jenlisa one shots & short stories

promises

A heavy, charcoal-colored cloud had fallen over the small house they lived in on the outskirts of the city that morning, chasing away the words that neither one of them wanted to speak. Not now; too soon and yet too late.

Jennie pressed her cheek into Lisa's neck as her arms found solace around her waist, pulling her closer. Her hands idly wove strands of auburn hair together as Lisa's body shook, hot tears soaking into the collar of her dress. She, too, cried silently.

"I can't go, Nini," Lisa said, "I just can't. There has to be something we can do, some kind of loophole or-"

Jennie kissed her cheek, savoring the feeling of her warm, living skin beneath her lips, Lisa's presence and solidness in her arms. "I know, baby, I know. I'm scared too," she said. She fought to hide the tremble in her voice as she spoke. "But we both know what will happen if we try to run from this."

At first, it had been no more than a great shock, incredibly slow to sink in. Lisa had been called to the front lines and, despite their efforts to fight against this decision, nothing could be done about it. Her Lili was being ripped away from her to be thrown into the cold clutches of a war raging overseas. Her gentle, sweet Lili who had never hurt a soul in her life, would be expected to take them by the handful.

Then the coldness had set in. Jennie's hands shook and her heart had seemed to collapse in on itself in search of one more beat of warmth and love, sending waves of pain through her chest. It became increasingly difficult to do work around the house, so she had allowed herself to stumble and fall from her rigid routine into Lisa's embrace. For hours they would sit, just holding each other and remembering memories of cool summer nights spent together on the porch watching their two dogs play on the lawn and stolen kisses in the shelter of Lisa's porch while sheets of rain poured down from the sky, crashing into the roof over their heads.

Sometimes, Lisa sang to her. Songs she had heard on the radio, songs she had made up on her way home from work, songs her mother had once whispered to chase away her nightmares as a young child. Jennie found something soothing about the carefree way Lisa had once sung as she danced about the house with Leo and Kuma, wearing a smile she dared to say rivalled the brightness of the hot sunshine that now filtered through the window over the kitchen sink.

Lisa was her everything. Maybe that was why her heart clenched at the thought of her in uniform, halfway across the world; too far away for her to pull her into her arms and brush away her tears like she had grown accustomed to doing over the past week since the news had struck them.

A shuddering sob left her lips, followed by a wave of fresh tears. She buried her face in Lisa's hair, promising herself that she would remember her vanilla scent and the way her arms tightened around her.

"Ni, please don't cry," Lisa whispered.

She shook her head, lifting her head to meet her swollen, red eyes with her own. "How can I not, Lili? Everything is changing for the worst. My hands shake so badly that I can't even write my own name. I'll probably lose my job next. I-I don't know what to do anymore," she said, her voice rising steadily as she rambled on, her fears coming tumbling out all once in a jumbled mess of words.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I just...I hate it. I hate not being able to do anything but play along with their game. I'm nothing more than a pawn." She trained her eyes on the window, her lips pressed in a wavering line. "It's not fair," she croaked.

She blinked away the tears blurring her vision as best she could as she lifted her chin, forcing her to meet her gaze. When she didn't, she said her name softly, willing her to listen. She did, her arms still wrapped loosely around her waist. "You're right. It's not fair. They shouldn't be able to toy with our lives the way they do, but there is nothing we alone can do but turn a blind eye to it," she said.