KICK IT | JENLISA

26

Lisa

"Lisa..." Jackson folded his hands over his desk. "What happened?"

A deep-toned chuckle sounded on my right. "Can't wait to hear this."

I glared at the ripped, fair-skinned man stuffed in his chair. With Jennie sucking the life out of the room, I forgot that he was present. The lights gleamed on blonde head and sinewy forearms. They crossed over his broad chest nightclub bouncer-style. I shifted my glare between Bam and Jackson. "I did what you told me, showed up at the studio. It was a disaster. Jackson, I'm revoking your recommendations because they're absolute bullshit."

"Unannounced?" Bam's eyebrows shot up, and he grinned.

"Unannounced." Smug Jennie returned, parting her lips with a pink flick of her tongue between the seam. "It was... obscene."

Guilt lodged a lump in my throat, which I swallowed back. Jackson wasn't aware of our parking lot encounter, not from my end. I deserved that.

"Lisa, you shouldn't have just shown up." Jackson started in his diplomatic tone. Before now, he used it to work in my favour, and I squirmed at it directed at me. "But we can't change that. I've heard Jennie's side..."

"Jennie's side!?" My eyes drifted to her chair, tempted by a desire to outline her profile. Instead, I grunted, crossing one ankle over the other and clasping my knee. "Where did you find her, Jackson? She's the most unprofessional fitness instructor I've ever met."

"She's..."

One of Bambam's large hands raised in a 'stop' gesture. "I've got to hear this." His full lips grinned with a flash of white teeth. "Proceed, Lisa."

"She's... argh!" Squeezing my knee made the veins protrude on my forearms. "I don't know where to fucking start, other than she's cold, bitchy, stick up her ass..."

"I'm right here." she muttered.

"I know!" I bit back. "Plotting how you can harm me next. Shoving me in front of a bus when we leave here?"

"You deserve it, insufferable Queen of Asshattery."

Fucking fresh hell, she made me want to... "But how was the class?" At Bam's question, Jackson poised a pen over his notepad. "Was she late to start? Ran over? Disorganised in between?"

I dropped my gaze to the white skin stretching over my knuckles. Circling my ankle, the bones popped with a small crack. Tightness squeezed my chest as I dipped my chin down. "No. She was... organised."

Jennie's nasal exhale was impossible to read. So was Jackson humming as he jotted notes. "Did she present herself professionally? Stop glaring, Jennie. It's a valid question."

I grinned at him scolding her. "Yeah."

"And the workout level?" Bam made no attempts to hide his smugness. I practically smelled it oozing from me.

"Yes, did you feel anything?" Jackson's eyes met mine.

"Other than pain?"

"Maybe I picked the wrong class?" He frowned at his phone. "No, I did. Beginner Vinyasa Flow, right?"

"Vinyasa for gassy seniors." I corrected with a scowl.

Jackson's lips rolled inward, and his eyes darted to Jennie.

"Who do you think is mostly available at 10am on a Friday?" She now doodled in her notebook, strategically angled away from my line of vision.

"You put me next to a gas bomb." I reminded her.

Her eyes slanted into narrow slits, and a slight flare expanded her nostrils. "Perhaps you should ask Yuh-jung about that before judging her situation."

Wasn't that the fucking pot calling the kettle black?

"Contrary to... whatever this is." Jackson's pen pointed between us. "Was Jennie professional in class?"

Jennie basically taught the entire class from her head. I knew nothing about yoga, but the physical moves transitioned from one to the other. The next day, my body was more limber and tired. Palming my shoulder, I offered the truth. "Fucking nightmare. She planned the entire thing to injure me."

"How?" Jackson's eyebrows drew together. "Did she not engage with the class?"

"No..." With each admission that Jennie knew her shit, metaphorically, her boot kicked me in the balls. "Never stopped moving to help people."

"Including you?"

Heat crept up the sides of my neck. Her soft but firm nudges and corrections were professional-level. One more 'yes' answer was too much, so I nodded. The admission clenched my stomach.

"I see." The end of his pen tapped on his notes. "So, she taught an organised, engaging, challenging class where you felt something, gave you options to work around your shoulder, and..."

"And Lisa Manoban didn't listen." Bambam chimed in his opinion.

"Lisa." Jackson dropped his pen on his notes, brown eyes warm with sympathy. "I know Jennie's a little difficult..."

"Difficult!? She's a fucking bitch, Jackson. I don't know what the fuck I did to piss her off, but she came in with a laser scope aimed at me, glared at me the whole time, embarrassed the fuck out of me, and threw me out after."

"Tell me how you really feel, Lisa." the chill in Jennie's voice trickled down the back of my neck. "Finish your whiny ass tantrum like the spoilt brat you are. Can't wait for my turn, you uppity, single-brain cell..."

"Jennie, enough." Jackson warned her, before registering her words with a frown. "Whiny ass tantrum?"

"Whiny ass tantrum." She grunted. "Gigantic person's whiny ass tantrum."

"I am not..."

Bambam interrupted with a low whistle. "I'd throw you out too, if you crashed in, unannounced, and didn't listen to my instructions."

I groaned when he raised his hand behind my back, and Jennie slapped a high five. Nice to know whose team he was on.

"Let's finish Lisa's class assessment before jumping to opinions." Jackson held his impassive face, removing his glasses and cleaning them with a cloth. "Did Jennie give options to reduce the load on your shoulder?"

The truth burned a hole through my chest. "Yes."

"Thank you, Lisa." Jackson's eyes shifted to the she-devil next to me. "Jennie, a short synopsis, please."

Slender fingers lifted with each phrase. "This moron here barged in, unannounced, created major distractions during class, and didn't listen to my instructions to help her shoulder. Lisa set herself up for further injury and potentially cost me my job. This is after her previous asinine, and crude behaviour. She deserved..."

She stopped, but my vision turned red. Heat surged up my neck, and I clenched my hands and molars. "I deserved to get injured!?"

"No..." Pink rose in her cheeks. "Your, umm, not your shoulder."

I scratched my jawline, I can almost feel blood tickling under my nails. She meant... "My car. That was you!? You fucking keyed my car!"

"I need popcorn... with these two around." Bambam muttered.