texted Taemin, hoping I could at least figure out what happened at the party from him. He told me that he saw me drinking and kissing some blonde, and then he bid me goodbye at the end of the night. That was it.
Thus I took upon myself to assume that nothing special happened, because both Taemin and Lisa had told me so.
So why did I get such a weird feeling otherwise?
I folded the last box and tossed it in the cart per-usual, steering it out of the way as I tried desperately to take my thoughts off of Lisa. I headed to Max's tiny office in the back, knocking lightly before stepping inside.
"I'm glad you remembered to stay behind for a few minutes," Max said as soon as I entered. "I didn't get the chance to hand you your paycheck on Friday, since I gave you off."
I smiled tightly, knowing this would mean that I'd either have to take the risk of keeping all my checks from here on out in my bag until I turned eighteen, or find my way back to Charles's house to speak with Cate. I knew she would help me deposit them into a bank account because I couldn't do so myself. The problem was, if Charles ever found out that the account was created, he would have access to it, and something told me that would be a big problem.
Max handed me an envelope and nodded. "It's a little less than it was two weeks ago, just because of the days you had to miss. I'm sorry about that, but there wasn't much I could do."
"It's okay Max, I'm alright with however many hours you can give me."
"Good. Have a good night, okay?"
I nodded, shutting the door on my way out. "You too Max."
I played with the envelope in my hands on the way home, hating that I was walking around with a check for over two hundred dollars-my payment for the last two weeks. I would have to put them in the duffle bag I'd brought to Lisa's house, just so that I wouldn't be constantly carrying around so much money. The walk home felt more offsetting than usual, so I put the check in my bag and quickened my pace. I would have sworn that I heard tires on pavement behind me, but when I looked back, there was no one there.
I was just being paranoid.
I made it to Lisa's apartment and let out a breath of relief, climbing the first flight of stairs to her door. Pulling it open, I slipped inside to find myself staring at the tall, well-groomed man that I had met the previous week. His black tie was dangling loosely from around his neck and his collar was popped, his shirt pulled out of his dress pants.
Lisa walked into my line of sight then, a tight white tank top clinging to her torso and loose black shorts covering a small region of her lower half. Her eyes connected with mine and she froze for a moment, before shrugging off whatever she had just felt and leaning on the wall.
It wouldn't have taken a genius to figure out what the two had just been doing.
Jackson ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair, narrowing his eyes at me and turning to Lisa. "Seriously?"
She shot him a bored look. "Seriously what, Jackson?"
He stared at her for a while, before shaking his head in what appeared to be disbelief and slipping on his left shoe. "This is a little extreme, even for you Lisa."
"Oh for god sakes Jack, I wasn't lying to you. She's a friend that I'm giving a place to stay for a while. Do you maybe want to make your jealousy a little less obvious?"
He pulled his other shoe on, moving towards her. "What would I have to be jealous for?" He plastered a wide smirk onto his face, placing his hands on her hips and leaning in. "You can do whatever the hell you want with her, as long as you and I continue to happen."
And then he captured her lips between his, making me turn away because it wasn't exactly something I wanted to watch. Did she have to do this in front of me? She couldn't have invited him over a little earlier?
I sighed, making my way around them to the kitchen. I started looking for something to eat, watching as the two whispered by the door until Jackson turned to leave. Lisa turned to me, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You have truly impeccable timing."
I raised my eyebrow. "I leave work at the same time every day. The fact that I just got a little glimpse of your sex life is not my fault."
She eyed me for a while, before sitting at the stool and putting her head in her hands. "Who said anything about my sex life...?"
"I would think that you'd know by now, I am probably one of the least naive teenagers you will ever meet Lisa."
"Right.. well, sorry I guess. He really likes to.. make his presence known in front of the people that he thinks I'm interested in."
I leaned against the counter across from the island she was seated at, pushing the food I had taken out of the fridge around on my plate. I smirked, "Oh the joys of men establishing their dominance. I feel like I'm missing out."
She cocked her head. "Because the drama that comes with dating women is any more appealing?"
I lifted my eyes to meet hers, shrugging. "Valid point I guess. Then again, I wouldn't know."
She raised an eyebrow and I spoke again. "Never had a girlfriend, and honestly, I doubt I ever will."
"Why not?"
I sighed, putting my plate in the sink. "There's no point, I guess. I'm too fucked up. Besides, I can't even make friends with Charles in my life. Why would dating be any different?"
She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What.. do you mean you're too fucked up?"
I shook my head. "Nothing you need to worry about Lisa. I'm going to bed, I'll talk to you in the morning."
I could tell she wanted to stop me from leaving, but something seemed to hold her back. I wasn't sure what it was, but I couldn't focus on it because I was tired and I wasn't in the mood to talk. I changed and lied down on Lisa's bed, sighing.