the blind side of love | chaennie

thirty-six

"Hey!" Kai pouted, holding up his fork menacingly. "Give that back."

Jennie ignored him. "I thought I'd just invite her over and ... then ... just tell her."

Kai had come around the island to get his plate back. Jennie let him.

"Then that's what you should do," Jisoo said.

Jennie nodded. That's what she'd do. She'd invite Roseanne over and then confess. But how to confess? How to even begin explaining?

-

Another class day over and Roseanne couldn't have been more glad to have it all behind her. She rode the elevator up to her floor watching the flickering light above her threaten to give out. The elevator groaned with the effort of existing, and Roseanne briefly wondered what it might feel like if it were to suddenly give out and plummet to the ground. But the thought was morbid and she pushed it aside. The doors opened, slowly, noisily, but altogether proudly - as if to say, "And here you thought I wouldn't make it."

The hallway was well-lit, surprisingly. A new light bulb? Roseanne wondered. A neighbor turned the corner, dragging along a toddler who was yelling something Roseanne couldn't make out. Roseanne tried to smile politely, trying to offer something akin to understanding, even sympathy. But what did Roseanne know about having a child? The question was crystal clear on the neighbor's face as she silently passed by, the kid trailing behind, shouting.

Roseanne unlocked the door and stepped inside the apartment. The TV was on which meant Lisa was not at work. "I'm home!" she called. She closed the door and dropped the keys into the pocket of her jacket. She made her way to the living room.

Lisa was lounging on the couch, her feet propped on the coffee table and Roseanne's computer on her lap. When she looked up she was grinning. "Guess who's been cast in the next Jennie Kim movie?"

It took Roseanne a few long seconds to realize that the answer was Lisa. "They called? You got it?"

"About an hour ago. I called to tell you but I got your voicemail."

"I turned off the phone for class." Roseanne was smiling, trying to build up the appropriate level of enthusiasm, but Lisa seemed calm; like she was over it all, which made Roseanne unsure of what to say. Finally, she dropped down on the couch beside her friend and said, "How can you be so nonchalant?"

Lisa turned her head in Roseanne's direction, her straight brown hair in a pony tail. "I yelled and screamed and jumped around so much that one of the neighbors came over to tell me to shut the hell up. And now ... well now I'm just fucking exhausted. You, however, have a lot of screaming and jumping to catch up on."

Roseanne smiled and leaned over to peek at the computer screen. "What are you doing?"

"Research," Lisa said simply. "Or stalking, depending which way you look at it. I've been researching everyone that's in the film. I left Jennie Kim for last though so we could stalk her together."

Roseanne frowned and stood up, shrugging out of her jacket. It was hot in the apartment for a change. "I don't want to stalk Jennie Kim."

"Oh, come on, sure you do," Lisa said in a tone that bordered on whiny. "She's all over the web. We can read up on all the gossip and then we can each take turns finding out what's true. For example, she was seen kissing her co-star from Guardian a few weeks ago at some charity event. Can you find out if they're together? He's pretty hot."

It was the first time Roseanne had thought of Jennie Kim as potentially not single, and a part of her wondered what else the web might reveal about the actress. She sat back down. "I'm not going to ask her if she's dating someone."