What's Mine Is Yours (Chaelisa)

Chapter 19

“Oh yeah? When do I get to read it?”

“Do you normally read my stuff before it’s printed?”

“Oh, um… well, sometimes.” Lisa shrugged, taking another sip from her water glass, suddenly seeming a little unsettled. “I mean, I used to. But if for some reason I didn’t get the chance because it was a quick submission or we were busy, I just waited until after it was published.”

“You actually read all my articles?” Rosie asked, surprised.

“Well, yeah. Like I said, I used to. I mean, I read pretty much anything and everything you wrote, article or not.” Rosie felt something warm fill her chest at the thought of how incredible that was and wondered why it hadn’t occurred to her to ask about this sooner.

“Lisa, that’s… I’m not sure what to say.”

“It’s not a big deal, Rosie. Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked when I get to read it. I just… old habits.” She felt Lisa’s thumb stop and watched the other girl shrink in on herself a little. “I um… I’m happy you got it to them and I hope they like it. Maybe, if they publish it, and if it’s alright with you, then I can read it?”

Goddamnit, why do I keep messing this up?

“Lisa, no, I wasn’t…  that’s really sweet. I was just surprised that you’d want to read it. I guess… I guess I hadn’t thought about that before. That maybe you read my stuff. That you followed my career.”

To Rosie’s horror and confusion, Lisa suddenly pulled her hand away, leaning back in her chair and away from the table. She opened her mouth to apologize but stopped when she saw their server placing the large extra cheese pizza she’d requested on the table in front of them. She watched Lisa thank the young girl and then carefully proceed to dish each of them a slice from the steaming pie in between them, her gaze still refusing to meet Rosie’s.

And then it was silent. And it was so unbelievably uncomfortable. Rosie stared, seeing the normal cavalier and confident girl across from her was gone and in her place was a sight that made her ache. Lisa, she’d discovered, was very good at pretending like everything was fine. But she’d discovered, those intense dark eyes were usually a dead giveaway that something was wrong. And while she might not have been able to pinpoint exactly what the other girl was feeling the way she used to, she at least was able to recognize the signs. And right now, things were most definitely not alright.

How do I salvage this? How do I fix it?

“So um… in that case, do I, or did I, look at all the pictures you took?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Lisa said with a shrug, looking nonchalantly around the room.

“Well, that’s nice. I mean, it’s nice that we were so supportive of each other. It… it would be nice if we kept doing that, right?”

“Rosie, it’s okay, we don’t have to… I mean, starting fresh right? We both agreed.”

“Lisa, no! Yes, we said we were going to try to start this new but I don’t want to lose all the good stuff that we had. And… we apparently had a lot of really great stuff between us.” She watched the older girl finally look up at her, a hint of something else in those sad eyes. “And I might just… need a reminder of all that great stuff.”

Nervously, she reached out once again, leaving her good hand near the middle of the table, praying Lisa would take it.

Please, Lisa, please…

She waited a long beat, staring into Lisa’s eyes, and smiled softly when she felt the other girl finally reach up and squeeze at her fingers.

“You okay? I didn’t mean to upset you. I was just surprised, that’s all.”