Letterman (Chaennie)

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

At the store, Rosie slowly pushes a shopping cart through the aisles, occasionally pausing to grab an item off the shelves. So far, she's got a jumbo pack of tissues, honey-flavored cough drops (she finds this one funny, because of what they coated BHS' gym with), and some of that nasty green tea that she knows Jennie likes.

Lisa is riding on the front of the cart, like a child. She snatches a bag of marshmallows off of one of the shelves and drops it in the cart. Rosie puts it back. Lisa grabs it and puts it back in.

This happens two more times before Rosie finally speeds away from the marshmallows.

"I'm not buying you marshmallows." Rosie says, in response to the glare Lisa is throwing over her shoulder right now. "We have marshmallows at home. And you didn't bring any money."

"The marshmallows at home are stale and tiny." Lisa complains like this is the biggest tragedy in the entire universe.

Rosie rolls her eyes. "I'm sure you'll manage."

"No, I won't. Give me jumbo marshmallows or give me death!" Lisa exclaims dramatically. She manages to catch the attention of many passing shoppers, but doesn't seem to care. When Rosie only gives her a dry, slightly embarrassed look, she sighs deeply. "Why does Jennie get stuff but I don't get stuff?"

"Jennie is sick."

"I'm your cousin." Lisa puts a hand over her heart, offended.

"My healthy cousin." Rosie corrects and leans up on her tippy toes to swipe a few more items off the top shelf. She weighs a pair of slipper socks in her hands. She's ninety-two percent sure that Jennie would be too proud to get some herself.

Bunny socks or gingerbread socks?

The bunny ones are adorable, but Rosie already has this pair and she's not totally sure that Jennie would want to match. Maybe? It seems kind of like the thing that—

"—couples do." Lisa finishes. Apparently, she was saying something.

"What?" Rosie asks.

Lisa frowns, just slightly, and Rosie feels mildly guilty for ignoring her. Not that she meant to. She has a habit of getting lost in her thoughts, especially when trying to remember her shopping list.

"I was saying that you should hurry up and shoot your shot with Jennie. You're already doing that thing you do when you're really into someone, where you start taking care of them."

"She's sick." Rosie shrugs and pointedly focuses on her shopping. Gingerbread socks, it is. "I'm not doing anything too extra."

Lisa snort-laughs, like this is the best joke she's heard all year.

The rest of the trip passes in comfortable silence. Thankfully, there's no more prodding from Lisa or any teasing remarks (although, Lisa does roll her eyes when they get the socks scanned at the register). Rosie is able to buy her items, leave the store, and drop Lisa off at school without a fuss. Finding Jennie's house is harder, only because she has never been there before, but it's still not very difficult.

Shifting her bags to one side, Rosie rings Jennie's doorbell with her free hand. The bell chimes and echoes faintly in her ears. In that echo, she hears Lisa's accusing voice and begins to become a little concerned herself.

What if this is too much?

Not only did Rosie bring soup, she also brought socks, cough drops, tissues, and tea. This is the type of care package that she'd put together for a girlfriend.

(And what if Jennie hates it—)

The door swings open suddenly, the startling sound of it cutting through her anxious thoughts with ease. Jennie squints as the sunlight hits her, her nose scrunching up, like she hasn't been out of the house in too long and isn't keen on returning to the land of the living anytime soon. Rosie quickly sees that Jennie has stripped down to just a tank top, and admires the lean muscle in her arms and shoulders for a short second before shaking away those particular thoughts.