KICK IT | JENLISA

19

Jennie

Her jaw clenched, and burned ego flashed in her eyes. Good. It fuelled me further. Stepping closer, I lifted my chin until my eyes glared three inches from hers. Amusement died behind the warm browns, swirling with darker streaks as anger simmered in them. My hands were on my hips, my reflection distorted in her expanded pupils. A salty musk hung on her skin. It didn't bother me but permeated the air with testosterone. The thick silence sent my heartbeat into faster thumps.

A murmured, "No one tells Lisa Manoban what to do." didn't reveal any new insight. The way her lips twitched, I doubted she realised she spoke. I also didn't expect a back-pedalled, half-assed, non-apology. "Jennie, look..." She dragged a hand down the back of her neck. "If you're upset about the parking lot thing, I get it."

My name, finally, with the deep timber of her voice wrapped around it, swelled heat in my belly. I clenched it in like a roller coaster rider who tried not to hurl their cotton candy and elephant ears. Get it. Not sorry for it. Don't react. Don't react. I blinked.

Her hand lifted, offering the long, thick digits stacked in a handshake. "No hard feelings?"

"Yes, hard feelings." I exhaled out my nose and narrowed my eyes. "Save your apologies for when you mean them. If you're interested in shameless flirting and teasing, try Diana. She was the one staring at you with the leaking vagina."

Oh fuck. Why did I say that? Her eyebrows shot up, a slight smirk preceding her tongue flicking out and wetting the seam between them. The obvious question burned in her eyes as her hand lingered, an offer of a truce. Tipping her head, she leaned closer. Our noses were an inch apart, warm breaths fanned over my lips. They parted open, dryness seeping into my mouth.

"And you?"

The fresh smell of her deodorant dizzied my brain when she invaded my personal space. My heart thumped, pulsing beats through my legs. Warmth pooled in my belly, among other reactions I chose to ignore. "Dry as a cactus snowman." I squeaked out as a traitorous drip of wetness seeped into my underwear. "You have that effect on me."

Weak Jennie, but a start. Wait, I admitted she affected me. One of her eyebrows quirked up. "So you admit that I affect you."

The traitorous leaking between my legs contrasted my desire to smash Lisa's bloated ego with a morning star, but the best insults built up to the mic drop. "Yes."

Flattery rose in her eyes, mixing darker browns in the lighter backdrop. I stepped closer, pausing an inch from her sternum. Goosebumps rose on my chest from the heat she radiated. Shivers ran down the back of my neck, trickling through every vertebra. Under the confines of my sports bra, my nipples itched, but the anger broiling me beneath those reactions mattered most.

"You fill me with absolute, and pure disgust. You're reckless, pig-headed, and put yourself in a position to get irreparably injured because you're either too proud, too stupid, or both to listen to me."

Lisa sucked in a breath, but I dented her chest with my index finger, tapping the beats racing as fast as mine. "I don't know why you're here, Lisa, but I can't help you." Chin lifting, my lips aligned a breath apart from hers.

"You're beyond help."

Her fingers curled into fists at her sides. "Yogis are supposed to be chill, not ice cold."

I raised my eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"Easier to practice yoga without a stick up your ass." Her eyes narrowed and she brushed past me with a bump into my shoulder. "Maybe if you spent class guiding people instead of flexing your ego, trying to set me up to fail..."

Oh, hell no. "Me!?" My teeth clenched to keep my voice level down and I jabbed my finger in her chest again. I stabbed at a rock, flexing the tip back. "Let's get one thing straight, Manoban! The ego problem is you, ostrich-ass! If you would've fucking listened to me, then..."

"I'm wasting my breath." she muttered, turning and shaking her head. "You're impossible. Don't worry, I won't be back."

Searing my best eye daggers at the back of her head, I bit back the response that was probably best not echoing off the studio walls. The satisfaction of getting my way would suffice.

Good riddance.