What's Mine Is Yours (Chaelisa)

Chapter 10

Rosie picked up the red leather photo album from the island where Lisa had left it and sat it down on the kitchen table next to the quickly cooling cup of cocoa she’d poured herself earlier. In all honesty, she’d been avoiding it since she saw it that morning, sitting next to the note with Lisa’s incredibly neat script.

Rosie,

I thought you might like to take a look at this and maybe it’ll satisfy some of that natural curiosity of yours. I’ll be home around five. Remember we’re supposed to go to dinner with Jisoo and Jennie but call if you need anything. Please.

Lisa

The dark haired girl had been long gone by the time she’d gotten up and for the first time since the accident, she was grateful to have some time to herself. She needed to process everything and after her big ‘a ha’ moment from the night before, she really needed a few hours away from Lisa in order to avoid becoming a blushing, stuttering mess when trying to have any normal human interactions with the girl.

It was nearly four now but she’d run out of things to do to pass the time. She’d already spent most of the morning and a little of the afternoon cleaning up around the house, taking great care to avoid Lisa’s side of the office and walk-in closet, just in case, before returning a few long overdue emails about different articles she was working on and finally cleaning herself up. She purposely took a long shower and then spent the next half hour drying her hair and looking through the clothes in her closet, finding the idea of sweats and a ponytail completely unappealing after nothing else for the last two weeks.

Truthfully, Lisa was right, her curiosity was killing her. But more than that was her fear; fear of looking through the photos and finding absolutely nothing to be familiar. It was the same reason she’d been avoiding her phone, only checking any new emails and texts. The pictures around the apartment were bad enough, leaving gaping holes in her memory. But to be face to face with hundreds of those little holes was completely terrifying. And then what would happen? She’d feel about a million times worse, that was for sure. And she already felt useless enough in this whole scenario, why add fuel to the fire?

She fingered the cover of the book, taking a deep, steadying breath and opened it, feeling a small smile instantly take over her face. The page was full of pictures of her, Jisoo, Jennie, and Tzuyu, all from her first year at UChicago. Turning the page, she felt a little calmer as more photos of her friends popped up. These pictures were of times she remembered. There they were at the Summer Society Halloween party with Ryujin, the five of them dressed as superheroes. And then picnicking on the quad in the early spring. And having their own little Christmas soiree before the break in Jisoo and Jennie’s room. There were pictures of her and Tzuyu after one of the many sporting events the Summer’s participated in. And pictures of her and Jisoo, covered in something gooey and disgusting for one of Jisoo’s science projects gone wrong. And photos of her and Jennie making cookies, or more accurately, Jennie making cookies and Rosie making a mess as she ate the raw dough.

Taking the final sip of her now cold cocoa, she turned the page, completely immersed in the memories of her and her friends that first year and stopped cold, the smile falling from her face. There on the page in front of her were pictures from the Chicago Fall Festival. The same festival Lisa had just told her about the night before. The one where she’d bolted away as soon as she was left alone with the dark-haired girl.

The pictures in front of her showed no signs of bolting though. The Rosie in these photos looked so happy and excited. And… there was one in the middle of the page, with just her and Lisa. Clearly, neither of them were paying attention when it was taken. Lisa appeared to be looking off to her right and laughing at whatever was there, her arm wrapped around Rosie’s shoulders, keeping her close. For her part, the Rosie in the photo had both of her arms wrapped around Lisa’s waist, smiling and staring at the beautiful girl next to her, looking like she was the sun and the moon and stars all rolled into one glorious ball of brilliance.