Roommates // Jenlisa

4: Loose Ikea Shopping List

"So, what are the views on like, unnatural hair colors in this office?" Lisa asked Seulgi on their lunch break on Tuesday. Seulgi herself had a bit of blue in her hair, but there weren't many other examples of colorful hair in the office, and Lisa had also not missed the fact that only the women in the office seemed to dress nicely every day, the guys mostly wearing jeans and t-shirts. Lisa supposed that no one had specifically asked her to dress a certain way, but she was pretty sure that if she didn't, people might not take her seriously.

"There's no rules or anything if that's what you're wondering," Seulgi told her. They were sitting in the office building's little café on the first floor of the building. They'd each bought a coffee, but Lisa had brought her own lunch from home, while Seulgi had put in a Postmates order shortly before their break started. "I mean, I like to stand out, but I'm not oblivious to the way it might make some of the guys view me. But I get my shit done and they know to take me serious."

Lisa nodded. "I used to dye mine crazy colors a lot. I dyed it all back to brown when I got the job, just to be safe, but I miss the colors."

"Honestly, I would say just do you. But I get it if you want to settle in a little more, first. Good thing is that I think you fit really well into the team. I'm sure it'd be fine either way," Seulgi assured her. "Pull up on a motorcycle with pink hair one day, and I'm sure all the guys here will either be terrified of you, or be in love with you."

Lisa snickered. "The second one is definitely not my goal." Seulgi laughed, shaking her head as she took a bite of her food. "Terrified, though? I could make that work."

"So how are you settling into your new place?" Seulgi wondered.

"Pretty well. The girls I'm living with are all seniors in college, and they're all pretty nice and welcoming, which is cool. Went to a lowkey college party on Saturday night, which was weird, considering I only knew a handful of them," Lisa told her friend. "But yeah, it's nice. Except I'm still missing a bunch of furniture for my room." She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, there's an Ikea just south of the city—that's pretty close to where you live, right?" Lisa nodded.

"I've actually never been to Ikea," Lisa admitted.

"Ikea is simultaneously super impressive, and also super intimidating. I can send you the address of the one close to you if you want. They have lots of affordable stuff and I'm sure that even if you haven't been there, you know that they're known for easy building instructions."

"Yeah, honestly that sounds great. Affordable and easy is right up my alley."

"If you need a shopping buddy, you can definitely hit me up, too," Seulgi told her with a smile.

Lisa returned it, not sure if she would follow up with that, but maybe. Seulgi did have a car, and Lisa would need someone with a car to help her, so she might find that she needed her. Still, she didn't say one way or the other yet, because she was still unsure of when she would be going shopping.

•••

On the bus ride home Tuesday evening, Lisa tried to remember what her roommates' schedules were like on Tuesdays. She recalled that last Monday and Wednesday, Chaeyoung and Jisoo hadn't gotten home until later than her, but for Tuesdays, she couldn't recall. Same went for Jennie, Lisa had no idea of her schedule other than the fact that she'd been home earlier than Lisa on Wednesday. She really wanted to familiarize herself with when the other women would be home, mostly because of Jennie.

After Saturday night, Lisa had hoped that maybe, just maybe, Jennie was finally willing to try and be her friend, but once again, she was disproved on Sunday. Jennie had barely spared her a glance and had definitely not mentioned the fact that they'd actually had a nice conversation after Irene's party on Saturday. And the previous day, Monday, had been the same as always as well. It was bugging Lisa way more than it should. By this point, she should've just given up, and she didn't know why she couldn't let it go.